Why Doesn't Baseball Have Household Names? (golf, star, game, legend)

[BajanYankee]

It seems like baseball players had a higher national profile back in the 80s and 90s. The Big Unit, Griffey, Bonds, Piazza, Maddux, Clemens, etc. I can't think of any real recognizable names in the MLB today. Granted, I don't watch as much baseball today as I did back in the day, but I don't watch ANY golf, and I feel like I hear more about Jordan Spieth than I do about Clayton Kershaw.

https://sebastiantsu.wordpress.com/2...usehold-names/

I feel like baseball players only have name recognition in their home markets. Maybe the Yankees are different with guys like A-Rod. But by and large, I don't think Bryce Harper's name rings out the way Steph Curry's does.

Just look at Google hits when you search for different athletes (names in quotations).

Lionel Messi - 60 million
Lebron James - 38 million
Kobe Bryant - 35.8 million
Serena Williams - 25.3 million
Roger Federer - 22 million
Tiger Woods - 21.2 million
Stephen Curry - 20.8 million
Tom Brady - 19.5 million
Novak Djokovic - 18.9 million
Floyd Mayweather - 16.8 million
Kevin Durant - 14.8 million
Cam Newton - 11.3 million
Michael Phelps - 9.7 million
Russell Westbrook - 6.3 million
Jordan Spieth - 4.1 million
Alex Rodriguez - 3.9 million
Bryce Harper - 2.7 million
Phil Mickelson - 654,000
Ryan Howard - 544,000
Tim Lincecum - 509,000
American Pharoah - 446,000
Adam Vinatieri - 445,000
Clayton Kershaw - 405,000
Gabby Douglas - 401,000
Danica Patrick - 382,000
David Ortiz - 381,000
Kyle Busch - 380,000
Albert Pujols - 363,000
Mike Trout - 360,000
Tim Howard - 352,000
Mark Texeira - 120,000

Thoughts?

[City Guy997S]

Baseball isn't a global as soccer, tennis, golf or even F1 racing.

[BajanYankee]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Baseball isn't a global as soccer, tennis, golf or even F1 racing.

But even American Pharoah registers more hits than most MLB stars.

[BajanYankee]

Twitter followers by athlete.

Lebron James - 28.7 million
Kevin Durant - 13.4 million
Kobe Bryant - 9 million
Floyd Mayweather - 6.8 million
Serena Williams - 6.1 million
Tiger Woods - 5.6 million
Novak Djokovic - 5.1 million
Stephen Curry - 4.8 million
James Harden - 3.4 million
Russell Westbrook - 3 million
Maria Sharapova - 2 million
Alex Ovechkin - 1.7 million
Michael Phelps - 1.6 million
Jeremy Lin - 1.5 million
Mike Trout - 1.6 million
Danica Patrick - 1.4 million
Robert Griffin - 1.3 million
Jordan Spieth - 1.3 million
David Ortiz - 942,000
Skylar Diggins - 607,000
Bryce Harper - 589,000
Lindsey Vonn - 427,000
Ryan Howard - 202,000
Tim Lincecum - 118,000

[BajanYankee]

Endorsements by athlete (2015).

Roger Federer - $58 milllion
Tiger Woods - $50 million
Phil Mickelson - $48 million
Lebron James - $44 million
Kevin Durant - $35 million
Rory McElroy - $32 million
Novak Djokovic - $31 million
Rafael Nadal - $28 million
Kobe Bryant - $26 million
Maria Sharapova - $23 million
Floyd Mayweather - $15 million
Derrick Rose - $15 million
Serena Williams - $13 million
Peyton Manning - $12 million
Dwyane Wade - $12 million
Carmelo Anthony - $8 million
Blake Griffin - $7 million
J.J. Watt - $7 million
Chris Paul - $6 million
Robinson Cano - $3.5 million
Miguel Cabrera - $3 million
Albert Pujols - $2.5 million
Ben Roethlisberger - $2.5 million
Clayton Kershaw - $1.2 million
Joe Mauer - $1 million
Ryan Howard - $600,000
Cliff Lee - $200,000

[Bondurant]

As criteria you've looked at Google search data, Twitter followers and endorsement deals. It should be no surprise that athletes with a more global reach lead, by leaps and bounds, in all categories.

[bjimmy24]

I for one am happy about the lack of huge personalities in baseball. The players overall are much more humble than in the NBA or NFL. Very little twitter drama in baseball (thank god). I'm a Cavs fan in basketball but I am rapidly losing interest, despite their current top record in the east, because it seems like every week Lebron James or Kyrie Irving are saying intentionally mysterious things on twitter and then when being asked, acting like "hey you guys make huge deals out of nothing."

Thankfully, baseball players aren't involved in the same idiocy as other sports. There is no MLB version of Johnny Manziel, or Ray Lewis, or Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson for example.

So in conclusion, while baseball lacks the star power of other sports or even compared with baseball of 20 years ago, that's not necessarily a bad thing and it could be way worse.

[censusdata]

Twitter followers has a youth bias as does endorsements. The older people get the less impressionable their buying habits become. NBA, soccer, and NFL are the most popular sports among teens, baseball is still up there but fading into 4th place.

[John23]

I think the personalities were better in the 80's and 90's.

-Someone like Cal Ripken was a legend. Remember his 2,130 game consecutive streak that broke Lou Gehrigs record? The steroid era really hurt baseball. McGwire, Sosa and others tarnished the game.

Kids use to look up to Ken Griffey Jr among others. I think yakees dominance in the 2000's hasn't helped. Many are tired of the yankee and red sox dominance.

I think there is also more competition from other sports that you didn't have in the 80's and 90's. For example, Ronda Rousey has gotten a lot of press coverage lately. 20 or 25 years ago, that would have gone to David Justice, Don Mattingly, Nolan Ryan?

[Mathguy]

Players switch teams a lot and MLB has branded itself around Teams instead of Players which is the exact opposite of the NBA model which pushes the players\stars.

That being said, baseball continues to just kinda hold it's own in terms of professional sports as frankly it's had a lot of marketability challenges over the past 20 years including the missed strike year, gross payroll imbalances, steroids and one big fact is that some of the sports biggest names were complete an utter a-hats.

The global thing is another factor but again, it just shows how sports like the NBA made that step but MLB has fallen flat but some of that is due to the very nature of the sport and equipment\space needed.