Trout has turned down profiles on "60 Minutes" and HBO -- the kind of national publicity MLB covetsGETTY IMAGES
Tonight's MLB All-Star Game serves as a reminder to baseball’s leaders that they have "yet to discover how to turn the greatest player of his generation into an icon of popular culture," as Angels CF Mike Trout "ought to be a godsend to a national pastime losing ground to the NFL and NBA," according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. Trout is "supremely talented and unfailingly polite." When Derek Jeter retired four years ago, Trout was "supposed to replace him as the face of baseball." Maybe Trout "does not resonate because most of the country is asleep when he plays in Anaheim, or maybe the issue is that Trout has played in only three playoff games, winning none." Nationals RF Bryce Harper said that he "does not necessarily buy the national story line that baseball cannot market young stars such as himself and Trout." Harper said, "Major League Baseball and the players’ association does an OK job of trying to get their players out there. It can definitely get better. But I don’t think you’re ever going to have what the NFL or NBA has." LeBron James "embraces the spotlight" like Jeter and Harper, but Trout "does not." He takes questions at his locker every day, but he "turned down profiles on '60 Minutes' and HBO, the kind of national publicity the league covets." That choice "frustrates league officials, who cannot persuade their presumptive biggest star to participate in the home run derby at an All-Star game he already is attending." MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark said that the league "should be able to sit down with Trout and figure out ways to maximize his exposure while minimizing his time commitment off the field" (L.A. TIMES, 7/17).
SWIMMING UPSTREAM: In DC, Adam Kilgore writes Trout has "elevated himself sans flash or celebrity." For all other constituencies, to the "mild dismay" of MLB, he "has the profile of an athlete who can walk into a sticky-hot Friday night and be greeted by less than a dozen pen-wielding fans." No major North American sport -- not even the NBA with James -- "leaves less room for argument about the identity of its best player." Trout "captures and exceeds the imagination of baseball’s adherents." But he has "not broken through in any broader way." Marketing Evaluations Exec VP Henry Schafer, whose company produces Q Scores, said that Trout "scored a 22" in the awareness category, which means a "little more than one in five Americans even know who he is." The closest NBA player to Trout in "terms of awareness among the general population, per Q Scores’s research," is Nets F Kenneth Faried. MLB would "love Trout to be a bigger star." It "produced a documentary about him for its television network, promotes his achievements on its website and pushes his highlights on its Twitter feed." But it "cannot overcome ingrained factors, starting with what television ratings in recent years have revealed: Fans follow baseball far more locally than nationally" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/17).
MORE TO BE DONE: The POST's Kilgore notes while MLB sometimes "faces resistance from players who perform in a star-suppressing clubhouse culture, many believe it should do more to showcase its players." Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon said, "I want to see more players selling Wheaties, more players have online content of behind-the-scenes stuff they do in their free time, stuff like that." Red Sox RF Mookie Betts: "I would probably change the outlook on how people think we don’t have fun and whatnot, the marketing. We have a bunch of good guys, a bunch of personalities that need to be seen. They should be. It’s certainly something that can be done" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/17). In Buffalo, Mike Harrington asks, "Who are the game's real stars?" Baseball simply "doesn't market itself well." How many "'all-stars' will we see on TV" and say, "Who's that?" (BUFFALO NEWS, 7/15). ESPN’s Mark Teixeira: “The game has definitely changed. It’s become much more social. It’s become much more media driven" (“Baseball Tonight,” ESPN, 7/16).
