The Thursday before Thanksgiving I received, in the mail, “The Official Catalog of MLB.com”, the “Holiday 2008” edition. Whenever I get these things, I note how certain teams show up with greater frequency than others. Naturally, the AL-East is over-represented, and usually the World Series winner is well-represented (when an AL-East team wins the World Series, it’s often hard to tell their are other teams at all).
I decided it was time for the truth to be told. I tallied how many times each team was mentioned, including in the two advertisements (the concept of advertisements in a catalog just seems like it’s mocking itself, doesn’t it?). There were three items that had unidentifiable logos in my opinion. I was generous enough that when the items were the baseball card sets, I didn’t include those teams, because clearly MLB.com didn’t choose the teams/players represented on those. However, the Cubs got one tally for the team box set, because MLB could choose which team’s box set it used. I did not double-check my figures, so these numbers could be off by a few. If you’re double-checking my facts, you have WAY more time than I do and should wash my dishes for me. Thanks!
It turned out, the Brooklyn Dodgers have the most to complain about, warranting only two showings. The Nationals only had three, but that includes that one page shows at least one t-shirt from every team, and the advertisement for the team-logoed credit cards. Wait. The Nationals had only one more mention than a team that doesn’t even exist anymore!? Whoa. The Toronto Blue Jays come in third to last, with four showings. The Texas Rangers and the Colorado Rockies came in with five. With six items, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Baltimore Orioles, the Florida Marlins, the San Diego Padres, and the San Francisco Giants were the next grouping.
So, where did the teams who played in the World Series rank? The Phillies are actually tied for fourth with their divisional rival, the Mets. They’re shown 29 times. Their popularity no doubt has something to do with their World Series win this year, as six of the items are directly related to the World Series. Tampa Bay only had two items related to the World Series, but their ten mentions were good enough to place them in 14th, so at least they were still in the top half.
Who came in first, with 12.67% (56) of the items representing their team? Remember: Yankee Stadium closed its doors this year, and there were a number of items to tribute that event. Of course, you’re thinking the Yankees. It’s always the Yankees, isn’t it? Not this time, my friends. The Yankees only had 43 items–9.73% of the total items. The winner was the Red Sox. That means over 20% of the catalog was representing the AL-East. Now, they have the largest fan base, so it’s not completely outrageous, but it is completely annoying to non-Yankee/non-Red Sox fans. (In third place is the Chicago Cubs.)
Because I’m AL-Central centric, I was amused that the largest number of items belonged to the team that came in last in 2008: 16 items for the Detroit Tigers. The Chicago White Sox had 14, and the Cleveland Indians had nine. The Kansas City Royals and the Twins had eight. (I feel obliged to comment that I almost missed one Twins logo because it was so small, and not one commonly used, as shown below.)
I know it’s not a huge deal, but it was very interesting to see exactly whom MLB.com is marketing to. If you’re a fan of the Washington Nationals, it’s definitely not you. If you’re a fan of the Red Sox, I’m restraining myself from making an insulting joke here, because it’s childish, over-used, and stupid. You can thank me.
(I know I have too much time on my hands. But I do not have enough extra time to figure out how much room each team took in actual space. I’m not going to measure each and every item. I really don’t have time for that.)
Timberwolves update: 4-13 (1-3 since last week)
I still promise to attend a Timberwolves game if they’re under 20% in the win % category in January. The lengths they’ll go through to spare me from a professional basketball game is gratifying.
Marian Gaborik Injury Status: I’m glad I labeled this “injury status” and not “health status”, because the lad is a delicate little flower.
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