MLB veterans looking to "haze" rookies by making them show up to games wearing dresses and wigs will have to come up with some new ideas, because the league has created an Anti-Hazing and Anti-Bullying Policy which bans such activity.
As part of the new labor agreement, the new rule prohibits teams from "requiring, coercing or encouraging" players to engage in activities that include "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."
Per ESPN:
"MLB vice president Paul Mifsud said Monday that the new rules resulted partly "in light of social media, which in our view sort of unfortunately publicized a lot of the dressing up of the players ... those kind of things which in our view were insensitive and potentially offensive to a number of groups.""
"There's lots of pictures of baseball players dressed up as Disney princesses," he said.
Players can still feel free to dress up like Spiderman, Gumby or a bottle of ketchup but not any female superheroes or characters.
"The purpose of this policy is not to prohibit all traditions regarding rookies or players," the new policy states, "but rather to prohibit conduct that may cause players physical anguish or harm, may be offensive to some players, club staff or fans, or are distracting to the operation of the club or MLB."
