Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday pressing him on “what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”
Hawley sent the letter after several pitchers from the San Francisco Giants were issued warnings for displaying Bible verses on their Pride Month hats last week.
“Two of those players, including starting pitcher Landen Roupp, wrote Bible verses on their hats next to the rainbow-colored Giants logo. Another, Sam Hentges, didn’t wear it at all, choosing instead to use the traditional, ‘regular’ cap,” OutKick reported.
Hawley pointed out to Manfred that the warnings follow “a high-profile undercover investigation that revealed at least one MLB team discriminated against a player based on his Catholic faith.”
“You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith,” he wrote.
“The league’s claim that it merely forbids ‘writing of any kind’ on its uniforms does not survive a cursory review of the league’s recent history,” Hawley continued. “In 2020, MLB itself turned its uniforms and its fields into a billboard for political and social messages. It created jersey patches reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘United for Change.’ It authorized ‘BLM’ to be stenciled onto pitching mounds. And it suspended its own equipment rules so that players could display progressive political slogans on their cleats.”
Hawley went on to request a “complete copy of the uniform regulation” that the league used to warn the Giants players, and a “list of every instance” in which other players were given similar warnings or were punished under the same policy during the past five seasons.
Hawley also asked Manfred to provide “any policy, directive, or expectation” on whether players are “required, encouraged, or expected to wear Pride Night” uniforms or hats, and to disclose whether players face any repercussions for refusing to comply.
Hawley told Fox News Digital he thinks MLB is “using its power” to “target Christians.”
“MLB has a sweetheart deal from the federal government,” he said. “They play by different rules than any other business in America. But now MLB is using its power to target Christians and trample free speech. It’s anti-American. And MLB needs to course correct immediately,” the lawmaker said.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.