Commercialize Your Player

[Web Jim Edmonds]

So, Ive been thinking about baseball commercials. Now days, we have the ESPN Albert Pujols "machine" commercial, every Baseball Tonight analyst has his own commercial, (I like the Peter Gammons one) and most MLB team have their own creative commercials, such as these-

So if you could commercialize your favorite player (or any player for that matter) what would it look like?

 

I thought of one a few years ago when Jim Edmonds was with the Cardinals. It went like this:

 

The commercial would start off with a wide angle view of the outfield at Busch Stadium. You'd then see Edmonds on a black horse galloping from right-center field going towards left. All this is in Simi slow motion. Edmonds is now looking up towards the sky. You see a close up view of the steed's face. Its nostrils flare as it snorts and grunts while digging for more speed. You'd then see Edmonds adjust his gloved right hand. Still on his horse, Edmonds is galloping wildly toward left while fixing a bead on something in the sky. Suddenly, the horse under Edmonds disappears as he extends his entire body and catches a fly ball that just comes into camera view. (I loved hearing Jo Buck announce emphatically "Edmonds….on his horse!!....")Still in slow motion, he slides across the turf and holds his gloved right hand off of the ground until he comes to a dirt scattering halt. He gets of the ground and flicks the ball out of the glove hand into his left hand and slowly jogs toward the dugout. Your screen fades to black. The words MLB is written in big, bold white letters. That would be for baseball, like advertising the season is about to start.

 

 

 

Another one involving my favorite team would go like this:

 

Keep in mind with this idea you need to think about how with today's technology they have the ability to splice video from different periods and make things appear very fluid.

THE VIDEO: Using real game footage, the commercial opens up with Musial at the plate and he takes a pitch deep in the gap. As Musial rounds first base he "morphs" into Lou Brock who is hustling to get to 2nd base. As Brock touches 2nd base he turns into Ozzie Smith who is busting his hump to get to 3rd base and as he turns the corner to go home Ozzie turns into Pujols who, as he approaches home, slides and barely beats the throw to be safe.

THE AUDIO (and I think this is the key): Jack Buck calls this make-believe inside-the-park HR call the entire way, from beginning to end. And after Pujols is called safe, they add in Jack's famous line, "I don't believe what I just saw!"

The commercial ends with the "Play Like a Cardinal" slogan.

 

So how would you commercialize your player?

 

 

[ILuvDaBush]

Suppan-Something with the Soup Nazi from the Seinfeld episode. "No Soup for You!"

 

Hart and Hardy arguing over who looks better while being interviewed by Trenni, only to have her interrupt both of them mid-thought and slowly meander over to the batter's box with her camera crew and try to get an interview with Braun, and then have Braun say something to the effect of "Maddux was right, Chicks Dig the Long Ball!"

 

Or the best. Have some montage of one-time Brewers getting hit after hit in some other teams unis (beginning with the Miller-Overbay-Stairs hits, then find some Loretta-Helms-Sexson/Jenkins clips vs. Bush) and then show Dave Bush opening his eyes as Uecker steps into the batter's box clad in Braves gear, and then have Bush screaming, "I'm NEVER going to get my No-Hitter!" Obscure, but I think Brewer fans would find it humorous.