Hey Kid, Gimme Your Licensing Fee!

This entry was posted on May 27 2008

The big bully on the block doesn’t want your lunch money anymore. He’s branching out, now he wants little Johnny to fork over a licensing fee for the honor and privilege of wearing a Cubs Jersey!

Major League Baseball is throwing its weight around, having sent letters to suppliers of little league baseball organizations stating that without the organization or the supplier paying a licensing fee to MLB, they could no longer sell and wear uniforms emblazoned with the official team names, logos, etc. Last I checked, little league baseball was about the kids, save for the groups of unruly parents who think they’re kids are the next Alex Rodriguez. With that being said, Little League Baseball is non-profit. I can remember playing little league baseball and having to sell fund raising candy just so the league could afford to purchase the uniforms. Who knows how much the licensing fee costs, it’s really besides the point. Tens of thousands of kids play little league baseball, most with the dream of someday making it to the big leagues, and also for most, the dream never comes true. For those few years in our innocent youths, little Johnny could say he once wore the same uniform the big guys wear. That moment in the sun won’t come for little Johnny anymore, unless we dish out gobs of money to the MLB machine that can’t even decide if we need instant replay to help umpires or if we just need to make sure they aren’t blind as a bat.

I will always love the game of baseball and I will always be the biggest of Cubs fans, but its stupidity like this that makes me sad for what MLB has become. Now, I’m not so narrow minded as to not realize that like anything else, baseball is a business, but is letting little Johnny run the bases, stand in centerfield or sit on the bench wearing Cubbie Blue and a big read ‘C’ on his jersey and cap really going to destroy Bud Selig’s bottom line?