Old Joe Biden and his henchmen are out of the Oval Office. DEI has become a term of derision, as in “Kamala Harris, the DEI presidential candidate.” Bud Light made fake woman Dylan Mulvaney the face of its brand, and took a nosedive from which it took many months to recover. There are numerous other indications that the tide has turned, and that the left’s stranglehold upon American popular culture has been broken once and for all. You would never know it, however, from looking at Major League Baseball.
In 2025, as in previous years, only one Major League team is daring not to hold a Pride Night: the Texas Rangers. Also as in past years, the media portrays the Rangers as some odd and suspicious outlier, rather than as a courageous outfit that is bucking the cultural trends in favor of the idea that delusion, perversion, and sexual excess aren’t really worth celebrating.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s coverage was typical. It began by noting that efforts to compel the miscreants to explain their aberrant behavior were unsuccessful, but that the Rangers were not to be cast summarily into the outer darkness, as they had redeemed themselves at least partially for the grave omission of a Pride Night by indulging the cultural left in other ways: “While the Rangers have never explained why they don’t have a designated Pride Night, they have spoken in the past to their efforts to advocate for and support marginalized groups.”
Among these “marginalized groups” are apparently Hispanics, and it’s too bad that the Star-Telegram didn’t pause to explain how the celebration of an ethnic group is somehow equivalent to the celebration of sexual practices. It explained: “The Rangers host theme nights throughout the year, including Mexican Heritage Night, HBCU Diamond Day and Hispanic Heritage Night.” See, the Rangers aren’t so bad after all!
The Star-Telegram did generously deign to report that the Rangers had assured the world of their ideological conformity despite the absence of the requisite celebration: “Back in 2023, representatives for the Texas Rangers have released statements to questions about their refusal to celebrate Pride Night. They listed various organizations they supported and steps they have taken over the years to create what they say is a ‘welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment for fans and employees.’” Well, okay, then. The Rangers passed the ideological exam by the skin of their teeth, comrade!
In Boston, meanwhile, the Red Sox went whole hog for Pride Night. OutKick reported Tuesday that the Crimson Hose “continued their tradition of hosting a drag show inside the gates of Fenway Park while also welcoming drag queens onto the field for the ceremonial first pitch. Ahead of what was a 10-8 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, fans of all ages entered the gates of the historic ballpark and were greeted by a drag show on a stage built right in front of some of the concessions.” As if that weren’t enough, “the Red Sox and their Pride-themed logo on X shared a video of various men dressed in drag dancing for fans before the first pitch of the contest.”
Wow. A drag show before the first pitch! How very 2022! Don’t the Red Sox top dogs realize that the cultural tide has turned? Don’t they have any concern for the fans they may be alienating by bringing this business into the ballpark and inflicting it on people who just wanted to see a baseball game? Don’t the other baseball teams ever consider that they may be losing more fans than they’re gaining by so enthusiastically identifying themselves with the cultural left?
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Maybe they do and maybe they don’t. The cultural tide may indeed be turning, but Kipling’s old adage still holds true: “once you have paid him the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane.” Major League Baseball has embraced the “Pride” movement, and if any teams stop having Pride Night now, cultural shift or no cultural shift, they’ll be accused of “homophobia” (and likely “white supremacy” and “MAGA extremism” to boot), and lambasted all day every day in the media.
It just isn’t worth it. And so Major League Baseball Pride Nights are here to stay, at least unless and until the cultural pendulum swings so firmly back to sanity that the teams face just too much cultural pressure to allow them to continue. But we’re not even close to that yet. So go on, fellas: grab your purses and head out to the ballgame!
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