MLB players troll league with silhouettes amid lockout
Once the inevitable lockout of Major League Baseball Players Association members became official shortly after midnight ET Thursday morning, fans noticed the league website scrubbed player photos for current athletes and replaced them with generic and faceless silhouettes.
"You may notice that the content on this site looks a little different than usual," a message on the MLB website reads. "The reason for this is because the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the league expired just before midnight on Dec. 1 and a new CBA is currently being negotiated between the owners and the MLBPA.
"Until a new agreement is reached, there will be limitations on the type of content we display. As a result, you will see a lot more content that focuses on the game’s rich history. Once a new agreement is reached, the up-to-the-minute news and analysis you have come to expect will continue as usual."
As ESPN's Joon Lee noted, multiple players responded by changing their Twitter profile pictures to similar silhouettes:
"I saw it, and that's what I did," New York Mets reliever Trevor May told ESPN about joining the gesture. "Anything when it comes to Twitter, memes, I'm all for it. I just went for it. It's not a strong message I'm trying to send. ... This is one of the funny ways for players to poke at [the league]. It's a funny way to point out they don't really have anything without us."
Earlier on Thursday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sounded optimistic the sides will reach a resolution before meaningful games are lost next spring. For now, fans will have to turn to social media for any baseball-related fun ahead of Christmas.
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