On Thursday, MLB gave the Houston Astros permission to include the pistol that was on the original Houston Colt .45s jersey that the team is going to wear twice in April as a throwback.
On Friday, the team made an official announcement that they will indeed wear the authentic throwback. Alyson Footer:
Houston Astros Owner and Chairman Jim Crane announced today that the Astros will wear replicas of their original Colt .45s jersey during the April 10 and April 20 games at Minute Maid Park.
"We made this decision for a number of reasons," said Crane. "We listened to our fans, who were almost unanimously in favor of wearing the original jersey. We wanted to honor all of our past uniforms during this special 50th anniversary season, and we felt it was important to be true to the tradition of the franchise."
This was a smart decision by MLB, to not only go with the wishes of the team and its fans, but to acknowledge that the history of the team does include a jersey that was worn from 1962-1964, that jersey had a representation of a gun on it, and that the team was named after that gun.
History might not always be pretty, but it does not need to be whitewashed.