San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Hentges publicly said he faced no discrimination from the MLB. His comments came after Harmeet Dhillon, the U.S. assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, wrote a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday, alleging discrimination against Giants players who used Bible verses on Pride Night hats.
The DOJ is looking into whether the MLB's uniform enforcement violates an individual's religious rights under the Civil Rights Act. The department has called for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to assist in the investigation.
Amid the probe, Hentges told the San Francisco Chronicle's Shayna Rubin that he faced no discrimination from MLB.
"I don't feel discriminated against," Hentges said on Friday. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion."
"They can feel how they want about me or what I have done, but it wasn't out of hate," he added. "I don't hate the community. It's gotten bigger than anticipated and drawn more attention than everybody thought."
Hentges didn't use Bible verses on his hats. However, he decided against wearing the special cap for the Pride Night game against the Chicago Cubs on June 12. The lefty pitcher wore the cap the team uses for non-Pride games, marking the first time a Giants player had opted out of wearing a Pride hat.
Landen Roupp , JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker were the Giants pitchers who wrote Bible verses on pride caps. The MLB warned them for altering uniforms, resulting in backlash from conservative political figures, including JD Vance, the vice president of the USA.
The Chicago Cubs defeated the San Francisco Giants, 5-1, in their Pride Night game at Oracle Park on June 12. Relief pitcher Sam Hentges came out of the bullpen without a Pride hat and pitched one scoreless inning in the loss.
Hentges spoke of his decision to wear the normal cap after the game. "I think I grew up, it was more a religious belief," Hentges said, per the San Francisco Chronicle . "I grew up as a Christian, I've grown in my faith. There wasn't any hatred behind it. "It's just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don't morally support it."
Hentges said that there isn't any hatred against the LGBTQ community behind his decision. He added that people are misinterpreting his decision as hatred. The Giants pitcher also said the players have the option to wear or not wear the Pride hats depending on their beliefs.
"There was no intentional hate," Hentges said. "We have these hats, and we're supposed to wear them if we support it. If we don't, then you don't have to wear them. We have that choice. Just like they have their choices, too. And understand that as humans, we all have choices that we can choose to do and do whatever we want."
Hentges joined the Giants on a one-year, $1.4 million deal in December. He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 2014 MLB draft, debuting for the team on April 20, 2021. He was with Cleveland till the 2025 MLB season.
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