Joe Torre, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of operations, said he had spoken with the Mets on multiple occasions in the past month.
Torre said he had used his experience managing the Yankees in the 2001 to inform his decision. In the World Series that season, the Yankees wore caps honoring 9/11 first responders during warm-ups before switching to their official hats for the game.
He said the league was wary of setting a precedent.
“He said the league was wary of setting a precedent.”
To summarize MLB’s policy on uniform-related precedents…
It’s okay to set a precedent whereby almost every player on almost every team is allowed to wear #42 on JR day.
It’s not okay to set a precedent whereby the Mets are allowed to wear first-responder hats for games played in NY on decadal anniversaries of 9/11.
Yeah, makes all the sense in the world.
Or, maybe…shorter Joe Torre: “The 2001 Mets showed up the 2001 Yankees by having the audacity to defy MLB and do what they felt was right. I won’t let the 2011 Mets do that to the 2011 Yankees.”
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Well put, Brian. The Mets should’ve worn the caps and paid whatever fines MLB threw at them. The Mets could’ve actually done something to establish themselves as “the peoples team”. It would’ve been a PR blunder for MLB and it would’ve had people both locally and nationally, discussing an irrelevant Mets team on the opening night of the football season. They should’ve considered it advertising.