"Major League Baseball"

Once worked with a copy editor who thought using "MLB" as an abbreviation for "Major League Baseball" was a sacrilege akin to using "JC" for Jesus Christ. (He was very, very old school.)

Later, had a boss who refused to capitalize it, writing "major league baseball" in lowercase because he insisted it wasn't trademarked.

The abbreviation has come into more common usage in the last 5-6 years. What's the feeling on "MLB?" We say "NFL," "NBA," "MLS" etc. for other leagues. Why or why not for baseball? Do other shops have this argument?

 

I just think, while NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS look quite natural in print, MLB looks contrived. I cannot explain why; it just feels that way.

 

One reason it doesn't "feel" right is because people say, "The NFL schedule came out today" or "Did you see how many NBA players were arrested last night?"

No one says, "Boy, that MLB series was great last weekend!"

Television has a part in that, too. "The NFL on CBS" is well-known. But it would sound goofy to say "MLB is on ESPN Tuesday at 7."

 

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer to your question F_Bat.

 

We use MLB quite a bit.

To confuse matters, in the instances where we refer to major league baseball in the context of playing the game, we lowercase it (although we don't do that in the full usage very often; often, we're just referring to "baseball" and in major league context, it's always clear: "It's baseball's biggest problem.").

When we refer to the business entity, it's Major League Baseball.

 

The American and National Leagues no longer exist as seperate business entities. They have been consolidated into one entity, Major League Baseball, Inc.

We use "MLB Roundup" as a standing head, and readers get it just fine.