York’s minor league team forfeits game over Pride Night jerseys, but celebrates anyway
The York Revolution Minor League baseball team forfeited its Thursday night game over a dispute centering around Pride Night jerseys. The team still hosted Pride Night activities at the stadium.
There won’t be a Pride Night baseball game in York, Pa., but there was still a Pride Night at the ballpark.
Hours before the minor league York Revolution’s annual Pride Night game was slated to take place Thursday night, the team announced it was forfeiting to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
The decision stemmed from a dispute among several Revolution players who refused to wear the team’s special Pride edition jerseys, according to team officials.
“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 Revolution said in a statement. The statement added that the event would pivot into a Pride Night celebration “out of respect for the Pride Community and the York community as a whole.”
The team said it’s treating the game as a rainout and ticketholders can redeem their tickets for another game of their choice this season. York plays in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent partner league of Major League Baseball.
Thursday’s game would have marked the York Revolution’s 11th Pride Night. As part of the celebratory game, the team would wear white jerseys with rainbow sleeves and side panels, nodding to the Pride flag and “Pride” written in script on the back.
According to NBC, the forfeit rose from “less than nine players” — the minimum number needed to fill a lineup card — on the 28-man roster being willing to play wearing Thursday’s Pride uniforms. The standoff led to an “unprecedented team meeting” where Revolution president and GM Ben Shipley told NBC he was unable to talk players into wearing the uniforms.
“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 said. “I was just asking for tolerance from the team and they were unwilling to navigate that with me.”
In its statement, The Revolution added that the players’ action “is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York.” The team announced it would make a $10,000 donation to its local LGBTQ+ center, the Rainbow Rose Center, as a “small token of our regret” and show of continued support.
York, about an hour-and-a-half outside of Philadelphia, has a historic Republican stronghold. In 2016, it gave President Donald Trump his biggest county-level win margin in Pennsylvania. There is a limited but growing LGBTQ+ scene. The first York County Pride celebration took place in 2022.
The Human Rights Campaign, which releases Municipal Equality Index scores nationwide on cities’ LGBTQ+ support, does not have a score for York.
The Revolution teammates’ refusal to wear Pride jerseys comes at a time when across the country, rights and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community remain a polarizing issue. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced this year according to the ACLU, centering around topics including gender affirmation, sports participation bans, drag show bans, and overall LGBTQ+ erasure.
According to the minor league team, while Thursday wouldn’t have a game, attendees could still take tours of WellSpan Park, enjoy music, batting practice, and other activities. The now 32 unworn Pride jerseys were also listed on the team’s site Thursday night for auction with proceeds benefiting the Rainbow Rose Center.
