This is not my father's issue of The Sporting News anymore. A minor league baseball writer fronting as a major league LGBT activist for the publication claims Major League Baseball has a problem with "toxic masculinity" and that by allowing "Christian Night" at the ballpark, teams are negatively offsetting "pride nights." If Jessica Quiroli, alias #heels on the field, had her way, baseball would also succumb to the ongoing feminization of the American male.
Quiroli opened her piece by zeroing in on Toronto outfielder Kevin Pillar, who got into hot water when he hurled a less-than-masculine insult at a rival pitcher earlier this season. "But he didn’t just lash out; he resorted to using a homophobic word to express his anger," she writes. "In that moment, he didn’t just expose his own faults, but the distance MLB still has to go in order to guide players on a deeper level."
Of course that deeper level means ball players should be robotically programmed with a healthy fear of the LGBT fascists and do their bidding.
"Trying to change societal attitudes is a bear," she continues. "In the world of sports, where machismo is celebrated, it’s an even bigger challenge."
"But sports has a particular set of rules, bending the moral compass to find what works as a business, and what works in the frame of approved masculine behavior. And "that seemingly impenetrable wall is getting chipped away, little by little, with each season, as we open the dialogue on how we perceive the game and the men on the field.
There's no question that her "we" rhymes with LGBT.
Quiroli sought out Jeff Perera, a gender equality advocate and Blue Jays' fan for support. He speaks about healthy masculinity (according to LGBT activists, obviously) and questions the traditions "we're handing down."
“The question we need to ask ourselves, as we do in any other space, is ‘What are the traditions we’re handing down?’” said Perera, who has spoken about healthy masculinity for nine years throughout North America.
One of the Jays' traditions is "homophobia," Quiroli alleges. In 2012, shortstop Yunel Escobar "scrawled anti-gay words in Spanish under his eye and later told the media it was 'a joke' among him and fellow teammates. He was suspended three games. Pillar was suspended for two. Not exactly a sign of progress." Neither player was at the time fearful of homosexuals, but you can bet they have a big-league phobia about the clout of LGBT activists now.
Moving on to the "larger, more potent question," Quiroli asks those on the Left who find her tripe meaningful, "How are we changing the culture of baseball?"
Pride Nights matter and they’re great for outreach, just like any night in baseball that promotes something important. But they don’t address the depth of the problem.
The Cardinals host a LGBTQ Night, but also just announced that Lance Berkman will speak on "Christian Night." Berkman has been an outspoken and active advocate against LGBTQ rights, saying in response to Houston’s HERO ordinance, which would’ve protected LGBT rights in the city, “tolerance is the virtue that’s killing America.”
So these fascists can have their night at the stadium, but, baseball, don't you dare allow Christians an evening of their own. This brand of "tolerance" is worthy of a new chapter in Jonah Goldberg's classic book, "Liberal Fascism."
Quiroli continues to rant as she complains younger baseball players are learning "a false ideal of masculinity" from veteran teammates. She calls it "the toxicity in baseball culture."
Perhaps envisioning an MLB of Bruce Jenners, Perera says there is a "shift in ideas of manhood between the old-school traditionalists and the newer, inclusive and learning generation." Make that the "indoctrinated generation."
Quiroli wonders if we've missed the "expiration date on those hyper-masculine reflexes in baseball." Maybe not. On Mother's Day, all the teams wore pink uniforms and swung pink bats. Baseball teams are, after all, owned by corporatists fully engulfed by "homophobia."
Perera adds: "Competition doesn’t have to descend into outbursts of suppressed emotion or vengeful behavior that reinforces heterosexuality and limited ideas of masculinity as ‘normal.'” To which Quiroli adds:
Baseball has always seemed to exist in a bubble, protected from an evolving society ready to fight back against homophobia, misogyny and violence against women, and perceptions of masculinity. That protection is gone. Major League Baseball has been asked to move forward with the rest of the world. It's on notice that many won’t stand idly on the sidelines celebrating traditions that promote violence or diminish other human beings in the name of the philosophy that "boys will be boys."
Baseball is America’s pastime. And much of what baseball was is a thing of the past.
Ty Cobb, are you turning over in your grave?
