MLB Pride Controversy

In one game, three players (Landen Roupp, JT BruBaker, and Ryan Walker) wore baseball caps with bible verses and a pride flag on them. These players al received a warning.

The Major League Baseball League, or the MLB, is facing a huge controversy right now. The MLB is the highest level of professional baseball globally. It mainly operates baseball in the United States and Canada. The league is made of 30 member clubs that are divided equally into the National League and the American League. Each team plays 162 games during the season. These usually run from the late spring into fall.

The MLB is debating whether or not they should be able to publicly stand for Pride, or the celebration of LGBTQ+ individuals. The late owner of the MLB (Bud Selig) was advocating that the MLB should be able to stand up for pride.

However, his successor (Rob Manfred) has a completely different stance on this. According to the New York Times, Manfred said, “(T)he league does not desire for its players to become messengers for political or social issues while in uniform playing baseball games.” If the players do represent a message, they will receive a warning as they are not supposed to have it.

However, people have many different opinions on this issue within the MLB. According to the New York Times, an executive in a Big Four sports said, “Every league, they’re ojust trying to ride it out,”

According to another opinion on the MLB, “Then in four or five years, they’ll all pretend that they’ve always been on board (with diversity initiatives).” According to them, they think the MLB is just trying to play it safe. But, other people may think that the MLB is making the right decision.

When you have different backgrounds, different beliefs, and different experiences, it brings the best out of everyone. -Curtis Pride (MLB’s Ambassador)