MLB makes a really stupid ruling.
For about twenty years Craig Biggio of the Astros has been involved with a non-profit group called the Sunshine Kids which helps cancer stricken youth. And as a way to show his support he has worn a pin in his cap during pregame warm ups and spring training games. But that was apparently a problem with MLB, which has declared that the pin must go. Click here for story.
Paul Lukas has it right when he writes "It takes a very special brand of chutzpah to tell a future Hall of Famer to stop supporting cancer patients. Forget about players on steroids -- the real problem, apparently, is kids on chemo. And that's just the beginning of MLB's cluelessness here. According to this account, "a league official, having watched the Astros-Devil Rays game on the local Houston Fox Southwest feed, sent word to Kissimmee that [Biggio] must remove [the pin]. A picture from that game was faxed to the Astros, who informed [Biggio] of the league's request." Whoa, TV and faxes -- they sure caught him red-handed! Apparently the miscreant who employed these high-tech investigative tools was unaware that Biggio had already been wearing the pin on his cap for nearly 20 years."
Paul Lukas has it right when he writes "It takes a very special brand of chutzpah to tell a future Hall of Famer to stop supporting cancer patients. Forget about players on steroids -- the real problem, apparently, is kids on chemo. And that's just the beginning of MLB's cluelessness here. According to this account, "a league official, having watched the Astros-Devil Rays game on the local Houston Fox Southwest feed, sent word to Kissimmee that [Biggio] must remove [the pin]. A picture from that game was faxed to the Astros, who informed [Biggio] of the league's request." Whoa, TV and faxes -- they sure caught him red-handed! Apparently the miscreant who employed these high-tech investigative tools was unaware that Biggio had already been wearing the pin on his cap for nearly 20 years."
posted by Peter Young @ 10:49 PM
2 Comments:
At 7:54 AM,
Paul said…
Bah - the reporter has it right when he talks about consistency of holding players and managers accountable to the rules of the game and clearly there's lots of examples - including the ones he cites in his article. Everyone pushes it from time to time. We've all seen situations of the injured or ill teammate's uniform number Sharpied on a shoe. These things are not uncommon and because of the lack of consistency, it's surprising to me at how this one was handled.
But I think you're both off base (pun intended) that MLB should back off because of the object of Biggio's efforts.
Biggio's a famous guy; He's got resources. Why must he go to work and solicit his co-workers and customers for donations for his favorite cause? Buy commercial time or make a public appearance. Heck, maybe see if the park will sell Craig's Ballpark Pizzas - proceeds going to the Sunshine Kids?
I mean, come on. They didn't let Kirby Puckett's daughter sell candy bars in the Twins' clubhouse for her school band trip.
At 7:46 PM,
Peter Young said…
The object of the efforts is not the point. But it does put MLB in an unpleasant enough situation that they have already changed their mind about it. If they wanted to start cracking down on this sort of thing, and they do have every right to do so, they could and did.
But they should expect this sort of reaction. And if there was any real money to be made, ie if this button negatively effected cap sales or such, you bet they wouldn't have turned a blind eye to it for nearly twenty years.
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