WOKE MLB Selective about Rule Enforcement

Major League Baseball is persnickety about teams following its rules---the regulations that it deems worthy of obeying.

Recently, MLB chastised three San Francisco Giants players who had the impudence to protest being forced to wear the special LGBTQ+ caps. The players wrote Bible verses from Genesis 9:12-16. MLB and the Giants reprimanded the players for allegedly hurting the LGBTQ+ communities’ feelings and violating its uniform policy.

First things first. MLB and the 30 individual franchises have no business promoting political issues. Fans attend baseball games to escape contentious politics. Yet MLB, under uber-woke commissioner Rob Manfred, is eager to lead with his chin on politics---if it leans left.

But to today’s issue. MLB claims that the players scribbling on their caps violates the league’s uniform policy. That is to laugh out loud. Baseball’s official rules, Section 3.03 states that players’ uniforms must be identical---shoes, leggings, undershirts, wrist bands, and any other paraphernalia. Today, no fielded team is fully dressed in uniform---white shoes, black shoes, yellow shoes, pink undershirts, purple headbands. According to 3.03, players whose uniform does not conform to standards shall be removed from the game, an action that has never happened in baseball history. The owners, of course, could take a stand and insist that, pursuant to MLB rules, the players wear matching uniforms. But owners are weak and cowardly, scared to death of the Major League Baseball Players Association and its interim Executive Director, Bruce Meyer. Ruffling Meyer’s feathers over uniform policy is unwise with union contract negotiations right around the corner in December.

1960 New York Yankees—-in Uniform

Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna—-not in Uniform but still playing

MLB is in a tough spot as it approaches the conclusion of the current CBA. The league is as healthy and sound as it’s been in years. But fans are outraged at the exorbitant players contracts. Just in the last few years, fans have seen multimillion dollar deals doled out. Only the super-rich Dodgers won a World Series after shelling out major moolah. The Blue Jays, Mets and other fat-cat teams who also laid out big bucks were among the also-rans.

MLB is the only major American sports league that does not have a salary cap. For months, rumblings have circulated that owners want to finally bring a hard cap to the league in the next CBA, rumors that have been heard before but came to naught. Predictably, players are resistant to any salary cap. Paul Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates 2025 Cy Young award winner and MLBPA executive sub-committee member, said ominously, “We are very united. There’s a line we’re not going to cross.”

Skenes, MLBPA hard ass

Fans, who pay the freight in terms of ticket prices, parking and merchandise and subscription fees, demand a cap. In 2026, according to Statista.com, a family of four will pay a league average of $319.78 to watch MLB. The most expensive is a Chicago Cubs game in Wrigley Field’s so-called “friendly confines,” $570.10; most affordable, the Miami Marlins, $165.16.

Owners would be wise to heed their customers. MLB is not the only available baseball. Most major league cities have minor or independent league teams within a short drive. Those games are entertaining, more affordable and often provide free or budget-priced parking. Fans are likely to have an incentive to look for alternatives. With MLB and the union at loggerheads over yet-higher out-of-control salaries or caps---the top three salaries for 2026, the Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, $70 million; Dodgers Kyle Tucker, $60 million and the New York Mets Juan Soto, $51 million—- the first lockout since 2021-2022 is probable.

Take it from a seven-decade long fan---you can live without woke MLB.

Joe Guzzardi is a nationally syndicated columnist whose op-eds have been published for more than 30 years. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com