Major League Baseball won't try to disarm the Houston Astros' plans to pay tribute to their roots by wearing throwback uniforms with a smoking Colt .45 across the chest.
Nobody batted an eye in 1962 when the Astros' forebears, the Houston Colt .45s, first took the field. But with views toward guns changing over the decades, Major League Baseball balked at the team's plan to mark its fiftieth season by donning the retro jerseys. League officials said the gun that won the west had no business on the uniforms of the team that moves to the American League West in 2013.
“It was expressed to us that we could wear the uniform as long as the pistol was removed,†team historian Mike Acosta told Astros Daily last month. “We realize this changes the original design, but we still want to honor the Colt .45s. We are also under an obligation to follow Major League Baseball's requests."
The appeal brought to mind the name change undergone by the NBA's Washington, D.C., franchise in 1997, when it ceased to be known as the Bullets and rebranded itself the Wizards in sensitivity toward the issue of gun violence.
But gun rights enthusiasts and fans of the Texas team blasted the league's heavy-handedness and the league has backed off. The choice, says baseball, is up to the team, which plans to announce a decision today. Team owner Jim Crane, while under the impression that the uniforms had been involuntarily disarmed by league officials, let one fan know how he felt. In a response to Marine captain and Astros fan James Crabtree, who urged Crane not to cave in to “political correctness,†Crane may have tipped his hand.
“I would like to say up front that I agree with you,†wrote Crane. “Unfortunately, MLB has made this a requirement and their decisions are out of our control.â€
The team, which became the Astros in 1965 in honor of the nation's space program, plans to wear various throwback uniforms throughout the season on "Flashback Fridays." The uniforms will also include the mid-70s rainbow jersey long panned as among the ugliest jersey ever worn by pros.
In that maiden season, the Colt .45s went 64-96-2, with an expansion team full of no-names. The next season, future stars Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub joined, but the Colt .45s never got much better. This year's team may have more in common with those early squads than jerseys: After finishing 56-106 last season, they will start a new player at every position and are widely expected to be among the worst teams in either league.
Article from FOXNEWS
