What is MLB thinking?

At this rate, I may forgo my summer vacation tradition of catching a Major League Baseball game in a park I've never been to.

The reason: MLB is trying to strong-arm the Cape Cod Baseball League into paying up.

That's right, a multi-million (at least) dollar conglomerate is trying to force a not-for-profit eight-team college league into coughing up 11 percent of its revenue because six of the eight CCBL teams use MLB nicknames. Oh, the horror.

Seriously, MLB donates a whopping $100,000 a year to help fund the league, which is the premier summer league for college players and a launching point for players such as Albert Belle, Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell and Jason Varitek.

Now big bad MLB wants to take it all away. The games in the CCBL charge no admission. The league subsists on donations and, should MLB take its away, the league would be in dire straits.

It may be trite to say, but the Cape Cod League is a bit of an American tradition. It's been memorialized in movies (Summer Catch) and books (The Last Best League).

Let's hope MLB looks in the mirror and sees the ugly, vicious corporate giant it has been acting like in this dispute.