Article: Major League Baseball Takes Arms in Donald Trump’s Culture War

[Maddie Landis]

In an act of anticipatory obedience, Major League Baseball quietly deleted all references to diversity from its website.

On his first day in office, Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which implemented a sweeping prohibition against DEI programs in the federal government. Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) outlines, “Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.”

As of now, the order only pertains to the federal government, but many private companies are curbing their DEI initiatives. Retail has been under fire with politics, but other industries like banking, entertainment, and tech are turning their back on DEI commitments. MLB recently followed suit. Craig Calcaterra’s March 20th Cup of Coffee newsletter was the first to report that MLB changed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion webpage, removing the word “diversity” from its MLB Careers page. A web capture from January 15 displays the page’s previous reference to diversity and inclusion. Various links to applications for MLB’s diversity programs are shown on a capture dated February 11th, 2025.

The MLB Diversity Fellowship Program catered to young working professionals seeking to break into entry-level front-office positions. Its former URL now shows a scrubbed-down webpage that only references the Buck O'Neil Professional Baseball Scouts and Coaches Association. O’Neil was a legendary former Negro League player and coach who became the first major league African American coach.

MLB issued the following statement to The Athletic: “As the commissioner stated, our diversity values remain unchanged. We are in the process of evaluating our programs for any modifications to eligibility criteria that are needed to ensure our programs are compliant with federal law as they continue forward.”

Throughout history, baseball has enacted social change. In the nineteenth century, when anti-immigrant sentiment was prevalent, Italian-Americans like Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra helped popularize baseball and subverted negative perceptions of Italian immigrants. On April 14, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to break the color barrier in professional sports. Earlier this week, the Department of Defense scrubbed an article commemorating his service in the army and reclassified it under the heading "DEI." Following public uproar, and without any public comment from MLB, the article was restored.

Baseball was the first professional sport to encourage diversity in its hiring practices. On April 14, 1999, commissioner Bud Selig issued a memo instructing clubs to consider minority candidates "for all general manager, assistant general manager, field manager, director of player development and director of scouting positions."  This memo would eventually be referred to as the Selig Rule. In 2023, the Selig Rule was revised to address internal promotions. Per the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), MLB’s 2023 Racial and Gender Report Card received an overall “C” grade.

Despite attempts to promote diversity, baseball’s front offices and owners remain an old boys club. Both still conform to a certain model of prep school Ivy League graduates. After the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer, then Cubs president of baseball operations and former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein acknowledged biases in his hiring practices: "I've hired a black scouting director, [a] farm director in the past, but the majority of people that I've hired, if I'm being honest, have similar backgrounds as me and look a lot like me... That's something I need to ask myself why. I need to question my own assumptions, my own attitudes. I need to find a way to be better."

Despite decreasing representation of Black Americans, baseball’s present-day player talent pool is more diverse than ever. In the 2024 season, MLB featured players from 25 countries outside the United States. Hispanic and Japanese players currently dominate the sport, but they face backlash for using translators. ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith claimed Ohanti’s decision to use an interpreter “contributes to harming” baseball. Steve Perrault of the Section 10 Podcast has criticized Rafael Devers for speaking Spanish in media appearances. English is notably a complicated language to learn. Translators help navigate language barriers and prevent foot-in-mouth moments. It’s dismissive and ignorant to insist that a foreign-born athlete should be fluent in a non-native language.

The 2025 Red Sox are the perfect example of a modern globalized roster. Ceddanne Rafaela was born in Curaçao. Brayan Bello and Rafael Devers grew up in the Dominican Republic. Wilyer Abreu and Carlos Narváez hail from Venezuela. Masataka Yoshida is a Japanese-born fashion icon. Rob Refsynder was adopted from South Korea as a baby. The Red Sox didn’t sign these players to check off an intersectionality box. They were brought to the team based on their own merit. Even though they come from different backgrounds, they are united by their passion for baseball.

As Donald Trump continues to pour gasoline on the culture wars, Pride Nights could become MLB’s next target. On January 29, he issued an executive order titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” The EO implies that school that support LGBTQ+ students are pushing “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies.” This order addresses public K-12 schools' LGBTQ+ policies. It has nothing to do with private corporations. However, given the league's willingness to obey Trump in advance, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some teams (especially those with conservative owners) cut their Pride Nights in June.

Back in February, Rob Manfred promised to uphold MLB’s diversity values, “When things get a little more settled, we’ll examine each of our programs and make sure that, while the values remain the same, that we’re also consistent with what the law requires… The best I can do for you right now is, our values on the issues of diversity remain unchanged.” The bottom line is that MLB is not affiliated with the federal government. They’re a private organization that benefits from an antitrust exemption.  Manfred’s recent actions (or lack thereof) are sheer acts of cowardice. MLB’s clandestine erasure of its DEI programs will further entrench the real echo chamber in front offices, similar to the fictitious one referenced in “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” Without policies to prevent discriminatory hiring practices, private corporations and public entities have no incentive to expand their talent pools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and its successors) had to be codified into federal law to ban discriminatory policies.

April 15 marks Jackie Robinson’s major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. On this day, players honor Robinson’s legacy by wearing his number 42 on their jerseys. In light of recent events, the gesture feels self-righteous and performative.

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[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Maddie, thanks for writing the most important baseball article of this season, and future ones, and for calling out Manfred for being the kind of coward that enables such racist agenda from a white supremacist house.

Sorry if anyone still thinks politics are off limits in venues like baseball, but it is impossible when haters temporarily in charge of a nation entirely created by and composed of immigrants try to erase memories in U.S. history of a truly great hero like Jackie Robinson.

[mvp 78]

While I'm here, just going to give shoutouts to two players: 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=walker001fle

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burkegl01.shtml

[Bellhorn04]

15 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Maddie, thanks for writing the most important baseball article of this season, and future ones, and for calling out Manfred for being the kind of coward that enables such racist agenda from a white supremacist house.

Sorry if anyone still thinks politics are off limits in venues like baseball, but it is impossible when haters temporarily in charge of a nation entirely created by and composed of immigrants try to erase memories in U.S. history of a truly great hero like Jackie Robinson.

The reason that political threads/comments were declared off limits here was because former moderator Yazsir declared them so, under penalty of banning, after the last political thread got ugly.  I'm not sure how Brock feels about it.  I guess we'll soon find out.

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The reason that political threads were declared off limits here was because former moderator Yazsir declared them so, under penalty of banning, after the last one got ugly.  I'm not sure how Brock feels about it.  I guess we'll soon find out.

That COVID thread we tried worked out really well when we tried to ease up. No drama at all from what I remember. 

Anyway, I appreciate and support what Maddie has written, but will be abstaining from ongoing discussion. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The reason that political threads/comments were declared off limits here was because former moderator Yazsir declared them so, under penalty of banning, after the last political thread got ugly.  I'm not sure how Brock feels about it.  I guess we'll soon find out.

Mostly we avoid politics, particularly in the forums. On the front page, we allow authors to have more freedom to explore controversial topics, especially when they do as fine a job as Maddie has done here.

[moonslav59]

I'm afraid to touch anything political on a sports forum, even if it's related to it, somehow.

It got real nasty here, a while back.

[Hitch]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Maddie, thanks for writing the most important baseball article of this season, and future ones, and for calling out Manfred for being the kind of coward that enables such racist agenda from a white supremacist house.

Sorry if anyone still thinks politics are off limits in venues like baseball, but it is impossible when haters temporarily in charge of a nation entirely created by and composed of immigrants try to erase memories in U.S. history of a truly great hero like Jackie Robinson.

Well said, pal. 

Utterly risible the amount of bending the knee that is going on for this awful stain of a man currently stinking up the WH. 

 

Great article, Maddie. 👍

[Jasonbay44]

I don’t really care to comment too much on political stuff - but one thing I would like to point out is Stephen A Smith is an absolute moron.

The fact he didn’t face more flack for what he said about Ohtani, especially with his history of stupid and offensive comments is ridiculous. I believe he got suspended for defending Ray Rice when he beat his girlfriend. Not more has he kept his job over the years, he just got a $100 million dollar contract. 

[Maddie Landis]

All, thank you for the kind words. I was working at the polls for a special election yesterday, so I finally caught up on reading the comments this morning.

I initially was apprehensive about writing a politically themed article for the website. Throughout most of my adult life, baseball has been my escapism from politics. Now, politics are seeping into every aspect of our lives. 

Ironically, those who once urged the public to stop politicizing sports are now doing so themselves.

[Brock Beauchamp]

9 hours ago, Jasonbay44 said:

I don’t really care to comment too much on political stuff - but one thing I would like to point out is Stephen A Smith is an absolute moron.

The fact he didn’t face more flack for what he said about Ohtani, especially with his history of stupid and offensive comments is ridiculous. I believe he got suspended for defending Ray Rice when he beat his girlfriend. Not more has he kept his job over the years, he just got a $100 million dollar contract. 

I can't stand Stephen A Smith for so many reasons. Still, he's occasionally right about something, like his Jackie monologue from a few days ago.

But ugh, I still can't stand him.

[Jasonbay44]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I can't stand Stephen A Smith for so many reasons. Still, he's occasionally right about something, like his Jackie monologue from a few days ago.

But ugh, I still can't stand him.

He can occasionally be right, just like Colin Cowherd who I also despise. However, I feel like more times than not they’re saying something absolutely ridiculous for clicks and half the stuff they argue they don’t actually believe in or if they do believe in it, they shouldn’t be allowed to talk about sports for a living.

Stephen A Smith has multiple times defended athletes who hit women and even said and implied women are to blame sometimes when it happens, specifically defending Ray Rice. Colin Cowherd said John Wall wouldn’t be a good role model or leader because he didn’t have a dad in his life. John Wall’s dad died from cancer when he was young and John Wall was one of the best players in the league and even better off the field. He has won multiple awards for his community service is heavily involved with young kids battling cancer after both his parents died from it. 
 

And when it comes to baseball, both have criticized non American players unfairly and have been fired/suspended for it, but still continue to get jobs and a platform. Maddie already mentioned SAS’s comments about Ohtani and non English speaking players but Cowherds comments about Dominican players was even worse. 

[Jasonbay44]

In regards to Jackie Robinson - if you don’t consider him not just a baseball legend, but an American hero, I don’t know what to even really say.