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Forget the Phillies and the Rays, the teams facing off in the World Series. And the Yankees and the Red Sox. And the Braves and the Mets.

Local youth baseball teams — and thousands of others across the country — can’t use those nicknames on their uniforms unless the jerseys are officially licensed.

That’s the pitch from Major League Baseball.

The league contends it’s only trying to protect its trademarks and the licensing agreement it has with Majestic Athletic, a Pennsylvania company owned by Greensboro-based VF Corp.

An MLB spokesman says the youth leagues and teams aren’t the villains. It’s the companies printing the unlicensed jerseys.

“The printers are counterfeiters,” said Matt Bourne, a spokesman for MLB. “The majority know the rules and they know you can’t profit off professional sports (names).”

But some local team officials and vendors accuse MLB of playing hard ball. And they think their young players have been caught in a squeeze play.

“The kids decide what team they want to be,” said Terry Lawson, equipment manager for the Kernersville Little League, which fields more than 40 teams. “That tells you how the kids feel about it.”

For years, local leagues have understood they can’t use MLB logos on their uniforms without buying a licensed product or getting permission, but the use of team names hasn’t been as much of an issue.

But around Memorial Day, MLB stopped a dealer who had been sewing names like Cubs and White Sox on the jerseys of a Chicago youth league.

This week, Portfolio.com, a Web site for Portfolio magazine, wrote about the issue and pointed out the VF connection.

A VF official would not comment on MLB’s efforts to police its trademarks.

“We have a great relationship with baseball,” said Michael Johnson, director of marketing for VF Imagewear, whose brands include Majestic Athletic. “We have entrusted baseball with looking out for our common interests.”

VF bought Majestic in 2007. The company’s licensing agreement makes it the exclusive supplier of any apparel bearing Major League team logos and names worn by pro players and youth leagues.

Efforts to reach Majestic officials were unsuccessful.

The Portfolio.com story said that the retail value of all MLB-licensed merchandise, including uniforms, last year totaled $3.3 billion, tops for any professional league.

The story adds that of the more than 10,000 youth leagues across the country, about 4,000 wear licensed uniforms.

Count the High Point Little League among that latter group. But count Greg Saylor, the league’s equipment coordinator, among those who accuse MLB of being off base about the use of team names.

“If Major League Baseball takes that away from youth programs, I hope nobody supports Major League Baseball again,” Saylor said. “It’s all about money.”

Some wonder how MLB’s stance might stand up in court.

In Greensboro, Pella Stokes, an attorney, sponsors five youth teams of varying ages called the Tops Tigers. None use licensed jerseys.

“It had nothing to do with any ... Major League team,” Stokes said of the name selection. “It just matched Tops.”

Stokes doesn’t believe MLB can trademark a name like Tigers.

“To argue that you could protect an animal name, I think they would have a difficult time,” said Stokes, who is in general practice. “It’s a fact of nature.”

But Stokes says it doesn’t matter to his players what MLB does.

“We could call them Team A and Team B, and I don’t think the kids would care,” he said. “They just want to play ball and have fun.”

Contact Donald W. Pattersonat 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com.