Giants, A's Battle It Out On The Airwaves With New Ad Campaigns
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- The cliche scene from Bull Durham tells the tale of old school ballplayer media communications.
"I'm just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ball club," veteren Crash Davis tells his rookie pitcher, Meat, to say during interviews. "Write this down. They are cliches. They are your friends."
New school: be friendly to the media and fans. Tell them what's on your mind. Take time to help sell yourself.
Pitchers have to be pitchmen these days. Catchers have to be communicators.
The Giants and A's are in the forefront of Major League Baseball Teams to use players personalities as a selling point and one of the leading people in the field is sportswriter Joan Ryan. She now works for the Giants as a media consultant.
"I really do, and the Giants really do, encourage our players to connect with fans, and bring them inside," she says. "Bring them into the clubhouse with them, bring them on to the field with them."
Players spend a lot more time with team officials working on commercials that make fun of their quirks and emphasise their positives.
Both teams are making commercials that have won high praise for their humor. Buster Posey has become a pretty good comedian and works with his teammates.
The Giants even look at prospects off field personalities when evaluating talent. Moneyball. the science of baseball, sometimes give way to personality.
"They'll accept some guys that have some character defects, for sure," says Ryan. "But overall, they're team players. And when they scout these guys, they go and they look at who they are."
Winning is the ultimate goal. But winning fans over is also part of the game these days, too.
