Legendary San Francisco Giants announcer Mike Krukow criticized players who wore Bible verses on their caps during Pride Night.
As Breitbart News reported, MLB issued a warning to three San Francisco Giants pitchers after they displayed Bible verses on their caps during Pride Night. The incident occurred last Friday when Giants right-hander Landen Roupp displayed “Gen 9:12-16” on his Pride Night cap, followed by relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker also featuring Bible verses on their official Pride Night caps.
“The writing on the cap violates our rules and, consistent with normal practice, we have warned players of future violations,” said Pat Courtney, MLB’s director of communications. The Athletic on Mondays.
“I think when you’re a player and you come into this environment, it’s your responsibility to know how sensitive this city is to cultural and religious freedom, and just how you live your life,” he said. “And I think they were in for a rude awakening with the response, and it wasn’t just from the gay community; it was from the Northern California community that supports the gay community.”
Krukow also highlighted the team’s past support of the gay community, dating back to the AIDS crisis.
“There’s also an irony because the Giants organization is also being abandoned, and that hurts me,” he said. “It hurt me because I saw in 1994 that they were the first team to take on the challenge of going against public opinion and the outrage of even associating with the gay community, and they openly came out and said, ‘We support the gay community. We support until there is a cure day. We are going to raise money to fight AIDS. We support the community.’ And they did it with love.
“…And the Giants were the first team in the stadium to fly the pride flag, and that drew criticism from around the country. So it hurt me to see that there was criticism directed at the Giants, for everything they have done to help the gay community, and the relationship between the Giants and the gay community has always been incredible,” he added.
Krukow concluded with a call for understanding on both sides.
“If I was part of the gay community, or a minority, and there was hatred directed toward me, if there was an opinion that that was prejudice directed toward me, I would stand tall and scream as loud as I could,” Krukow said. “And I get it, I get it, but I think we need to look at both sides of this. We respect those who express their opinion, even when we don’t agree with it, and we also applaud those who stand firm.”
