Cincinnati Baseball Caps Become NYC Thug Fashion Statement: Gang Members Wearing Reds Hats To 'Intimidate Rivals'

Al Capone Preferred The Cubs

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The colors of Major League Baseball's oldest professional team -- the traditional red-and-black Reds cap -- have been adopted by the Bloods.  The violent street gang is wearing Reds' caps in New York to intimidate witnesses and rivals.  Colors are often banned in courthouses, or they attract attention from court security personnel.  So the Bloods are wearing the baseball team's headgear to slide around the ban.  Nobody mistakes them for fans.  Still, it seems to work.   Gang watchers and police websites and portals are full of chatter about how the Bloods have adopted the "C,"  and turned it into a common sight in Queens, the NYC borough that's become the gang's eastern stronghold.  The site of a Reds' cap on a gangsta is so common that it was the subject of a New York Daily News piece last weekend about the latest red menace.

Police Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) blog jumped on the story and spread it across the law enforcement community. Know Gangs has a thread going. The Daily News quoted prosecutors who said the Reds' caps are a slap at the Crips:

"Queens top gang prosecutor complains the brazen thugs wear the cap to intimidate witnesses and show solidarity with brother gangsters. 'They should not be coming into this courthouse wearing their colors,' says Mariela Palomino Herring, the chief of the Queens district attorney's gang violence bureau. 'This is our territory, not theirs.'"

The Reds were the National League Central champs, but nobody in New York thinks that has made their headgear super popular in that city. Rappers have been sporting Reds' caps -- perhaps to play off the gangsta image. Lil Wayne wears one. Hatland.com, the cap store based in Ocean City, Md., that has become a huge online retailer, says Reds' headgear is near the top in sales. All those gangstas and wannabes?

Grand Central Sports says the Reds cap is also used by gangs in Indianapolis and Chicago:

"Baseball caps as part of a gang’s attire is nothing new.  The Raiders black-and-silver caps with a pirate’s face was all the gang rage in Los Angeles during the ’90′s and the Pittsburgh Pirates hat is favored by the Latin Kings.  Right now the Reds cap is the color of choice by other gangs in Chicago and Indianapolis.  New York Yankee caps with gang colors were pulled from the shelves by manufacturer New Era in 2007.  The red or blue bandanna-patterned lids were lifted because of their gang-related colors.  Stores also removed others with a crown hanging from a gold ‘NY’ insignia after it became popular with the Latin Kings.  Regular citizens were afraid of being affiliated with the gang and beaten by a rival clan."

Ohio's Hit King Still In Dog House; Obama Says Bonds Welcome At White House

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio native Pete Rose has 4,256 hits in the major leagues, which makes him a peerless batter. He may have that many bets, as well. Rose isn't welcome in baseball, the sport that banned him in 1989 for gambling on the game. He's not been to the White House of late, either. Mostly, Pete scrapes along as a disgraced sports figure who inhabits the national doghouse.

Now, Barack Obama is saying another baseball star, Barry Bonds, should be welcome at 1600 Pennsylvania because of his on-field accomplishments. The Illinois Senator who is running for president told a news conference in Oakland, Calif., that Bonds' record of 756 home runs is a "remarkable achievement." The question about Bonds came up while Democrat Obama was campaigning in the Bay Area.

Bonds has a reputation as a steroids user, a charge he denies. But the odor clings to him the way the rumors of gambling clung to Rose. The drugs are suspected of giving Bonds the unnatural strength to smash Hank Aaron's record. Obama said in response to a question he'd be inclined to let Bonds be a guest:

"If I were president, I probably would. It's a remarkable achievement. And he deserves, I think, our congratulations. I remain concerned about the cloud that exists not just in baseball, but in everthing from basketball to the Tour de France. I mean, you just get a sense right now that sports is suffering from a crisis of confidence and my hope is that all the various sports leagues take those responsibilities seriously."

His comment is going to be sett the talk shows afire, and it is already up and drawing comments on the Chicago Tribune's Website. Of course, nobody is talking about Pete, the banned, ignored athlete with more lifetime hits than any other major leaguer. His transgressions didn't involve illegal drugs.

Pete's favorite ballplayer is not Bonds: "I think A-Rod is the best overall player in baseball."

And A-Rod, if he stays healthy, has a chance to break the record Bonds now holds.

Ohio Lottery And Major League Baseball: Gambling On Scratch Off Tickets

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- Pete Rose is banished from baseball for betting and breaking its cardinal rule. Now the sport that gave him a lifetime suspension for wagering on the game has slid headfirst into the gambling business. Major League Baseball has cut a deal allowing state lotteries to sell scratch off betting tickets displaying team logos this season. Both the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds have agreed to sell their names to the Ohio Lottery, which is going to distribute 4 million baseball betting cards.

This is on the agenda for the March 12 Controlling Board meeting:

"Lottery Commission requests Controlling Board approval to waive competitive selection in the amount of $694,615.42 for FY07 to contract with MDI Entertainment, Alpharetta, Georgia, for the Cleveland Indians/Cincinnati Reds scratch-off instant lottery game."

The Daily Bellwether has details of the contract HERE. The deal calls for the baseball betting game to start around Opening Day next month, and the scratch off tickets are going to cost $5 apiece.

It turns out that MLB made a deal with Scientific Games Corp. to sell logos for gambling purposes. The NASDAQ-traded company reported its fourth quarter 2006 results earlier this month and Lorne Weil, chairman and CEO, mentioned that the firm was looking forward to deals with China and baseball that would expand its instant-ticket printing business. Scientific Games supplies tickets to lotteries.

Steve Saferin, president of the Scientific Games subsidiary MDI Entertainment, LLC, inked a deal with the Ohio Lottery on Feb. 15, 2007. Underneath Saferin's signature and the date, somebody wrote "Go Tribe!" CEO Weil remarked in the quarterly statement that his company was making plans for baseball gambling as training camps filled.

"We remain excited about the long term opportunity in China and are optimistic about our ability to penetrate that market. And domestically, we look forward to spring training and the launch of approximately 15 Major League Baseball games during the first and second quarters to 2007."

That was all Weil said in the announcement, which is available HERE. (Check the 6th paragraph.) While no baseball betting tickets are out yet, there is a Detroit Red Wings hockey team lottery scratch off offered by the Michigan Lottery that looks like THIS.

Ohioans won't get cash for betting on the Reds and Indians. The prices will be loges and season tickets, All-Star Game trips, spring training trips and merchandise packages that include hats and team jerseys. The merchandise packs are worth $570 and the lottery plans to have 1,000 winning tickets.

At first blush, baseball's move to cozy up with the gaming industry appears to represent a huge shift away from the sport's traditional aversion to any and all things involving wagering. The Big Leagues suffered a huge scandal when gamblers fixed the 1919 World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. Shoeless Joe Jackson was banned for life, and to this day baseball refuses to recognize his achievements on the field or put him in Cooperstown with other Hall of Famers.

And then there is Rose, a native Ohioan who holds the all-time record for hits. The late Commissioner Bart Giamatti imposed a lifetime ban on Aug. 24, 1989, saying Rose had consorted with gamblers, bet on baseball and the Reds. Giamatti said Rose committed baseball's ultimate crime and had to pay the maximum penalty.

"Let no one think it did not hurt baseball. That hurt will pass, however, as the great glory of the game asserts itself and a resilient institution goes forward. Let it also be clear that no individual is superior to the game."

Rose has applied for reinstatement. It has never been granted. He has admitted his denials about betting on baseball were false. Now the game that exiled him has gone into the gambling business, something almost unthinkable. Still, there is no room for Charlie Hustle. But plenty, it now seems, for a hustle.