Get the latest marketing trends, data and charts each day in your inbox. Fast, factual, and clear.Most Successful Video Game Marketing Campaigns Ever. Online Masters in Marketing Communication. University College at the University of Denver. ![]() Where have all the MLB superstars gone? Apr 5, 2. 01. 7Jayson Stark. ESPN Senior Writer Close. Archives and past articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Mediagazer presents the day's must-read media news on a single page. The media business is in tumult: from the production side to the distribution side, new. Senior writer for ESPN. Philadelphia Inquirer. Author of three baseball books. RT delivers latest news and current events from around the world including special reports, entertainment news and exclusive video. Schalke are one of Germany’s best clubs, and they had qualified for European soccer seven years in a row, before a disappointing campaign this year (thanks to the. Receive information and updates on Adweek Events, Awards, and Promotions Receive news and offers from our friends and sponsors. Can a game with no face really call itself the national pastime? We raise this question because, as a new baseball season begins this week, there is no answer to the once- simple question: Who is the Face of Baseball? The NBA is the Le. Bron and Steph Show. The NFL has Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and an army of rock- star quarterbacks. On one level, it seems to be overflowing with dynamic young stars. Once it steps outside its own comfort zone, however, it's as ? It's right there in the new polling data compiled by our friends at Luker on Trends, the company that runs the ESPN Sports Poll. Between November and February, that firm surveyed more than 6,0. American sports fans, age 1. If you don't count Tim Tebow (please don't) or Bo Jackson, guess the only three baseball players who showed up among America's 5. Editor's Picks. In the NBA, coaches and stars take aim at the policies of our new president. Should the sport of Jackie Robinson, with players who make it a multicultural melting pot, say more? There was Derek Jeter, at No. He hasn't played a game in 2. Next came Babe Ruth, at No. He's the only name on the list - - in any sport - - who hasn't appeared in a game for more than eight decades. And finally, you get to Pete Rose, at No. The Hit King last played in the big leagues 3. So there you have it. America's three favorite baseball figures: Guys who have been dodging the box scores for a combined 1. The first active player who shows up on this list is Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo at No. He can thank that raging epidemic of Cubs Fever. In baseball's defense, respondents were invited to name either active or retired athletes. So the still totally retired Michael Jordan ranked as America's favorite basketball player (and favorite any kind of player, for that matter). And the no- longer- playing Peyton Manning was our nation's second- favorite football player (behind Brady). But 1. 5 active NFL- ers, six active hoopsters, two soccer stars (Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo), two tennis legends (Serena Williams and Roger Federer), one swimmer (Michael Phelps), one hockey player (Sidney Crosby), one sprinter (Usain Bolt), one race car driver (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), one mixed martial artist (Conor Mc. Gregor) and one Tiger (Woods) all make appearances on this list before a single active baseball player. Oh, and one more thing: In polling 1. American sports fans on the same question between January and December 2. The only significant variation: David Ortiz (at No. But Jeter, who was just as retired last year as he is this year, was still the top baseball name on the list at No. So what should we conclude from this data? But what is happening? What has brought baseball to this point? And what should it do about it? Let's answer those critical questions: Could any baseball player be Le. Bron? We begin with a fact from the same polling data: Nearly one in four people who consider themselves . That is how you define the face of your sport. Now contrast that with baseball - - in which no one even remotely approaches the star power of a Le. Bron. There isn't a single player in the sport who ranks as the favorite of even 3 percent of all . At the top of that list is the Cubs' Kris Bryant at 2. For comparison, in the NFL, Brady checks in at 9. But no one athlete is big enough to draw national attention.? Arn Tellem thinks he knows. For more than 3. 0 years, he was a high- powered agent for players in both sports. But in 2. 01. 5 he crossed over to the other side, to work for the Detroit Pistons as a vice chairman for Palace Sports & Entertainment. And the best player usually wins the last game of the season, or is in the last game of the season. So the NBA playoffs and Finals are a tremendous showcase for the greatest players and the greatest athletes in this country. As did Game 7 of those finals, by Game 7 of the World Series. So while Le. Bron might have six consecutive appearances in the Finals going for him, that's not all he has. For more than three decades, dating to the arrival of Bird and Magic, the NBA has embraced star power as the secret sauce for How To Sell Your League. And it's been less about the individual players. But in a star- driven society, he said, it can't shift gears fast enough. But it's about using stars and developing stars and helping them become bigger names, as a way of reaching the youth. And baseball has to see that convincing . Rob Tringali/Sports. Chrome/Getty Images. Let's take a step back and recognize that at least part of this is cyclical. The most popular active player in the NFL is Tom Brady. The most popular player in the NBA is Le. Bron. He's only 3. They occupy a space in their sport that Jeter and Big Papi once occupied in baseball - - megastars who have been around forever, won their rings and transcended not just their market but their entire sport. But once Jeter and Ortiz (and even Alex Rodriguez) spun out the revolving door, was there any baseball player ready to take their place? Mike Trout is 2. 5. Bryant, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Noah Syndergaard and Kyle Schwarber are all 2. They're among the brightest stars in baseball. But they're all still writing their stories. We can recite Le. Bron's and Brady's sagas by heart. He's won five Super Bowls. He might be considered the greatest football player ever. And Le. Bron might be the pinnacle for every athlete, in terms of how much coverage he gets. Name things Albert Pujols did or A- Rod did that approach that. Even Jeter didn't look to get everything he could. There's a camera in Le. Bron's face every minute of every game. Unless you're a pitcher, how much is the camera on any baseball player? A couple of minutes a game? In baseball, you hear that phrase . With time, with enough October glory, with the right star- making moments, any of those names above could be the next Face of Baseball. But that's not all it will take. First, it will take marketing. And MLB and the players' association have been talking for months about new ways to use players to promote the game. The union is committed, says its chief of business affairs, Tim Slavin, to helping the sport market baseball . We have tall, short, heavy, light. So there's an opportunity there. And it's something that's been discussed for some time. It's about making players understand the responsibilities that come with stardom: Major stardom. Le. Bron- level stardom. To be a Face of Baseball also means being a Voice of Baseball - - and being available to be that type of voice day after day, through the longest of seasons. In the NBA, Le. Bron speaks regularly for himself, for his team, for his sport, even for his generation, because he has been conditioned to the reality that it's part of the gig. But baseball players have never been expected to take on that responsibility. By the players' association. They have to understand what accountability and what media relations are all about .. As a local attraction, the cash registers are ringing nearly everywhere. And every market needs its local heroes. But as a sport, as a national presence, baseball also needs icons. There is more to producing those icons than just sitting back and waiting for them to arise organically. Baseball is more local, so they haven't been exposed nationally like basketball players. Baseball has got to try and elevate them, which it's never really done, and get behind individuals.? But Trout's absence from this top 5. The Los Angeles Angels' spectacular center fielder has so many selling points: transcendent talent, easy smile and a genuine, low- key, almost Jeter- esque personality. But five full seasons into his career, his team has never won a single postseason game, let alone a World Series. And then there's this: Mike Trout has no interest in being baseball's Le. Bron. The pride of Millville, New Jersey, is a simple guy, consumed by his devotion to baseball and a set routine. So he has regularly turned down invitations to do late- night talk shows and major national endorsement gigs, not to mention home run derbies and the World Baseball Classic. That's a source of enough frustration inside MLB that, when we brought up his name to one baseball official, he grumbled, . He's not going to change as a guy. Everything is going great. He's got a lot of time. And everything is evolving nicely. But in the sports marketing community, he is viewed as a guy who owes it to his employers to do more to promote the game. It's the athlete's obligation to grow the game. Other people made it better for you coming in. You need to make it better for the people coming after you and the people who are there with you. Christian Petersen/Getty Images. If you injected people inside the commissioner's office with truth serum and asked them to predict the next Face of Baseball, we'd bet Rob Manfred's mortgage they would nominate Kristopher Lee Bryant. The Cubs' third baseman has fielded the last out of a fairly memorable World Series. His looks and personality are straight out of a Hollywood casting call. He has a monster shoe deal with Adidas. His Red Bull prank videos have gone viral. And he just turned 2. He's the guy that makes you sick to your stomach. You know sometimes when you're on a plane during the season, you like to complain, right? Or you're like, 'I can't believe we're waiting through this rain delay.' And Kris chimes in like, 'I'm just happy I get to play baseball for a living.' And you're like, 'Shut up, dude. He loves baseball, and he wants to be great because he expects that out of himself. He's been the greatest player on every stage he's ever stepped on. High school player of the year. College player of the year. Minor league player of the year. He makes me sick to my stomach. But he also plays for a team with a ton of charismatic faces around him. Can a whole team become .
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