Prospectus Hit and Run... (09/09)
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September 12, 2011 Wezen-BallMLB's Terrible Decision on Sept. 11I've been trying to figure this out since I first heard about it on Twitter yesterday afternoon (when I happened to be at Miller Park, where a wholly appropriate and moving "God Bless America" montage on the scoreboard may have brought a tear to my eye). Let me briefly recap the situation as I understand it: The players on the New York Mets, in honor of the September 11 first responders *and* in in the same spirit as the September 21, 2001, game that New York City remembers so well, wanted to wear FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority caps in last night's tenth anniversary game. They petitioned Major League Baseball for permission, but MLB told them "no". Joe Torre, in his official capacity with the league, said something about MLB wanting all teams to have a uniform tribute (ie, the New Era caps with an American flag on the side) on the anniversary. An ESPN article also made it sound like the players were ready to defy MLB anyway until the Mets management asked them not to for fear of the repercussions the club would face. In the end, the players wore the hats during the pre-game ceremonies and then wore their "approved" caps during the game. According to Mets' pitcher R.A. Dickey's Twitter feed, the hats were taken away from the players (by someone official, presumably) immediately following the ceremonies so that they couldn't be worn during the game. Okay, maybe that wasn't so brief, but it was the best I could do. As I said, I've been trying to figure out the rationale behind this for almost 24-hours now. Some people seem to believe that MLB's refusal was purely financially motivated, that their agreement with New Era (which includes selling the hats in MLB's official shops for $36.99) was the only reason they declined the players' request. After all, if the the "on-field" caps were never worn on the field, people might not be so excited to shell out $40 for their own version. Others seem to think that MLB's refusal was based on some form of slippery slope argument, that, by allowing the Mets to wear these non-standard caps, they might be opening the door to other, less-appropriate tributes in the future. Buster Olney tweeted that some executives he talked to understood MLB's point-of-view. One exec told Olney: "What happens if there's an earthquake, and many killed? And then a Katrina-like hurricane in an MLB city?" Of course, there are many flaws with that logic. First and foremost is that September 11 is an incredibly rare and profound tragedy, unlike anything the United States had seen in 60 years. What's more, MLB has allowed non-standard hats due to tragedies before. After the shooting at Virginia Tech, for example, Nationals players wore VT hats that night. In Pittsburgh in 2009, the Pirates were allowed to wear Pittsburgh Police Dept. hats in response to the deaths of three Pittsburgh police officers. I'm sure there are plenty of other examples. Why, then, is MLB so worried about the precedent being set in this case? At this point, I just don't think there are any reasons that Major League Baseball could trot out that would hold up to scrutiny. That's not to say MLB didn't have their reasons - obviously they did, and they were probably some sort of amalgamation of a business relationship with New Era, a fear of further teams trying to deal with tragedies, and a desire to honor the anniversary uniformly across the league. It's just hard to see how any combination of those reasons - or anything else they may have been considering - could outweigh the poor PR and just plain foolishness of the final decision. Bad call, Major League Baseball.
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"What's more, MLB has allowed non-standard hats due to tragedies before. After the shooting at Virginia Tech, for example, Nationals players wore VT hats that night. In Pittsburgh in 2009, the Pirates were allowed to wear Pittsburgh Police Dept. hats in response to the deaths of three Pittsburgh police officers."
"The players on the New York Mets, in honor of the September 11 first responders *and* in in the same spirit as the September 21, 2001, game that New York City remembers so well...."
NY players wore hats just was Nats and Pirates players wore hats - right after the event in question. This was a 10th anniversiary "tribute". Apples and oranges.
I doubt the NFL will have special patches or uniforms for the 70th anniversiary of Pearl Harbor in 3 months. I am guessing baseball won't have special hats for the 70th anniversiary of D-Day in 2014. There are a number of significant days in US history. 9/11/01 is such a date. And MLB did permit an exception right after the event. But for anniversiary dates, I see no reason an exception was needed because it does open a slippery slope.
This is ridiculous. Slippery slope arguments in general don't have much of a leg to stand on, but what does the slope lead to in this case - more thoughtful commemorations? God forbid.
Then you might as well eliminate the standardized uniform rules. Because never a day goes by that doesn’t mark the anniversary of a tragedy involving US citizens. If that's what people want, that's fine. MLB obviously does not.
I don't think it is ridiculous at all. There is a big difference between appropriate immediate response to a tragedy and turning it into a recurring commemorative "occasion," and like Memorial Day and Veterans' Day (aka Armistice Day), eventually a cheapened and mostly empty tribute.
More thoughtful commemorations would be fine, but by definition that means there is thought put into them, each and every time. In this case the question I would have for the Mets players is are the others who died in the WTC collapses less worthy of commemoration than those from the NYFD/NYPD/NYPA? I'm not asking if they were more or less heroic or brave at that moment, but whether they are somehow less dead or less worthy, and should not be honored equally. Wearing hats of those agencies honors only them, whereas the flag on all uniforms honors the other WTC victims, as well as the service men & women who have died since (as well as before).