MLB Honors Memorial Day the Only Way They Know How: Merchandising

↵A nice idea, but not nearly profitable enough. Let’s scrap it.
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↵Memorial Day, né Decoration Day: A time to remember the heroes of America’s military who lost their lives in our nation’s numerous armed conflicts. Sure, it’s been co-opted some by barbecues and vacations, but considering the vast disparity between Easter’s true meaning and the horrific spectacle it’s become, we can’t really complain about Memorial Day today.
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↵And yet all the same, there’s something particularly odious about profiteering off of something like Memorial Day, which makes the MLB’s latest promotion of speciial red hats for the holiday so unsettling.
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↵Predictably, the Uni Watch Blog is all over the promotion, delivering an appropriately thorough thrashing:
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↵↵⇥Last year, MLB pulled a similar stunt, only they “began” it on over the↵⇥4th of July weekend, claiming they were giving a portion of the↵⇥proceeds from every cap sold to Welcome Back Veterans. Paul wrote about it (scroll down to the ticker) then. I’m not sure we ever did get an↵⇥accounting of how much green MLB pocketed. But at least the 4th of July↵⇥is a national holiday of celebration, not a somber day of mourning and↵⇥remembrance. That MLB is pushing this latest merchandizing ploy on this↵⇥day is offensive, at least to me. And I don’t care that it’s another↵⇥excuse for MLB to say “Look at us and how much good we do.” Spare me.↵⇥Aside from the 29 owners not named Steinbrenner, MLB has at times in↵⇥the past claimed to be hemorrhaging money, but they never miss a beat↵⇥when it comes to “generating” money for charitable causes — but how↵⇥much do they keep for themselves?
↵↵There’s also a purely aesthetic problem, namely that a bright red hat goes poorly with plenty of ballclubs in the MLB. Sure, the Angels and Red Sox probably won’t complain, but the Yankees, Mariners, or Rockies are going to look utterly ridiculous.
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↵At the same time, there’ll be one major upgrade, in that they’re not making the same ludicrously offensive mistake they made in Cleveland last year.↵