The New York Mets wanted to wear caps on Wednesday night that paid tribute to the city’s first responders on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but they were once again told by Major League Baseball that it would not be allowed. Longtime Mets radio announcer Howie Rose finds that despicable.
During the radio broadcast of New York’s 9-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Rose unloaded on MLB for continuing to prevent the Mets from honoring the first responders on 9/11.
Mets radio announcer Howie Rose absolutely eviscerates Major League Baseball for not allowing the Mets to wear First Responders hats on 9/11. He comes with the receipts, too! pic.twitter.com/3jpiJjEt1c
— We Gotta Believe Podcast (Weds, iTunes & Spotify) (@GottaBelievePod) September 12, 2019
“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 said. “It’s OK 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.
“Somebody at a very, very high level in Major League Baseball’s hierarchy needs to answer this: Whose rights are being infringed upon by the Mets wearing first responder caps for one 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.”
When the Mets wanted to wear the caps in honor of the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 back in 2011, MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre explained that the league is “just trying to keep it consistent” and does not intend to be disrespectful. Now eight years later, many — like Rose — are shocked the league hasn’t made an exception.
Fortunately, the Mets did wear some awesome custom cleats during Wednesday’s game courtesy of rookie Pete Alonso. They didn’t ask permission to wear them since they knew MLB would deny it, so perhaps they will do the same with the first responder caps at some point in the future.
