Packaging Baseball : How Marketing Embellishes the Cultural Experience

by Bartkowiak, Mathew J.; Kiuchi, Yuya

• ISBN13: 9780786461325
• ISBN10: 0786461322
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-15
• Publisher: McFarland & Co Inc Pub

Summary

This book is about the realities baseball as an economic force and as a product of popular culture. Baseball does not happen only between the white lines or in the ballparks--it's in the media, bobblehead giveaways, and mobile device apps. Issues of globalization, race and ethnicity, nationality, legacy making, iconic value building, and marketing concerns are all essential to understanding the complex and global product that Major League Baseball is today. A rich...intersection shall we say of fan, corporate, player, media, and owner values exist in each of these parts of the whole. These parts combine in nearly countless ways.

Author Biography

Mathew J. Bartkowiak is an associate professor at English at the University of Wisconsin at Marshfield-Wood County. His research interests include popular culture studies, music, film, sports, social change and development, and the counterculture. Yuya Kiuchi is an assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures at Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
More Than the Crack of the Bat: "Walk-on Music" and Popular Music in Major League Baseball	p. 9
Bobbleheads and the Bottom Line: Giveaways in Major League Baseball	p. 26
Everything but the Players: The Game-Used Memorabilia Market	p. 42
Making the Mark: The Life of MLB Logos	p. 59
From Pastime to Obsession: Major League Baseball and Its Media Strategy	p. 77
Telling the Story: Creating the History of Baseba11	p. 94
Commodore Selig: The Importance of Japanese Baseba11 Players in Major League Baseball	p. 114
It's AU About the Capital: Major League Baseball and Its Capital-Driven International Strategies in the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics	p. 132
MLB in Japan and Around the Globe: An Interview with Jim Small of MLB	p. 151
The GlobaUzation of MLB and Its Consequences	p. 166
Conclusion	p. 186
Afterword	p. 188
Works Cited	p. 191
Index	p. 203
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