Louisville Slugger is Ridiculous

[HawaiiSportsNut]

Talk about corporate greed.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-whi...ampaign=Buffer

[mdube16]

I read this and really think LVS is getting bad PR for no reason. They paid for an exclusive corporate sponsorship with the money being donated to charity. The other companies can still do pink bats with restrictions but the ignored the rules which they knew and caused a stink.

[Phil316]

So basically Louisville Slugger only wanted people to see their brand being used on Mother's Day. They paid for the banning of all other logos on pink bats for Mother's Day.

That is why I noticed a crap load of players NOT using pink bats today.

[R. C. Walker]

According to the article:

"To get that designation, Hillerich & Bradsby, the parent company of Louisville Slugger, made what one source deemed "a sizable donation" to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the league's charitable partner. The terms of the donation included other manufacturers being able to make pink bats but not stamp the bat with their logos."

Sounds to me MLB is partially to blame as well as the other bat brands riding the Pink Bat advertisement train on Louisville Sluggers dime.

[Mark17]

So who gets hurt? The charity gets a sizeable donation, enough players are out there with pink bats to call attention to the cause, and H&B, a company I personally love, receives some advertising.

Honestly, some people seem to get upset over almost anything these days. Does it really matter to breast cancer awareness if not every single player uses a pink bat? I look at the situation and see it as win-win-win all around.

-Mark

[Phil316]

Breast cancer awareness loses because now the players who would have used a pink max bat or Sam bat used their normal bat. That would bring BCA less money at MLB auctions would it not?

[Mark17]

Enough to offset the "sizeable donation"?

[Phil316]

Enough to offset the "sizeable donation"?

Who knows what they donated.

[frikativ54]

Breast cancer awareness loses because now the players who would have used a pink max bat or Sam bat used their normal bat. That would bring BCA less money at MLB auctions would it not?

+1.

The whole pink bat thing is about everybody making that personal connection to Mother's Day and breast cancer. Instead of getting to share their stories, ballplayers who were under contract by other bat companies were effectively silenced by Louisville Slugger.

You say it's only a bat? A bat is a key signifier of Major League hitting prowess. You say that they could have used other companies' bats, but not shown their logos? To not allow other companies to publicly associate their brand with breast cancer awareness is patently absurd.

I've lost all respect for LVS, no matter how large the donation was. This is not just a donation; it is a blatant attempt by a company to silence brands, as well as ballplayers not under their contract.

[Mark17]

+1.

Instead of getting to share their stories, ballplayers who were under contract by other bat companies were effectively silenced by Louisville Slugger....

Are you serious? Is using a non-pink bat really the same as being "effectively silenced"? Were the players who didn't use pink bats not allowed to speak to reporters?

If displaying pink is so important, can't they wear pink sweatbands, pink batting gloves, use pink fielding gloves, pink catchers' gear, drive a pink car, or for that matter, use pink bats on other days of the season?

Equating the use of a pink bat on one day of the season as making some huge statement, to me, is really a stretch. Does anybody really think the players using non-pink bats don't love their mothers, wives, daughters, or don't care about breast cancer research?

I think you're getting worked up over nothing. A quality, class company, synonymous with baseball for over 100 years, sponsors the day with a "sizeable" donation, and some people "lose all respect" for them. Wow. I thought what H&B did, sponsoring the day, was pretty good of them.