news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Minor league baseball’s York Revolution in Pennsylvania declined to play its Pride Night game Thursday after players refused to wear uniforms that featured a rainbow design, team officials said.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The Revolution’s game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs was to have marked the team’s 11th annual Pride Night, but players refused to don special jerseys that had rainbow sleeves.
Thursday night’s game will go down as a forfeit, the Revolution said.
“This decision was not reached lightly,” the team said in a statement.
President and GM Ben Shipley said his manager told him Tuesday that fewer than nine players on the 28-man roster — the minimum needed to fill out a lineup card — were willing to play in Thursday night’s uniforms.
Shipley said the discussion led to an unprecedented team meeting at which he was unable to talk players into wearing the rainbow sleeves.
“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,” Shipley told NBC News on Thursday.
“I was just asking for tolerance from the team, and they were unwilling to navigate that with me.”
The spirit of Pride Night would have been compromised had players been forced to wear uniforms that celebrated the community, the Revolution said.
“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,” the team said.
“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,” it said.
Other Pride Night events are still set to go on as scheduled at the ballpark free of charge. They include music, fan batting practice and other on-the-field activities, Shipley said.
The team is set to return to action Friday against Southern Maryland.
Team officials criticized their own players for refusing to celebrate the LGBTQ community.
“To be clear; this action by the players is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York,” according to the team, which donated $10,000 to a local gay community center.
The Revolution and the Blue Crabs are members of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, with teams that are not affiliated with Major League Baseball clubs.
The incident in York unfolded less than a week after four players with the San Francisco Giants staged a silent protest against the team’s Pride Night celebration by writing Bible references on their hats.
After the Giants incident, MLB warned players not to deface their uniforms.
Seven members of the Revolution refused to wear the uniforms at last year’s Pride Night, Shipley said.
“We still played the game,” he said. “We didn’t make a big fuss of it.”
Senior Breaking News Reporter
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
Leave a Reply