The story had people sizzling mad. And that sizzle spread across the country like a forest fire.

Major league baseball, its image already damaged by labor problems, was sinking to a new low by going after its youngest fans, cracking down on Little Leaguers by forcing them to pay an additional $6 per uniform.

It was outrageous. It was unconscionable.

It also appears to be untrue.

The story first appeared in the Florida Today newspaper and was picked up and run nationally by the Associated Press. The Times even ran an editorial, accusing baseball's hierarchy of greed and insensitivity.

What in the world were those baseball people thinking?

Florida Today sticks by its story. Others, however, dispute it as follows:

STORY--Major League Baseball Properties, the licensing arm of the sport, is getting tough with Little Leaguers, amateur adult leagues and anybody else who wishes to purchase a uniform with a major league name or logo on it. Baseball will now require those teams or individuals to use only licensed equipment.

RESPONSE--Baseball has always enforced its licensing rules.

"We have licensed three major national companies and a couple of local companies in selective parts of the country," said Ethan Orlinsky, a lawyer for Major League Baseball Properties, "to produce a variety of uniforms at price points that are affordable to the youth leagues, taking into consideration the quality of the products and the kind of products they could otherwise get if a counterfeiter were to produce those products.

"This is something we have been doing for many years. There is no news here because what we have done this year is the same as we did the year before and the year before that."

STORY--The kids will now be paying an additional $6 a uniform by being forced to use only licensed equipment.

RESPONSE--At issue here are only jerseys and caps. The rest of the Little League uniform--consisting of pants, stirrups, socks, shoes--does not contain a major league logo, except in rare instances, and can therefore be purchased anywhere.

The three major licensed manufacturers of jerseys--Majestic Athletic, the Russell Corp. and Bike Athletics--all say they carry a line of jerseys that can range in retail price from the $20-$30 range down to $7-$10.

Asked about charges that Little Leaguers were going to be forced to pay an additional $6, Faust CapoBianco, national account manager for Majestic, said, "That's erroneous. It's not true at all. We carry a full line of youth equipment from exact-replica jerseys down to the cotton T-shirts.