As part of the new collective bargaining agreement recently negotiated between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, certain hazing rituals that rookie players have had to endure as a “rite of passage” will no longer be allowed.
The annual ritual of rookies having to wear dresses or costumes may be over. There’s an anti-hazing and anti-bullying implemented in CBA
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 2, 2016
MLB Bans Certain Rookie Hazing Rituals
According to the Associated Press, the rule now prohibits “requiring, coercing or encouraging” players to participate in hazing rituals which involve “dressing up as women or wearing costumes that may be offensive to individuals based on their race, sex, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identify or other characteristic.” Also banned is requiring players “to consume alcoholic beverages or any other kind of drug, or requiring the ingestion of an undesirable or unwanted substance (food, drink, concoction).”
While no serious backlash over past practices has triggered this policy, MLB President Paul Misfud said that a number of players have complained about the rituals. The overarching motivation here is to avoid any possible negative perception before it happens.
Like any other discipline matter, both the league and team(s) that a suspected player or group of players are employed by will have power to enforce the policy with fines and/or suspensions. As is the case with any other discipline matter, the suspected player(s) would have a right to appeal their penalties.
While these particular elements of past rookie hazing rituals are banned, the practice altogether has not been eliminated by rule. Interested parties will simply have to alter their practices to abide by the new rules. From this point forward, fans might get to see how creative veteran players on MLB teams can become in welcoming new players to the clubhouse.
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