WASHINGTON - Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is savoring a win over Major League Baseball in a recent confrontation over the right of athletes to promote Bible verses on their uniforms during the league’s Pride Night celebrations.

“I thought that the commissioner’s response was very gratifying,” Hawley said Tuesday. ... “He admitted that he didn’t have his facts right and that no player would ever be disciplined for their religious views.”

On June 15, three San Francisco Giants players received verbal warnings for violating MLB protocol by altering their uniforms with Bible verses on their Pride Night caps. Another Giants pitcher who chose not to wear a Pride Night hat also got a verbal warning from MLB for violating the uniform policy.

In response, Hawley released a letter on June 16 to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred citing a “pattern of discrimination” against players because of their Christian faith.

“I write with grave concern over your reported decision to issue a formal warning to three Major League Baseball players for publicly expressing their Christian faith,” Hawley wrote. “You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.”

Manfred responded to the senator Friday, saying that the warning issued is “enforced without regard to the substance of the message” and that the Giants failed to communicate to their players that they could have taken the field without wearing the team’s pride logos.

On June 12, Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker broke MLB protocol by altering their uniforms with Bible verses on their Pride Night caps, which included a rainbow Giants logo. Another pitcher, Sam Hentges, chose not to wear a Pride Night hat.

In a post to X on Monday, Hawley wrote that MLB “admits they were wrong to threaten the Giants players over Bible verses and promises never to fine or discipline these players — or any players for their religious beliefs.”

In his letter to Manfred, Hawley had demanded all league and club uniform regulations and documentation of every instance in which a player had been penalized under those policies by Friday.

The United States Department of Justice opened an investigation into Major League Baseball for alleged discrimination against the four Giants players.

MLB said the warnings had nothing to do with the players’ faith.

“We respect players’ right to free expression,” the league said in a statement. “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.”

Following their game Friday, Giants relievers Ryan Walker, JT Brubaker and Hentges tried to downplay the controversy.

“It’s just people getting a hold of something and turning it into something. I just wanted to put my message and my beliefs (out there), and that was the end of it,” Brubaker said.

“It was more so questioning myself and what does my faith mean to me,” Walker added.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” Hentges said. “They can feel how they want about me or what I have done, but it wasn’t out of hate. I don’t hate the community.”