The U.S. Department of Justice has referred Major League Baseball to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for potential religious discrimination. The issue is the league warning San Francisco Giants players about writing Bible verses on their Pride Night hats.
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at Department of Justice, said in an open letter addressed to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred that she has launched a civil rights investigation into whether the league violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley previously released a letter he, too, sent to Rob Manfred, questioning the league’s message to the players.
“The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages,” Harmeet Dhillon wrote.
Dhillon also mentioned Title VII of the act in her letter, which forbids discrimination by employers on the grounds of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Additionally, she cited a U.S. Code that mandates that businesses make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s religious observance as long as it does not “impose undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.”
“Swing and a miss! Major League Baseball encouraged players to wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their uniforms but reportedly threatened Christians who write Bible verses on their hats,” Dhillon wrote in the caption to her X post revealing the letter. “@USEEOC will investigate whether this amounts to religious discrimination.”
Major League Baseball said the Basic Agreement all players sign prohibits the unauthorized alteration of uniforms
According to the MLB Basic Agreement, “No alterations, writing or illustrations, other than as authorized herein, are to be made to any part of the uniform.”
“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, said in a statement on Monday.
On Tuesday, Major League Baseball expanded on its statement, explaining, “To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message.
“We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s uniform regulations which provides in part that, ‘(a) player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment…’
“We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad,’ ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom’ and names of family members.”