The 9/11 tributes around the sporting world yesterday were amazing. Football fields filled with family members of victims, firefighters, police officers and first responders all carrying the same flag. Candlelight tributes on Sunday Night Baseball from Citi Field with familiar faces from 2001 tributes — John Franco, Mike Piazza and Marc Anthony - as part of the pregame ceremony.
Yes, the NFL and MLB did an amazing job of coming together to remember the victims and support their families, which is what yesterday should have been all about. The perfect end to a perfect day of remembrance would have been for the Mets to take the field donning NYPD and other first responder caps to support those who risk their lives every day like they did 10 years ago. But MLB let the rules get in the way.
The Mets wanted to wear the special caps like they did in 2001. But they were told by MLB to wear their standard Mets hats with an American flag on the side.
“Certainly it’s not a lack of respect,” Joe Torre, who works in the MLB front office and was New York Yankees manager in 2001, told ESPN. “We just felt all the major leagues are honoring the same way with the American flag on the uniform and the cap. This is a unanimity thing.”
Now I understand that Torre may have just been giving MLB key messages here. But my first thought was that if anybody should understand the Mets desire to wear the special caps it would be Torre, who saw the impact of 9/11 firsthand on the players and people of the city 10 years ago as Yankees manager.
Apparently, the Mets considered wearing the first responder hats anyway, but they were taken out of the clubhouse before they could make any decision. At least that’s what pitcher R.A. Dickey shared on Twitter. The Mets players who wore the hats in 2001 were fined, which I didn’t know until this morning and find appalling.
Rules are a necessity for any big company. And make no mistake — MLB is one of the biggest companies out there. It’s a company that did an amazing job of paying tribute to such a sensitive and significant day in our history. But it’s also a company that needs to employ common sense in place of the rules in a situation like the one it faced with the Mets last night. This is an issue far too many big brands suffer from and it’s a shame that on such a great day of sports tributes, many people are talking about the tribute the Mets weren’t allowed to make.
There needs to be exceptions to every rule. And Torre and MLB officials should have made one last night.
September 12, 2011
Sports Sunday