The Mets decided collectively to wear the shoes, even though they knew a fine was possibleGETTY IMAGES
The Mets' wearing of commemorative 9/11 cleats on Wednesday will "not draw punishment" from MLB, according to Tim Healey of NEWSDAY. The Mets "decided collectively to wear the shoes," which were gifted to the team by 1B Pete Alonso, even though they "knew a fine was possible and decided the risk was worth it." MLB generally "asks teams to limit the honoring of tragedies via apparel to batting practices/pregame activities," but Commissioner Rob Manfred and his team "don't want to get into the business of judging tragedies or evaluating which ones deserve in-game recognition." However, MLB does "sell team hats with a 9/11 remembrance ribbon and says it donates the royalties to 9/11-related organizations." The Mets throughout the years "haven't been allowed to wear hats honoring NYPD, FDNY and other first-responder groups" (NEWSDAY, 9/13).
TELL US HOW YOU FEEL: Mets radio announcer Howie Rose during the broadcast of Wednesday's game made his displeasure known at MLB for not allowing the Mets to wear special caps honoring 9/11 first responders. He said, "I'm sorry, it is just incomprehensible to me that Major League Baseball cannot see fit to allow the Mets to pay tribute to those who gave their lives and in some cases are still doing so." Rose added, "It’s okay for MLB to foist those horrendous players’ weekend uniforms on us. They allowed the Houston Astros to wear Apollo 11 caps commemorating the moon landing 50 years ago.” He asked, “Whose rights are being infringed upon by the Mets wearing first responder caps for one day in-game? It’s not about copyright, it's not about licensing. We need to know who would be hurt, who would be damaged by the Mets wearing those caps.” MLB has “stonewalled the Mets every time they have tried to wear those caps during the game to the point where they’ve stopped asking now” and now they “finally just gave up.” Rose: “That is just brutal that Major League Baseball cannot see fit to allow the Mets to honor people who to this day are still dying as a result of their heroism” (“D-backs-Mets,” WCBS-AM, 9/11).
