Major League Baseball has decided against punishing the San Francisco Giants pitchers who wrote Bible verses onto their Pride Night hats.
A group of Giants pitchers wrote Bible verses on their rainbow-logo SF hats, worn in honor of Pride Night. The three pitchers, Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, ultimately defended their decisions. But Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow was not happy.
“I think when you’re a player and you come into this environment, it’s your responsibility to know just how sensitive this city is in regards to that cultural freedom and religious freedom, and just the way that you live your life,” Krukow said on KNBR.
“And I think they were in for a rude awakening with the response, and it wasn’t just from the gay community; it was from the Northern California community that supports the gay community.”
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
“There’s an irony too because the Giants organization is getting dumped on as well, and that hurt me,” Krukow added. “It hurt me because I saw in 1994 that they were the first team to ever take on the challenge of going against public opinion and the outrage of even associating with the gay community, and they openly went out and said, ‘We support the gay community. We support until there’s a cure day. We are going to raise money to fight AIDS. We support the community.’ And they did it with love.
“And the Giants were the first team at the ballpark to wave the pride flag, and that took on criticism from around the country. So it hurt me to see that there was criticism directed towards the Giants, because of all that they have done to help the gay community, and the relationship between the Giants and the gay community has always been amazing.”
Ultimately, Major League Baseball opted to issue "a routine oral warning" after Giants players added biblical references to caps with the team’s Pride logo.
But that's the extent of the punishment.
MLB commissioner opts against more punishment
"The players were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote.
Manfred, meanwhile, "understands" that not all players are comfortable wearing Pride Night gear.
"We understand that some players or other on-field personnel have not been comfortable wearing the pride emblem on their uniform based on their religious beliefs," Manfred wrote.
