Fri, June 19, 2026
York Revolution cancels baseball game due to players’ refusal to wear Pride jerseys
York Revolution, an American independent professional baseball team based in York, Pennsylvania, which plays in the Atlantic League, cancelled its 11th annual Pride Night game as players refused to wear pride jerseys, with rainbow sleeves as the design. Despite this, free Pride Night activities still went ahead, and officials pledged a donation of $10,000 to the Rainbow Rose Center which works to boost inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community.
York Revolution’s statement read: “This decision was not reached lightly. Unfortunately, several of our players [fewer than nine on the 28-man roster] have refused to wear the scheduled Pride Night jersey and the club decided that hosting the event is more important than forcing players to wear jerseys they are not comfortable with and playing the game…
We feel that this is the best way to stay consistent with our long-standing partnerships with the Rainbow Rose Center, JLS Automation and the long list of allies that have always been key partners of the York Revolution’s success in York, Pennsylvania…To be clear; this action by the players is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York…Tickets from Thursday’s June 18 game may be exchanged for tickets to any remaining 2026 regular season home game (subject to availability).”
President of the minor league, Ben Shipley, expressed to NBC News: “I’m disappointed that we’re at this point, and I recognize the players’ plight and their unwillingness to cross their line. I also think tolerance is not acceptance…
I was just asking for tolerance from the team, and they were unwilling to navigate that with me.”
Seven members of the team refused to wear the Pride uniforms at last year’s Pride Night, Shipley told NBC. “We still played the game,” he said. “We didn’t make a big fuss of it.”
A week prior, three San Francisco Giants players: Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote Bible verse references on their Pride Night hats over the rainbow-coloured Giants logo. The verse referenced was Genesis 9:12-16 which discusses the rainbow as a sign of God’s Noahic Covenant. Commentors suggested that this showed resistance against Pride as those players were implying that they only see the rainbow in relation to its biblical meaning, not in relation to Pride. Another Giants player, Sam Hentges, chose not to wear the Pride-themed hat entirely.
Tweaking the hats violated Major League Baseball (MLB) rules, and the players received verbal warnings, but not a fine or penalisation. Roupp defended his action stating: “There is no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for and what I stand in, and I believe in God and that’s me.”
A member of the Republican Party, Josh Hawley, argued that the verbal warning is part of “a pattern of discrimination” against Christian players. He elaborated: “MLB has said this is a content-neutral policy and that MLB ‘respect(s) players’ right to free expression,’ but this is dubious, given that MLB is openly promoting a political viewpoint and possibly compelling adherence to that viewpoint.”
In a general statement to The Athletic, MLB voiced: “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…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.”
Due to this recent occurrence, it may come as a surprise that the Giants were the first professional sports team to host a game which raised awareness and money for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1994, titled ‘Until There’s a Cure Day.’ In 2021, it also became the first team to feature the rainbow on its on-field caps for its annual Pride game.
Elsewhere, after the Dallas Wings’, an American professional basketball team, which competes in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), sold-out Pride Night game, player, Paige Bueckers, celebrated the event, voicing: “I want to live a Christ-like life - to live in love, to live in accepting others, to live a judgment-free life. That’s really what you want to do.”
In other news concerning players’ kits, Haiti was forced by FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) to wear new jerseys, just before the start of the World Cup after the global governing body deemed its kit to be too political. Some accused FIFA of hypocrisy as in December, the governing body awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump, with the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, voicing: “I think we should all support what he’s doing because I think it’s looking pretty good.”
Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from competing at the Winter Olympics after a dispute with Olympic authorities over a helmet he wore in tribute to those killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also showing how players’ kits can be used to express political standpoints.
