Major League Baseball returned to normal Tuesday as all 30 teams saw action. But that doesn't mean two appalling events the day before should be forgotten.
Monday, May 31 was Memorial Day, which used to mean every big-league team played a doubleheader.
Not the kind of day-night twinbill designed to make fans pay separate admissions that is in vogue today. But a real, honest-to-goodness doubleheader.
Two games for the price of one. A perfect way to bring families together and honor America's pastime.
Well, that used to be the case.
Unfortunately, Memorial Day 2010 was no different from any other during Bud Selig's reign of error as baseball commissioner.
Nobody played a doubleheader on Memorial Day.
And four American League teams, including the Boston Red Sox, did not play at all.
Even worse is the way Major League Baseball has turned Memorial Day--and the Fourth of July and Labor Day--into money grabs by having players wear "special, commemorative" caps.
White caps with blue bills and red and blue team logos are being sold for $37 apiece, with one dollar from each cap sold--one measly dollar--going to a military veterans' organization.
Major League Baseball would be far better off making a substantial donation to veterans' groups based on ticket proceeds instead of having players wear alternative caps.
Why must baseball be so transparent and phony? Clearly, the only reason to wear alternative caps on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day is to create a new source of revenue for Major League Baseball.
Why can't the New York Yankees look like themselves on national holidays during baseball season? Why must they don white caps befitting a corporate softball team in Central Park?
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