MLB, Tired Of The Jokes, Vows To Destroy All Pre-Made Cleveland ‘World Series Champions’ Gear

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It’s a long running gag that has been prevalent in sports media since the turn of the century: With one team guaranteed to lose a major championship game, where does all the pre-made championship “swag” go?

Jamaica? Sure. Costa Rica? Probably. Africa? Definitely. It doesn’t take long for a couple of online hooligans to photoshop a sports logo on the t-shirt of a skinny African child to secure thousands and thousands of precious RTs.

Well, think again, says Major League Baseball. A week after the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the most epic baseball playoff game of all time, the MLB vowed to destroy all of its pre-made Cleveland Indians championship gear — rather than donate it. This is sure to go over well.

From ESPN:

Major League Baseball is moving away from the longtime practice of donating its wrong-winner merchandise to other countries.

MLB spokesman Matt Bourne confirmed that all licensed items that call the Cleveland Indians the 2016 World Series champions must be handed over by retailers in order to destroy the products after the Chicago Cubs’ victory in the seven-game series.

Since 2005, Major League Baseball has officially worked with World Vision, a charity that donates gear to needy countries. But Bourne said the league changed gears to “protect the team from inaccurate merchandise being available in the general marketplace.”

Official MLB licensed championship gear is shipped to vendors before the game with instructions that boxes can only be opened if that team wins. If they lose, boxes must be immediately returned to the MLB. Violations of this policy would likely result in that vendor losing the right to sell licensed gear.

But that struggling village in Ghana desperately in hopes of new Indians gear will have to go another year and hope the MLB reverse this new policy. MLB leadership is tired of “The Memes.”

[via ESPN]

Image via YouTube

    1. At this point I’d take Holt over Bryton, Wally may be the most prolific terrible writer of all time.

      8 years ago at 6:10 pm
  1. JohnnieWalker_Blue

    If it was any other team name they would have sent the shirts. Giving chief wahoo gear to aborigines could present a slight PR issue.

    8 years ago at 6:29 pm
  2. Ole R.E Lee

    It’s funny to us to joke about but to the people who receive the clothing, it can be an incredibly valuable gift for somebody who has nothing and can’t even read what the shirt says.

    8 years ago at 10:09 pm
  3. YoungAndDisappointing

    So the MLB refuses to do the right thing because they’re afraid of internet memes?

    8 years ago at 8:24 am