Murphy in his new Cubs uniform | Photo: Facebook/MLB on Fox
Whenever anti-LGBTI Chicago Cubs player Daniel Murphy stepped up to bat in a recent baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, the Braves’ organist Matthew Kaminski had a message to send.
Three years ago when Murphy was a player on the New York Mets, he said he disagreed 100% with the ‘gay lifestyle’.
He was recently traded to the Cubs — much to the chagrin of fans, especially on Pride night.
When Murphy was in Atlanta for a game on Thursday (30 August), the message was clear: ‘We don’t agree with your opinion.’
Every time Murphy stepped up to the plate, Kaminski played a different song. First it was Lola by The Kinks, a song about a man falling in love with a trans woman. Then it was What the World Needs Now Is Love, and finally Lady Gaga’s Born This Way in the 9th inning.
Here’s @bravesorganist playing @ladygaga‘s “Born This Way” for Daniel Murphy: pic.twitter.com/VCAX5CShGA
— Organist Alert (@organistalert) August 31, 2018
Here’s a montage of songs @bravesorganist played for Daniel Murphy (“Lola” in the 4th, “What the World Needs Now is Love” in the 6th, and “Born This Way” in the 9th): pic.twitter.com/lUpVYpEelM
— Organist Alert (@organistalert) August 31, 2018
People took notice of the song choices, and flooded Kaminski’s Twitter, which he acknowledged after the game.
#Braves vs #Cubs – Wow! My Twitter feed was on fire tonight! Thank you for all the love 👍
— Matthew Kaminski (@bravesorganist) August 31, 2018
Defending their new player
Openly gay co-owner of the Cubs, Laura Ricketts, defended the acquisition of Murphy. She said there were ‘several thoughtful conversations’ about the decision.
Since several people have asked…yes, I was consulted prior to the Daniel Murphy trade. There were several thoughtful conversations among Cubs executives, my brothers and me, as well as with Billy Bean, MLB’s Ambassador for Inclusion and the subject of Daniel’s 2015 comments.
— Laura Ricketts (@LMRicketts) August 26, 2018
Ricketts also tweeted Murphy and Billy Bean, the gay player whom Murphy’s comments were originally about, have developed a friendship.
I know Billy and have immense respect for him and his work with the league. Billy, who has since developed a friendship with Daniel, was very positive and encouraging.
— Laura Ricketts (@LMRicketts) August 26, 2018
She finally said she was ‘on board’ with the trade,
For his part, Bean said: ‘I’m sure that he’s never had a gay friend that’s in his current life. The fact that we have baseball in common, he can see from a distance the work that I try and do and I can watch the influence he tries to have with the platform he has.’
He further added he’s helping Murphy ‘consider things from a different perspective’.
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