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Cultural Capital

Ladies and Gentlemen, Youuuuur Chicago Yankees

MLB made a tweet featuring the MTA's stuff without express written (or any other kind of) permission!

10:00 AM EDT on June 23, 2022

Photo by Max Bender / Unsplash

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I know that the New York Mets and the New York Yankees are both having pretty stellar seasons. I also know that baseball makes me think of being an extremely bored child, sitting at the foot of my grandfather's recliner, watching him eat an entire gallon of peach frozen yogurt over the three hours it seemingly took for the Braves and whoever else to finish two innings—swing, adjust gloves, scratch crotch, spit, adjust gloves, spit, shake, stare, swing. I am not exactly a baseball knower.

But I do know one thing about Major League Baseball, and that is they do not appreciate it when you disseminate accounts and descriptions of Major League Baseball without its express written consent. They hate it when you do that.

You know what other powerful entity is also extremely protective of their image? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

So when I saw this MLB tweet/ad pop up on my Twitter feed on Monday, I had a few questions.

First, would the MTA agree to have MLB paint their train cars with a bunch of graffiti? I think not.

Second, the two players depicted here, Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge, aren't wearing masks on the train. (Torres is reportedly fully vaccinated, and Judge is...uhh, things were a little touch and go there for bit but he seems to have been recently fully vaccinated.)

And what is up with the skyline in the "50" tag?

Computer, enhance.

Lol at this "New York" skyline.
Lol at this "New York" skyline.

Wow, you're telling me that MLB didn't know the difference between Chicago and New York? That's like not knowing the difference between year-round employees, and seasonal employees! Completely different.

According to the MTA, MLB did not reach out for express written permission, or any other kind of permission, to use the MTA's stuff.

"Major League Baseball knows better. Use of the MTA logo goes through a prior approval and licensing process," MTA spokesperson Sean Butler told Hell Gate. "Had the MLB reached out, we would have pointed out their graphic includes the skyline of Chicago, not New York City, home of literally the two best teams in baseball."

Requests for comment to MLB and the Yankees have not been returned.

Finally, who do these disembodied legs belong to? And why are they responsible for the Yankees' winning streak?

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