Pro baseball team forfeits Pride Night game as some players boycott rainbow
A pro baseball team forfeited a match after some players refused to wear a rainbow jersey on Pride Night (Getty Images, stock)
Pennsylvania-based baseball team York Revolution chose to forfeit their Pride Night game after a number of players refused to wear the rainbow.
The professional team was set to play against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on 18 June, for its 11th annual Pride Night. The club had arranged for players to wear special uniforms with rainbows on the sleeves, but some refused.
However, the night still went ahead as “a free and fun celebration of recognition and inclusion”, just without the game happening.
In a statement, the team said that the Pride event would still go ahead, but anyone with tickets could use them for a future game.
“This decision was not reached lightly,” the team wrote. “Unfortunately, several of our players have refused to wear the scheduled Pride Night jersey and the club decided that hosting the event is more important than forcing players to wear jerseys they are not comfortable with and playing the game.”
The statement continued: “To be clear; this action by the players is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York.
“As a small token of our regret for the last-minute change of plans and support for our LGBTQIA+ representing partners we are making a $10,000 donation to the Rainbow Rose Center to support and further their work in making sure the York community is as inclusive as we strive to make WellSpan Park in York, Pennsylvania.”
In an Instagram post, the team said they were “deeply troubled and profoundly disappointed by the decisions” of the players who would not wear the Pride jersey.
The event was set to go ahead with fans able to “enjoy community, music and batting practice on the field”.
Pride in baseball
The York Revolution decision comes off the back of an incident in Major League Baseball on 12 June, when some San Francisco Giants players wrote Bible verses on their caps during the team’s Pride Night.
Pitchers Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker and Ryan Walker each wrote a reference to Genesis 9:12-16 on their caps, overlapping the rainbow Giants logo worn for the occasion. The passage refers to God creating the rainbow as the sign of a covenant. Meanwhile, another, Sam Hentges, refused to wear a rainbow cap at all.
Subsequently, a number of MAGA personalities, including Rob Schneider and Kevin Sorbo, offered to pay the fines of any players involved if any were handed to them.
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