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Thread: Marketing Baseball Players

  1. #16
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by Unassisted View Post
    IMO, and mine is the perspective of someone who lives in a media market with no MLB team, MLB lets its media partners do most of the marketing of the game.

    Here in San Antonio, I never see pitches by the Rangers or the Astros to drive a couple of hundred miles and see a game in person. I've never seen personal appearances promoted for players of either team. Nolan Ryan does a few statewide product endorsements, but he hasn't played the game in 20+ years.

    The only marketing of the sport I see in my market is by Fox Sports Southwest, to entice me to watch their game telecasts. I don't believe MLB is lifting a finger to cultivate interest in the sport or the players outside of MLB markets.


    Exactly....finally....MLB has not and doesn't look like they will ever lift a finger to promote the players of the game....Josh Hamilton got some headlines when he broke out and his story went wild but MLB did not capitalize in on his media attention.....I firmly believe if MLB would market their players then popularity from casual fans and women would go way up and once thst happens I think we start to see better ratings across the board. I seen Barry Bonds on the cover of a magazine once and as I was looking at it my wife asked who that was....I told her BB and she knew the name but didn't know the face......ask her who her favorite player is and she will tell you Derek Jeter, ask her why and she will tell you he has pretty eyes.....she has no idea he plays SS.....I say lets cash in on that stuff.......

    MLB is missing the boat here IMO.....there are some great stories out there for MLB to promote right now but come next April we all will forget who the Athletics were and we will forget all about the season that Mike Trout and Miggy just put up....MLB should be blasting their face every chance they get to remind us of what great stories we have in this sport. Have we ever had a rookie like Trout? How long has it been since we seen a season like Miggy's? Yet we won't hear a thing about it once the MVP and ROY picks are over with......and that's a sad sad travesty....those stories should be ones thst we hear about all winter, not how Lance Armstrong went downhill or how the Super Bowl MVP will be in every commercial on tv or how the NFL will pimp their draft.....we should be hearing about the record breaking seasons of 2 superstars of our game...

    I would venture to say that Trout and Miggy won't even make a commercial this offseason unless the tigers win the series and then we "might" see MC in something.


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  3. #17
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Football passed baseball in popularity a long time ago.

    The internet does the marketing for MLB on it's own. I know who these players are. I just have to look them up..... as opposed to having to wait for NBC Game of the Week or Monday Night Baseball or my Sporting News.

    If you are even a sports fan you know these players by watching ESPN already pr again....going to the net.

    I really don't know who you think marketing these players more is going to attract. People either like or hate baseball... you are not going to market them a game they do not like and make them watch it.

  4. #18
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Cloninger View Post
    I really don't know who you think marketing these players more is going to attract. People either like or hate baseball... you are not going to market them a game they do not like and make them watch it.
    I'd have to agree with this. No commercial is going to convince someone to watch a game they think is boring, which is the case for a lot of people my age.

    I think baseball will always have a strong core fan base, but football has come along with its 16 game season and provided a less demanding sports alternative. People looking to join work conversation are going to flip on the TV once a week and watch football, not tune in every night for 3+ hours of baseball for months at a time. It's the sports equivalent of choosing a People magazine over a Dickens novel.

  5. #19
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by Superdude View Post
    It's the sports equivalent of choosing a People magazine over a Dickens novel.
    Exactly, and anyone who reads Dickens gets the depth, the characters, the atmosphere, the vibe.

    It's not everybody's pint of beer.

    But it comes in enough varieties still make it a pretty big player in the pop culture game.

    And really, it' still a better game than Pesäpallo

    Pesäpallo (Finnish Baseball) - YouTube

  6. #20
    Knowledge Is Good Big Klu's Avatar
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    Exactly, and anyone who reads Dickens gets the depth, the characters, the atmosphere, the vibe.

    It's not everybody's pint of beer.

    But it comes in enough varieties still make it a pretty big player in the pop culture game.

    And really, it' still a better game than Pesäpallo
    Pesäpallo has been perry, perry good to me.
    Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman. Damn glad to meet ya.

  7. #21
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Cloninger View Post
    Football passed baseball in popularity a long time ago.

    The internet does the marketing for MLB on it's own. I know who these players are. I just have to look them up..... as opposed to having to wait for NBC Game of the Week or Monday Night Baseball or my Sporting News.

    If you are even a sports fan you know these players by watching ESPN already pr again....going to the net.

    I really don't know who you think marketing these players more is going to attract. People either like or hate baseball... you are not going to market them a game they do not like and make them watch it.


    Tony and superdude....I dont think attracting us regular fans is what I am getting at....you want to attract the game to the casual sports fan who does not watch baseball or who does not follow it...we follow the game because we love a team and we are fanatics......tons and tons of other people follow the game to follow a player, a player that they feel like they know or a player they like...women in general could not tell you who half the players play for but they can name you certain players and what eye color they have or how they look in a pair of Baseball pants.....to add on to that, there are tons and tons of fans who also just know who the Yankees are or whoever ESPN throws on their highlight reel each night.....

    David Stern started marketing his NBA players back when Allen Iverson would show up at every pree conference in a baggy pair of sweats, headphones and a entire entourage of friends....Stern decided that his players needed to become more approachable to the average fan and he felt that was the reason why the average fan kicked the NBA to the curb....here we are 10 years later and the NBA is taking over Baseball in several facets of popularity whereas 10 years ago when Jordan was leaving the game and they had no Magic or Bird, the NBA was fighting against the NHL for ratings and popularity.....David Stern seen a chance to market his players to the housewife and the guy who just picks up the morning paper or who flips on sportscenter at night before they go to bed....he put players in more commercials and he forced them to follow a code of ethics just like football and Baseball.....and look how far the NBA has came since David Stern decided to market his players and put them in a positive light.....

    I am not saying Baseball is looked at in a negative light because I think we have passed by the steroid era of haters....but IMO, these players need to be shown in a personable light, something other than them in their uniform hitting bombs or turning double plays.....There are some great stories out there and it seems like Selig is just letting ESPN do what they want, which is fine, but I wish Bud would figure a way to bring the Ryan Brauns and Mike Trouts into our living rooms on tv and show these players off to the world....

    How many people outside of the fanatics like us do you think know Albert has a child with down syndrome and Albert dontates hundreds of hours to community service? How many people know Josh Hamiltons battle with hard drugs and how turning to God saved not only his life but his professional career? How many people know that Junior Griff deferred millions just so the Reds could afford to build a winner..or try to build a winner? How many people know that what Miguel Cabrera did this year has not been done forever? Or that Mike Trout could win MVP and ROY in the same year if not for Miggy? These are stories that the general public should get to read and see and its all there for Bud Selig to make it grow......I understand the media has alot to do with it but with MLB having its own network now I would think Bud would have some influence on marketing his players......

    Hell, they made a movie about Billy Beane and his moneyball concept and Selig darn near would not even talk about it

    Guys, its just food for thought and not meant as a debate....its the offseason and I am so depressed that this is where I am turning my aggression to....its an idea and one that I think will pay dividends for years.

  8. #22
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by lidspinner View Post
    David Stern started marketing his NBA players back when Allen Iverson would show up at every pree conference in a baggy pair of sweats, headphones and a entire entourage of friends....Stern decided that his players needed to become more approachable to the average fan and he felt that was the reason why the average fan kicked the NBA to the curb....here we are 10 years later and the NBA is taking over Baseball in several facets of popularity whereas 10 years ago when Jordan was leaving the game and they had no Magic or Bird, the NBA was fighting against the NHL for ratings and popularity.....David Stern seen a chance to market his players to the housewife and the guy who just picks up the morning paper or who flips on sportscenter at night before they go to bed....he put players in more commercials and he forced them to follow a code of ethics just like football and Baseball.....and look how far the NBA has came since David Stern decided to market his players and put them in a positive light.....
    First of all, the commissioner of a sports league has very little say over who Madison Avenue decides to put in their commercials. The 2012 version of Don Draper doesn't go to David Stern and ask him to let LeBron James do a commercial and Stern doesn't give a thumbs up or down. What commissioners can do is hire people to make the sport more attractive to advertisers. With the NBA, good fortune just happened to be on Stern's side in the early 80s when Magic and Bird came into the league. They were popular because they had just squared off in the most watched NCAA Championship game ever. It didn't hurt that Bird was white either. It's not like people rooted for him because of that. There were plenty of white players in the league at the time that didn't get the publicity that Bird did but Bird was just one of the best of all time. Magic was an advertiser's dream with his smile and personality.

    What Stern did, to his credit, was realize what he had and emphasized it. The decision was made to stop carrying the NBA finals on tape delay. The growing of Cable played a huge part in it too. The Superstations WGN and TBS didn't have as much of an impact on the NBA as it did MLB but if I wanted to watch the Celtics play, I could watch TBS when they played the Hawks and WGN when they played the Bulls. TBS would also show a national game or two a week. Then CBS always had either Boston, LA or Philly on Sundays - sometimes all 3. They helped the NBA out of the doldrums and Jordan took them into the stratosphere. Stern was smart enough to realize that if he put the most popular players out there where the most people could watch them, Madison Avenue would come calling.

    I am not saying Baseball is looked at in a negative light because I think we have passed by the steroid era of haters....but IMO, these players need to be shown in a personable light, something other than them in their uniform hitting bombs or turning double plays.....There are some great stories out there and it seems like Selig is just letting ESPN do what they want, which is fine, but I wish Bud would figure a way to bring the Ryan Brauns and Mike Trouts into our living rooms on tv and show these players off to the world....
    I really don't think we have passed the steroid era of haters. I think the general public views most baseball players as steroid freaks. Doesn't matter how many NFL players are busted for steroids, it's baseball who gets the brunt of the blame.

    I can understand a guy like Trout not getting the national attention this year because he didn't get called up until after the season started. No one thought he would do what he did. I don't live in Southern California but I will bet as the season went on there were more local ads with Trout in them. I'm not so sure Madison Avenue would want Braun in their commercials. First of all, there's that controversy from last off-season about the failed/tainted steroid test.

    How many people outside of the fanatics like us do you think know Albert has a child with down syndrome and Albert dontates hundreds of hours to community service? How many people know Josh Hamiltons battle with hard drugs and how turning to God saved not only his life but his professional career? How many people know that Junior Griff deferred millions just so the Reds could afford to build a winner..or try to build a winner? How many people know that what Miguel Cabrera did this year has not been done forever? Or that Mike Trout could win MVP and ROY in the same year if not for Miggy? These are stories that the general public should get to read and see and its all there for Bud Selig to make it grow......I understand the media has alot to do with it but with MLB having its own network now I would think Bud would have some influence on marketing his players......
    When announcers bring stuff like this up during games, most fans complain about it being maudlin. Guys like A-Rod and Jeter get in commercials and fans in 29 other cities complain because they get all the publicity.

    I think if you watch MLB Network you will see quite a bit of commercials with MLB players. I've seen that "Everybody's Talking" ad with Pujols in it for Extra Innings more times than I care to remember. Joe Mauer's been in Head and Shoulders and EA Sports video games commercials. Roy Halliday and Justin Verlander have been in MLB 2k12 as has Brian Wilson. Kerry Wood's been in an Allstate commercial. Retired stars Randy Johnson and Andre Dawson have been in commercials and they did a Field of Dreams commercial for Pepsi(?) with a great deal of retired stars.

    Again, Bud Selig doesn't sit in his office and say that Joe Mauer can do a commercial but Josh Hamilton cannot. Perhaps if a team like the Reds were in more nationally televised games, Madison Avenue would come running to Cincinnati and beg Votto, Bruce, Phillips and Cueto to be in their commercials. They were on national TV plenty in 2012 so let's see if that happens. I don't think that's going to happen, though.

    I wouldn't lose any sleep over this imbalance. The NFL is going to hold the advantage over MLB for years to come. I actually think MLB does better than the NBA. The NBA is pretty LeBron and Kobe heavy. Blake Griffin's getting up there but that's about it nationally.
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  9. #23
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by lidspinner View Post
    Tony and superdude....I dont think attracting us regular fans is what I am getting at....you want to attract the game to the casual sports fan who does not watch baseball or who does not follow it...we follow the game because we love a team and we are fanatics......tons and tons of other people follow the game to follow a player, a player that they feel like they know or a player they like...women in general could not tell you who half the players play for but they can name you certain players and what eye color they have or how they look in a pair of Baseball pants.....to add on to that, there are tons and tons of fans who also just know who the Yankees are or whoever ESPN throws on their highlight reel each night.....

    David Stern started marketing his NBA players back when Allen Iverson would show up at every pree conference in a baggy pair of sweats, headphones and a entire entourage of friends....Stern decided that his players needed to become more approachable to the average fan and he felt that was the reason why the average fan kicked the NBA to the curb....here we are 10 years later and the NBA is taking over Baseball in several facets of popularity whereas 10 years ago when Jordan was leaving the game and they had no Magic or Bird, the NBA was fighting against the NHL for ratings and popularity.....David Stern seen a chance to market his players to the housewife and the guy who just picks up the morning paper or who flips on sportscenter at night before they go to bed....he put players in more commercials and he forced them to follow a code of ethics just like football and Baseball.....and look how far the NBA has came since David Stern decided to market his players and put them in a positive light.....

    I am not saying Baseball is looked at in a negative light because I think we have passed by the steroid era of haters....but IMO, these players need to be shown in a personable light, something other than them in their uniform hitting bombs or turning double plays.....There are some great stories out there and it seems like Selig is just letting ESPN do what they want, which is fine, but I wish Bud would figure a way to bring the Ryan Brauns and Mike Trouts into our living rooms on tv and show these players off to the world....

    How many people outside of the fanatics like us do you think know Albert has a child with down syndrome and Albert dontates hundreds of hours to community service? How many people know Josh Hamiltons battle with hard drugs and how turning to God saved not only his life but his professional career? How many people know that Junior Griff deferred millions just so the Reds could afford to build a winner..or try to build a winner? How many people know that what Miguel Cabrera did this year has not been done forever? Or that Mike Trout could win MVP and ROY in the same year if not for Miggy? These are stories that the general public should get to read and see and its all there for Bud Selig to make it grow......I understand the media has alot to do with it but with MLB having its own network now I would think Bud would have some influence on marketing his players......

    Hell, they made a movie about Billy Beane and his moneyball concept and Selig darn near would not even talk about it

    Guys, its just food for thought and not meant as a debate....its the offseason and I am so depressed that this is where I am turning my aggression to....its an idea and one that I think will pay dividends for years.


    Well...I do not think you are wrong or i am right. Maybe they do need more marketing....I just don't think casual fans of any sport ...I mean if they need to have some commercial shoved in their face to pay attention or to be beat up over the head to watch a game..... there is not much hope for them.

    They watch beacuse their friends, family or spouse watches...or it's playing at a sports bar.

    In the 70's... The Reds were all over with commercials. Who...but only a Reds fan would want to see Rose's ugly mug on everything form Aqua Velva to a Zenith TV commercial? Jim Palmer and his Hanes. Great way to get the ladies in there right?

    I remember Dr. J and Rick Barry were hot items in basketball too. I still was not into basketball though....even with Dr. J, who I loved..... but i did not want to go and watch basketball just beacuse of that.

    Football has great commercials with Peyton and Basketball has LeBron. Baseball has Joe Mauer hair commercials. If fans are going to come out i do not think it's for a commercial. It is for a winning team...player or making/breaking records.

    I lived in California since 1974 and the only Angel i would ever hear of was Nolan Ryan up until they started winning in 1979...maybe Frank Tanana.
    Gene The Cowboy owner was more well known most of his if not all his players.

  10. #24
    Thanks a lot, Bowie Kuhn Revering4Blue's Avatar
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    Re: Marketing Baseball Players

    Quote Originally Posted by George Anderson View Post
    In HS athletics, soccer and to a lesser degree lacrosse have surfaced recently and have hurt baseball.
    Exactly.

    Soccer, in particular, consumes so much of the youth's time that they have little time left to even experiment with most other sports--at least that's what Parents tell me.

    As for marketing MLB players, I believe that the best tactic--and I'm not quite sure how to proceed with this--is to market to to the youngsters just how much fun the game of baseball--even if you are playing Wiffleball-- is to play.
    I didn't grow up in the vicinity of a MLB market, so I began following MLB largely because I was playing it.

    The old "Baseball Fever-Catch It" ads were catchy. If marketed in a manner which focuses on just how much fun the game is to play, it just may sway enough of the youth to give baseball another look, and once they get engrossed in playing, they naturally will begin to follow MLB. One that occurs, the marketing of MLB and the players should take care of itself.

    Just my two cents.
    Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.


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