This morning while driving to work I listened to an interesting discussion (to which they had no answer) as to what MLB needs to do to regain its prominence among the big sports as it relates to its stars. It's clear that both the NFL and NBA, and to a lesser extent even Golf, have their stars. Everyone knows them - Manning, Brady, Labron, Kobe, Tiger, to name a few but its not the same with MLB, with the exception of maybe Jeter, who is retiring. They are instantly recognizable and in the press year round (commercials, interviews, etc). The question is, can MLB do anything to reshape themselves to build up some of their stars to a national level? Is it a holdover from the steroid issue? It seems that Bonds, Big Mac and Drama Queen were huge stars - everyone knew their names, even those not "into" the game we all love. Before them it was George Brett, Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle... So as we know it, is baseball bound to be a regional sport point forward, with little national enthusiasm? If so, is that a bad thing? Should MLB try to alter the image?
Personally, I like much of the regional aspects of baseball though I do wish there was a better job of promoting its stars, and thus the game, on a national level. The number of games MLB plays makes this hard, as does the fundamentals of the game and how its played (an Ace pitcher only plays every five days, at best). There are, of course, radical ideas which would certainly boost the importance of games and its stars but those are likely unworkable both from an economic perspective and integrity of the game as we know it.
