The Yankees and MLB: Penny wise and Pound foolish…

... and taxing the poor too.

Now, fair warning, I’m getting on my high horse here, and not about the sorry state of the Yankees starting pitchers (plenty of other folks are already taking note, but I’m not that concerned given: its April and the games were apparently played inside a snow globe above the arctic circle).

I was sort of knocking around the office and saw a press release tinkle across the wires titled: “Scientific Games and 12 State Lotteries Launch Major League Baseball Instant Games.”

Now, leaving aside they aren’t launching, they are expanding (after a pilot last year) this abomination, I have to ask? Why aren’t more people coming out and saying “What the hell?”

Let me be upfront, I have nothing against lotteries - they are a fine thing for some people, but they are a “tax” on people who usually can ill afford it - especially the type of lotteries these games will be: instant scratchers.

So, there’s that unsavoriness, but there’s the larger picture to think of as well. Baseball posts Rule 21(d) in every clubhouse. We wag fingers about stories A-Rod and his poker. We shake our heads at what might have been with, and what is, with Pete Rose. Recently departed commissioner Bowie Kuhn “banned” Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle for getting paid to play golf with gamblers. Gambling is not baseball’s Original Sin - that’s baseball’s history pre-1947 - but it is first among the “thou shalt nots” in baseball’s commandments (yes, moreso than PEDs). So why do we not raise outrage about this, about baseball aligning itself with gamblers, albeit state-sanctioned gamblers, but gamblers nonetheless.

Given how fiercely MLB defends its trademarks (ask rotisserie outfits around the country and anyone who is subject to the whims of MLB’s inane blackout rules), why would they hand over the logos of a dozen teams to state lotteries?

It’s like the Spider-Man bases thing - appearances and perceptions be damned, where’s my cash?

Now, I’d like to think the Yankees would be above that sort of nonsense - but then I hear Waldling from the “Lowe’s Broadcast Booth,” dropping a sponsor name every third or fourth pitch, so it’s not that. So I’m past the point of thinking these guys don’t have bills to pay, but they do have a choice in who they take money from.

Would the Yankees and MLB take cash from BetOnSports.com? Harrah’s? Other Casinos? I doubt it.

It just appears unseemly and upsets me. Does that make me an oversensitive jackass, probably, but generally this move cheapens the game, reducing it to level of “Lucky Sevens/Shamrocks” or whatever goofy games these states offer at the counters of convenience stores everywhere.

Putting a team logo or the MLB logo on it comes with an implicit, if not explicit endorsement, and it just seems that a sport with a checkered gambling history wouldn’t want to endorse gambling in any form.

The Yankees are not alone here - New Jersey will put the Yankees, Mets and Phillies on one ticket, California is having separate tickets for each of its teams (Padres, Dodgers, Angels, A’s and Giants), Massachusetts will put the Red Sox on what the company says is a ticket “at the highest price point to date - $10,” Texas will put the ‘Stros and Rangers on their own tickets, and Missouri will let you scratch Cardinal and Royal tickets and the Reds and Indians will share a ticket in Ohio.

What irked me in reading all this, were these line from the press release:

Some teams are even featuring a Lottery Night, and selling lottery tickets in their stadiums throughout the season.

“These games exemplify two major trends in lottery marketing, the use of licensed properties and the adoption—and popularity—of non-cash
prizes,” said Lorne Weil, Chairman and CEO of Scientific Games. “Major League Baseball has great fans, who will appreciate some of the best prizes
around.”

The Major League Baseball instant games will feature prizes like season tickets, special team merchandise not generally available, road trips, pre-
game batting practice, throwing out the first ball, trips to spring training and many other fan-friendly prizes.

So, I’ll be able to get my hot dog and Coke… and a $5 scratcher in between innings?

That may appeal to people - but I suspect it doesn’t appeal to many around here. To me it just seems like taking the money without fully considering what taking the money means. In other words, par for the course.