In baseball, timing is everything.
The Boston Red Sox just gave the rest of the game a lesson in this principle—even away from the field. Specifically: When a team calls up a minor leaguer who’s notorious for homophobic tweets five days before Pride Night, someone’s going to notice.
The Red Sox have promoted 32-year-old pitcher Matt Dermody from their AAA Worcester affiliate to make a spot start this evening in Cleveland. There’s nothing he’s done on the mound that would distinguish him from hundreds of other players in the minors.
However, Dermody quietly made a name for himself in 2021 by posting a tweet reading: “Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will go to hell. This is not my opinion but the #Truth. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9.”
Uh…Happy Pride, Boston?
(Side note: I’m not religious at all but I want to hear more about whatever higher power arranged things so that a random bush leaguer’s post condemning people for their sexuality would end in “6:9.”)
Soon after posting his unrequested anti-gay screed, Dermody deleted the tweet and wrote this attempt to cover himself: “I am not a homophobic [sic]. As I stated in my tweet, I have love for all. The truth is love.”
Naturally, nothing says “love for all” like proclaiming “They will go to hell.” Dermody might be the only person on earth who buys Hallmark Valentines from the Hieronymus Bosch line.
At the time of the tweets, very few people noticed. The tempest started quietly brewing earlier this year, and it’s now officially exploded.
Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom addressed the timing of Dermody’s call-up with The Athletic’s Steve Buckley, who came out as gay in 2011.
“The important thing to me in that conversation [with Dermody] was he knew he made a mistake. He owned that mistake,” Bloom emphasized, “He told me he realized he hurt people. He didn’t intend or want to hurt people, and realized he did. That’s why he took it down. And he told me, ‘I know I shouldn’t use my platform that way.’”
Bloom did not clarify whether or not Dermody believed his “mistake” was his homophobia or the fact that he posted it on Twitter.
Dermody pitches this evening and if he stays on the big league roster, his next start will be on Tuesday—which happens to be Red Sox Pride Night.
Somehow, the timing of Dermody’s promotion could get even worse.
