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

They watched for the Heat. Therefore, most still don't know who Dirk is, except NBA fans.

 

That 98% in Cleveland is nowhere near the norm. 15 NBA teams fill less than 90% on average. While 6 MLB teams are over the 90% mark. There's an economic reason why MLB stadiums can seat over 40,000 and an NBA stadium stretches to get over 20,000, more people want to see baseball.

 

Trust me, the whole of Europe knows about Dirk.

The world isn't about the Heat you know.

 

Average NBA ticket price in 2010 = $48.08

Average MLB ticket price in 2010 = $26.74

Now, take a look at the NFL average ticket price in 2010 = $76.47 (Still selling out despite extremely high prices = most popular)

It's much cheaper to go to a baseball game.

We're talking about the United States here, hence "national appeal" in the title.

 

Does not compute. If they watched the Heat, they're gonna completely ignore the Mavs and Dirk?

I should be the opposite since LeBron was no where to be found in the Finals while Dirk was everywhere.

 

And the United States won't know about Dirk because why?

Miami Heat, the most hyped up team in the history of Basketball, with all the drama and media focused on them. They managed to beat the top teams in NBA to get to the finals, only to be put in their place by the one crazy German who was going bat**** crazy on every team during the playoffs.

And the United States wouldn't know of Dirk?

Dirk was a household name BEFORE he was in the finals. He was destroying every team out there in the playoffs. Sweeping the previous champions in the Lakers and you think nobody would know of Dirk?

Like I said, not everything is about the Heat.

 

If the Yankees played the Marlins in the World Series, you think anybody going to know most of the Marlins players after the Series?

No, they're going to care if the Yanks win or not.

When the Lakers played the Pistons and the Pistons won, did that make Billups/Rip/Ben Wallace into household names? No

Over 20 million people saw the Finals last year and the MLB believes Dirk lacks national appeal, think about that for a reason. Did Dirk get any national commercials/ads after the Finals? No. Does ESPN talk about Dirk? No.

Does Dirk have a national TV commercial?
Does Dirk have his own shoe line?

Dirk is NOT a household name. He got 780k of NBA all-star votes last year, 20th best in the league.

To be a household name, a casual fan who's not really into the NBA would know who that player is. There are only 10-12 players who are household names in the NBA the casual sports fan would know them.

And we're not even talking about the Heat. That's just how sports viewing goes.

 

Yeah, ESPN does talk about Dirk. Yes Dirk did get some national commercials/ads after the Finals.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F_BhY2Lrdj8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tp5cnba33sc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He even won the Best Athlete award at the ESPY's by ESPN.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jEqq0pZJa2A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

''
ESPY's skits count as a national commercial? really?

And I don't think that Nike commercial is a new one.

I don't know why you are upset about this. The Major League Baseball thinks Dirk has no appeal. I'm giving you reasons why.

 

90% of Heat fans are casual fans.

90% of Heat fans saw a German destroy their team.

Even JVG himself called Dirk a household name.

Dirk became a household name the moment he destroyed the Heat. People know about Dirk, he is more popular than you think.

Is it so hard to accept casual fans would have heard of Dirk? Dirk was all over the news if you didn't notice, even analyst of other sports would pop in the name Dirk once in a while because what Dirk during the playoffs will be something people will talk about.

 

They’re letting him throw the pitch now. http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/7125013/2011-world-series-mlb-invite-dallas-mavericks-dirk-nowitzki-throw-first-pitch-game-3

And lol at t_mac saying they wouldn’t let him pitch because people don’t know who he is. The average sports fan knows who Dirk is, and they surely know him more than Fergie Jenkins lol.

 

So is he going to be voted into the All-star game next year as a starter?

Apparently after some hesitation on MLB's side. I didn't say that was the reason. REad the original article posted by the OP.

"MLB absolutely denies that any part in selecting the first ball pitcher had anything to do with the current labor situation in the NBA," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said. "You want the club's input in what makes sense for them and then we talk about what makes sense for the team and a good broad-base national appeal.

That was a spokesman's statement, not mine. I'm justifying his reasons, and there are reasons.

 

Dirk? Sorry, not German.

 

Who else would start in front of him at PF in the West?

 

You know what's funny, he might actually be voted as the starter in the next all-star game.

And just because Dirk isn't as popular as Lebron James doesn't mean the world doesn't know about him, which is your point.

You changed your point from "people knowing about Dirk" to "who is more popular". No **** there are a good number of player who are more popular than Dirk. Most people who watch the NBA would be fans of highlight reel players like Blake Griffin but in no way does that mean they wouldn't have heard of Dirk Nowitzki.

 

Good for the MLB. They can still pick out a douchebag when they see one...

 

You said he's a HOUSEHOLD name. Do you know what it takes to be a household name?

And no, he will NOT be voted into the all-star game next year. We can make a bet on that.

I said he's not popular among the general public and I stand by that. To NBA fans, people obviously know who he is b/c he's a top 10 player.

Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin will be voted into the All-star game next year by fans. Now those 2 are households names.

 

Do you take everything you read at face value? It’s pretty obvious that the “broad-base appeal” thing is a bunch of baloney. Dirk is a lot less controversial than someone like Bush, who a ton of people frankly find UNappealing, and he’s a lot more known than a 68 year old former baseball player whose name I had to look up.

It’s really not a big deal who throws out an opening pitch for a baseball game. The MLB was just being dumb, probably because of the lockout stuff, like both those articles speculate.

 

First of all, this is what you said.

Stop changing your point. You said people don't know who Dirk is, that is ridiculously different to how popular someone is. Someone who is well known does not mean they are popular amongst the general public.

And second of all, a HOUSEHOLD name means someone or something that is well known, not popular.

If your point was "they didn't let Dirk pitch because Dirk wasn't popular enough", sure that is a valid point. But that wasn't your point, your point is they didn't let Dirk pitch because no one knows who Dirk is, which is not true.

 

I repeat, the general public doesn't know who Dirk is. So I stand by what I said, since you really want to be technical.

Really? You think someone is going to say that if Kobe Bryant was on the list to pitch? They would question Kobe's "broad-base appeal?" Really?

Here's another thing you should know. Most NBA champions' best player(s) are usually asked to appear on late night talk shows after they win a championship. Now guess if Dirk appeared on any late night TV shows after he won his ring.