When two teams meet to play for a championship in sports, outfitters often manufacture championship merchandise for both teams so that they can begin immediately selling to celebrating fans on a hot market. The championship gear for the losing team is typically donated to a country in need.
That’s been the practice of Major League Baseball following the World Series since at least 2005, as they’re officially partnered with Worldvision, a charity that donates the inaccurate championship gear to those who could use it — usually citizens of a third-world country.
But that process will change this year, as the league has decided to instead destroy the apparel declaring the Cleveland Indians as 2016 World Series champions.
According to ESPN, retailers have been ordered to return any Indians licensed championship gear to the league, which plans to destroy the product to "protect the team from inaccurate merchandise being available in the general marketplace."
It’s believed that there was a large number of Cleveland gear produced because of the fact the Indians had a 3-1 series lead in the Fall Classic. Ultimately, the Cubs mounted an impressive comeback for their first title in 108 years, and now all the boxes of Indians gear will be torched by the league.
