The Sox will be wearing the logo of Massachusetts-based EMC Corp., the “official information infrastructure provider of the Boston Red Sox.” That stunning development was made public during a Jan. 23 press conference in Tokyo, featuring Red Sox president Larry Lucchino and EMC/Japan president Toshio Morohoshi. They gave details of the March 25 and 26 opening series between the Sox and Oakland A’s slated for the Tokyo Dome.
The event is to be commemorated with the first-ever corporate logo on the Sox uniform, a combination of the EMC and “Japan 2008” symbols. The patch will be included on replica jerseys sold in Japan.
Has success gone to the heads of the Sox? The team broke an 86-year World Series snide in 2004 (along with the "Curse of the Bambino") when they swept the Cardinals. The Bostons took the Colorado Rockies in another sweep last year. The Sox enjoy the biggest on-the-road MLB attendance and have sold out Fenway Park for 388 consecutive games and counting. They surely do not have to shill for EMC to drum up interest.
The Fenway faithful will not see the offensive EMC logo since MLB frowns on corporate affronts to uniforms here. Money, however, talks very loudly at MLB. It’s only a matter of time before baseball players are festooned with logos like NASCAR drivers. Sports fans can thank the Boston Red Sox for that sorry development.
As for the A’s, they celebrate 40 years in Oakland this year and have lined up an `08 schedule chock full of promotional events. The team plans to dump its loyal fans in `11 by hightailing it to Fremont, Calif., where the A’s will play at Cisco Field.
With all due respect to the good people at Fremont, which is the fifth largest city in the East Bay region, “Fremont A’s” just doesn’t cut it.
“Cisco A’s” is a better representation of modern day baseball.