With the start of the Spring Training schedule kicking off today, the New York Yankees already have a leg up on the competition — they’re baseball’s self-avowedly most evil team. In 2008, Evil Enterprises Inc. applied for a trademark on the phrase “Baseballs Evil Empire” (no sticklers for apostrophes, apparently), which the Yankees contested and took to court. Their claim? That the phrase “evil empire” is synonymous with the New York Yankees (originally coined derisively by Red Sox president Larry Lucchino in 2002). As they admitted, the team “implicitly embraced” this monolithic image by playing music from Star Wars during their home games, and the presiding judges agreed: “In short, the record shows that there is only one Evil Empire in baseball and it is the New York Yankees.” (Photo by Eric Beato) source