"Major League Baseball at Bat" -- an MLB-sponsored baseball
info-site on the World Wide Web is now open. The site offers
fans the latest MLB news and is part of MCI's Internet site. It
may be reached through MCI at www.internetMCI.com and soon at
www.majorleaguebaseball.com. For Opening Day, MLB at Bat will
have complete AL and NL schedules, and has plans to soon offer
previous-night game results and box scores, MLB news and notes,
stats, player news, game text and the photo of the day. Later in
the season, the site will offer team schedules, rosters, team and
league history, and ticket info. MCI is the Official Long
Distance Carrier of MLB and has a marketing relationship with The
Baseball Network through the '98 season (MLB). MLB joins the NFL
as the second major leagues to launch a site on the Web.
According to Tom Worcester, Dir of Sponsorship Sales & Marketing
at The Baseball Network, the league anticipates having balloting
for the All-Star Game on both the Internet and on a combo of
commercial online services (Terry Lefton, BRANDWEEK, 4/24).
MORE ON TBN: Noting that MLB is likely to exercise its
right to re-evaluate its deal with The Baseball Network after
this season, N.Y. NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay suggests that MLB extend
the deal by one year. It would give TBN "a real shot at a
complete season and postseason," and give the league more
leverage should it decide to abandon TBN after '96 and sell TV
rights to a network bidder. As for which TBN partner will
televise the World Series, Zipay notes that if ABC does it this
year, NBC (provided TBN still exists) would have a "potential
blockbuster sports year in 1996," with the Super Bowl, World
Series and Olympics (NEWSDAY, 4/25). OTHER MLB NEWS: Pinnacle
has signed to replace Upper Deck as a TBN sponsor and will also
assume title sponsorship of the All-Star Fan Fest (BRANDWEEK,
4/24)....To further develop its interactive technology category,
MLBP announced the addition of two new licensees, Accolade, Inc.
and Tiger Electronics. Accolade is licensed to produce All-Star
Baseball, a CD-ROM simulation game. Tiger will produce Super
Data Blaster, a hand-held stat organizer (MLBP).
