MLB Off-Topic

[areobee401]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I think there is plenty of blame to go around as to why a player of Trout's talent is so unrecognizable to the general public. The league, Angels for a number of reasons, baseball culture (individualism is largely looked down upon by the game itself and its fans), and of course Trout himself.

What the solution is, I don't know, but I do know Manfred and the Angels involved in a petty public spat is doing no one or the league any favors.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't think cross sport comparisons are useful. When Adam Silver promotes the game, he's talking to a completely different fanbase than Manfred. We've had the conversation about it being easier to stand out in basketball before so I won't rehash that. It's just a completely different situation. And I don't even think most baseball fans know what Manfred is saying, let alone non fans, so I don't think that's giving marketers any pause. I'd imagine it's that most companies are looking at the demographic they're trying to market towards and realizing that demo doesn't care about baseball. Baseball being "boring" is a big obstacle there, but that's the way the game is.

Also, look at Trout's Instagram man, he's even boring there. I don't know what people expect lol.

[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Oh and I dunno if anyone missed it in the last couple days but Clark and the union are making noises about a work stoppage.

yay

I wouldn't mind an offseason strike. Baseball offseasons aren't so interesting, and goes on so long. If this causes drastic changes, then lets have a strike

[dubcity]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Man, Manfred isn't the reason Trout isn't a bigger mainstream star lol. C'mon. Can't blame him for literally everything.

Trout doesn't have the charisma, personality, flair, or interest in being anything other than a great hardworking player.

And don't blame the Angels either. He plays just down the road from LA. If he wanted to build his brand it couldn't be much easier.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

It’s very blatant isn’t it?

I don’t know if I buy that he doesn’t feel that way to this day. You can be a racist and still work with and be friends with people of color. But when the doors close, what do you say, how do you feel?

I mean, you can’t jump inside someone’s head or heart, but when they broadcast it to the world, do we need to? He told us. 6 years ago or not, he felt that way... strongly enough to post it to a public forum.

But what exactly is there to do about this? Hey, stop feeling racist. It’ll only matter if players band together and refuse to play on the same team as this guy. I don’t think you can ban someone for their beliefs, but you can force the issue by making it an “us or him” thing.

I don’t see that happening. Some players, including teammates have already addressed the remarks and it looks like it’ll just blow over.

Yea and when I made my original post. I didn't see all that. I just try to look at things in a positive view. I hope he's changed his views. His teammates seem to have had his back. At least what I've heard from Aguilar and Cain.

That's karma. It's unfortunate someone dug all that up. But you say things like that and you post it for anybody to see. Now you are dealing with the consequences. And Hader has to understand he hurt alot of good people in the process. Words can be powerful.

I can certainly understand why this offended or angered alot of people.





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[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Man, Manfred isn't the reason Trout isn't a bigger mainstream star lol. C'mon. Can't blame him for literally everything.

Trout doesn't have the charisma, personality, flair, or interest in being anything other than a great hardworking player.

And don't blame the Angels either. He plays just down the road from LA. If he wanted to build his brand it couldn't be much easier.

Not every star has to be this "face of the league" type person. Look at the NBA, for all the superstars they got, everyone makes fun of Kawhi for not having emotion or speaking. That type of guy in hockey is normal, and more common in baseball vs basketball.


MLB could do better job promoting stars, but with it being much more of a team sport, they do put more emphasis on teams over stars. It's more about the Yankees, Red Sox than it is Judge, Stanton, Betts and so on.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Manfred should've ripped Trout to shreds for all this hoopla.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Man, Manfred isn't the reason Trout isn't a bigger mainstream star lol. C'mon. Can't blame him for literally everything.

Trout doesn't have the charisma, personality, flair, or interest in being anything other than a great hardworking player.

And don't blame the Angels either. He plays just down the road from LA. If he wanted to build his brand it couldn't be much easier.

Trout is just an example.

Judge plays for one of the biggest markets and has a distinct look that makes him easily marketable.

Yet, he is not pushed nearly as much as he should be outside of the games. During games, he might be reaching Jeter levels of infatuation. But where is this guy outside of it?

And even if Judge does blow up globally, he's still just one name. MLB simply doesn't promote its product or its players. The league actually does the opposite.

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[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

, but I do know Manfred and the Angels involved in a petty public spat is doing no one or the league any favors.

Maybe this was one of Manfred's ideas to promote the player.

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[Speedy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

MLB simply doesn't promote its product or its players.

Not trying to be facetious here...what are some ideas to fix this?

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

One of the game's problems is that it is an "equal opportunity" game. You bat once every nine guys, and balls to you on defense are somewhat at random. In basketball and football, the stars see the ball the most. I think there is definitely something to that.

Somehow in the NFL though, they are able to still capture stars who only play on one half of the ball and wear a helmet. When two quarterbacks play against each other, they don't even see the field at the same time. It's amazing that the NFL is still able to do what they do promoting players keeping that in mind.

Basketball is the easiest. Five guys on the court at all times and up close, play both sides of the ball and head-on against other star opponents, get the ball a lot if one of the marquee guys, etc. It's no wonder that teams not named the Warriors aren't spoken of much in that association, and it's an all-players kind of game.

Keeping all of that in mind, the pitcher is the one position that gets all of those things for them (player matchups, holds the ball, lots of face shots up close, both sides of the ball if in the NL lol)... and frankly, I think that MLB pitchers do get their moments in the sun. The problem is that they only pitch once every five games, and they don't stay in until it closes much either.

What got me to learn about players really well were baseball cards and video games. I think fantasy sports got me more into understanding other offensive football player names (I don't know that many on defense at all, or linemen), so if fantasy baseball is a big thing and if they did more tracking on that stuff on TV and on the internet I think that would definitely help.

Last thing... we all know this, but baseball is built upon failure. If our receivers only caught 30% of passes or if the stars of the NBA even only made 30% of all shots, that just wouldn't really go over very well. The moments for these athletes to shine are few and far between, where even the best only homer once every four games. Fans like you and I see rewarded material in other facets, but this day and age everything needs to be very good very often. Baseball just isn't a sport built on that unless you're pitching.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

http://www.wbal.com/article/325791/159/ted-williams-mexican-american-heritage-explored-in-pbs-film

New Ted Williams doc coming out, article says it airs on most PBS stations on Monday:

But beneath the smiles and happy trots around the bases sat a man consumed with rage. For years, the baseball legend would shun his ethnic heritage and kept his family's past a secret. Only when he'd begin to speak out on behalf of black players would he begin to slowly reveal his connections to his Mexican-American Southern California family and the experiences that shaped him.

A new PBS "American Masters" documentary explores the life of Williams and his volatile relationships with his family and the press. The upcoming film uses rare footage and family interviews to paint a picture of an entangled figure who hid his past while enjoying the admiration of adoring fans.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be looking out for that Williams doc.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I've already read two books on Teddy Ballgame so I'm pretty familiar with his personal life, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for that.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Not trying to be facetious here...what are some ideas to fix this?

I left a couple thoughts in another post.

I think they need to emulate how other leagues do it. Especially the NBA. Again, this is likely going to get purists upset but if I am a player that wants to make more money, purist are just obstacles in my way.

Players need to be made more available on television during games. This includes between inning interviews for the active viewers and passive stuff like microphones and highlighting more of the plays made during a game instead of telling stories because it's a slow game.

There needs to be a more expansive pre game and post game show for the national games. MLB Network sort of has this going but it's not national enough. Right now, the blowout shows are in the post season. They need that during the season for national games. ESPN's baseball coverage is very team centric and their post game show doesn't exist as far as I know.

Changing local game times to not conflict with the national game. Right now, because baseball is mostly regional, there are many games played at the same time as a national game especially during those Fox Saturday games. That means your viewership is essentially the same fans that would have watched those teams play regardless of channel.

If it's Astros v Angels on Fox at 5 pm but the Yankees game started at 4 pm, I don't care about that national game. More than likely if you're an Angels fan, you're simply not watching your regional channel and instead switching to Fox. Great, that accomplished nothing. No new viewers.

Sunday night game of the week on ESPN isn't enough. Needs to be another night for two games and no other games conflicting.

Outside of that, there also needs to be more player specific commercials pushing the games of the week. Don't give me some five second piece about Yankees vs Red Sox. Focus on the players and what those players do. Make a comedic commercial, poke fun at recent films, anything that taps into current news while delivering information. Something that can get people talking, especially young people.

Most of these things wouldn't even affect purists or old people that don't want things changed. It may actually be nice to spend less time talking about nothing and instead talking about the game and the players , or using mics to show how players communicate, strategize, etc.

I would actually prefer to hear Altuve yelling "go two, go two" as the announcers talk about a ball in the gap in the 4th inning.

I'm writing a lot. There's always more.

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