MLB wont let Dirk throw 1st pitch at World Series since he lacks national appeal

I think they're just standing behind the league in the lockout. Otherwise, the lack of broad-based appeal thing makes no sense.

STEIN_LINE_HQ Marc Stein
First-pitch throwers in Texas for 2010 World Series: Nolan Ryan (Game 3), George W. Bush and Bush Sr. (Game 4) and Fergie Jenkins (Game 5)

Yes, those guys are so much more appealing.

 

It's probably good for him, because he'd use a step-back jumper wind up, kicking his leg out and fall off the back of the mound.

 

It has nothing to do with the lockout or anything. It's about the fact that Dirk is not affiliated with baseball in any capacity, and more importantly he is apart of the sport that the MLB is currently right for for 2nd place in America.

The nba is a competitor to the MLB why would they want to give exposure to the nba? On their biggest stage nonetheless. It'd be like getting Derek Jeter to toss the coin at the Super Bowl.

 

If that’s their rationale, it’s super crazy. I don’t see how Dirk being on TV for 20 seconds throwing out a ceremonial pitch would mean losing fans to a sport that’s not even going on right now.

Like the article said, Dirk and Terry threw out pitches right before the lockout -- basketball players are asked to do this kind of stuff all the time. I would actually think that the reigning NBA Finals MVP being a huge Rangers fans and throwing out the opening pitch would be good exposure to the game.

 

I don't think this makes much sense. Their seasons basically start when the other one is finishing up.

If it were Baseball and Football or Basketball and Hockey it'd be something to think about.

 

I would like to hear a debate on this. From my personal experience MLB <<<<< NBA. MLB has its hardcore fans but even though the tickets are far cheaper I didn't see nearly as many fans as in NBA games. Moreover, from my experience I found that black people generally don't care about MLB or baseball at all.

Also, does anyone in the US follow college baseball?

 

It sort of depends on the area too, at the top end, baseball has a ton more money (e.g. the nba's most valuable franchises, knicks and the lakers aren't even in the same universe as the mlb's most valuable, the ny yankees)

 

I wanted Tony Romo to throw out a pitch and spread his playoff karma.

 

He end up throwing it to the Cardinals catcher.....

 

Something that hasn't been mentioned on here yet

An Ohio man who won an online voting contest by PepsiMax will throw out the first pitch at Game 2 on Thursday.

No joke.

 

Jerry Jones would still say "thats my guy"

 

Lol thats awesome.

 

Hope he flops off the mound.

 

The NBA is still a distant 3rd. The NBA Finals might beat the World Series in ratings when it's Lakers v. Celtics, but generally the MLB playoffs outdraw the NBA in terms of TV ratings, and MLB makes loads more money. In terms of revenue, I'm pretty sure baseball's closer to football than basketball.

To my knowledge, LA and Miami are the only cities in America where the NBA team is consistently more popular than the baseball team.

 

Have you ever been to a baseball stadium? Or a basketball stadium?

Astros average: 25,518 - total: 2,067,016
Rockets average: 16,191 - total: 663,839

Lakers average: 18,997
Clippers: 17,742
Angels average: 39,090
Dodgers average: 36,236

Mavericks average: 20,101
Rangers average: 36,382

Those numbers aren't even in the same ballpark (pun intended)

Baseball has twice as many home games, yet the Astros....worst team in the MLB still drew 3 times the attendance of the Rockets. As dharocks says, NBA is a distant, distant 3rd.

 

HA HA GERMAN !!

 

Yes to both hence the impressions. I was wrong with the numbers (I live in Cleveland, OH, where MLB avg. attendance ~22k and NBA attendance ~21k) but how many seats are there in a baseball field vs. a basketball court? Anyway the case in Cleveland is that the attendance is only ~50% for MLB (and this time I checked, the capacity is 43k while attendance only 22k) while for NBA is >95% (and I'm sure this percentage is all across the US). In baseball as long as you buy the cheapest ticket you can easily find a ton of empty seats right behind the bench. Plus no black people in baseball games at all (like seriously less than 20 every time I go). Some Asians, but that may be because there is a Korean guy in the team, I don't know about other cities.

 

Well it's true. Who really knows Dirk outside of Dallas and Germany?

Have you seen the ratings for MLB games this year? And the playoffs? Even the NBA All-star game draws more viewers than the MLB playoffs.

Furthermore, NBA tickets are way more expensive than MLB. The NBA is the #2 most popular sport in America easily.

Umm, MLB playoff ratings this year had around a 2.5-3 rating => 6-7 million viewers.

NBA all-star game last year drew a 6.2 rating alone. The playoffs this past year, the NBA finally drew upward of 20+ million. And they got the highest NBA Finals ratings for over a decade, even higher than the Boston-Lakers series.

 

Everyone who watched him whoop LeBron and Wade's ass in the Finals?