The team logo is part of the standard uniform. Any expressly political statement that the team might endorse is not… and that’s where freedom of speech questions enter the conversation.
Democrats would have no problem with this logic when it aligns with their worldview. If a pacifist wanted to opt out of wearing a message voicing support for the Second Amendment, or if a player from Turkey, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia wanted to opt out of a ‘solidarity with Israel’ message, the left would be at the front of a parade championing their right to object. But, flip that script to opting out of a message their side is actively championing, and they suddenly have a very different opinion of which rights a player might assert in objection to his team’s demands.
In San Fran, the Giants had the players wear a ball cap with rainbows on it. The rainbow is a symbol with different meanings to different people.
To many in San Francisco, especially in June, it’s a nod to the ever-expanding alphabet behind what could fall under a broad umbrella of the sex activist movement. It began as Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual advocacy — followed by whichever letters, numbers and queer-aligned political movements that have been tacked onto the acronym ever since. It has become a particularly powerful movement in its own right with a quasi religious aura to it that denounces as ‘heretics’ anyone who raises criticisms or questions against the new enforced orthodoxy.
The other meaning of that symbol is an orthodoxy of a very different kind. Christians (and, one would expect observant Jews as well) have long history of seeing the rainbow as a covenantal symbol pointing to both the holiness and mercy of God. The holiness because he was too just to ignore sin, and mercy because he has promised never again to wipe out humanity by way of an all-consuming flood.
The expectation was that ballplayers in San Fran would wear the rainbow. Some objected to being the voice of management’s political message… for religious reasons. Some opted out of wearing the gear, others modified it.
Late last week, the San Francisco Giants hosted their “Pride Night,” with the team wearing hats with a rainbow-colored Giants logo.
Several Giants pitchers, in a statement of their faith, wrote Bible verse designations on their hats. One, starting pitcher Landen Roupp, addressed his reasoning after the game, saying that the verse is about representing “God’s covenant.”
“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that he makes to us that, you know, his faithfulness and his mercy,” Roupp said 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, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want.
“There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for, and what I stand in. I believe in God,” he added. — FoxNews
The League has since reacted to the ballplayers’ expressed objections by issuing this warning:
Monday, Pat Courtney, MLB’s chief communications officer, told Outsports in a statement that the “writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations.” Courtney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night. —Monteray Herald
The same article went on to show how the Giants’ team itself tried to split the difference between appealing to the public, and recognizing a player’s right to self-expression.
“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,” the statement reads. “We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations. We understand that the choices by individual players has 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.” —Monteray Herald
Flashback almost exactly six years in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and you saw a very different attitude toward expression:
Teams have the option of stenciling an inverted MLB logo with “BLM” or “United for Change” on the back of the pitcher’s mound during opening weekend games. Washington opted for the MLB/MLB stencil.
“It’s freedom of speech. It’s the Bill of Rights. It’s what the country’s founded on, to be able to express yourself freely. So I I think it’s a wonderful thing,” said Gerrit Cole, who makes his Yankees debut against Max Scherzer in the opener at Nationals Park.
After discussions among the commissioner’s office and the Major League Baseball Players Association, The Players Alliance and individual players, each player may use a wristband with an inverted MLB logo in which the silhouetted batter is black, the first use of such a logo.
Each player also may use a Black Lives Matter batting practice T-shirt or a T-shirt designed or obtained by the player or his team.
MLB is lifting cleat restrictions for this season, giving players the ability to put messages for social justice and causes on their spikes. — SportsNet
Bending the knee over racism is cool.
But bending one in obedience to God? The progressive movement will not tolerate such heresy or defiance of their religion. Evidently.
