Trout has largely been missing from MLB's biggest stage, playing in just three playoff games GETTY IMAGES
By almost any measure, MLBers just "aren't well known," as fewer of them have "crossed over into wider popular culture than did a couple decades ago," according to Kevin Draper of the N.Y. TIMES. No baseball player "ranks among the 100 most followed athletes on Instagram," and the most-followed baseball players on the platform, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, are "both retired." The most "followed active player" is Angels CF Mike Trout, but with just 1.5 million followers, he pales in comparison to LeBron James (44 million). Research firm Luker on Trends asked 6,000 U.S. sports fans to "name their favorite athletes" in '17, and "only three baseball players made the list," and none were active. The issue of baseball’s "dearth of widely known stars commanded a lot of attention at this summer’s All-Star Game." Nevertheless, MLB Exec VP/Product & Marketing Chris Park said that the sport’s "present, and future, is rosy." Octagon First Call Senior VP & Managing Dir David Schwab said that on-field performance "gives athletes the ability to become stars," but their personalities and passions "help them become megastars." Draper notes Trout has "largely been missing from baseball’s biggest stage." He has "played in just three playoff games total, all losses" (NYTIMES.com, 10/24).
A BIT OVER THE TOP: USA TODAY's Gabe Lacques writes after hitting a three-run homer in NLCS Game 7, Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig "celebrated with a series of wild gesticulations around the bases ... and he was irrepressible, at times too much so, during the club-house celebration that followed." But the over-the-top gestures "all are quite accepted by Puig’s teammates and even mentioned as rallying points and endorsed in commercial form" by MLB. Puig said, "Sometimes I do my stuff, like kid or crazy stuff and sometimes people don’t like it. But that’s the way I play, that’s the way I feel good, and that’s when I play better." Dodgers 3B Justin Turner: "Today’s game it’s kind of become part of it -- express yourself, be your own guy, have fun, enjoy the game." Dodgers hitting coach Turner Ward said that Puig reminds him of HOFer Rickey Henderson, who in "drawing attention to himself alleviated the scrutiny on other players" (USA TODAY, 10/24).
FORWARD THINKING: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said what keeps him "up at night" is thinking about the "next generation" of baseball fans. When it comes to entertainment, the "next generation of millennials on down are different." Younger fans "consume entertainment differently" and "demand more of their entertainment products." MLB is "working really hard" to make sure the next generation of fans "embraces the game the way" past generations have ("Baseball Tonight," ESPN Radio, 10/23).
