MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is sticking with the same message on the San Francisco Giants’ Pride Night controversy: the problem, he says, was the team’s handling of it.
Speaking Tuesday at a Baseball Writers’ Association of America event, Manfred revisited the fallout from last month’s protest by four Giants pitchers and again pointed the finger at the organization. Three pitchers - Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker - wrote verses from the Book of Genesis next to the pride-themed Giants logo on their hats, while Sam Hentges wore the regular Giants cap instead.
“The understanding with the two clubs that were grandfathered, in terms of using logos on the field, was that they would take responsibility to communicate with their players that they had the option to wear their own uniforms if they were uncomfortable with whatever logo it happened to be,” the commissioner said on Tuesday, per John Shea of the San Francisco Standard. “That didn’t happen. End of story.”
The “two clubs” Manfred referred to are the Giants and Dodgers, both of which have Pride-themed logo caps that players are not required to wear. The league’s position remains that San Francisco failed to communicate the option clearly enough, though Hentges’ comments last month suggested at least some players knew they could choose not to wear the themed hat.
“We have these hats, and we’re supposed to wear them if we support it,” he said last month. “If we don’t, then you don’t have to wear them.
We have that choice. Just like they have their choices, too.
And understand that as humans we all have choices that we can choose to do and do whatever we want.”
That remark came before MLB officially said it had warned the players who wrote Bible verses on their rainbow caps, and before the political backlash that followed from Republican politicians. In his letter to Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Manfred said the players “were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”
The three players who wrote the verses later said they were only following what they had seen others do before. After the U.S.
Department of Justice opened an inquiry into possible religious discrimination against the group, they told the San Francisco Chronicle they were not pressured to wear the pride-themed headwear and had planned the protest for weeks. Tony Vitello also said he knew something like that could happen.
The Giants have not publicly responded to Manfred’s criticism. Since Pride Night, the team’s leadership has only issued prepared statements, declined media questions and turned down interview requests on the subject. SFGATE asked the club for comment Tuesday after Manfred’s latest remarks, but the team did not respond before publication.
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