ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian sat down with Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports to talk about the restart of the Major League Baseball season. He offered several opinions on the new season. He doesn’t like artificial crowd noise or fan cutouts, he will recognize whoever wins the World Series as a true World Series champion, and he thinks the Astros scandal is old news.
One of the most interesting parts of the interview though came when McCarthy asked about Major League Baseball’s place in the American sports hierarchy. The question was simple: Do you think MLB is still the number two league in America?
Kurkjian acknowledged that the NBA has surpassed baseball in terms of popularity. He says that fans feel a connection to the best players in basketball that may not be possible for baseball given the way the game is played.
“Let’s face it. A basketball player like LeBron James touches the ball on every possession,” he told McCarthy. “He’s the best player on the court – every time he plays. Whereas Mike Trout might get walked three times in the game and not even have a chance in centerfield. You leave thinking, ‘I just saw the best player I’ve ever seen and he didn’t do anything.’ Because the game wouldn’t allow him to.”
He acknowledged that that fact doesn’t have to be a negative if it were marketed correctly, but marketing has never been the league’s strong suit. When asked about the way baseball players are perceived, Kurkjian said that the league and the teams have a tendency to cause harm that the NBA and NFL don’t.
“They really value their players and they really prop them up and they make them into superstars on their own where baseball tends to knock their own guys down once in a while. Never quite understood that.”
One superstar that Kurkjian pointed to directly was Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge. He is marketable for reasons beyond just being the biggest star on one of the most famous teams in American sports. His talent and size grab the attention of even casual fans.
“He could have played basketball at a very high level. He could have played football. But he chose baseball and that’s a really good thing for baseball.”
