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Unbelievable. Just when you thought Major League Baseball couldn’t get any more ridiculous, we find out that the Mets were denied their request to wear NYPD and FDNY hats for Sunday night's game, even though they did something similar on September 21st, 2001. That day, they were also told by MLB not to wear the caps, but they did it anyway.
Today, they were strong-armed by the league: [NY Times]
“I think it’d be a nice gesture,” said Josh Thole, the Mets’ player representative. “What are they going to do, fine us? I don’t know.”
Minutes later, Thole walked back to reporters and said it was a no-go, MLB was pretty adamant about their ruling.
Ah yes, the ruling. Former Yankees manager and current MLB VP of Baseball Operations explained it to reporters: [Huffington Post]
"Certainly it's not a lack of respect," Torre said. "We just felt all the major leagues are honoring the same way with the American flag on the uniform and the cap. This is a unanimity thing."
Torre told reporters that he used his experience from the 2001 World Series to establish a precedent. That year, his players wore the hats during batting practice (like the Mets did tonight), but donned their regular hats during the games. It’s a unamimity and precedent setting thing, he said.
There are a few problems with that.
Torre was talking about the precedent set during the World Series. As much of a show of support it would have been to wear the caps during the World Series, it’s reasonable to expect a team to wear their full uniform during the league’s championship- merchandise sales, branding, recognition, etc. are all valid concerns since Major League Baseball is a business. But applying that precedent to the 10th anniversary of the tragedy for a meaningless game between two teams who have nothing – other than to provide a gathering location for the thousands most closely affected by the tragedy – to play for? Well, that’s ridiculous.
Few would argue the 10th anniversary of 9/11 sets a precedent… for anything. Obviously, a player can’t (and shouldn’t) wear hats supporting his favorite cause on just any given night, but wearing supportive hats on 9/11, in New York? Different story. There is not another event that elicits reflexive, near-unanimous emotions like 9/11 does. It’s a very special circumstance. The “they did it for 9/11” argument would work for almost nothing.
Since 2008, teams have worn their “Stars and Stripes” hats on September 11th, but this year the league decided on a subtle flag instead of the in-your-face design we see on Memorial Day and 4th of July. Perhaps that decision was made to avoid the type of criticism they just brought on themselves. After all, they sold those Stars and Stripes hats and donated an undisclosed portion of the proceeds to the “Welcome Back Veterans” committee.
Portion stands for very little.
Having worked for the MLB Shop from 2008 to 2009, trust me when I say that it was likely a very small percentage of the sales. We were never told the amount, but the common perception among MLB buyers and our office was that it was hardly anything, much like the NFL and their sale of pink breast cancer gear…
Of course, this weekend, Roger Goodell made the very wise decision of allowing players to wear supportive gloves and spikes of their choosing. MLB should have mimicked the country’s most successful sports league.
Mets Blog and ESPN New York have more.
12 Responses
Those bastards.
Are you drunk?
But think what that would have done if they wore those hats. Think about the consequences of that for a second.
Yeah, I got nothing either. What a joke…
Setting a precedent? It’s fucking 9/11! It’s a New York team! Ugh… At times like these, the old “rules are rules” adage wreaks of faggotry.
Bud Selig needs to go
They should have just gone out with the caps on and let the league fine them. Try to explain that bad press away.
Should have designed special hats which included the Mets and Yankees logos within the FDNY and NYPD hats. Then they could honor them AND make a shit ton of money afterwords. Then the league would have done it.
Who cares?
Bud Selig is a wrinkly, sagging scrotum who is so out of touchks with reality. The MLB under his watch might as well be called “Major League Ballsack”
Just idiotic.
Probably mad because he couldn’t find a way to market it or make money off it.
I’m hearing people talk about the business aspect of this: “Well, I don’t agree with the decision, but it IS a business.”
To me, thats 100% bullshit. This, as Kyle said, was one game. ONE GAME out of how many MLB regular season games? Are they really going to lose that much fucking money–or ANY MONEY for that matter– because of a fucking HAT?!!? And if they do..ya know what…FUCK EM! WHO FUCKIN CARES!? They’re Major League Fuckin Baseball for fucks sakes…They make billions of dollars every year! If they were really going to lose out on that much bank, which I highly doubt they were, THEY CAN FUCKIN DEAL WITH IT! Maybe I’m being a bit naive, but how is wearing NYPD/NYFD hats for ONE game going to affect sales? Honestly, I know Mets fans are fuckwads, but its not like they’re gonna be sitting in front of the TV sayin, “Hmm…whose playin again? What are we watchin? I can’t tell cause of the hats. Lets turn off the game and watch Glee.” Is it really going to cause fans at the game to be like, “Well…They’re wearing different hats, fuck staying at the game and spending money on food, beer and foam fingers, I’M OUTTA HERE.”
Its a once in a lifetime thing, commemorating an event and the actions of the brave souls and victims during said event, that literally affected the whole nation.Its one of the few remaining things in this country that isn’t polarized and doesn’t split people apart to the point where they start fucking screaming at each other. Its one of the few things that brings us together. THATS fuckin unanimous… Joe Torre can shove the unanimity of over-priveledged baseball players in his cunt..He should be thinking about the unanimity of a nation.
I’m actually a bit surprised that MLB doesn’t have all teams wear the Stars and Stripes hats that were worn on Memorial Day and Independence Day. In doing some reading, it appears as if these hats are worn as a part of a national fundraising campaign for Welcome Back Veterans. What the hell? Why not one more day?
The first year MLB came out with these hats in ’08, I could swear all teams wore the navy blue hats with their respective stars and stripes emblem on September 11th. Then again, it’s possible my mind has been washed away by $8 Bud Lights.
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