Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has confirmed that the San Francisco Giants did not properly inform their players that they could decline to wear rainbow-themed caps during the club's annual Pride Night earlier this month.
This acknowledgment came in a letter to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who had expressed "grave concern" after several Giants members, including starting pitcher Landen Roupp, added Bible verses to the themed caps. The league subsequently issued a warning, stating that writing on the caps violated league policy.
Senator Hawley had deemed the league's warning "dubious," arguing that MLB already promotes a political viewpoint by featuring Pride-themed uniforms. He posted Manfred's response to his letter on social media Monday.
In it, Manfred noted that because some players aren't comfortable wearing Pride-themed uniforms or caps, the league adopted a policy in 2023 of prohibiting clubs from using special uniforms, caps or equipment in their celebration days except under very narrow circumstances, such as special patches honoring deceased members of the baseball community.
That same year, the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have some of the largest LGBTQ+ communities in the U.S., were granted an exemption from the new rule and were permitted use of pride emblems on caps and uniforms on Pride Night “provided that no players or uniformed staff would be required to wear them, and that the team would speak to the players to make sure they were comfortable with the apparel.”
“Unfortunately, this year the Giants' communication with players was inadequate and not clear,” Manfred wrote in his letter to Hawley. "Some players apparently did not understand that they had the option to wear their normal uniform and elected to add messages to their hats bearing the pride logo as a result.
“The Giants players were allowed to wear the hats with biblical references for the entire game. After the game had concluded, my office issued a routine oral warning about the uniform policy violation — unfortunately, it was issued before we became aware of the Giants' lapse in communication,” Manfred added. “The players were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”