No fun league: MLB bans personalized bat knob decals
In a move that seems to be straight out of the National Football League’s playbook, Major League Baseball has banned personalized bat knob decals. Players will be allowed to the normal team design, or can add their number on the end of their bat, but that’s it.
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“What the heck is a personalized bat knob decal,” you might be asking. Well, maybe this will help.
That’s San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Duffy’s bat. On the knob, there’s a picture of Duffman from the Simpsons. Under the new rule, Duffy will no longer be able to use that decal on the end of his bat.
He’s not the only player who will have to change things up. Demetrius Bell over at SportsLogos.net compiled a couple other options that would be eliminated under the new rule. Matt Harvey also uses a cool “Dark Knight” decal that also has to go now.
Overall, the change isn’t a big deal. In fact, you might not have even noticed that some players have bat decals.
At the same time, it’s somewhat disappointing that MLB has decided to crack down on such a minor issue. While they aren’t a huge thing, bat decals do give some insight into the personalities of players. It’s tough to argue that’s a bad thing. Plus, who were bat decals hurting? Unless MLB was trying to avoid a Bill Ripken situation again (link is NSFW), there was really no reason to do this.
Bryce Harper recently made comments suggesting baseball is tired, and implied that players should be able to show their personalities and be themselves. While the bat knob change isn’t a huge thing, it takes away another opportunity for players to be unique.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
