Can MLB Players be Made More Popular?
MLB will be looking to market its players and make them more popular, according to a recent report.
Fans of Major League Baseball are able to see countless players throughout the league and recognize them without seeing the name on the back of the jersey. But what if these MLB players were out amongst us all, dressed like any other person on the street? Would they be recognized by passive fans of the game?
This topic was the subject of an article by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, who discussed the move by MLB and the MLBPA to focus on making MLB players more marketable.
Rosenthal provides an interesting bit to begin the article:
"After meeting with the Giants last offseason, Zack Greinke took a walk to explore San Francisco. No one recognized him, according to people who were in contact with him that day. Think about that: Greinke, then a free agent, soon would receive the highest average salary of any pitcher in major-league history. Yet he went unnoticed in a city where fans should have been quite familiar with him, considering that he had spent the previous three seasons with the Giants’ biggest rival, the Dodgers."
Rosenthal does bring up a great point. If Stephen Curry was wandering around Cleveland he would surely be recognized more than anyone else out that day.
But the game of baseball has a different feel to it. The game has its stars in faces like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw, to name a few. However, the days of baseball being America’s most popular sport are behind us. The home run battles of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and the prolific performances of Barry Bonds have not been repeated in the past decade.
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Those days were tainted with performance-enhancing drugs, which may be why MLB players have seen a decline in individuals holding a great deal of star power. The problem Rosenthal describes is one where players all around the league are losing out on potential earnings, but complaining about someone not being recognized seems a bit much.
Rosenthal makes the comparison to a player like LeBron James being universally recognized, but James also has a physical stature far different from the ordinary person. Baseball players tend to be, on average, more modest in physical appearance compared to many NBA or NFL stars.
In James’ case, it would be hard not to recognize, or at least notice, a 6-foot-8 man walking down the street whose face is continually plastered all over billboards and magazines.
MLB stars also differ from stars in the NBA and NFL because of the nature of the game. A star pitcher will only pitch every five days. The collective team is much more important than one single player, although one player can still have a great impact on any given game.
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The league can attempt to market players better through endorsement deals or league-promoted advertising, but it may soon have to come to an understanding that the popularity of individual players may not be able to reach levels seen in other major sports.