Hometown Hero and soon to official baseball legend, Craig Biggio, has been asked by MLB officials to remove the Sunshine Kids (a charity which provides for children with cancer) pin from his ball cap. Biggio has, for years, worn this cap during batting practice and Spring Training in order to make
photo-ops and bubble gum baseball cards all the more memorable for the charity he has raised over $1.8 million . So I think that the rest of the world is truly curious to know…WHY? Honestly, to boil it down to the most simple description possible, MLB doesn’t support kids with cancer.
While we sure hope that this isn’t the case and that there is a legit reason for Craig being ordered not to wear a tinny yellow pin in his hat during BP and Spring Training games (we sure can’t think of one), it’s hard to have to many feel good feelings about MLB lately. What other professional sports league has had the federal government on its' case for everything from steroids to collective bargaining?
People wonder why baseball is America’s Pastime in name only. Much of the reason is that baseball does a terrible job of marketing. Why have the NBA and NFL exploded in popularity? These leagues know how to put themselves in the best positions to gain viewership. From not having their championships end after midnight, to promoting their stars, these leagues do it right.
The recent decision to have Direct TV be the sole distributor of “MLB Extra Innings” is yet another example of how Major League Baseball fails to connect with the average fan. The facts remain that only 300,000 households currently have access to this kind of television . Perhaps Selig and his cronies believe that the traditional hierarchy of American sports cannot be altered. However, with NASCAR, the X Games and even soccer becoming more and more part of the mainstream in this country, competition is steep for the attention of the American viewing public. Major League Baseball is a great product, and its’ supporters are among the most loyal in the world. Complacency and outright stupidity threaten this, and if those in the league office don’t come to this realization sooner rather than later, they may have more than just David Beckham to worry about.
5 comments:
Guys, you hit the nail right on the head. MLB is the most corrupt pro sports organization ever. These punks in suits (owners) use and abuse the sports fans for the almighty dollar. And what the #$%^ is MLB giving Mr. Goodguy himself, Craig Biggio, crap because of a little yellow pin. That is the stupidest thing I've heard this spring so far.
thanks for your opinion texaskev111. the events of the past couple of days left us feeling like we had to write something!
Hey now, give the MLB some credit. After all, Selig let's one guy support one charity, then all of a sudden all the baseball players might be supporting more charities. It's not as though logically you can make a rule that a charity pin on a cap is okay, just don't get out of hand and advertise (Bonds with a BALCO pin on his hat). Given the current image of most players, one might think this would be a good thing. Before you know it, we aren't debating Pete Rose lying anymore, but discussing the great things guys like Biggio do for baseball and the community.
Selig cannot allow a slippery slope of kindness and good will. It's just not what he's set up baseball to become. Maybe as a comprimise he can sell $150 tickets for nosebleed seats to some charity game.
Over on Chron.com, John Lopez has a post regarding the "Pin" Incident. Good Read and the readers comments after it are very positive in support of Biggio. The fans may not have a loud voice, but we have the biggest megaphone at our disposal, the internet. Let's use it to let Selig and MLB know that thier actions regarding Biggio are not in thier best interests.
This reminds me of the time Jon Kitna got in trouble for trying to wear a hat with a cross on it instead of his team's hat on the sidelines. I don't think the NFL did this to say "we aren't Christians" nor is MLB saying "we don't like kids with cancer," it's all about setting a precedent for the rest of the league that you must stick to your uniform and can't make any changes to them, even if they're a good cause like Craig's.
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