A Missouri senator and the state’s attorney general are leading the charge to keep Major League Baseball accountable for how it treats Christians after it warned three San Francisco Giants players who wrote Bible verses from Genesis on their Pride Night caps.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, fired off a letter Tuesday to MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred demanding answers for what he called a pattern of discrimination against Christian players.
“The league’s claim that it merely forbids ‘writing of any kind’ on its uniforms does not survive a cursory review of the league’s recent history,” Hawley wrote.
He recalled how MLB previously authorized jersey patches and pitching mound stencils for political movements such as Black Lives Matter.
“The league went beyond tolerating speech – it designed speech, promoted speech, and shoehorned social and political messages into the game broadcast to millions of Americans,” Hawley wrote. “Yet when three players added a handful of characters citing the Book of Genesis to their caps, the league reached for its rulebook.”
Hawley highlighted an undercover investigation exposing an executive with the Washington Nationals who allegedly excluded a Catholic player from promotional materials due to his faith in God.
“The freedom to live out one’s faith does not end at the ballpark gate,” Hawley wrote. “Americans of every creed are entitled to confidence that the institutions of our national pastime will not single out religious expression for punishment while celebrating messages of the league’s own choosing.”
The senator wants the league to provide full copies of uniform regulations and any internal directives regarding player participation in themed events by Friday.
Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is threatening a full state investigation into the league’s actions. She sent a formal letter telling Manfred the Show-Me State won’t tolerate threats against players who exercise their sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. The league has teams in the state: the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals.
Hanaway says forcing players to support viewpoints against their religion violates the law.
“By forcing players to promote political and religious beliefs that they disagree with on pain of discipline, MLB is betraying a core tenet of American law and civic culture,” Hanaway wrote on X.
She is giving the league until June 25 to confirm it won’t discipline players who choose to refrain from wearing pride apparel or include Bible verses on their gear.
Hanaway promised to launch an official investigation into potential religious liberty violations if MLB fails to respond.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also warned the league about practicing “religious discrimination” and said it would be “hearing from my office soon.”
Florida has two MLB teams: the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
