It's been a long time since this issue last sprang up, but there has always been a perceived level of hostility between major league baseball and blogs. We can discuss a number of the possible reasons for why that may be - in fact, many blogs have in the past. As a consequence, we've seen a lot of speculation about "league-wide memorandums" dictating that blogs be blocked from having access to teams and players, but that in fact is not what has happened. Last year, I spent some time contacting a number of individuals and organizations affiliated with major league baseball, and this is what I uncovered. You may note that I wrote this like a journalist, not like a blogger, which, of course, is intentional:

As the face of news media continues to change, Major League Baseball has begun to encounter the first wave of sports blogs as internet writers clamor for access to the teams they cover. The Chicago Tribune-run Chicago Cubs front office is one example of a team which has begun to walk a very fine line between allowing bloggers access to the teams they cover at the reward of free publicity while denying them credentials because they cannot control the spin of a potentially misinformed website.

Cubs fan Chuck Gitles is one blogger who has been contacted by the Tribune organization as a means for free publicity, although the Cubs front office itself appears vehemently opposed to granting access to bloggers.

"I've been wondering (why the Cubs front office won't deal with blogs) and I honestly can't figure it out," Gitles said. "You would think that a company that's set up by these corporate synergies would almost insist on it."

Gitles and his site, Ivy Chat (www.ivychat.blogspot.com) is one of dozens of Cubs blogs asked by the Tribune to promote the Cubs and their sports section, and was asked earlier in the year by Tribune communications manager Michael Dizon if he'd be interested in interviewing journalists who cover the Cubs.

When asked why the Cubs will not allow bloggers access to the team Katelyn Thrall, the team's coordinator of media services, cited MLB guidelines. "We only work with accredited journalists," she said.

According to Michael Teevan, a specialist in media relations for the MLB front office, The MLB guidelines themselves are the following: "People seeking interviews or credentials must represent a national news-gathering agency which employs full-time journalists, produces original content, and reaches a broad audience." However, neither Teevan nor any other media relations employee who was contacted was able to adequately define what a "national news-gathering agency" is, or what it means to be a "full-time journalist." Instead, they were only able to cite examples - ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline, and so on.

For example, if a blog read by a million people a month had several writers from around the country who wrote a half dozen original stories a day, would they fit the criteria? John Blake, the Vice President for Media Relations for the Boston Red Sox says that it's doubtful.

"We would review it," Blake said. "We would not outright deny them, although we would lean towards not giving them access, but I'm open to looking at it"

Blake represents perhaps the most progressive organization in baseball. The Red Sox have had players and even their owner, John Henry, interact with a fan site, the Sons of Sam Horn. Perhaps in a city where the media is hostile, it makes sense to bypass journalists to give access straight to the fans.

Gitles speculates that the Cubs don't need to take that route, because the team receives easy coverage when compared with East Coast teams like the Red Sox and Yankees.

"With the Tribune they might be able to control the message a little bit, but a bunch of independent people can do whatever they want," Gitles said. "They can't control the image of the brand."

The Cubs are not alone in wanting to ignore or avoid blogs. The Oakland Athletics, another otherwise progressive team, only see the negative in the prospect of having to deal with bloggers and fan websites, according to Media Services Coordinator Debbie Gallas.

"We get so many requests from accredited news agencies and we have to evaluate each request," Gallas said. "There comes a point of over saturation."

However, neither Blake nor Gitles are alone in seeing the prospective positives. Jeff Sibel, the coordinator of media relations for the Cleveland Indians sums it up.

"We only credential news gathering sources," Sibel said. "(However), depending on the situation and availability of the player we also coordinate interviews. Giving access to non-accredited writers is tricky at times. Fan sites can expose a player, but we have to be leery at times because ... we can'’t control the message. We have to be leery about websites and content."

MLB's perception toward bloggers is changing, and they may get more access at some point in the future according to Blake.

"We talk about it as a league and industry every year at our comm meetings, and I’m sure talk will continue as internet becomes more and more of a news gathering business."