< MLB Calls Foul On Cape Cod Baseball Uniforms

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Heard on All Things Considered

July 3, 2009 - MELISSA BLOCK, host:

The Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts has a motto: Where the stars of tomorrow shine tonight. It's a summer amateur league. College players come, stay with local families. The players still use wooden bats.

Well, this summer, big change has come to the Cape Cod League. Major League Baseball told the teams that had major league names, for example, the Hyannis Mets, the Bourne Braves, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, that if they wanted to keep their name, they would have to buy all their merchandise and uniforms from MLB-approved vendors. Four of the teams agreed. Two said forget it. So, the Orleans Cardinals are now the Firebirds, and the Chatham Athletics have become the Anglers.

Peter Troy is president of the Anglers. He joins us from South Chatham, Massachusetts. And Mr. Troy, why did you decide to change your name instead of going along with what Major League Baseball said?

Mr. PETER TROY (President, Chatham Anglers): Well, we're fortunate here in Chatham in that we do sell quite a bit of merchandise, and most of that is thanks to my wife, Diane, who is the creative mind behind the merchandise that's created. And Diane really wanted the flexibility to be able to come up with an idea and get it produced in as short a turnaround as possible.

BLOCK: And that means using local vendors?

Mr. TROY: Absolutely. We have always used local vendors, and it's a great two-way street. They are loyal to us, we are loyal to them.

BLOCK: That sounds like it must have been a pretty tough decision, though. How long were the Chatham Athletics the Chatham Athletics?

Mr. TROY: Oh, only about 40 years.

BLOCK: Uh-huh.

(Soundbite of laughter)

BLOCK: And now, it's the Anglers. That must have been tough.

Mr. TROY: Well, you know, we wanted to at least retain the letter A, and we were able to do that. And Chatham is a fishing community here on Cape Cod. So, Diane ran the name Anglers by a lot of people. And we considered a lot of other things that begin with A, like Admirals and things of that nature, but the Anglers did seem to resonate with the community.

BLOCK: The argument in all this from Major League Baseball is it gives $100,000 to the Cape Cod League. It needs to protect its trademark. And I guess I'm supposed to be journalistically neutral here, but this just seems like a lousy deal that they came down so hard on the league.

Mr. TROY: Well, it was - it's one of those things that the attorneys from Major League Baseball felt that they needed to protect their trademark, and we respect that decision. We felt bad initially, but we came to accept it, and we understand it. And from our perspective, we've moved on, and we're actually pretty happy with the decision. The name change I think will actually help us sell even more merchandise.

BLOCK: What do fans say about this? Are they getting used to the new name?

Mr. TROY: They sure are, they sure are. And the feedback that we have gotten is that there has been a lot of respect for us to remain loyal to the local vendors.

BLOCK: Mr. Troy, do you ever find yourself slipping and just calling them the Athletics?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. TROY: Somewhat. I can't get away from calling them the A's every now and then.

BLOCK: You still can call them the A's, that is the Anglers. I guess the A's would work there, too.

Mr. TROY: Freedom of speech still prevails. It's when you get into merchandise, embroidery, screen printing, then it becomes the domain of Major League Baseball Properties. But I am retraining my brain to stay with the Anglers.

BLOCK: Well, good luck with that.

Mr. TROY: Oh, thank you so much.

BLOCK: Peter Troy is the president of the formerly Chatham Athletics, now the Chatham Anglers in Chatham, Massachusetts. Happy Fourth of July.

Mr. TROY: Happy Fourth of July to you and to all the listeners, as well.

(Soundbite of music)

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