I find it interesting that none of the major sports news outlets are even touching this story, and it makes me wonder why
The baseball uniforms for the Tinley Park Bulldogs look a little different this year.
Gone are the names of Major League Baseball teams that accompanied “Bulldogs” on the front of the kids’ jerseys.
No White Sox.
No Cubs.
No Phillies, Yankees or Reds.
Why? MLB hurled a fastball at the heads of those who make the uniforms for the little ballplayers: Drop the big-league names or face a lawsuit.
For the Bulldogs, that means no more teams named after any pro franchise.
Late last year, SportStation received a letter from MLB, noting that not only the logos but the team names were trademarked. The letter ordered the company to stop producing the uniforms.
Well, isn’t that special? Granted, MLB is going after the companies who make the uniforms, but they are uniforms for Little League players, who have liked to use the names of the pro teams for a long, long time. Back in my LL days, I played for the Pirates and the Dodgers (hence my becoming a Dodgers fan.) Now MLB is saying no, you cannot do that.
Why? Money. Pure and simple.
“It’s never the youth league, primarily,” [Howard] Smith, MLB’s senior vice president of licensing, said. “It’s always the retailer. When we find out, we go to him and say, ‘You can’t do that, and you know that.’
“We’re sensitive to this matter. Some parents say, ‘Baseball is screwing us,’ but we’ve never, ever sent a cease and desist letter to a youth organization. We want our kids wearing our stuff.”
Semantics. It amounts to the same thing. What they are doing is going after those retailers, so that MLB can sell directly and make the money.
But steroids, chewing tobacco and spanish/japonese languages are in, eh? MLB today sucks versus the days when Babe Ruth did it on beer and brats! And nylons and garters were IN back then, eh?
This is just sickening. Way to go MLB, this is yet another reason I am not a fan of baseball. I’m guessing our beloved MLS Colorado Rapids would be thrilled to promote their sport this way. MLS teams are very active among youth players, they know where their future lies.
I can barely watch a game anymore, even if it is the Dodgers. MLB has gotten too big for its britches, too divorced from the fans.