As a resident of the Kansas City metro and a diehard Royals fan, to me their 12th inning victory over the New York Mets, which earned them the World Series championship, was one of the most exhilarating events I’ve watched on TV. It’s only surpassed by actually watching a game at Kauffman Stadium in KC.

A writer at Slate Magazine was also happy about the series’ outcome, although mainly pleased that the Mets had been defeated. One of the players, in his view, had done something intolerable.

Was it the first pitch in Game 3 at Citi Field in Queens, New York, when Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard fired an intentional fast ball at the head of Royals batter Alcides Escobar?

https://youtu.be/rF4oibjmbSI

Nope. Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern was happy that Mets player Daniel Murphy’s error in Game 4 cost the Mets that game and allowed the Royals the opportunity to take the series in Game 5, which they did.

Here’s how he tweeted it:

Anti-gay Met Daniel Murphy lost his team the #WorldSeries. Good. https://t.co/ZwlPZFHdO1 pic.twitter.com/5loidpuYwi

— Slate (@Slate) November 2, 2015

You guessed it. Daniel Murphy is a Christian and disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle, which in Stern’s world is tantamount to being evil personified.

He wrote:

These unqualified plaudits may have been merited. But they gloss over the fact that Murphy is perhaps the most explicitly and unabashedly anti-gay figure in major league sports today. Earlier this year, Murphy unloaded his thoughts about Billy Bean, an openly gay retired player and Major League Baseball’s Ambassador for Inclusion.

Stern concluded his rant with this:

But I’m delighted to see Murphy’s star come crashing down so publicly. Now a free agent, Murphy’s stock just plummeted, and his name will be whispered in disappointment rather than trumpeted with glee. Murphy’s horrifying performance, his downfall on the field, likely had nothing to do with his noxious personal prejudice. And yet, in some small way, it felt like justice.

Good heavens! Just how hateful is Murphy? Earlier this year, Murphy said this about Billy Bean, the MLB’s Ambassador for Inclusion and a retired openly gay player. See if you can find the hateful statements Murphy said. I’ll wait:

“I disagree with his lifestyle. I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect. Getting to know him. That, I would say, you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100 percent.”

Murphy added:

“Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality. We love the people. We disagree with the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me. It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That’s not love. That’s not love at all.”

What hateful words did Daniel Murphy use? Disagree? Murphy extended love to someone with whom he disagreed. Mark Joseph Stern was the one exhibiting hate for someone with whom he was at odds.

But Stern probably wouldn’t want to cheer for the Royals either. After all, Dayton Moore, the team’s general manager, is a born-again Christian who emphasizes character-building within the members of the team. He encourages his players to become involved with MLB’s chaplain program to help them make “quality, consistent, good choices through their faith.”

He probably wouldn’t like Royals star player Ben Zobrist either. Zobrist is an active Christian. His wife Julianna is a successful Christian singer.

Both Ben Zobrist and Daniel Murphy are free agents. I hope the Royals can convince Zobrist to stay, as he is a man of great character as well as a very talented player. But I certainly wouldn’t mind if the club picked up Murphy, either. He seems to possess the character that GM Moore loves to cultivate in his team.