When Baseball Forgot Its Courage: MLB's DEI Capitulation
Baseball has always been my escape. For a few hours, I can put aside the endless political battles and just enjoy the simple pleasures of the game: the crack of the bat, strategic pitching changes, and the unique rhythms that make baseball so special. There’s something soothing about settling in for nine innings, where the biggest controversy might be a blown call at the plate or whether your manager pulled the starter too early.
The Present Age is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
But sometimes the real world crashes into our sanctuaries, and that’s exactly what happened recently when Major League Baseball quietly edited its Jackie Robinson Day announcement for 2025, changing the 2024 line “Major League Baseball aims to educate all fans about Jackie Robinson, his life’s accomplishments and legacy, while spearheading initiatives that support communities and meaningfully address diversity and inclusion at all levels of our sport” to read, “Major League Baseball aims to educate all fans about Jackie Robinson, his life’s accomplishments and legacy, while communicating his message at all levels of the sport.”
Yes, the sport that loves to pat itself on the back every April 15th for Robinson’s breaking of the league’s color barrier couldn’t even bring itself to mention the color barrier in its press release this year (they did mention it on some other pages on the MLB site, however). The same MLB that sells #42 jerseys, that produces emotional video packages about Robinson’s courage, that uses his legacy to bolster its image as a progressive force in American culture, now can’t find the courage to use the words “diversity” or “inclusion” in its official communications.
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Last month, Craig Calcaterra at his Cup of Coffee newsletter documented how the Defense Department deleted Jackie Robinson’s page from its website and labeled the URL “deisports” — literally marking Robinson’s existence as “DEI content” to be purged. The DoD’s Pentagon Press Secretary, John Ullyot, initially responded with a statement saying, “DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military.”
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Free speech and public protest
The First Amendment is facing challenging times: Crackdowns on campus protests prompted both-sides claims of intolerance. Attempts to head off dangerous health misinformation have been characterized as violations of free speech. Donald Trump is publicly punishing news outlets that deviate from his administration’s version of events while privately suing some outlets into submission.
The White House vs. the press | Voiceless America