Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the MLB on Tuesday, seeking answers on why the professional baseball league threatened to penalize three San Francisco Giants pitchers who wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night hats.
Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker walked out onto the field on Friday with “Gen 9:12-16” etched on their caps in white lettering. The writing refers to Genesis 9:12-16. The passage is about God’s covenant with Noah following the worldwide flood described in the first book of the Bible. It marks the first recorded instance of a rainbow, which is also an LGBT symbol.
Hawley said the MLB “must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination” against Christian players.
“When three players added a handful of characters citing the Book of Genesis to their caps, the league reached for its rulebook,” the senator wrote in the letter. Earlier in that paragraph, he explained that the MLB didn’t have a problem allowing Black Lives Matter messaging on the field in 2020.
The sports organization cited its content-neutral policy in justifying its warnings to the three players.
“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” the MLB said in a previous statement.
Hawley said the MLB’s unfair treatment of Christians, compared to other protected groups, isn’t unprecedented.
“Your organization’s recent action follows an undercover investigation which revealed an admission from a Washington Nationals executive that a Catholic player on the team was not included in promotional materials for the team because of his faith,” he wrote. “That executive has since been fired, but not before the anti-Christian bigotry was exposed.”
Besides Hawley, other Republicans have criticized the MLB over the latest incident of reported discrimination against Christians.
“Let me get this straight, [MLB] teams can host ‘pride night’ but players wearing bible verses is an issue?” Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) posted on X. “Last I checked, freedom of religion was still one of the founding principles of our nation and enshrined in our constitution. This decision should be reversed now.”
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on the MLB’s warnings to the Christian athletes, saying that “we don’t have to do this anymore” under President Donald Trump.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon issued a warning of her own to the MLB, threatening possible litigation.
“The [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] and state labor laws govern private employer disputes such as these,” Dhillon said. “Time to lawyer up!”
In a social media post earlier Tuesday, Hawley excoriated the league.
DOJ REVIEWING BOEBERT CONCERNS ABOUT WASHINGTON NATIONALS DISCRIMINATING AGAINST CHRISTIAN PITCHER
“‘Warned’ them? For what? Quoting the Bible? That’s now an employment offense?” he asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. God bless these players. MLB has some explaining to do.”
At the end of the letter, Hawley demanded the MLB provide information on every time the league warned, fined, or disciplined a player for any reason over the past five years. The senator also asked for a complete copy of the uniform regulation under which the three Giants pitchers were warned, among other requests. The MLB has until Friday to respond.