Nearly two weeks into the San Francisco Giants’ Pride Night public-relations nightmare, team president and CEO Larry Baer at last said something.
Fans, especially those in the LGBTQ community, had been upset at the lack of response by team officials after three pitchers wrote Bible verses on their Pride hat and another chose not to wear it on June 12. Baer’s brief comments Thursday on the team’s flagship radio station provided some acknowledgement that the LGBTQ community remains important to the club.
“Before we get going with the interview I just wanted to say a couple of things to you and our fans and speak from the heart as somebody who has been involved with this ownership group from day one,” Baer said on KNBR. “This ownership group has been really involved in supporting the LGBTQ community — it’s strong and unwavering for over 30 years now, I can’t believe it’s been 30 years.
“I know we’ve heard from many fans, and I know there are deep feelings about the events of Pride Night this year. We know it. We’ve heard. We’re listening. Just some context here — over those 30-plus years it’s a North Star here to create an experience at our ballpark for all fans, starting at Candlestick and Oracle Park. The experience is welcoming to all fans. That has not changed. … That will not change. Our park should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued. I just want to make that really clear. We take pride in being industry leaders in that effort with the LGBTQ community.”
Baer cited the team’s Until There’s a Cure Day, the first of its kind in pro sports that started in 1994 during the AIDs epidemic; the team still holds the event, with the next falling on Aug. 10. He noted that the Giants are one of two teams (with the Dodgers) to wear Pride hats.
The team’s silence after Landen Roupp, Ryan Walker and JT Brubaker wore a Bible verse and Sam Hentges declined to wear the Pride hat was a major disappointment to many fans. The Giants received floods of complaints, many of them also shared with the Chronicle and other media outlets, after failing to address the issue with more than a statement. Tuesday, president of baseball operations Buster Posey addressed the media, but he declined to talk about the Pride Night concerns and repeatedly deflected any questions about the topic.
It’s unclear why the Giants did not send Baer, Posey’s boss, to handle those duties then; Thursday, he swapped in for Posey, who’d been scheduled to appear on KNBR.
“Yes, we’ve learned a lot in the last 11 days,” Baer said. “Yes, we could have handled things better this year, for sure. We’re absolutely committed to continuing our conversations with members of the LGBTQ+ community going forward, and that’s where we are as an organization. I think a lot of our community partners who we’ve worked with through those years, decades, know that, and I just wanted to deliver that message to the fans and move on and talk about some other things.”
There is good reason to believe that the Giants are concerned about the Department of Justice’s threats to investigate Major League Baseball for denying the pitchers’ freedom of religious expression after MLB issued a statement saying that players are not allowed to write anything of any kind on their hats. No fines were issued, however, and the players have said they do not believe they were discriminated against.