Conservatives push back after MLB warns players who wrote Christian messages on Pride night caps

Conservatives are pushing back after Major League Baseball warned several San Francisco Giants players for writing Bible verses on caps during Pride Night.

The league acted after Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote Bible references on rainbow-themed caps during San Francisco’s June 12 game against the Chicago Cubs. Left-hander Sam Hentges wore the team’s regular cap instead of the Pride Night version.

The Giants held Pride Night with rainbow-themed gear and a same-sex vow-renewal ceremony led by drag performer Peaches Christ, as The Lion previously reported.

MLB said the players violated league uniform rules.

“The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB chief communications officer Pat Courtney said.

MLB later clarified that the warning was not about the religious content of the messages.

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message,” MLB said.

Roupp wrote “Gen 9:12-16” on his cap. The passage describes God’s covenant with Noah after the flood and says the rainbow serves as the sign of that covenant.

“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that he makes to us,” Roupp said after the game.

Roupp said his message reflected his faith and was not intended as an attack.

“That’s just kind of something I believe in, and I stand firm in that, and I’m thankful we live in a country where, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want,” Roupp said.

He also said he did not do it to attack anyone.

“There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for, and what I stand in. I believe in God,” Roupp said.

Hentges said faith also drove his decision.

“But, there wasn’t hatred behind it,” Hentges said, as The Lion previously reported. “I think that’s something that’s misinterpreted. I don’t hate the LGBTQ community, but it’s just something that I believed and talked with teammates and family. They supported it, so we did it.”

The warning drew criticism from conservative leaders who said MLB showed little room for Christian expression during an event built around LGBT advocacy.

“Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, also criticized MLB’s response and sent a letter demanding answers.

“‘Warned’ them? For what? Quoting the Bible? That’s now an employment offense?” Hawley wrote. “You’ve got to be kidding me. God bless these players. MLB has some explaining to do.”

Hawley’s letter requested copies of league rules, internal communications about the incident and examples of previously approved messages, including Black Lives Matter and United for Change. He asked for a response by Friday.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also weighed in.

“Do you practice religious discrimination in Florida, @MLB?” Uthmeier wrote, adding that legal action or an investigation may follow. “You’ll be hearing from my office soon.”

Actor Rob Schneider offered to pay future fines for Christian players who write Scripture on their uniforms.

“I will pay the fines for any @MLB Christian player who wears a Bible verse on their uniform,” Schneider wrote. “@MLB is ANTI-CHRISTIAN.”

“Christians cannot be made to wear anything that is against their deeply held religious beliefs,” he said in another post.

MLB has not announced fines or suspensions.