MLB Warned Blake Treinen About His Charlie Kirk Tribute and Now Its Coming Back to Destroy Them

Blake Treinen put two crosses and a dead man's name on his hat.

Now the same league that looked the other way for BLM patches on every jersey is facing a federal investigation.

And the reason Treinen got warned last September just made Manfred's content-neutral defense impossible to say with a straight face.

What Treinen Actually Said

The Dodgers reliever didn't go looking for this fight.

After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September 2025, Treinen wrote Kirk's name and two crosses on the side of his cap during a game.

MLB called him.

"I got chastised by the league when I put Charlie [Kirk]'s name on my hat last year, because a man was murdered in cold blood," Treinen told the Los Angeles Times.

No formal punishment came from it.

But the league made clear that future violations could mean fines.

Treinen stayed quiet about it – until San Francisco Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker wrote Bible verses on their Pride Night caps during a June 12 game against the Cubs.

MLB warned them too.

That's when Treinen connected the dots publicly.

"Now these gentlemen who are relievers in San Francisco are getting chastised by the league for putting a Bible verse on their hat," he said. "It's crazy to me."

MLBs Rulebook Only Works One Way

Here's what Rob Manfred needs you to believe.

The league's uniform policy is content-neutral.

Writing of any kind – "Happy Mother's Day," "Dad," a dead man's name, a Bible verse – violates the rules equally.

Nobody is targeting Christians.

Nobody is targeting conservatives.

It's just the rulebook.

Except the rulebook disappeared in 2020 when Manfred decided the politics were right.

Senator Josh Hawley laid out exactly what that looked like in a letter to Manfred that the commissioner doesn't want to answer.

"In 2020, MLB itself turned its uniforms and its fields into a billboard for political and social messages," Hawley wrote. "It created jersey patches reading 'Black Lives Matter' and 'United for Change.' It authorized 'BLM' to be stenciled onto pitching mounds. And it suspended its own equipment rules so that players could display progressive political slogans on their cleats."

Then three Giants pitchers wrote "Gen 9:12-16" on their rainbow Pride Night caps – and the rulebook suddenly materialized.

That citation wasn't random.

Genesis 9:12-16 describes the rainbow as God's covenant with creation.

Roupp was writing the Bible's own meaning of the rainbow on a hat the league was using as a Pride symbol.

MLB's response was to warn him.

The Federal Government Just Got Involved

This is no longer an argument about baseball caps.

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division, under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, referred MLB to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for potential violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

"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 wrote in a letter to Manfred.

Her office named the double standard directly.

"Players may not inscribe Bible verses on hats for one game only but may wear 'Black Lives Matter' patches for one game only – this calls MLB's true motives into question."

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a separate state-level probe and issued an investigative subpoena to MLB.

"If MLB applauds ideological messages it prefers while reprimanding expressions of Christian faith, that is not neutral rule enforcement – it is religious discrimination that cannot stand in Florida," Uthmeier said.

Hawley went further.

He told Fox News that if MLB follows through and fines the Giants pitchers, he will subpoena Commissioner Manfred to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee – and put the league's federal antitrust exemption on the table.

"MLB has a sweetheart deal from the federal government," Hawley said. "They play by different rules than any other business in America. But now MLB is using its power to target Christians and trample free speech."

Rob Manfred built a league where Black Lives Matter gets stenciled on the mound and Bible verses get you a warning.

Blake Treinen learned that last September.

Three Giants pitchers learned it on Pride Night.

Now the DOJ, the EEOC, the Florida AG, and the Senate Judiciary Committee all want to know why the rulebook only runs in one direction.

Sources:

• Mariane Angela, "Dodgers Pitcher Blake Treinen Says MLB 'Chastised' Him for Honoring Charlie Kirk on His Cap," Breitbart, June 20, 2026.
• "Major League Baseball Warns San Francisco Giants Players for Writing Bible Verses on Pride Night Hats," OutKick/Fox News, June 2026.
• "JD Vance Mocks MLB for Warning Giants Pitchers Against Writing Bible Verses on Pride Night Caps," OutKick/Fox News, June 2026.
• "DOJ Cracking Down on MLB for Potential Religious Discrimination After Pride Night Caps Controversy," Fox News, June 2026.
• Josh Hawley, "Hawley Demands Answers from MLB for Penalizing Christian Players," hawley.senate.gov, June 2026.
• "MLB Accused of 'Double Standard' After Calling Out Players' Bible Messages Despite Backing BLM in 2020," Fox News, June 2026.