Missing the Mission | In Which Major League Baseball Continues to Try Alienating Every Last Fan
I can’t say I was surprised to hear that the Cape Cod Baseball League, a collection of 10 teams of amateur players who compete throughout the charming Cape towns throughout the summer, was a nonprofit. Everything about the league screams throwback. The games are played at high schools, the players, from colleges across the country, room with local residents, the sponsors are straight out of small-town central casting, and the food is grilled up just down the foul lines, the smell of burgers and dogs wafting over the bleachers behind home plate. The players even go into the stands and pass around a batting helmet to collect donations, for crying out loud.
And so of course it was only a matter of time before Major League Baseball, which cannot at all get out of its own way, decided to crash the party. The Cape Cod League’s annual operating budget, according to the Cape Cod Times, is between $1.5 million and $2 million, with MLB providing a year $100,000 check. But that could change:
According to Cape League sources, the six teams in the 10-team Cape League that share nicknames with major league franchises are facing a choice: Purchase all future uniforms and souvenir merchandise from more expensive MLB-licensed vendors or lose the annual grant.
MLB is also requesting an 11 percent royalty on sales next summer of existing inventory from the six Cape League teams. Nonclothing items such as coffee mugs and teddy bears that are not available through MLB vendors could no longer be sold.
Affected teams are the Chatham A’s, Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, Harwich Mariners, Bourne Braves, Orleans Cardinals and Hyannis Mets.
A hundred grand is peanuts to MLB, which gets a lot of bang for its buck: Last season more than 200 alumni of the Cape Cod League played in the majors. When you consider that the game spent the winter focused on which of its players jeopardized their Hall of Fame chances by consuming banned substances, Bud Selig and Co. could use all the goodwill they can get.
“Missing the Mission” appears Tuesdays at the 501(c) Files. | 501(c)
Tags: Cape Cod Baseball League, Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, MLB
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2 opinions for Missing the Mission | In Which Major League Baseball Continues to Try Alienating Every Last Fan
Bridget
Mar 11, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Just curious: How could the baseball club have stayed “just under the radar” and continued its activities?
Tom Durso
Mar 12, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’m not sure I know what you mean, Bridget. Can you elaborate?
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