Major League Baseball prohibits New York Mets from wearing first responders hats on 9/11 anniversary

Anthony Mccarron and Peter Botte New York Daily News 09/11/2011 16:15

Ronny Paulino wears an FDNY cap during batting practice. Former Met John Franco (below, leading first responders at Citi Field) says the Mets should have worn the hats during the game.

Mets players wanted to wear the hats of first responders Sunday night while they played the Cubs on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, but Major League Baseball "said it's a no-go," said Josh Thole, the Mets' union representative.

"They contacted the club and said it's an absolute 'no chance' at all," Thole said a few hours before the Mets lost, 10-6, in 11 innings at Citi Field. "I guess the fines would be (prohibitive). I spoke with some of the guys and with Terry (Collins) and he said the same thing. They came down on the club very hard and there's nothing we can do.

"They sent out a big memo that was very adamant about what they wanted done."

But John Franco, part of the Mets' 2001 team that defied MLB's edict to wear their regular caps in the first game after the terrorist attacks, said the Mets should've bucked baseball. In Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, Franco and his teammates wore the hats of first responders and kept their new tradition when they beat the Braves four days later in the first baseball game in New York following the attacks.

"MLB said we couldn't wear them - we said the heck with that," Franco said. "They (the current Mets) should do that, too, and pay whatever the fine is." Last week, former Met Todd Zeile said MLB "would've had to rip the hats off our heads" in 2001.

"I find it ironic that 10 years later, they still can't get it passed for one day of tribute," Zeile added Sunday night. "But I guess they feel it's a slippery slope."

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