Mike Krukow, legendary broadcaster for the San Francisco Giants, criticized players who wore Bible verses on their hats during Pride Night.
As Breitbart News reported, the MLB issued a warning to three San Francisco Giants pitchers after they displayed Bible verses on their hats during Pride Night. The incident occurred last Friday when Giants right-hander Landen Roupp displayed “Gen 9:12-16” on his Pride Night hat, which was followed by relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker also featuring Bible verses on their official Pride Night hats.
“The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” Pat Courtney, MLB’s chief communications officer, told The Athletic on Monday.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Krukow also highlighted the team’s past support for the gay community, going back to the AIDS crisis.
“There’s an irony too because the Giants organization is getting dumped on as well, and that hurt me,” he said. “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,” he added.
Krukow concluded with a call for understanding on both sides.
“If I was a part of the gay community, or a minority, and there was hate directed towards me — if there was opinion that that was prejudice directed towards me, I would stand tall, and I would scream as loudly as I possibly could,” Krukow said. “And I get this, I do, but I do think that it’s necessary that we do look at both sides of this. We respect those that voice their opinion, even when we disagree with it, and we also applaud those that stood tall.”