Major League Baseball has issued warnings to four San Francisco Giants pitchers after three players wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night caps and another wore an entirely different hat during the team’s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
Starter Landen Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker took the field during Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs with Bible verses written on their rainbow-themed Pride Night caps.
The trio included the inscription “Gen 9:12-16,” a passage referencing God’s covenant with Noah and the rainbow as a sign of that promise.
Left-hander Sam Hentges, meanwhile, opted to wear the Giants’ standard black cap with the orange “SF” logo instead of the Pride Night version.
MLB said the players violated the league’s uniform policy, which prohibits writing or displaying messages on apparel or playing equipment.
“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB said in an initial statement.
The league later clarified that the warning was procedural and unrelated to the 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 Tuesday. “We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited.”
MLB noted it has issued similar warnings in the past for messages referencing family members or holidays, including phrases such as “Dad” and “Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom.”
After the game, Roupp said the Bible passage reflected his religious beliefs.
“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that he makes to us that, you know, his faithfulness and his mercy,” Roupp told reporters when asked about the Bible passage. “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.”
Hentges spoke to the media a day and explained his stance, “It’s just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don’t morally support it. There wasn’t hatred behind it. I think that’s kind of something that’s misinterpreted,” he said. “I don’t hate the LGBTQ community. It’s just something I believed and talked with teammates and family, and they supported it.
Giants manager Tony Vitello said the pitchers’ decisions were not discussed beforehand and described them as personal choices.
The Giants later released a statement reaffirming the organization’s support for Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community while acknowledging that some fans felt “pain and anger” stemming from the players’ actions.
The team said those decisions do not change its commitment to inclusion and creating a welcoming environment for all fans.