Sorry Sox, the Obama Administration Won’t Play Ball on Hat Design

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: President Obama’s home team — the Chicago White Sox — has created a special baseball hat as a tribute to their most famous fan. But don’t place your orders just yet — for legal reasons, the White House isn’t playing ball. The hat incorporates the Sox’s popular black-and-white emblem — which Mr. Obama himself has sported numerous times — with a twist, to include the Obama campaign’s O logo on the side. “Obama” is written on the back.
“It’s a tribute more than anything,” Lou Hernandez, director of public relations at the Chicago White Sox, said.  The White Sox design team created two prototypes internally — neither of which has been produced yet. The team has reached out to the administration to get their “approval and blessing” for use of Obama’s name and campaign logo first. Additionally they have asked the new administration to tell them what charity Mr. Obama would like a portion of the proceeds of each hat’s sale to go to. So far the team has yet to connect with the Obama administration. “I don’t know the state of the discussion, we’ve reached out but have not heard back from them,” Hernandez said. “We will in no way move forward on this unless the president and the administration is comfortable with it.” White House aides say that for legal reasons a deal with the White Sox likely cannot be made — the president and the White House do not engage in commercial activity of this kind.  Juleanna Goldman of Bloomberg has more on the commercialization of the president HERE. – Sunlen Miller