Giants manager Tony Vitello has compared the backlash his pitchers are experiencing over their Pride Night protest to SEC baseball fans who heckle players. He hasn’t acknowledged fans offended by the players’ decision to protest.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
Giants manager Tony Vitello has compared the backlash his pitchers are experiencing over their Pride Night protest to SEC baseball fans who heckle players. He hasn’t acknowledged fans offended by the players’ decision to protest.
Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle
ATLANTA — The San Francisco Giants’ Pride hat protest has become a national story, co-opted by political leaders to fuel a culture war. It’s shining a bright light on the Giants’ clubhouse and the four pitchers involved — Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, Sam Hentges and Ryan Walker.
Fueling the fire was a misinterpretation of the warning that MLB passed down to the three players who wrote a Bible verse on their Pride hat, which was for violating MLB’s uniform code, as political figures claimed the warning infringed upon the players’ free speech. Vice President JD Vance chimed in and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, penned a letter to Commissioner Rob Manfred decrying a “pattern of discrimination within MLB against Christian baseball players.”
As these reactions pile up, manager Tony Vitello said he’s kept himself out of the expanding national conversation about his players’ actions.
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“I didn’t know about the vice president,” Vitello said. “It hasn’t been in my world. My world’s kind of been, how do we find a way to beat the Braves. Then if we can beat them, try to beat them again. Hopefully our guys are focused on what they have to do and handling the business the right way.”
Three players, Roupp, Brubaker and Walker, wrote the Bible verse “Gen 9:12-16” next to the rainbow “SF” logo on their Pride hats. The verse has been invested by some Christians with a meaning intended to claim the symbol of the rainbow, often identified with the LGBTQ+ community and integrated into the team’s Pride hat, for themselves.
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Major League Baseball clarified that its warning to the players had nothing to do with the content of their message, but was a violation of its rule that no player can alter their uniforms.
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San Francisco-born comedian Rob Schneider offered to pay any fine those players would incur, but none of the players have been fined. A first violation draws only a warning from the league. A second violation would draw a $1,000 fine and a third goes up to $5,000, per terms in baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.
Vitello expects all players, including those involved, can create a “filtering system of what gets to them” so that they can focus on the task at hand. He noted that he’s talked about the mental health dynamic with vice president of medical and performance Dave Groeschner and mental health advocate Drew Robinson, who travels often with the team.
“Drew is with us, which is awesome every day,” Vitello said. “Mental health department has tried to move forward with what my personal thoughts are of controlling, filtering out what gets to you.”
Vitello then compared the backlash his pitchers are experiencing to SEC baseball fans who heckle players. He hasn’t acknowledged fans offended by the players’ decision to protest, which many interpreted as intolerant of the LGBTQ+ community, in the first place.
“When you’re away from the park in the locker room, I’d like to think these guys can come up with a filtering system of what gets to them and it could be something as small as an opinion on how the game went,” he said. “The only opinion that should matter is the one that’s going on in that locker room. I think the more we can do that, the better off we are. Guys deal with this stuff every single day with how many eyes are watching and opinions are out there, and I think the more simple they can keep it, the better.”
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Vitello wore the Pride Night hat himself, but has tried to avoid the controversy. He often spirals into non sequiturs or doesn’t respond directly when answering questions about how he views or handled the Pride Night protest his players made, before it and after. Hentges said afterward that team leaders and players had conversations about opting out or writing the Bible verse on their Pride hat in the days and weeks leading up to Friday. Vitello said after that game that he wasn’t involved in pregame conversations about the players’ decision.
“Just kind of a general knowledge of the individuals that have the freedom to do what they think is best,” Vitello said on Friday, asked whether he was OK with his players opting out or writing a Bible verse on the Pride hat in a city where Pride is a huge celebration, and in apparent ignorance of MLB’s rules. “I do think it’s been apparent from Day 1 — actually, even some of the exhibition games — it’s pretty impressive how the Giants, as an organization, try to embrace the entire community.”
On Tuesday, Vitello was asked whether he addressed the clubhouse following MLB’s warnings handed down to the three pitchers in the protest aftermath. Vitello said he hadn’t even heard about it until a media relations representative informed him prior to sitting for the media scrum that afternoon.
“I know those MLB Network guys well and keep in touch with them, but I don’t watch much of the MLB Network at all,” Vitello said.
It’s unclear where Vitello drew a connection between MLB Network, which is uninvolved with major league disciplinary action, and the league’s reminder of its rules to his players.
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Double-header notes: The Giants had to play a split double-header in Atlanta on Wednesday with Tuesday’s game suspended at the start of the bottom of the second inning. Robbie Ray, slated to start Wednesday, picked up where Adrian Houser left off on Tuesday to “start” the balance of the first game on Wednesday.
Carson Whisenhunt was called up from Triple-A Sacramento to start the second game. Whisenhunt has a 3.65 ERA over 14 games (13 starts) with the River Cats. He was the 27th man the Giants got for the second game and will go back to Sacramento afterward.
Lefty reliever Matt Gage was reinstated from the injured list and Reiver Sanmartin was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. The series finale is in jeopardy with rain forecast for most of Thursday, though.
Dusty Racer: Giants advisor Dusty Baker will serve as the honorary grand marshal for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race on June 28 at Sonoma Raceway. He’ll be responsible for the “Drivers, start your engines!” announcement to get the race underway.
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What do you think about some Giants players choosing not to wear or altering the team’s Pride Night caps?
During the Giants’ Pride Night celebration, some players chose not to wear the team’s special Pride caps, while others wore caps with Bible verses written on them.
Gordon
Stockton, CA
06/18/26
0
I don’t mind the chapter verse written on the caps, but I think it would’ve been best to just throw those pride caps in the trash and put on good old San Francisco Giants regular hats.
Jeri
Walnut Creek, CA
06/18/26
0
I am not part of the LBGTQ community, but I was still shocked when I saw what these 4 pitchers had done. And to do that in OUR town, San Francisco? It was disgusting. I, like many others who have commented here, am a lifelong Giants fan and Bay Area native, as was my dad who taught me how to love baseball as a very young girl. I watch every Giants game, including the one on Pride Night. I was sickened and angered by this purposeful, hurtful act by these pitchers to their fans. The lack of backbone that the Giants organization, including Tony Vitello and Buster has shown thus far makes me just furious. Just another huge misstep in this disaster of a season.
These 4 players are not team players. They should be traded AFTER APOLOGIZING.
Axel
San Francisco, CA
06/18/26
0
Absolutely wrong. Not place to express their individual views. Despise the hatefulness.
Christine
Santa Cruz, CA
06/18/26
0
I am outraged that Tony Vitello, Giant’s manager, seems totally disconnected from the Giant’s fan base who make it possible for him and those Christian Right pitchers to get a very cozy salary. Tony’s effort seems totally focused on protecting players from any fan criticism. I will not spend one dollar more on giant’s games or fan gear until Tony addresses the issue directly showing he understands who the fan base is and until those four pitchers are traded and no longer play for the Giants. They should not be wearing the Giant’s uniform. Heads up Buster.,
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