Major League Baseball has been accused of quietly removing references to its ‘Diversity Pipeline Program’ on its website.
It comes just days after a Department of Defense webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service was deleted – and then hastily restored.
The ‘Diversity Pipeline Program’ was created by commissioner Rob Manfred back in 2016, with the aim of ‘stimulating greater diversity on baseball’s administrative levels’.
It was designed to shake up front offices around the league by finding and nurturing staff ‘in Baseball Operations departments at all 30 Clubs and the MLB Office of the Commissioner’.
‘MLB is committed to bringing in qualified minorities and females,’ said Tyrone Brooks, who was hired to head up the program.
But, according to Craig Calcaterra’s Cup of Coffee, ‘Major League Baseball has almost completely eliminated the webpage for its Diversity Pipeline Program. And it’s not even clear if the program itself exists any longer.’
The ‘Diversity Pipeline Program’ was created by commissioner Rob Manfred back in 2016
The dedicated page of the program appears to have been significantly altered in recent months
Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, is pictured speaking back in November
The dedicated page of the program remains on the website but it appears to have been significantly altered in recent months.
As recently as November 2024, the page – entitled ‘Diversity Pipeline Program’ – included a list of initiatives aimed at ‘creating experiential learning for applicants’.
It also detailed candidates’ preferred background and experience as well as information on how they can apply.
There is also information on ‘partners and events’, including The Buck O’Neil Professional Baseball Scouts and Coaches Association.
Now, though, any mention of the program has been removed from the webpage. Instead there is only reference to ‘The Buck O’Neil Professional Baseball Scouts and Coaches Association’.
That is despite the URL remaining ‘https://www.mlb.com/diversity-and-inclusion/pipeline-program’.
Changes have also been made to what was once the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ page of MLB.com, with the word ‘diversity’ removed from the league’s ‘mission and vision’ section.
Baseball and diversity have been in the spotlight this week after the controversy involving Robinson’s webpage.
A Department of Defense webpage on Jackie Robinson’s military service was restored
Pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were also taken down – the Pentagon said that was a mistake – amid the department’s ‘DEI’ purge.
The page on Robinson includes biographical information about his Army service during World War II, which occurred prior to his famously breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
When that page’s address was entered Wednesday, a message showed up saying it ‘might have been moved, renamed, or may be temporarily unavailable.’ The letters ‘dei’ were also automatically added to the URL. However, it has since returned.
DailyMail.com has contacted MLB for comment.
