Corporate sponsorship. I don’t really like it, but I realize that in this day and age it is a fact of baseball life. A necessary evil. But sometimes I think things get a little out of control.

A prime example of this occurred last night, while my husband and I were channel-surfing. Well, he was; I was attempting to read a book at the same time. We decided to watch an inning or two of the Venezuela/Mexico Caribbean Series game on the MLB Network. Mexico was at bat.

Me: Hmm, his last name is Corona?

Him: No, they all say that. It’s an ad.

Then I noticed that the front of their jerseys featured some sort of logo containing prominent ears of corn, even though the name of the team, Venados de Mazatlan, translates to Mazatlan Deer (had to look this up, I don’t speak Spanish).

The clincher, though, was their batting helmets.

Me: Does that helmet say “bimbo” on it??

Him: No, that looks like a “D”.

(wait for closer shot in full 61″ high-def glory)

Me: Look, look! It does say “bimbo”! What on earth is that an ad for?

Well, this morning I found out that Grupo Bimbo is a large food conglomerate (think Unilever or Nestle). In fact, the fourth largest in the world! According to that fount of all online knowledge, Wikipedia, the word bimbo has no specific meaning in Spanish, though it has come to be practically synonymous with bread.

So, bimbo = bread. In Latin America, anyway. I’m sure there’s a good joke or two in there somewhere, but at this hour of the morning my mind just isn’t up to it. If anyone can think of a good one, leave a comment! Have a great day!

(both photos AP)