Missouri AG Catherine Hanaway Gives MLB Until June 25 to Confirm No Punishment for Players Who Refused Pride Paraphernalia or Added Scripture – Or She Will Open a Full Investigation into Religious Liberty Violations * The Gateway Pundit * by Jim Hᴏft

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is drawing a line in the sand against Major League Baseball’s apparent effort to pressure players into conforming to left-wing Pride Month activism. As The Gateway Pundit first reported last week, San Francisco Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker refused to silently participate in the league’s Pride Night spectacle. They wore the mandated rainbow-themed caps but boldly wrote Genesis 9:12-16 on them. When asked about it, San Francisco Giants pitchers Landen Roupp said the verse is “about God’s covenant and a promise that He makes to us.” “It’s something I believe in and I stand firm in that,” Roupp added. “Thankfully we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want.” MLB responded by issuing warnings that any writing on the caps “violates our rules” and threatened future violations. One player, Sam Hentges, simply refused to wear the Pride hat at all. In a letter to MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr., AG Hanaway made it crystal clear: Missouri will not tolerate MLB punishing players for exercising sincerely held religious beliefs. “It has come to my attention that MLB is considering disciplining members of the San Francisco Giants who expressed their dissent from wearing ‘Pride Night’ hats—by either writing Bible verses on those hats or wearing the regular Giants cap. In response to these actions, MLB said, ‘The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,’” Hanaway wrote. “Missouri will not tolerate any threat to punish a player for exercising his sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. Doing so is both illegal and un-American,” she added. Hanaway cites binding Supreme Court precedent (EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., 2015) and Missouri law (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.055(1)(a)) making it illegal for employers to force employees to violate their religious convictions. Quoting Obergefell v. Hodges, Hanaway reminds Manfred that the law protects not only those who celebrate same-sex marriage but also those who “deem same-sex marriage to be wrong” based on “religious or philosophical premises.” The letter gives MLB until June 25, 2026 to confirm, in writing, that it will not discipline any players who chose to refrain from wearing Pride Month paraphernalia or who added Bible verses to the Pride hats. If MLB refuses or fails to respond, Hanaway vowed to open a formal investigation into whether the league is violating the religious liberty rights of players and employees in Missouri. This comes as U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has already opened his own Congressional investigation into MLB’s targeting of the Christian ballplayers.