Hating the Yankees, "All in Good Fun"

The Boston Red Sox Single A affiliate in Lowell, MA, the Lowell Spinners, have made a very gracious offer to Yankees teams across New England. No, wait, that didn't sound right. The Spinners announced today that they have offered to youth baseball leagues around New England the following deal if only they will change the name of their (often) Little League team from the Yankees to the Spinners.

1. The Spinners will pay the cost of replacing the uniforms.


2. The new Little League Spinners team will be allowed to play a game at the Lowell Spinners ballpark before a Spinners game this summer.


3. Following that game, the Little League kids get to burn their old uniforms in effigy on the Spinner's mound.

Alright, I made that last one up . . .

According to general manager Tim Bawmann's press release, "When you are a kid playing baseball it is pure fun, and worrying about what team you are on should be the least of your concerns. It becomes an issue where kids are devastated when they find out they are on the Yankees. Many kids actually pray they will not be on the Yankees when the rosters and teams are announced." I can't argue with that assessment. It never happened to me since my league used local business names instead (yeah, we're rednecks up here in Maine), but I now it would have sucked playing for the Yankees (That's your HW JD, write that last statement 5,000 times before tomorrow morning!)

The Spinners claim that they have already "converted" teams from three different youth baseball leagues in New England: the Chelmsford Little League (stay tuned to that website for the NEW snackshack duty list!), Methuen Instructional League, and Tewksbury Youth Baseball.