Editorial: MLB doesn’t need to turn tricks for money

Baseball’s been very, very good to us.

It’s given us Babe Ruth, Little League and the ever-popular ballpark hot dog.

But it hasn’t all been sweet American romanticism. Baseball has also given us corked bats, steroid scandals and the 1919 World Series fix.

The latest Major League Baseball issue falls into the latter category as something that not only causes diehard fans to lose faith in the game, but also dehumanizes us as people.

When the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays kicked off the 2004 season, the players wore uniforms and batting helmets decorated with the logo of Ricoh, a Japanese office supply company.

Since then, baseball fans have been anxious to hear whether advertising on players’ jerseys will become a staple of Major League Baseball. If MLB officials decide to allow such ads, the organization may lose any amount of credibility it has left.

With ballparks already selling out to the likes of U.S. Cellular, Petco and Minute Maid, walking advertisements are just one more step toward turning the “great American pastime” into the “great American commercial break.”

To force baseball players to display corporate logos on their shirts perpetually exposing both players and fans to yet more advertising is to assume people are willing to surrender their freedom of choice.

Players shouldn’t be forced to support products they don’t believe in, and viewers of the games shouldn’t be forced to subject themselves to any more advertising than they are already being bombarded with either at the park or on TV.

Granted, MLB officials haven’t officially made any plans to make the display of logos on uniforms a regular practice, but it’s not something they’ve ruled out.

And if similar strategies implemented by NASCAR and the NFL are any indication, MLB wouldn’t make out too badly. In a 16-game season, the NFL makes $60 million from Coors and $48 million from Gatorade; in three NASCAR races, Budweiser made NASCAR $29.2 million, which stretched out over 36 races is about $350 million.

If MLB goes through with such a plan, officials estimate it could bring in upward of $500 million over a 162-game season.

With this extra revenue, MLB could afford to lower ticket prices, meaning fewer disgruntled fans with empty wallets.

But it’s not about the money; it’s about the sport and the thrill of witnessing firsthand a range of human emotions—the joy of success, the agony of defeat and the satisfaction of straining to accomplish a goal.

Cutting back players’ salaries is a more logical place to start saving money. It might even help weed out the players who are in the league to pay for their six Ferraris and bring in the guys who really want to play—the guys the fans want to see.

And if such an advertising campaign is carried out, it would only be a matter of time before small logo patches on jerseys turn into full-body costumes and players and fans alike are exploited in the name of capitalism.

Corporate sponsorship only makes a mockery of the game and insults those who love it. We don’t need ads for peanuts and Cracker Jack to enjoy baseball.