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Posted By: <b>Mike&nbsp; </b><p><a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/05/05/bc.bbo.spider.manonbase.ap/index.html" target=_new>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/05/05/bc.bbo.spider.manonbase.ap/index.html</a>

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Posted By: <b>brian p</b><p>You would almost think that this is an "Onion" article. If it is true, I hope the players have the cajones to do us all a favor and kick dirt over the bases whenever they have the opportunity.<BR><BR>Brian

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Posted By: <b>BillyB</b><p>What an insult to the fans! Tickets prices, etc rise with the salaries and then they get even greedier. Why? Because they can.<BR>As long as people keep going to games and buying MLB products, why should they stop?<BR>As Ralph Nader said, "It's gotten beyond grotesque".<BR>Soon, any stadium will look like Broadway and 50th Street. Its not just baseball. In fact,that's the goal for mass-market-mentality USA. But it would have been nice for baseball to take the high road.

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Posted By: <b>steve</b><p>This is bizarre almost beyond belief. MLB owners just don't get it. To be honest, my interest in MLB had waned a little bit since the strike, but was starting to come back strong again especially with my Phils having a good team and a new ballpark. This isn't going to stop my interest but I wish the MLB owners would smarten-up for once.

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Posted By: <b>slacks</b><p>Interesting to see the outrage over this one this board, a group made up of people who collect vintage baseball cards, which by definition are advertisements for tobacco and gum, endorsed by players and organized baseball.<BR><BR>So cigarettes are okay to sell but a Spiderman picture on a base is "grotesque"? I guess it's all in the timing.<BR><BR>Watch for that base on eBay in the near, and maybe distant, future, and look to see the next generation of baseball "purists" bidding on it.

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Posted By: <b>Julie</b><p>"Got Milk?"...sort of. Anyone think of any really funny ones?

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Posted By: <b>Kevin Cummings</b><p>I guess we should have seen this one coming what with American baseball stadiums named after their benefactors and all the European soccer teams sporting their sponsors' logos.<BR><BR>Geez - what's next? Pictures of Rafael Palmeiro on the bases pitching Viagra or maybe they could cover the whole damned base in a Trojan condom!<BR>

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Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>and maybe a flying monkey is gonna spring out of my nose...

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Posted By: <b>dave</b><p>why should this surprise anyone? baseball stopped being a sport and turned into another form of entertainment a long time ago. ball players, owners, stadiums and sponsors are all making or throwing so much money around in sports now-a-days that this is just par for the course.<BR>As much money as these guys make, I am surprised they still dive to catch balls or run out plays anyway.<BR>The good old days are gone forever! But then again, if you look at pictures of the old stadiums, they were covered with bill boards as well!<BR>

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Posted By: <b>Paul</b><p>While MLB's plan seems a little distasteful (and stupid - who but the players will actually see these ads?), some perspective might be in order here. I have seen old pictures of Fenway Park where the green monster was not green. It was covered with ads. If the Red Sox were to do this today, there would be a lot of outrage about the decline of the game, but actually the Red Sox would merely be returning the green monster to its vintage state. The bottom line is that crass commercialism has been a part of the game for a long time.

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Posted By: <b>jay behrens</b><p>I don't have a problem with ads on the outfield walls, but putting logos on the bases, pitching rubber and on-deck circle are going to far. At least the Yankees announced that they are not allowing the logo on the ribber and the logo will only appear on the bases during BP of the first. The on-deck circle logo will be there though.<BR><BR>Jay

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Posted By: <b>Big Spider Beck</b><p>It's a given that advertising has always been tied in with baseball. But I think any red-blooded ball fan knows where ads belong and where they don't. Scoreboards, outfield fences, no problem, ads always have been there and it would seem strange if they weren't.<BR><BR>Used to take in an occasional game at Vancouver's Nat Bailey Stadium, a little gem of a ballpark with one glaring exception. Every !#%*ing square inch of the place was covered with ads. Even the on-deck circles were giant M&M's! But at least they had enough restraint to leave the basepaths alone. Movie ads on the bases? Says Jacqueline Parkes, MLB's Senior VP for Marketing and Advertising: "It's the future of how we generate excitement inside the stadium and about the game itself." Tinkers to Evers to Spiderman? Say it ain't so, Jacqueline. <BR><BR>There was a really enjoyable thread on this forum a week or so back: "Does anybody really connect with what they collect?" I was a lucky kid in NYC in the fifties. Guys on Topps cards were my heroes and the Goudey card guys were the managers and coaches and sportscasters. So I dream they'll bring back baggy flannels but I expect instead it's going to be Nascar at the ol' ballgame. Do I connect with my cards? You bet! It's the modern game that I have a hard time connecting with.

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Posted By: <b>Kevin O</b><p>MLB just announced that the ads on the bases have been pulled.<BR><BR>By the way, as far as I can tell there's never been a Peter Parker in organized baseball. Can anyone think of a player with the name of a superhero alter ego? I came up blank.

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Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>The St. Louis Brown outfield of 1923 which included Lex Luthor, Mel Brainiac and Lester "Two-Face" Dent. I know, but it's late <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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Posted By: <b>Marketing 101</b><p>I think MLB is missing the point here entirely. If they really wanted to generate revenues, increase game attendance and fan interest, instead of using old, fat, sweaty uninteresting umpires, they use the Victoria’s Secret Lingerie Models instead! Now you’re talking’! Think of it. It would make catcher the most sought after position in the game! I always said you gotta’ have heart to be a catcher, well, hey, now you will have heart all the time! I imagine the headfirst slide would morph to an upside down head first slide. It only makes sense. And a new meaning would be given to those heated toe-to-toe beefs between umps’ & managers. I know you would sure see a lot more of that. I wonder if you would still call them “blue”. Probably not. And I can think of a lot of interesting things they could do during the seventh inning stretch! I have to say this would revolutionize the game & Bud better wake up. I can already see the cross promotions. Hooter’s logos on the bases! Forget boring Spiderman, sex sells! Hmm…I wonder what Hef is up to these days…

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Posted By: <b>petecld</b><p>If they did that think about the prices for the seats right behind home plate. <img src="/images/wink.gif" height=14 width=14><BR><BR>Sorry, couldn't resist.