From the Seattle Times:
The flag flap is over for Keith Foulke.
After a personal letter from commissioner Bud Selig, plus talks between the players' union and baseball management as the Fourth of July approached, Foulke reluctantly packed away his Boston cap that featured a patch of the American flag.
"I still think I should be able to wear it," the Red Sox reliever said. "But I don't want to do anything that would cost the team."
Foulke was the only player in the majors with his own such hat. The son of a U.S. Air Force man, he wore it most of the season to show his support for the American troops in Iraq.
"It's not like I was trying to call attention to myself," he said. "I'm a patriotic person, and it's just a personal thing I wanted to do. It was only about an inch square, on the left side, and a lot of people didn't even notice it."
But the commissioner's office saw it. Soon after, Foulke said, he began getting letters from Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations, saying the cap violated baseball's standard uniform code.
According to the sport's labor agreement, players cannot make individual changes to hats, jerseys and anything else they wear. The issue came up during the 2002 National League playoffs when San Francisco pitcher Jason Christiansen was told he could not continue writing Darryl Kile's number "57" on his cap in tribute to his late former teammate.
"It's the definition of a uniform that we're going after," said Watson's assistant, Matt McKendry.
Matt's Chat
Major League Baseball is blowing it. Again. Is baseball the national passtime or not? Will baseball make it? Will Bud Selig ever get a clue? Does MLB need regime change?Mark's Remarks
I don't care much for Boston, but I just became a big Keith Foulke fan. This move by Baseball is shameful, unAmerican, and hypocritical. If you care about uniformity of uniforms, then why allow Barry "juiceman" Bonds to wear his pants like he does and allow people to flout their waistlines and cufflines for their pants?
This is more stupidity from the likes of Bud Selig, the moron who brought us the 1994 strike, the tie at the AllStar game, unbalanced schedules that make NO SENSE, and a superfluous drug policy that has more holes than Bill Clinton's integrity.
