Tag: Media

The effect of International MLB players

There’s a new study out confirming that Major League Baseball teams increase their fan base and their ticket revenue by having international players on their rosters.

Perhaps it’s a no-brainer but this study from the University of Michigan spells it out and does the math for us.  The research was done over the years 1985-2005.  While there was initial prejudice at first, fans warmed up to international players and by end, there was shift to the polar opposite, that is, a slight prejudice towards teams without international players. 

To put numbers on it, each international player added to an MLB team could mean over a half million in ticket sales based on 2000 data. 

The preference peaked in 2000 when each international player added approximately $595,632 to ticket sales, the study showed. The average MLB team that season showed 10.8 foreign-born players on its roster and garnered an average of $6 million in additional revenue, the paper said.

 

Of course, if these numbers just reflect ticket sales, I can only imagine what kind of effect they may have on media such as television, cable, and online advertising. 

HOF: Watch the finger pointing

A rather thought-provoking article comes from Dugout Central entitled Don’t Blame the Hall of Fame that simply wants us to be careful when we point fingers at selection time.

Whether you believe Andre Dawson should or shouldn’t be enshrined, or Ron Santo, or Dick Allen isn’t the fault of anyone living or working in Cooperstown, New York.

For that you have to blame the six hundred or so individuals spread throughout the country who seemingly hide behind a set of outdated rules and responsibilities and a BBWAA membership card.

Leave the Hall of Fame alone.

Especially if you’ve never been there.

As someone who has made the trek back east to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum four times (three times for induction ceremonies), I wholeheartedly agree. 

KO on the Hall vote

The Hall of Fame musings of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann make for an interesting read whether or not you agree with his politics. 

I can agree for the most part with his conclusions though I think he comes off a little sanctimonious when it comes to McGwire:

Hall of Fame? For what? For pretending to Congress that nothing happened before that steroid hearing? Fine. You got your wish. Nothing happened. Your lifetime numbers are 0-0-.000. And by the way, why is it ok for him to just waltz back in as batting coach of the Cardinals? Would we let Bonds come back in? This is unacceptable, and it gives credence to the very disturbing claim that race is at play when it comes to the punishment of steroid cheats. Mark McGwire is a steroid cheater.
Otherwise, I can’t argue too much with someone who would be willing to put Dawson AND Lee Smith in had he a vote.
 

Linebrink in BG’s Big Picture Gallery

Chicago White Sox reliever Scott Linebrink was a subject of a photo in the Boston Globe’s annual gallery of The Big Picture photos.  If you have seen any of the Boston Globe’s galleries in past years, you know that these photographs are the year’s best of the best in news, science and society.  I really encourage everyone to take a look at them.  You won’t regret it. 

Here is the direct link to the photo with Linebrink.  As was the photographer’s intent, Linebrink himself is a bit fuzzy (a bit like his performance with the Sox this year) in the background but the ball which seems to be hurling towards the camera is crystal clear. 

Nicely done by AP photographer Issac Brekken.

Ghost Player: Relive the Magic

Filmmaker Joe Scherrman contacted me and told me about his new movie “Ghost Player: Relive the Magic” which he produced and directed.  In short, Ghost Player is a documentary about a comedic baseball show centered around the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa.

From Ghost Player’s web site:

GHOST PLAYER is a one-hour documentary that chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a boisterous and unlikely team of middle aged baseball players. In 1989, Hollywood went to Iowa to shoot the movie “FIELD of DREAMS”. Little did anyone know this blockbuster would spawn a comedic baseball show starring local ballplayers that would have an 18 year run and travel the world.

Ghost Player has already received acclaim.  On September 1, it was chosen to be shown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Not only that, it has been selected to be shown at film festivals throughout the country.  For those here in the Illinois area, Ghost Player will be shown at the Naperville Independent Film Festival which starts Saturday, September 19th.  Mr. Scherrman informed me of Ghost Player’s screening times:

The Naperville Independent Film Festival is September 19–26, 2009. “Ghost Player: Relive the Magic” is scheduled to screen Sunday September. 20th at 7:10PM and Thursday September 24th at 6:45PM. Mr. Scherrman is participating in question and answer sessions with the audience after each film showing.

Interesting concept for a film and so far, has been received well.  If you get a chance, check it out.

Are homerun celebrations getting out of hand?

Much is being made now about over-zealous homerun celebrations and the reactions they get from the opponents.  I first came across this article on mlb.com about the Giants getting “irked” about a couple of homeruns in which teams exhibited in the Giants’ opinion, “unprofessional” behavior. 

One was the actions of Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder, the other of Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres.  Giants starter Brad Penny, who gave up the four-bagger, thought Gonzalez lingered a bit too long, admiring his work before making the trot.  

I saw the video of the Gonzalez homer and honestly, I didn’t notice it.

Now, USA Today has picked up on the story.  And they have a pretty damning photo of Fielder’s antics to go along with it, too  The story is compelling with good examples etc etc..

But it makes me wonder if this story has taken a life of its own.  Does it merit this much attention? 

Two thoughts that popped into my head regarding this rather unimportant issue (in the grand scheme of things):

One, mlb.com covered this a few days ago.  The same news source that recoils at anything controversial.  Normally, the cynic in me would surmise that MLB is just trying to perhaps generate controversy/interest/rivalry in the midst of a postseason hunt but the teams involved are not near the top of their division. 

Two, god forbid should this story take off to the point that MLB feel that they need to “do something about it”.  Professional baseball has enough regulations already and a lot of them range from unnecessary to a hindrance.

Some of you watch more baseball games from different markets than I.  Is this really a problem?  And why is MLB so worried about it?

70 years of televised baseball and we’re still fighting for the remote

old TV

Last week was the 70th anniversary of the first televised professional baseball game in major league history.  On August 26th, 1939, it was a doubleheader that took place in Brooklyn between the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds (the very first televised baseball game was a game between Princeton and Columbia held at Bakers Field).. 

There was nothing particularly outstanding about the games themselves though the Reds did manage a 5 run inning in the first game to make a comeback making the final score 5-2.  Dem Bums made it a split by scoring a quick six runs in the first three innings and never looked back winning the second game 6-1.

While the implications of televising this game most definitely had far-reaching effects, I’m sure those at the time may have had their doubts.  There were only about 400 television sets in the New York that could take advantage of this this new technology.  The quality of the picture was very grainy and snowy. 

But the picture quality eventually improved over years, taking away the mystique of the commentaries from the radio broadcasters and showing EXACTLY what was happening on the ball field.  And with the continued development of televised baseball broadcasting, Major League Baseball owners saw with delight the revenue streams that could be exploited with it.  Soon after with sports media networks such as ESPN, came to the same conclusion. 

Fast forward through 70 years of development, both from a technological and business sense and in the last 10 years, we see Major League Baseball going through a new revolution in content delivery.  We now have High-Definition television taking the picture quality to a higher level. 

But we also see MLB content delivery taking a different turn away from conventional television.  We no longer need to switch on the remote to follow your favorite team.  In 2000, MLB created a new branch, the Major League Baseball Advanced Media, to meet this need.  Generally speaking, the MLBAM is charged with content delivery of baseball on the internet as well as any interactive media.  Because of MLBAM, fans can view baseball games on streaming video over our computer and recently, even our smartphones.

Orville and Wilbur Wright probably never envisioned NASA when they were successful in their first flight at Kitty Hawk.  Nor did those responsible for televising the very first game 70 years ago envision the state of baseball viewing today.

Digital archive of Baseball Magazine definitely a treat

I found a wealth of historical baseball knowledge in LA84 Foundation’s archives.  They have digitized much of Baseball Magazine’s contents from the early 1900’s.  I’ve spent a good hour just reading and browsing the material and it’s fantastic!  Even the advertisements are great! 

You can get a list of articles from 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, and 1918 (click on each year and it will take you to their individual year’s archive).  All articles are in pdf format. 

I have some favorites already.  There’s a preview of the 1912 Giants-Red Sox World Series.  Then there’s The Art of Big League Trading by none other than John McGraw. 

And no magazine is complete without ads and Jake Stahl is hawking Ide Silver Collars in the 1912 archives (“Your Collar is the “High-Light” of Your Dress”). 

What I found amazing is that baseball media back in the early 1900’s was not so much different than it is now.  As I said, I saw previews for important postseason series.  There was an article comparing stats on all the NL secondbasemen in the league.  Who’s whos, interviews, retrospectives, everything you would see in a pre-season baseball mag or maybe even say, a baseball blog.

I guess the technology has certainly changed but the tried, true formulas of good sports journalism has remained strikingly similar. 

Anyway, this is indeed, a treasure trove, especially for those who love old baseball history. 

ESPN not seeing the big picture on social networking issue

twitter ESPN has now issued new guidelines to its employees on how they will interact on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Essentially, the guidelines are two-pronged.  First, they prohibit discussing (on any social network forum) internal policies or how stories are “reported, written or produced”.

Second (and more open-ended), they prohibit employees from having sports-related blogs or websites.  Further, they require a supervisor’s approval before discussing sports matters on a social networking forum.  If employees violates the new policy, they are subject to dismissal or suspension.

To the first point, I agree with ESPN’s point.  Internal matters stay within the business.  To not do so would open up a whole can of messy legal worms.

As to the second point, I feel ESPN is going down the wrong road.  They are missing the whole point of social networking.  I don’t want to subscribe to Rob Neyer’s twitter stream so I can hear about his vacation. 

Will ESPN abandon Twitter and Facebook altogether?  I’m sure they won’t.  They will have ESPN-sanctioned accounts in which the content will be very factual indeed but come off as stilted and will smack of the “company line”. 

Should ESPN have come out with guidelines on how to deal with these new-fangled social networking sites?  Of course!  Employ new guidelines to encourage responsible online behavior.  Encourage employees to interact with the public and put a good face forward.

But to totally ban discussing the very topic that they are in the business to report seems so backwards to me.  And to threaten dismissal as a punishment… the mind reels. 

Get with the times, ESPN.  It’s a brand new world out here.