Pink bats for Mother’s Day generated some controversy:
All of the official pink bats are supplied by Louisville Slugger, but not all players use Louisville Slugger bats. Among those who had planned to use bats made by another manufacturer are Baltimore Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis and Minnesota Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe. Both players’ mothers are breast cancer survivors, and both players use bats made by MaxBat.
Markakis’ had custom-made black bats with pink logos delivered to him this week, according to The Baltimore Sun. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes Plouffe received a shipment of the same bats. But MLB will not allow those bats to be used Sunday because of its exclusive agreement with Louisville Slugger.
I appreciate MLB supporting breast cancer charities, but in general I don’t care for all the symbolism. I’m very much like Cosmo Kramer in this regard.
How about MLB donates a large amount of money for every home run hit and strikeout recorded on Mother’s Day? The we don’t need to worry about all the marketing gimmicks that are going on the in background.
The Breast Cancer Industry in America is corporate charity at its very worst. If you pink-wash your product, I am less likely to buy it.
The point isn’t to get people to buy the pink stuff. The point is to raise awareness. Just donating money wouldn’t accomplish that.
I do think it’s very crass to prevent Markakis and Plouffe from using their own (custom pinked) bats just because of the exclusive licensing agreement. If MLB donated every nickel of their profit from that agreement to cancer research, I guess I’d let them off the hook.
Is there really a need to “raise awareness”? Are there lots of people in this country who aren’t aware of breast cancer? And if there are, will ballplayers using pink bats suddenly make them say, “Wow! Breast cancer must be a big problem!”
I’m with David on this one. I’m all for giving money, but I could do without the symbolism.
I don’t care for marketing gimmicks that prevent players from using their equipment of choice.
Off topic but I read somewhere Louisville Slugger does not allow all players to order their bats , just a select group .
Maybe MLB should require these approved manufacturers to accept orders from all players who desire their bats?
It’s disturbing that only some players get to use the “best bats”, if they are the best. Kind of like younger players having to use bats with different specs than veterans. Not a level playing field.