'I'll answer baseball questions': Buster Posey declines to address Giants' Pride Night controversy

Justice delos Santos, The Mercury News on Jun 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN FRANCISCO — President of baseball operations Buster Posey offered an opening statement to more than two dozen members of the Bay Area media on Tuesday afternoon about the team’s Pride Night controversy, but declined to discuss the matter further despite numerous follow-up questions.

“I’d like to recognize that the organization has shared its response to Pride Night, and I understand that there’s strong feelings on this topic,” Posey said in the Giants’ dugout at Oracle Park several hours before their game against the Athletics. “There’s differing perspectives. Out of respect to everybody involved, it’s not something that I’m going to revisit.

“I understand that some fans are upset and frustrated, and I can promise you this is something that we’ve talked about a lot internally and will continue to do so. Our focus is on the team right now, the upcoming draft, the trade deadline and trying to win games.”

Reporters attempted several follow-up questions, including whether Posey objected to the team’s Pride celebrations as a player; if he or anyone from the organization talked to manager Tony Vitello or the players about the importance of the LGBTQIA+ demographic; and whether he had a response to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday suggesting the organization’s communication with players about how their obligations during Pride Night was “inadequate and not clear.”

To all those inquiries, Posey responded that he would answer “baseball questions.” When asked why he only wanted to answer baseball questions, Posey provided the same response.

A reporter then pointed out that the Pride Night matter is baseball-related, referencing that the team had yet to respond to Manfred’s assertion that the Giants did not properly communicate with their players whether they were required to wear the team’s rainbow-themed Pride Night cap during the June 12 home game. At that point, a member of the team’s media relations department noted that Posey would be available to answer baseball questions or the press conference would be over.

Posey spent the next 10 minutes answering questions about the team, the main subject being Rafael Devers’ objection to being pinch-run for on Sunday.

On Monday afternoon, Manfred penned a letter in response to Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley regarding the team’s Pride Night controversy, citing the team’s communication with its players as being “inadequate and not clear.”

Hawley wrote a letter to Manfred last week regarding Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker being warned for writing Bible verses on the team’s Pride Night caps, asking for the commissioner to answer for “what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”

One reliever, Sam Hentges, abstained from wearing the Pride Night cap entirely, opting for the standard Giants cap with a black base and orange logo.

The United States Department of Justice got involved last Thursday and announced it was launching a civil rights investigation into whether MLB had violated the religious rights of the three players.

“Some players apparently did not understand that they had the option to wear the normal uniform and elected to add messages to their hats bearing the pride logo as a result,” Manfred wrote. “The Giants players were allowed to wear the hats with the biblical references for the entire game.

“After the game concluded, my office issued a routine oral warning about the uniform policy violation — unfortunately it was issued before we became aware of the Giants’ lapse in communication. The players were neither fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”

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