MLB Dress Code?

I draw the line at flip-flops and men's sandals. On the beat or in the office. The offices I work in get plenty of visitors, so it's better to have a professional look.

Shoes on the job. Yeah, you gotta play the adult. Tough noogies.

 

Why the fuck is it their concern what someone else wears? If some guy shows wear up wearing a Maple Leafs jersey in the press box, why would you think that reflects on you?

 

At least in covering colleges, I didn't like when opposing writers wore team garb because I thought it gave them an edge with the sources. Kind of, "I'm on your side!" I felt like dressing professionally put me at a disadvantage, and would have preferred team garb be outlawed the same way that cheering in the press box is.

I don't think it's the same in professional sports, though. First of all, I can't remember too many reporters walking around the clubhouse with team gear on. Honestly, this new guideline affects almost nobody, except maybe a few weekend warriors and one-offers who don't know any better. As far as that goes, this rule honestly protects them from themselves more than anything else.

Second of all, I think that professional players would think someone is an utter doofus if they showed up in team gear. Players don't wear their team gear outside the clubhouse, lest you get a Kangaroo Court fine that'll make your head spin. College players, on the other hand, do, so they would be more likely to think it was cool that a reporter showed up wearing a State U T-shirt and flip-flops. Because that's how they dress, too. But I'm not grasping the posts that say that MLBers wouldn't qualify for their own dress code. For the most part, when those guys show up in the clubhouse and when they leave, they look sharp.

 

Let's hope MLB posts a sign like this!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/skinny-jeans-too-suggestive-mormon-college-184958463.html

 

People seem to be focused on "ratty t-shirts." Looks to me like a lot of this is aimed at females, unless a ratty t-shirt with holes is your definition of "see-through."

Want to be there when they get out the ruler to measure that distance between skirt hem and knee.

Most of the questionable female attire I've seen has been worn by radio and TV interns. Really ought to be the station's responsibility to monitor what they wear if they're sent out to represent the station.

And, really, that's what this is all about. It isn't whether the dress code is reasonable, it's whether MLB should be telling people how to dress to interview players who are wearing towels. I hate seeing peoples' funky feet more than anybody, but what's the difference -- in terms of foot exposure and the potential to transmit some dreaded "disease" -- if someone wears flip flops and someone wears these (which Manolo Blahnick doesn't make available at the dollar store):

 

If it affects almost nobody, then it's unnecessary. Talk to the few offenders. Or ignore them.

 

The players have a different job than we do. And, like I said in the prior post, when they arrive and when they leave, they are dressed to the nines.

 

Does every rule have to be reactive? We bitch all the time when the government doesn't pass laws until it is too late.

 

This just seems like a really strange thing to get worked up about. Although I do, as always, admire the journalist's ingrained anti-establishmentism. I think that's what this is about, more than anything.

And, seriously, younger guys? Drop the T-shirts and flip-flops. Seriously. Of all the things to get protective of. Past the age of 21, you look like a moron dressing like that in a professional setting. You're not eating at the college cafeteria any more.

 

All I know is Jason Whitlock may never set foot in a baseball press box again.

 

Someone already went there on a prior post.

 

Because it does. To the players and the front-office types and the fans who see the postgame interviews with ever-increasing regularity on the local cable station's postgame show. You may think you rise and fall on your own merit, but most people lump it all in together as "The Media."