In N.Y., Richard Sandomir profiles the Beanie Baby
craze, calling them "baseball's fuzziest saviors." MLB
VP/Team Services Mark Gorris, on the Beanie Baby promo at
the MLB All-Star Game: "I expected kids to clamor for it,
but it was fun to watch grown men with their Beanie Babies.
And you'd be surprised how many players have their own
collections" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/11).....AD AGE reports that in
uniting its Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker and Kids Foot
Locker brands, Foot Locker's new ad theme, "Play Big," aims
to "position the brand as a resource not just for sports,
but for life." The ads, by Deutsch, N.Y., debuted last week
(AD AGE, 8/10 issue)....In Hartford, Greg Garber examines
the role of insurance companies in pro sports, and writes
that the two sides have become "inseparable partners."
Garber added that business in the "unbuttoned-down world of
sports insurance is booming" (HARTFORD COURANT, 8/11)....The
"Chicago Bulls Volume III: The Stampede Continues" music
compilation CD will be available at retail in the Chicago
area tomorrow. The CD, produced by Alphabet City Sports
Records, can also be ordered at www.alphabetcity.com (ACSR).
TENNIS ANYONE? Tennis Magazine is offering free lessons
to ad agency execs this summer. The magazine is sponsoring
a tennis clinic every Monday night, renting out two courts
at The Tennis Club at Grand Central in NYC. Buz Keenan, the
magazine's Eastern sales manager, said that the lessons are
a creative way of "keeping up relationships" with the ad
community. Tennis saw a 9% decline in advertising pages for
the first six months of '98 (CRAIN'S N.Y. BUSINESS, 8/10).
