New York State of Mind

Congratulations to Major League Baseball for showing that the supposed uniform policy supersedes what is right and decent in the world.

By denying the Mets the ability to wear caps on Sunday which commemorated the First Responders of 09-11, They succeeded in doing nothing more than uniformly making themselves look like insensitive asses. It is understood that the MLB brass does not want to set a precedent of teams being allowed to change their uniform for any reason they so choose, however as a country this one is just a little different. We are talking about honoring people whom willingly gave their lives so that many more could be saved.

Joe Torre, the executive vice president for MLB baseball operations said, “Certainly it’s not a lack of respect, we just felt all the MLB teams are honoring the same way, with the American flag on the uniform and the cap. This is a unanimity thing.”

Really Joe, you have to know better than that, you were in New York on that tragic day, and it’s hard to imagine you telling your beloved New York Yankees that they would need to be Uniform if they chose to do something similar.

When a similar situation occurred in 2001 the Mets wore the caps, which resulted in a fine being paid to Major League Baseball, however given the current financial and overall mess that the team is currently in, that didn’t seem to be an option for the players.

In the end, there would be an on field pregame ceremony, which honored the events of the day. It is however hard to imagine that in the city whose skyline was forever changed that day 10 years ago, Uniformity was really a concern that day. This is an example of America’s National Pastime doing something that could easily be considered distinctly unpatriotic.

The last statement could be nothing more than an overreaction by an overzealous writer, but it doesn’t seem too far of a stretch.

In this case the front offices got it wrong. Plain and Simple!