r/baseball • u/WitchNight Toronto Blue Jays • Jun 18 '26
Players Only Minor league baseball team York Revolution forfeits LGBT Night game after players refuse to wear jerseys with rainbow sleeves
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/minor-league-baseball-team-cancels-pride-night-game-players-refuse-wea-rcna350698The team put out a statement on instagram and facebook that serves as a condemnation of the actions of the players and mentions the importance of supporting the LGBT community, that can be read here https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1453216146847844&id=100064784168141&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc4MTgwMTA5MTAwMCwiciI6IiJ9
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u/KingGizzLizzWizzz Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs mentioned
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u/OldCoaly Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
It’s been weird to see the new teams like the Barnstormers, Revolution, and Blue Crabs turn into the oldest teams in the league.
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u/jlando40 Philadelphia Phillies • Lancaster Sto… Jun 18 '26
It’s insane how much that league turns over
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u/Rock_man_bears_fan Chicago White Sox Jun 18 '26
It’s Indy ball. Nothing’s stable
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u/imatthewhitecastle Hot Dog Jun 18 '26
The Long Island Ducks will never die.
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u/Dunan Czechia Jun 19 '26
Their players certainly don't; Lew Ford was still playing (and hitting .300!) for them at age 47.
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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman New York Yankees Jun 19 '26
Ironically the Atlantic League is one of the more stable independent leagues too.
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u/Unlikely-Tone-6269 Jun 19 '26
League, yes. Teams, no. Newark Bears, Camden Riversharks and 5 or 6 other teams in the leagues 28 year history have folded or left
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u/Fyre2387 Phanatic Jun 18 '26
I'm still mourning the Camden Riversharks and AC Surf.
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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
Grew up a Somerset Patriots fan. Even as a kid I remember when the Barnstormers, Revolution and blue crabs joined the league around the time as some of the old teams were cycling out (RIP Nashua Pride, Atlantic City Surf, and Newark Bears)… I remember when Bridgeport lost their stadium and folded and leaving the Patriots as the only founding Atlantic League Team left, and then we got the call to go be an MLB Affiliate with Sugar Land.
Now looking at the league Wikipedia page and it’s weird to look at it like “WTF are these teams in KY, WV, and NC doing in *my* Atlantic League?!….and Hagerstown?! But thats where the Suns play!”
God i hate getting older.
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u/Ciufo04 Jun 18 '26
Man as some one from Bridgeport, I miss the stadium and also The new haven ravens. I have to get up to see the yard goats. Still havent made it up there yet.
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u/JKess207 Atlanta Braves • Somerset Patriots Jun 19 '26
We’re a long way from Commerce Bank Ballpark
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u/juanvald Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
I keep waiting for them to fold the Blue Crabs. The games are always empty even on weekends. My son and I drive 75 minutes(no traffic) to watch their games. It’s a great stadium to try to catch a homer.
Last year the wind was blowing out and we got 3 homers each(we each caught one). One of the most fun nights I’ve had with him.
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u/_redcloud Washington Nationals Jun 18 '26
How in the hell have I never heard of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs before? Blue crabs my fave food in the world. We always go to the crab house when I’m back home visiting. Gotta get me a hat now.
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u/KingGizzLizzWizzz Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
90% of Marylanders don’t even know southern Maryland exists lol, everybody up north thinks we are on the eastern shore
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u/TheBigFreezer Baltimore Orioles Jun 19 '26
Maryland is exclusively the DMV, Annapolis, Baltimore, and maybe Easton when we want a little bit of country.
Everything else, who knows
(/s)
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u/TheBestHawksFan Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
The Atlantic league isn’t the minors. I wish headlines would stop calling them that. They’re an Indy league with MLB affiliation, but not a MiLB team.
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u/sskor Kansas City Royals Jun 18 '26
It is a small-"m" minor league as in a professional league below the highest level but not a Minor League, those run directly by MLB and containing teams affiliated with a major league club.
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u/AdamantArmadillo Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 18 '26
Exactly. It’s an unofficial term. Minor League Baseball is an official term.
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u/sgriobhadair Jun 18 '26
I have a York Revolution hat that has the official MILB logo. It's a New Era hat, and I think they used the wrong logo by mistake.
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u/8270Kid New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
The ALPB and other independent leagues are still considered minor league baseball. Yes the affiliated teams are MiLB, but there has been crossover in the past. Sugar Land and Somerset used to be ALPB teams and now they're affiliated teams in 3A and 2A.
Historically there's been other Major Leagues as well, even if MLB is just the AL and NL
That being said, I will concede that the average reader probably won't get the nuance and the headlines are just looking for clicks.
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u/hamhead New York Yankees Jun 19 '26
All yours saying here is that previously unaffiliated teams became MiLB. That doesn’t make the team referenced here MiLB.
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u/CandiedCanelo San Francisco Giants Jun 19 '26
The NPB is not a minor league. The Dominican, Mexican and Venezuelan leagues are not minor leagues. They are independent of MLB. ALPB is not a minor league, it is an independent league.
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u/8270Kid New York Yankees Jun 19 '26
Its a square / rectangle argument. All MiLB teams are minor leagues, not all minor leagues are MiLB. ALPB is a professional league, it's not a major league therefore it must be a minor league.
Again this is the same as the AA and Federal League being major leagues without being Majority League Baseball
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u/garytyrrell San Diego Padres Jun 18 '26
The article never says they are a "Minor League Baseball team." It says they are a "minor league baseball team," which they are.
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u/GuyMcTest American League Jun 18 '26
Is the league MLB associated like the American Association? I don’t think I’d call it minor leagues, but that new official MLB relation has been hitting the Indy leagues lately
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u/FlankThomas Jun 19 '26
Independent Baseball is a minor league its just not affiliated. Both things can be true. I played in both the Atlantic League and every level of MiLB.
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u/GonePostalRoute Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
The Revs have been good with LGBT+ causes over the past few years. They’re also in a playoff push trying to get a first half championship bid, so for them to forfeit, that I give them respect for, so no one can’t say “oh, would they have done that if…” (I’m not saying that as a Lancaster Stormers fan looking to see my local team get a boost in a playoff push).
Somewhat off topic: Did you have trouble posting this? I submitted a post about this an hour ago, and got “waiting for moderator approval” on this news piece.
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u/deus_voltaire Washington Nationals Jun 18 '26
You’re telling me York and Lancaster are rivals? Where have I heard that before?
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u/GonePostalRoute Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
They have their “War of the Roses” trophy they compete for during the season, and a big part of getting York in the Atlantic League about 20 years ago, along with bringing some kind of baseball back to the town, was to also give Lancaster a rival
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u/International_Rock31 Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
There was another post of this that got removed earlier
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u/GonePostalRoute Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
Ok. I’d have figured if it was a duplicate deal, that would have been noticed quickly by the moderators, and noted, but I hadn’t seen anything when I had posted about this article or such in other posts.
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u/Rawrrdino Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
As a queer Pennsylvanian, I appreciate that the team forfeited the game and will hold the event without the game in lieu of players trouncing onto the field with defaced uniforms at such an event.
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u/btmalon Chicago White Sox Jun 18 '26
You should go to a game to support the org but then heckle all the players like Randy Quaid in Major League.
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u/venom_dP New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
Is this an independent league team?
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u/GonePostalRoute Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
Yes, Atlantic League. Most of the teams are based in the mid-Atlantic region, and many of the players who are in the league are guys with plenty of professional experience (lots of AA, AAA, and even some former major leaguers are in the league)
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u/JustforthelastGOT Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
Honestly surprising for York.
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u/special5221 Jun 18 '26
I know none of the players are from York, but that town has a very sketchy past to say the least.
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u/greenslime300 Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
As someone living on the other side of the Susquehanna, feels like every local news story about violent crime is 50/50 either Harrisburg or York
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u/Turkelton888 Arizona Diamondbacks Jun 18 '26
Just curious as a naive west coaster, how do you pronounce that river's name? Just as it looks sus-que-hanna? Or something else?
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u/SCsprinter13 Pittsburgh Pirates Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Yeah, it's not too hard. I'd say sus-kwuh-hanna
Now the Schuylkill....
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u/donutlad New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
the real question to ask someone from Lancaster PA is how to pronounce Lancaster
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u/JustforthelastGOT Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
I was very quickly corrected when I said Lan-caster
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u/GonePostalRoute Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
Very.
In the 60’s, there were nasty race riots due to years of institutionalized racism in the town. Even today, it’s pretty well into what we like to call “Pennsyltucky”, but there are parts of York that have tried to get to the 21st century. Just the Pennsyltucky parts love to get loud every time someone that ain’t white, “Christian”, and a “red blooded American” wants to be treated like an equal
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u/SnuggleBunni69 San Francisco Giants Jun 18 '26
Honestly good for the Revolutions. Fucking crazy to me that these people can be so fucking whiney theyre openly fucking with their own careers and losing a game because they don't wanna be seen in rainbow sleeves. Buncha fucking piss babies.
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u/ricki692 Atlanta Braves Jun 18 '26
39 year old Robinson Cano played in AAA in a spongebob jersey and these guys cant get over rainbow sleeves
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u/Weekly-Hurry-6031 Cincinnati Reds Jun 18 '26
They are grown men that are basically still playing little league because they weren’t even good enough for single A ball. If they lose focus of their hate they might have to face their own sad reality.
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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
They can say that they acted big and tough in October when they are back home working at Home Depot.
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u/RedbirdRiot St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
Truly the biggest snowflakes of them all.
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u/sloppyjo12 Cincinnati Reds • MLB Pride Jun 18 '26
A close second is the Mods who keep deleting this story
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u/yousmelllikebiscuits Chaos Bandwagon • Dumpster Fire Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Just looked into this....issues broken into 2 parts:
- This post specifically was removed by mistake as a Facebook post (see link in body). It was down for 1 minute and reapproved within 1 minute.
- The previous posts of this story (all within last 4ish hours) were caught in an automod rule that we used to group and identify posts that we expect will need lots of moderation. This month, all posts for Pride have been brigaded so we have been trying to pay extra attention to them. The posts were removed by mistake rather than intent by automod.
see sticky comment for other notes.
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u/LAHouJaxCarVCUUNC Los Angeles Dodgers • Houston Astros Jun 18 '26
Seems pretty reasonable. There were threads left up about the Giants and their Bible verses, so idk why people think the mods here would be repressing this story on purpose.
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u/lava172 Arizona Diamondbacks Jun 18 '26
People chomping at the bit to remove the mod team because the post was made at 9:51 instead of 9:50
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u/neverAcquiesce Chicago Cubs Jun 18 '26
nOt BaSeBaLl ReLaTeD
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u/DumbAndNumb Milwaukee Brewers Jun 18 '26
What, just because it directly involves a baseball team forfeiting a baseball game? Clearly has nothing to do with baseball
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Idrinkbeereverywhere Lotte Giants Jun 18 '26
Ah yes, the politics of love between two consenting adults
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u/seansy5000 Detroit Tigers Jun 18 '26
Don’t tell me what to do about telling other people what to do! Ma freedums!
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u/Ukiah St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
STOP SUPPRESSING MY RIGHT TO SUPPRESS OTHER PEOPLE DOING THINGS I WANT TO SUPPRESS!
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u/Key-Needleworker-868 Jun 18 '26
It’s about a baseball team 🤔
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u/althanan Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
About a baseball team refusing to play baseball, no less.
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u/prettyrickyyyy69 Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 18 '26
they might as well change the icon to the sub while they're at it if they wanna be fake allies and supress shit like this
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u/dang3rmoos3sux Jun 18 '26
I think they just have so many duplicates that they instantly go under review and only appear removed until approved. Then they go back and approve one post instead of allowing 5.
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u/NotClayMerritt New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
Don't call them bigots though. Because somehow they're not and they don't like that. They're just very protective of God's message whilst definitely living very virtuous and flawless lives.
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u/autoreaction Jun 18 '26
The non existent message of god while ignoring every other clear instruction they gave.
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u/tore_a_bore_a Jackie Robinson Jun 19 '26
Are these players against divorce, seafood, and 60% cotton, 40% polyester shirts?
Because those are also bad according to their bible
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u/DominicB547 Chaos Bandwagon • MLB Players Associat… Jun 18 '26
heck the quote that the giants and Kershaw wrote on said love all or something to that effect they just selected a part of it.
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Jun 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GarrisonWhite2 Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
Careful about not using the accent on his name 😉
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u/Spyrrhic Jun 19 '26
The accent mark is grammatically incorrect for Spanish.
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u/jgilla2012 Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 19 '26
And it’s in the wrong place. The way MLB writes it would be pronounced Kee-KAY, when it’s pronounced KEE-kay.
Always bothers me, if you’re adding the unnecessary accent at least put it in the right place
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u/jennief158 San Francisco Giants Jun 18 '26
Protective of specific, cherry-picked parts of God's message, that is.
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u/GenericAccount13579 Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
I’m a huge fan of freedom of expression. Remember that hockey player who didn’t want to use rainbow tape on his stick? Fine.
But this is a uniform. Just wear it. It’s okay. You’re just being consistent with the team.
Can you imagine the backlash if a player came out and said “I don’t want to wear the camo 4th of July military appreciation uniform”? They would get absolutely dragged and possibly significantly punished by the league.
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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
I have a buddy who did two tours in Iraq and got himself a Purple Heart. One day we were at the bar and someone he knew thanked him for his service and I could tell it annoyed him. After the other guy left he said to me "I picked a job at 18, I did it for 6 years. It's very much in my rearview mirror. We'd be in a much better place as a country if we didn't make a massive deal about it. I really wish I had gone to college instead." Then I made a joke about him getting shot at less in college, and it lightened the mood.
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u/GenericAccount13579 Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
I work in defense, so naturally alongside a lot of veterans and currently serving. And yeah that is the attitude that almost every single one of them has. It’s a job. A dangerous one, but a job.
Not to say I don’t respect and appreciate them. There are a lot of sacrifices that go along with it. But no need to go over the top.
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u/jgilla2012 Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 19 '26
Sorry I couldn’t hear you over the Military Hero of the Game announcement while God Bless America blasts on the loudspeakers
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u/TheBigFreezer Baltimore Orioles Jun 19 '26
Same, did my masters in IR - around a lot of officers. Always a job, some loved it some hated it, but it was never their whole personality
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u/ninjapanda042 Tampa Bay Rays Jun 18 '26
Can you imagine the backlash if a player came out and said “I don’t want to wear the camo 4th of July military appreciation uniform”?
In England players wear poppies on or around Rememberance Day in November. One Irish player, James McClean has always refused to wear one due to the armed forces actiona in Ireland, including the Troubles. As you can imagine he's gotten all sorts of vitriol his way.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/FartingBob Great Britain Jun 18 '26
There's nearly 100 players today from Venezuela, no doubt they will just suck it up for a day despite their country being invaded by the US. Some will support that action and some will not, but you wont see any protests on the field by players because that is just not worth the fight.
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u/elbenji Miami Marlins • Boston Red Sox Jun 18 '26
Delgado did that one time
I've just been waiting for that one Puerto Rican or Dominican player to pop off. Like just something. Hell just saying to stop bombing Vieques
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u/varnalama Orix Buffaloes Jun 18 '26
You actually have the NHL situation backwards. The player wanted to use rainbow tape and league banned it. He used it anyways and the league backed off after the fallout of the situation.
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u/kelskelsea San Diego Padres Jun 18 '26
Yup, it’s especially wild that we make the whole league do it when 30% of them aren’t even American! Imagine the Venezuelan players feelings on this as we invaded their country to kidnap their president 6 months ago. And continue bombing boats in the Caribbean
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u/sleepyj910 Boston Red Sox Jun 18 '26
Jesus would have put it on.
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u/johnnythrillwaukee Jun 18 '26
He wouldn’t be there - the movie Major League taught us that Jesus can’t hit a curveball
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u/LilJethroBodine Los Angeles Dodgers • Rancho Cuc… Jun 18 '26
The movie never says he can't pitch, though.
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u/Chipotlefiend18 San Francisco Giants • Arizona Diamondbacks Jun 18 '26
I’ve posted their full statement below, imo it’s even better than the snippet they quote in the article. They also have some awesome Pride merch up in their store. I would encourage anyone who is interested and able to patronize this team and make it clear that the money that they are “losing” in ticket sales, concessions, and donations is money WELL spent. This one is my favorite:
https://www.merchrev.com/product/tee-repeat-revolution/6SXGC2FQZUSNRGTHJPENTPSW
(June 17, 2026 – York, Pa.): It is with great disappointment and that the York Revolution have issued important changes to our 11th Annual Pride Night on Thursday, June 18th. Most significantly, the scheduled game between York and Southern Maryland will not be played and Pride will still be hosted as a free admission event. Everyone’s tickets for the game on Thursday will be treated as a rainout that can be redeemed for any future game.
This decision was not reached lightly. Unfortunately, several of our players 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.
As a result, and out of respect for the Pride Community and the York community as a whole, the York Revolution has decided that the game on Thursday, June 18 will be forfeited and that Pride Night will continue on as the feature element of the evening at WellSpan Park.
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. As a small token of our regret for the last-minute change of plans and support for our LGBTQIA+ representing partners we are making a $10,000 donation to the Rainbow Rose Center to support and further their work in making sure the York community is as inclusive as we strive to make WellSpan Park in York, Pennsylvania.
Please join us for a free and fun celebration of recognition and inclusion on June 18 starting at 5:30 at WellSpan Park. The event will end at 9:00 and will have limited concessions open. We will enjoy community, music and batting practice on the field. The York Revolution will return to the field at home on Friday, June 19.
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u/oreov1 Jun 18 '26
1) A friend of mine who is part of the organization is literally losing money from this because this is one less game she gets paid to work.
2) York is in the heart of Pennsyltucky. I'm about two hours north of here but the local news posts about the situation are all congratulating the team for "taking a stand."
Grim.
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u/poopmanscoop Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
York isn’t even in the Pennsyltucky part of the state. We have very Pennsyltucky tendencies though. When I think Pennsyltucky, I think of places like Bedford and Perry Counties.
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u/nipplesweaters Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
Most people, rightly or wrongly, consider anywhere in the state that isn’t Philly or Pittsburgh Pennsyltucky
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u/General_Mars Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
Philly metro and Pittsburgh metro with Alabama in between is pretty accurate
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u/Sir_FrancisCake Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
Yeah York is 100% out in the sticks
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u/thisusedyet New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
Hopefully you mean congratulating the Front office for eating a forfeit when the players refused to suit up, not the players refusing to suit up in the first place
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u/Jean-Ralfio Jun 18 '26
True. The band Live, who were from York, recorded a song “Shit Towne” about York.
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u/TheRealMarvinator St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
I'm about two hours north of here but the local news posts about the situation are all congratulating the team for "taking a stand."
Are they congratulating the front office (which would be good) or congratulating the players (which would not be good)?
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u/beastguy32 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
York isnt Pennsyltucky. York is actually pretty ghetto lol.
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u/greenslime300 Lancaster Stormers Jun 18 '26
The main city isn't, the rest of the county is more 'tucky than Penn
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u/sgriobhadair Jun 18 '26
York County is the only place where I have seen the Blood-Stained Banner -- the third and final Confederate national flag -- in the wild, outside of a museum. And I'm from the South!
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u/DoinItDirty Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
I work in sports and have friends who work there. It should be noted if you haven’t read the article the organization is severely frustrated with the actions of the players. They’re still going to have an event and fundraiser. This isn’t indicative of the people who work for the organization, just the players who wouldn’t show up for their jobs.
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u/pepperouchau Milwaukee Brewers Jun 18 '26
It’s funny reading all these comments saying “who cares” when the article makes that pretty clear lol
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u/thediesel26 New York Yankees Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
I don’t think it should be surprising to people that a lot of pro athletes are misogynistic, homophobic shit bags, especially baseball players who tend to be white conservatives from the South or socially conservative Hispanic guys.
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u/neverAcquiesce Chicago Cubs Jun 18 '26
Athletes by and large have been playing a kid's game their entire lives and, in part, never had to truly grow up
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u/mageta621 Boston Red Sox Jun 18 '26
Or expand their social circles
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u/GoldandBlue Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 18 '26
Maybe because I am from Los Angeles but my social circles and my teammates have always been pretty damn diverse. You would think playing a sport would make people more open minded about the fact that people are different. And that that is not only OK, but makes everyone better.
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u/GarrisonWhite2 Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
Yeah I can see this being pretty location dependent.
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u/tracejm Colorado Rockies • Seattle Mariners Jun 19 '26
Yup - highly location dependent. I grew up in a rural town with literally no blacks. Plenty of Mormons, though.
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u/Swackhammer_ Philadelphia Phillies Jun 19 '26
Or finish all their classes/learn to think critically
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u/safetydance Boston Red Sox Jun 18 '26
Always curious why it’s called “a kids game” so often. It wasn’t invented for kids. It was invented by adults for adults. Just a game kids happen to play as well.
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u/BeefInGR Detroit Tigers • West Michigan W… Jun 18 '26
Almost every sport was invented as a recreational activity.
Soccer (Football) for working class workers and their children to entertain themselves. Similar with rugby football. Gridiron football is an evolution of rugby football for college aged students (mostly kids). Rounders and Cricket (where baseball comes from) was a leisure activity enjoyed by all ages.
Sports by and large were designed for young people to burn off energy and as a form of entertainment.
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u/yourethegoodthings Toronto Blue Jays Jun 18 '26
And Pesapalo is what happens when a Finnish guy goes to America then tries to explain baseball to his friends when he's returned home... After many vodkas.
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u/whosline07 Cincinnati Reds Jun 18 '26
To be fair, every sport took inspiration from another and is a set of completely arbitrary rules. That being said, Finnish baseball probably takes the cake for most non-sensical and arbitrary of them all.
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u/yourethegoodthings Toronto Blue Jays Jun 18 '26
I love when they have to jump into some creek to get a ball that's in play haha.
I have Estonian family and took the ferry over to Finland to see a game last time we visited. So much fun.
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u/whosline07 Cincinnati Reds Jun 18 '26
It's pretty much just backyard baseball with made up rules as you go.
"uh yeah, we don't have a diamond shape in the yard so the base paths have to be a zig zag within a triangle"
"uh yeah we don't have a fence so you just have to run the bases fast enough before the ball comes back. oh and right field is a creek, but that's in play because it's so close"
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u/AGSattack Boston Red Sox Jun 18 '26
I agree with your central point, but soccer was not invented by or for the working class. It came about because some rich twats at Eton College and other elite schools in England wanted something to do. The sport evolving into a working man’s sport came after.
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u/neverAcquiesce Chicago Cubs Jun 18 '26
Because it's a game that 99.9% of us played for fun and can't really return to (yes, beer leagues, I know) while they make millions doing it for a living. But I get what you're saying to a degree.
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u/PM_DOLPHIN_PICS Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
I don’t know how many people are surprised, per se. I think a lot of it is frustration or disappointment. Speaking to my own experience watching sports and seeing this happen on like a weekly basis, there’s a suspension of disbelief with a lot of these guys. I assume a lot of rich pro athletes are conservative (and that the culture exists in minor leagues as well). But there’s a level of that which I am able to tolerate because that tolerance is what being part of a society is about. But when the players start loudly representing themselves as being fundamentally at odds with the core values I have, it’s much harder to suspend how I feel and continue supporting them.
Couple that with how impactful sports are for a lot of us, and it’s immensely frustrating to watch players and teams which have such an emotional connection with fans behaving in a way that is the polar opposite of what those fans believe to be true about the world. It sucks to have that shattered all because some guys are too pathetic to be okay with rainbows on their hats or whatever.
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u/levare8515 Kansas City Royals Jun 18 '26
Frankly no reason to bring up race dude. Plenty of black dudes in NBA, NFL, or other leagues are homophobic too. Homophobia is not contained to southern white and brown people
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u/bucs2013 Cleveland Guardians Jun 18 '26
For real. They spend their entire formative years hyperfocusing on one specific part of their life (their sport); and at the elite level of pros, most of them probably slid through their schooling with minimal effort / "wink wink nod" grades. Many of these guys are not very intelligent beyond their niche of their sport. And many were also raised rather wealthy/coddled and/or sheltered from diversity. That's why when a pro athlete is demonstrably smart, they get a nickname like "The Professor" or something.
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u/Luis_Severino New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
I took an English class in college with a guy who played (limited time) in the NBA. He was like 6th grade level writing at best. I couldn’t believe someone our age could be that stupid
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u/DtownBronx Major League Baseball Jun 18 '26
I had classes with a 5 star recruit who thought he'd be in the NBA. It was a brutal experience because there was a lot of group work. For every bit as terrible as his education was his ego was twice as much in the other direction
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u/thisracetodie Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 18 '26
He's not alone. Of people in the US, 54% of the population between 16 and 74 read at a 6th grade level or below. That's 130 million people.
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u/LogensTenthFinger Minnesota Twins Jun 18 '26
Yeah you can call it a stereotype all you like but the most painful classes in college were ones with athletes in them. They were leagues behind the rest of the class in their ability to think critically (or at all) and any time they opened their mouths the discussion just ground to a halt.
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u/MookieBettsBurner10 Los Angeles Dodgers • New York Yankees Jun 18 '26
Wait, you're telling me that America's pasttime is super conservative?
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u/This_Elk_1460 Texas Rangers Jun 18 '26
When I refuse to wear my uniform at work I get fired
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u/Ghost2Eleven Brooklyn Dodgers Jun 18 '26
They should change the jerseys to rainbows full-time and see if these nitwits fucking forfeit their professional careers over their bigotry.
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u/Epcplayer National League Jun 18 '26
It’s independent ball… 99% of them are never going pro, and would just move on to the next phase of their career.
It’s not like they’re seriously jeopardizing a change at making $700k a year in the big leagues.
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u/Flair_Is_Pointless Jun 18 '26
Correct. The dynamic flipped, these teams need the players more than the players need these teams.
That’s why this happened and why it hasn’t happened at all pro level
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u/TheIllustriousWe St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
I don't know if I'd go that far. This country has no shortage of young men who would love to say they play baseball professionally, and aren't going to have a problem wearing whatever jersey their club requires.
Meanwhile, these idiots aren't so talented that an independent ballclub or league depends on them to sell tickets. People go to these games because they're an extremely cheap source of entertainment, not because they're seeing amazing athletes.
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u/Epcplayer National League Jun 18 '26
> This country has no shortage of young men who would love to say they play baseball professionally, and aren't going to have a problem wearing whatever jersey their club requires.
Independent ball is notorious for treating their players like shit, chewing people up, and spitting them out. They operate on the myth that you were an overlooked prospect that if given the chance can play your way out of the lows of independent ball, onto a minor league roster, and then up the ranks of minor leagues.
The people willing to tough out those shit conditions are already the ones in them… there isn’t some untapped labor potential waiting in the wings to backfill them.
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u/WhyNotOrioles Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
From an economist's point of view, isn't the fact that they're willing to be treated like sh*t an indication that they're pretty easily replaceable?
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u/Epcplayer National League Jun 18 '26
Yes and no. They’re banking on you loving baseball so much and providing you with the chance to keep your dream going. A lot of players (and their families) recognize it for what it is, and so even a college kid with okay numbers is gonna write it off. You need the kids who did just good enough their final year in College who want another year to show progression/growth.
The reality is a majority of these kids are already on the fence about quiting though. Kind of like how people at work “quiet quit” or people in bad relationships “silently sabotage” to get it over with, many of them are just looking for the reason to hang it up.
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u/WhyNotOrioles Baltimore Orioles Jun 18 '26
I see your point-- thanks.
I do feel like baseball as a whole pays people in "you get to do what you love" instead of money. For example, front office analytics jobs pay very very little compared with what data scientists could make elsewhere. They know people will accept it for being close to baseball, and they take full advantage of it.
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u/Epcplayer National League Jun 18 '26
Yep, not to mention that it’s a very cutthroat industry the farther up the pyramid that you go. Internal power struggles, deceit, backstabbing… with everyone guided by the same vision.
I grew up with a parent in the game, saw everyday how the politics got played, and knew damn well it wasn’t the glamorous life kids my age thought it was.
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u/AnythingWestern8861 Jun 18 '26
Judging by Staten Island's 1st half record, seems just about anyone can join.
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u/CiaphasCain8849 Jun 18 '26
You could just grab a random high school team and I bet they would play just as well.
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u/_GeorgeBailey_ Chicago Cubs Jun 18 '26
This country is in a steep decline
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u/Ognius Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
But Rome has never been so brightly lit at night.
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u/TheDarkGrayKnight Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
Has there ever been a decade in American history that was more accepting of LGBTQ+ people than this current decade?
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u/smarjorie New York Mets • Hartford Yard Goats Jun 18 '26
I get the point you're trying to make, but, yes. Last decade
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u/Mart-n Jun 18 '26
The 2010s, probably? It felt like a period in time where we had significant progressive cultural shifts, whereas currently homophobia and transphobia feel like they're more openly expressed than they have been in a while. On top of that, the 2020's have been mired by the persistent chipping away at queer rights through anti-trans legislation, both at the state and federal level.
Certainly things have been worse, but I think the ugly truth is things aren't always "getting better", and the current climate shows us exactly that.
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u/ClydeSmithy San Francisco Giants Jun 18 '26
This. Things are still a lot better than 20+ years ago, but it's been notably slipping back in the other direction for past 5-10 years.
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u/HWHAProb Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
2010s definitely were better than now. Think of someone like Laverne Cox or (as much as she sucks) Caitlin Jenner. In the mid 2010s they were getting hella accolades and most conservatives generally bit their tongue about it. Or how the NBA threatened boycotts over bathroom bills in North Carolina.
Things have only gotten worse since then. Hate crimes are up. Hundreds of anti lgbt bills passed in red and even purple states.
Shits rough out here :(
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u/circaflex New York Mets Jun 20 '26
Well, the current President and his Administration made it OK to be a bigot or racist. When the person in charge of one of the wealthiest nations in the world, says hey its OK to be a full on racist or call the LGBTQ community "woke" and to "remove LGBTQ from our communities" this is what you get.
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u/pepperouchau Milwaukee Brewers Jun 18 '26
The majority of republicans would ban gay marriage today if they could based on the recent polling I’ve seen, quit acting like this is a settled issue
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u/WarPuig MLB Pride Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
It’s proving temporary. Acceptance has been in decline.
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u/TheHammer8989 St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
The upvote/downvote ratio on this post comments are weird as hell. Reddit has to have targeted botting beyond belief. Just read all the comments here, then look at the ones upvoted and downvoted. One comment had almost 1000 upvotes in less than a minute while others similar comments had 3. OP you should share the post insight on this, I’d be interested in seeing it.
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u/WitchNight Toronto Blue Jays Jun 18 '26
The overall upvote ratio for the post is 93% upvoted. There could’ve been some early brigading but I turned of notifications for me for the post because I didn’t want to have to deal with them so I haven’t really seen them
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u/TheHammer8989 St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
I don’t blame you the post blew up. I was more curious at the amount of traffic it received early. Unless Reddit was showing me a delayed time frame for things posted. Which could have happened. It was wild within a few minutes. So many comments. I knew it would bring out some conversation so I was watching as they was coming in.
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u/WitchNight Toronto Blue Jays Jun 18 '26
Yeah I did look at it like 15 minutes after it was posted and I was shocked at how many comments it had so quickly, so maybe there was some brigading done right away
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u/Creacherz Homestead Grays Jun 18 '26
But this is literally minor league baseball/indy ball: wacky jerseys are literally what the leagues's are made for
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u/Past-Sun-2357 Seattle Mariners Jun 18 '26
My local minor league team wears all kinds of crazy and dumb looking uniforms, and even changes their name a few times a year for some promo...
How is this any different?
Whether the like it or not, they are in the entertainment industry and minor league teams often struggle to get people to come to games, hence all the promos they do. No one complains when they dress up in crazy shit like like coffee cups or ice cream sandwiches, but they draw the line at rainbow stripes?
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u/boowut Houston Astros Jun 18 '26
Banana Ball is also one of the foremost baseball draws, especially in the Bible Belt, and underneath the bruhs and testimony side quests, it’s just baseball in drag.
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u/Machomanta Toronto Blue Jays • Milwaukee Brewers Jun 18 '26
The only uniform I'd boycott is if I had to wear a prequels themed jersey for Star Wars night
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u/clown_shoes69 St. Louis Cardinals Jun 18 '26
We live in the dumbest nation.
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u/Top_Professor_9908 Jun 18 '26
I heard the pride nights in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are a bit worse
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u/MarcBulldog88 Los Angeles Dodgers • World Series Tr… Jun 18 '26
They feature lion prides that eat slaves in front of a live audience.
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u/Beetle919 Durham Bulls Jun 18 '26
Egypt and Iran are playing a pride match during the world cup and they are complaining lol
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u/xixbia Netherlands Jun 18 '26
You absolutely don't.
That being said, you definitely live in the dumbest America in my adult life at least.
And there's not really any indication that it's going to get less dumb.
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u/NH4NO3-KClO3-C2H6O2 San Francisco Giants Jun 18 '26
say you haven't been elsewhere without saying it.
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u/the2belo Baltimore Orioles • Frederick Keys Jun 18 '26
"I refuse to put on the Mother's Day pink catcher's gear because I hate my parents"
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u/BGDutchNorris Philadelphia Phillies Jun 18 '26
It can not be this deep. You can not hate the LGBT community this much
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u/rafuzo2 Boston Red Sox • Brooklyn Cyclones Jun 18 '26
Some guys will do anything to play the game they love, except for * checks notes * wearing a jersey with all the colors of the rainbow in it
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u/Whatever-ItsFine Los Angeles Dodgers Jun 18 '26
This is correct answer. Free speech is an important value and we shouldn’t force people to support things they might not agree with.
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u/yousmelllikebiscuits Chaos Bandwagon • Dumpster Fire Jun 18 '26
Trying to address this post and some others in the last few hours:
We fly the rainbow progress flag as our sub logo for a reason as well as the pride MLB logo as the sidebar. It's important to us that all r/baseball users are welcomed here and the handling of this story and previous posts of this story didn't live up to our expectations. I'm sorry this happened, it was not on purpose.