July 22, 2008
Lack of Endorsements
I like Big League Stew's take on A-Rod signing with the William Morris agency:
Let me put it this way: When Torii Hunter, who has a smile straight off a Hollywood billboard and a personality to match it, is only pulling down $500K, you know there's a problem.
Yeah, yeah. I know that golf offers up more affluent products and goofy gadgets to slap one's name on. I know that basketball hands out mega-million shoe deals to anyone who has a second to stop and sign a contract. I know that baseball hasn't helped itself with the steroid mess.
But why should baseball, which holds a coveted nostalgic position as America's pastime and shows off its players 162 times per year without hiding them behind masks or under helmets, be at such a disadvantage?
The answer is, it shouldn't, which is why when A-Rod heads over to William Morris for his first consultation, Bud Selig and his pals need to make sure they're riding shotgun. A-Rod's problem is baseball's problem.
In the 1990s, Peter Gammons pointed out to me that labor problems in baseball led to MLB not promoting players. They'd promote the game, but not individuals. Basketball did just the opposite. Baseball doesn't really want big name stars, because they'll command more money. If A-Rod and his ilk want to earn more from endorsements, they need to get MLB to promote them as they promote the game.
Exactly right, David. I remember reading in Gammons and Jack Sands (I think) book, Coming Apart at the Seams, about that very thing. The lack of national and international promotion of individuals is one of the big, big detriments. I remember reading that at one time there were zero major league players with a national endorsement contract of a non-baseball related product. Of course baseball didn't help itself by trotting out its players to plug for Viagra. Whoever handles marketing at MLB needs a crash course in their field, because they always seem to be stepping in it.
Try as he might, ARod is just not a likeable guy. He wants everyone to like him but that is not the case. He comes across as smug. Fans are just not going to warm up to this guy, so why would advertisers want him pitching their product?
I just checked the mlb.com site. They plug the living daylights out of individual players. Every club was talking up its players in the All-Star voting. The Rangers plastered pictures of Kinsler, Hamilton, Young and Bradley on billboards, for crying out loud. Baseball has been promoting its individual players with a vengeance.
When Peter Gammons says anything, I tend to believe the exact opposite. The easily available evidence confirms that Gammons, as usual, is full of bovine by-product when he says baseball doesn't promote its players.
Why anybody takes Gammons seriously is beyond me. He even took a swipe at Nancy Reagan during ESPN's broadcast of the Home Run Derby. No lie. Nancy Reagan is extremely relevant to the derby, of course.
