Major League Baseball repeatedly told the New York Mets players that they were not to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks by wearing caps representing the New York City fire and police department during the warmups for their game agains the Chicago Cubs last night.
MLB sent a memo to teams around the league last week telling them to wear only official MLB caps on the field, and Mets players complied, though they considered defying the rule.
The New York Times baseball blog has one explanation from MLB – they don’t want to set a precedent for unofficial hats on the ball field:
Torre said he had used his experience managing the Yankees in 2001 to inform his decision. In the World Series that season, the Yankees wore caps honoring 9/11 first responders during warm-ups before switching to their official hats for the game.
He said the league was wary of setting a precedent.
“Certainly it’s not a lack of respect,” Torre told The Associated Press. “It’s just something we feel is the right thing to do.”
You would think that the Yankees getting to wear the hats honoring first responders would be a precedent, but, they’re the New York Yankees. They’re different, not like the New York Mets.
