Op-Ed: There’s No Pride in MLB

By: Rogers Levitt, Staff Writer

Sports represent an escape for many. Fans from diverse backgrounds enjoy playing their favorite sport or watching their favorite players. With professional sports leagues wanting to be inclusive, they often celebrate marginalized groups. Unfortunately,  many fans and even players are unwilling to respect them.

 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball in 1947 and suffered greatly from it. Robinson dealt with his teammates threatening to boycott games if he played, and fans hurled slurs and made death threats against him. Something similar is happening today with discrimination against athletes of the LGBTQ+ community.

 Homophobia in the MLB can be traced back to the 1970s with Dodgers and Athletics outfielder Glenn Burke. Three years after Burke retired in 1982, he announced he was gay. Burke believed he was traded to the Athletics from the Dodgers because of his sexuality. 

 Four decades later, homophobic language is still used regularly in professional baseball. Former Cincinnati Reds announcer Thom Brennamen used a homophobic slur while referring to the city of San Francisco, not realizing he was being broadcast to millions of viewers. Later in that game, Brennamen issued an apology for his derogatory remarks. At the same time, Phillies player Nick Castellanos hit a home run and Brennamen called the play in the middle of his apology. 

 While many saw the decision to pause his statement to announce a home run as unprofessional and rude, the situation was turned into a joke within the sports community. Even though Brennamen faced backlash from his employers, those who watched the situation unfold saw it as a humorous moment for Castellanos rather than a moment offensive to the LGBTQ+ community. The clip is often reposted and played all over the internet, but the fact Brennamen said a homophobic slur on live television was overlooked.

 Every year during pride month, MLB teams host a pride night, supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Except for the Texas Rangers. While this is somewhat concerning, there is not much discourse about their decision. In 2022, five Tampa Bay Rays players opted out of wearing a pride patch on their jersey during their pride night. This gained some coverage on the internet, but most fans didn’t bat an eye at it. 

 As recently as this past summer, possibly the biggest incident occurred with Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran. 

 Duran emerged as a star player this season by putting up MVP-caliber numbers. His struggles with mental health were extremely relatable to fans, leading to him exploding in popularity and earning his first all-star nod. 

 As Duran was waiting on deck, a fan was heckling him nonstop. Duran, beginning to get frustrated, told the fan to shut up and used a homophobic slur directed towards him. Not realizing a microphone on the field picked up his statement, the clip spread like wildfire on the Internet. 

 Duran issued an apology in a postgame press conference that same day, but the damage had already been done, or it had been supposed. All over the internet, fans supported the use of the slur and made statements calling people overly offended, snowflakes, and even blatantly condoning the use of derogatory slurs. Duran’s jersey even sold out on the official MLB website, becoming the top rated item for a few days.

 A professional player using a slur on television is alarming enough, but the amount of fans defending these actions are even more alarming. The overwhelming amount of people openly expressing their distaste of the LGBTQ+ community is a bad look for the MLB and pushes away people who have experienced discrimination. 

 Will the MLB make a statement about their fans? Probably not. Morally, they should. No company wants to be known for having homophobic supporters. As a business though, making a statement will probably deter a large majority of their current fans from supporting them.

 If the MLB wants to continue to make money from their fans who support anti-LGBTQ+ antics, then they won’t do anything about those fans. If fans want to change how the LGBTQ+ community is treated in baseball, it’s going to be an uphill battle.