Are you kidding me?

[Archive]

Posted By: Big Spider Beck

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.

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.

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.