MLB Players are Right to Reclaim the Rainbow

San Francisco Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker want to reclaim the rainbow – and are now facing the potential wrath of Major League Baseball’s hypocritical management.

It all started this past Friday night during the team’s “Pride Night” event, a public spectacle featuring a myriad of “LGBT”-themed performances including a drag queen, same-sex couple recommitment ceremonies and the Star-Spangled Banner sung by the choir of a “gay-affirming” church. 

Giants players were also wearing team caps that included a rainbow worked into the logo.

Landen Roupp went along with wearing the cap, but decided to include a Bible verse beside the logo: Gen. 9:12-16.

Those verses from the first book of the Old Testament are:

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Brubaker and Walker decided to include similar references. 

Asked about the scriptural reference on his cap after the game, Landen Roupp explained his choice:

“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that He makes to us … It’s just something I believe in, and I stand firm in that. Thankfully, we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want. There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for, and what I stand in. I believe in God.” 

Roupp also encouraged fans to read the Bible for themselves. 

It seems Major League Baseball has a high tolerance for “Pride Night” pomp and pageantry but no tolerance for personal Christian expression. In a statement from Pat Courtney, the league’s chief communication officer, the players deviating from the public display of deviance were put on notice.

“The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations.”

Only Major League Baseball didn’t seem to mind back in 2021 when Aroldis Chapman and Adolis Garcia wrote “SOS CUBA” on their caps. Or when the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers showed their support for LA’s Alex Vesia (whose wife miscarried their baby) by writing his number on their caps.

The homosexual community first misappropriated and attempted to corrupt the rainbow as a symbol back in 1978. The original “pride flag” was eight colors and was eventually reduced to six. Its visibility grew steadily throughout the 1980s and 90s. By the early 2000s it was everywhere, especially during the month of June. It’s now ubiquitous. Many Bible-believing Christians won’t wear any rainbow on anything given its near ironclad association with the homosexual community. 

Despite media and activists adopting and claiming the symbol, God’s promise and declaration remains true. Landen Roupp is right: the rainbow is a reminder of a profound covenant that includes these promises:

1. God will never again destroy all life or the earth by a flood (Gen. 9:11,15).

2. The covenant is between “every living creature that is with you, for all future generations” (Gen. 9:12).

As Christians, the sight of the rainbow in the sky is a reminder that God is faithful, mighty, and merciful, and He can be trusted.

Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker have done something very few professional players have the opportunity to accomplish – cause critics, sportswriters and MLB executives to open their Bibles. 

Now let’s pray they not only open and read those few verses in Genesis but that they’d keep reading and be drawn to God’s goodness and truth in the other 65 books as well.

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images.