Pinheaded decision-making?

Biggio can't wear charity pin on his cap

"Craig Biggio was angry at the commissioner's officeThursday night after he was told to stop wearing a pin on his cap that bears the logo of a foundation that helps children with cancer.

The Houston Astros star said he has worn the bright yellow, sun-shaped pin, featuring the logo for the Sunshine Kids foundation, on his hat during spring training games for the past 20 years without a problem. He is the national spokesman for the foundation and is very active in its work. "I'm not a disrespectful person and I don't disrespect the game," Biggio said. "But I've been wearing this pin for 20 years because it puts smiles on 20,000-something cancer patients' faces."

Biggio said someone in the commissioner's office contacted the Astros about instructing him to remove the pin, but he wasn't sure who it was. He said Houston general manager Tim Purpura was sent a fax with a picture of Biggio from Wednesday night's game.

"Major League Baseball does a lot of good things, but this is one of the stupid things," Biggio said.

The 41-year-old second baseman, who is 70 hits shy of 3,000, said he wears the pin in spring training because many of the pictures for baseball cards are taken during those games and the children like seeing the pin on those cards.

"That's what it's about," he said. "If somebody wants to sit in an office and feel good about themselves, they should feel real bad about this one. They didn't think about all the cancer kids that get enjoyment out of it."

Biggio said he was told before the game that he couldn't wear the pin, and the umpires approached him on the field to make sure it was gone.

Astros manager Phil Garner was also unsure who contacted the team about the pin.

"The league has a code where they watch what's on the uniforms and I don't know the full extent of it, but evidently the Sunshine Kids pin is not part of it," he said."

===========================================

Now .... I can sort of see a need for SOME standards as to what you can and can't wear on the field.  If Biggio was wearing a "Ku Klux Klan" pin on his cap, there would certainly be some uproar.  Legally speaking, Biggio is at his "job", and there is a "dress code" for the job.  But this smacks of pettiness and over-regulation.

Let's also remember that a few years ago, MLB was willing to deface the bases during regular season games with Spiderman logos in a promotion for the movie, till they got enough negative publicity about it.  So there seems to be a bit of a double-standard.

Anyhow .... if you'd like to contribute to Biggio's cause, visit The Sunshine Kids website.