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

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.