(LifeSiteNews) — Major League Baseball (MLB) issued a warning to three Christian San Francisco Giants pitchers who inscribed a Genesis chapter 9 citation on their team’s specially issued “Pride Night” ball caps last Friday.
As it turns out, so-called “Pride Night,” which is purported to be promoting tolerance, is actually about intolerance for Christians.
“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 LGBT sports site, Outsports.
Outsports suggested that MLB didn’t go far enough for fans “who wanted baseball to issue a fine for the uniform infractions.”
READ: Irony alert: Baseball players who wore Bible verses on ‘Pride’ caps accused of ‘weaponizing rainbow’
In its headline, Outsports derisively said that the players had “defaced” their “pride” hats when they “scrawled” Bible verses on them.
The Giants’ front office also appeared to distance itself from the Christian pitchers, issuing a statement published by the San Francisco Standard accusing the three men of having “caused pain and anger”:
The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community. Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued. We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations. We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that. Those choices do not change our organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all. We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players, and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration.
Vice President JD Vance criticized MLB’s reaction. “Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore,” he posted to X.
Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore https://t.co/Dsl5DH2obf
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 16, 2026
Pressure had been mounting on MLB to somehow punish the three Giants players.
After the Pride Night game, Outsports published a commentary lamenting, “Three SF Giants pitchers disgraced themselves at the team’s Pride Night, weaponizing the Pride rainbow and attacking the LGBTQ community.”
Outsports co-founder Cyd Zigler went further: “As a middle finger to the LGBTQ community the size of Coit Tower, they wrote a Bible verse on their caps – drenching it with hate.”
Another sports site, The Athletic, which is owned by The New York Times, claimed that the players who resisted celebrating “pride” during Friday night’s game exemplified a “tone-deaf” response that “missed the point” of Pride Night.
Fansided’s Mark Powell accused the pitchers of hiding behind a “2,000-year-old book.”
The Genesis passage recounts God’s declaration that the rainbow is His sign of justice, faithfulness, and mercy toward humanity. It was never intended to be used to promote sexual deviancy.
Giants pitcher Landen Roupp took the lion’s share of the heat for inscribing Genesis 9:12-16 on his Pride Night cap.
“There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for, and what I stand in. I believe in God,” Roupp said after the game.
“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that He makes to us, you know, His faithfulness and His mercy,” Roupp explained to reporters. “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 we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want.”
Genesis 9:12-16 recounts God’s covenant with Noah and his descendants:
God said: This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come: I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature – every mortal being – so that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy every mortal being. When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature – every mortal being that is on earth.
Another Giants pitcher, JT Brubaker, wrote Genesis 9:13-15 on his hat and Ryan Walker also reportedly wrote a Bible verse on his Pride Night hat.
A fourth pitcher, Sam Hentges, refused to wear the “pride” hat.
UPDATE: At least 4 San Francisco Giants players protested Pride Night on Friday vs Chicago
1. Starting pitcher Landen Roupp wrote Genesis 9:12-16 on his Pride hat
2. Reliever Sam Hentges refused to wear the Pride hat (just like Blake Treinen)
3. Reliever JT Brubaker wrote… https://t.co/lHXPNQog9N pic.twitter.com/IwwH4m2gxl
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) June 13, 2026
Comedian Rob Schneider tweeted his support of the Christian athletes on X:
I will pay the fines for any @MLB Christian player who wears a Bible verse on their uniform.@MLB is ANTI-CHRISTIAN https://t.co/miAT89eXJu
— Rob Schneider 🇺🇸 (@RobSchneider) June 16, 2026
