Reese Kaplan -- MLB's Pride and Prejudice

Often things are tested in the minor leagues before making their way to the majors.  A good example is the extra inning “runner on second” experiment already alive in AAA and elsewhere that was announced would be coming to the majors.  Some of these changes are good, some are bad and some are neither.

Minor League Baseball on Monday announced that they would launch an initiative called MiLB Pride, a ballpark celebration of equality and diversion with respect to the LGBTQ community.  Thus far 70 minor league clubs have signed onto the initiative (though conspicuously missing are the Port St. Lucie Mets). 

Without getting into the underlying politics of the situation, the fact remains that various ethnic celebrations are already popular all over the majors.  Irish Nights, Italian Nights, Puerto Rican Nights and Jewish Heritage Nights have taken place at most big league stadiums. 

Now some would say it’s a recognition and celebration of some group’s pride.  Others would say it’s a cheap marketing ploy to try to puff up attendance by members of these groups for the occasion of their special night.  Either way, to date no one seems to have taken issue with the motivation nor with the festivities themselves.

This time, however, we’re about to cross a rainbow colored line in the sand that could cause consternation and even protest forfeiture of tickets by people who do not agree with this particular group’s agenda.  Therein lies the double-edged sword for baseball itself.  How do you preach inclusion while at the same time run the risk of alienating your core base of fans?

Think back to the many stories told about Billy Bean who currently serves as a Vice President & Special Assistant to the Commissioner, Rob Manfred.  As a public speaker, he’s put together a presentation about issues including: 

• Detailed information about MLB’s current diversity and Inclusion efforts
• Helping people better understand one’s own personal biases and sometimes unrealized discriminatory tendencies
• A prolonged dialog about how difficult it is for ballplayers to come out and the difficult road they have faced

While the efforts of both MLB and MiLB have gone a long way towards acceptance, the fact remains that in the over 149 year history of the game, Billy Bean remains the sole openly gay ballplayer to have come out of the closet during his playing days.  Studies differ, but if you round down to the lower numbers, about 4% of the population identifies as gay.  Even if you halved that number to allow for male-only members of the community, then 2% of the current 750 major league group of ballplayers – 15 – are likely gay assuming that there’s no reason that this subset of the population should differ dramatically from any other. 

So if you were the team owners and were approached about doing a “Pride Night” event or similar activity at the ballpark.  Would you do it to market to a thus far underserved population, to show support for the cause, to expand diversity efforts or clamp down in fear of losing existing fans?  There's no right or wrong answer here.  It's just an issue many never thought would become front-of-mind for baseball at all all viewpoints should be heard.