Fitz On Sports: A brief rant on MLB’s marketing problem
I’ve been hinting at a Deshaun Watson column for weeks, but I’m kicking that can down the road a little further. I’m waiting on certain developments in that whole circus soap opera.
Instead, let’s focus on Major League Baseball and their marketing problem, specifically marketing players!
I have to thank a mentor of mine, Bruce Drennan, for giving me the inspiration for this topic. I tuned into WKNR for a few minutes on my drive up to Cleveland on Sunday, August 7. Full disclosure, I usually rotate around a few stations, but Drennan had me hooked until commercial break.
Anyway, one person called in and talked about how you (yes, you) don’t even recognize the vast majority of MLB players walking down the street.
Sadly, it’s 100% true.
You can recognize LeBron James, Tom Brady, Myles Garrett, and so many more if you’re milling about your day but not a baseball player.
It’s been an abject failure of modern baseball: Unable to capitalize on stars of the game who exude charisma and passion.
Now are there solutions to try and push the players in front of audiences more?
Yes, there are, but I’m not here to talk about those today. I’ll make that into its own column for a true deep dive.
More than anything, it’s frustrating to see players like Jose Ramirez, Ronald Acuna Jr., among several others who are stars of the game taking a back seat to the other big sports stars.
It doesn’t help MLB also tells creators on Twitter to cease and desist making cool fan art and logos as a passion when there’s already a waning interest in the game. Yes, this happened. No, there’s no hyperlink that I could find, and I’m unsure if the tweet has been deleted after all these years.
Fan interest has been at an all-time low over the past decade, and marketing their stars has not been Priority A.
Part of the onus also falls on the players. Mike Trout can walk on the sidewalk and not be recognized. He doesn’t seek out the limelight, and he’s the sport’s top talent. Shouldn’t he be recognized everywhere he goes?
When I’ve spoken to some non-sports friends recently, they knew who the hell Peyton Manning was and made a joke about him, but as soon as I brought up Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto:
Crickets.
Manning doing all of those commercials and being one of the most recognizable faces of an entire league IN RETIREMENT is a bad thing for baseball. What does it say when a pariah like Alex Rodriguez is a more recognizable face than Mookie Betts?
More people in Cleveland could pick out Cedi Osman as opposed to Aaron Civale. A player like Ty Van Jefferson in Los Angeles can get more looks than Tony Gonsolin.
If you’re asking yourself “Who the heck is Tony Gonsolin?”, my point is proven.
One of baseball’s biggest problems is not getting partnered with marketing agencies and pushing their players on every platform day and night, 365 days a year. The NFL does it. The NBA does it.
Not baseball. It’s not the 1970s or 1980s anymore. Those days are gone. Now, it’s whether or not baseball can make players household names again.
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Sean Fitzgerald is an award-winning journalist, writer, sports reporter, voice over talent and co-host of The Weekenders Podcast with Mitch Spinell. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr for insights, articles and occasional livestreams, as well as weekly columns here on medium.com.
