This is a team sport’: Giants who protested Pride likely not protected by religion, labor lawyers say
Details
- Publish Date:
- June 19, 2026
- Author(s):
-
- Gafni, Matthias
- Source:
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Related Person(s):
Summary
Scribbling a Bible verse on their team hats adorned with a rainbow “SF” designed to celebrate the LGBTQ community violated Major League Baseball’s rules on altering uniforms, said Bill Gould, a Stanford law professor emeritus who played a crucial role in ending the MLB strike in the 1990s and has mediated more than 300 labor disputes. Baseball and professional sports teams carry different standards than your typical workplace, he said.
“I would say (the Giants) are not running afoul of the religious exemption,” Gould said. “Sports and baseball are in a different situation. Here a uniform is something that the name implies — uniform. … This is a team sport and the public and fans are interested in it because it involves cohesion.”
Not in baseball, Gould argued. Or other professional sports.
“They are out to lunch on the idea that wearing a hijab in a retail store is the same as wearing a cap on a baseball field,” Gould said. “There’s a basic interest in keeping the uniform — uniform.”
The Black Lives Matter argument also does not apply, Gould said, because baseball allowed that only in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.
“There is an inconsistency there, but it’s not quite the same as how the players are being treated here,” Gould said, citing as well the temporary 9/11 tributes after the terrorist attacks.
Gould differentiated Hentges from the other pitchers, saying protesting by simply wearing his normal Giants hat without the rainbow logo would not violate the league’s uniform requirements. Hentges was not warned by MLB.