Jeff Carillo, for SFGate, on Friday:

On Thursday, Department of Justice assistant attorney general Harmeet K. Dhillon announced that the department’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will be investigating MLB after the league issued warnings to the three players who wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night caps, citing possible religious discrimination.

You may recall my commentary on this brouhaha last week. It’s now national news, because the Trump regime wants to curdle this country into an anti-LGBT Christofascist state (more than it already was), and any signs of opposition, no matter how tepid, must be crushed.

“The three players expressed their opposition to MLB’s pro-Pride orthodoxy by inscribing Bible verses on their rainbow-colored hats,” Dhillon wrote in a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages.” […]

Dhillon concluded the letter by saying the department will use "all available means to hold employers accountable for violating the religious rights of their employees.”

Pretty brazen invoking the Civil Rights Act.

Here’s the thing, though: MLB didn’t warn the players for writing bible verses on their caps. The players were warned for writing on their caps, period. Any type of writing on MLB uniforms is prohibited by the Major League Collective Bargaining Agreement. It’s stated plainly. From Attachment 19, Uniform Regulations, section A. Uniform Dress Policy:

[…] No alterations, writing or illustrations, other than as authorized herein, are to be made to any part of the uniform.

And from section H. Adornments and Markings:

[…] A Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment […]

MLB was forced to issue a new statement explaining this:

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message. We respect players’ right to free expression,” an MLB statement said.

MLB said the warning had no direct tie to the players’ actions on Pride Night.

“We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad’, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom’ and names of family members,’” MLB said.

In short, had these intolerant players scrawled their messages of bigotry on their caps the game before or after Pride Night, they would have been subject to the same warning—the same one they would have received had they instead scribbled “I love gay people.”

That these petty pitchers chose Pride Night to violate their MLB agreement is a declaration of their bigotry. I hope they’re drummed out of the game.