Current Events > Only 22% of the US general public is familiar with baseball player Mike Trout.

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The lack of player recognition is an issue for baseball. From a BBC Sport article earlier this month with the headline "Mike Trout: The brilliant $426.5m MLB star most Americans don't know" According to the market research firm Q Scores, 22% of the US general public is familiar with Trout. Basketball star Curry and NFL quarterback Drew Brees, on the other hand, are over 50%. Among sport fans, Trout reaches the 50% mark. But Tom Brady and LeBron James, for instance, have near universal recognition. Yikes, right? No wonder the pressure-washer guy thought my shirt was about a fish. The lack-of-recognition topic was addressed by both MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark during their separate meetings with BBWAA members in Cleveland the morning of the All-Star Game. Those two don't share similar views on many subjects, but they seemed at least relatively aligned on this one, about what's necessary going forward. Clark was asked specifically about Mookie Betts, a star who won last year's AL MVP and plays in a big market (Boston), but still doesn't have nearly the cache of NBA or NFL players. "Mookie should be a household name. Mookie should be a one-name guy," Clark said. "You say Ronaldo, you say Messi, you say Mookie. You should know who Mookie is. And outside of the baseball world, I don't know how many do. So I agree with you, 100 percent, 100-plus percent, in the grand scheme of things, with respect to players who should be at the forefront of every conversation, even in conversations with non-baseball fans. No doubt about it."
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He's on my pretzel box. Super pretzels.
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He's on a West coast team, and he's on a crappy team.

Makes sense. Sucks, but that's how it works.
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Baseball is boring as fuck. So this makes sense.

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Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is
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He only made the playoffs once and his team sucks every year this isn't surprising. He also plays on west coast so many are sleeping when he plays. I bet even Jeremy Lin is more famous among casual people than him. And he isn't even a star right now.
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I think it's just the nature of baseball these days. Even the guys that are more marketable than Trout like Judge, Mookie, or Harper aren't recognized the same way NFL and NBA players are.

Hopefully the Angels do start winning again some day. I think even most non-Angels fans want to see Trout in the postseason.
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Like others have said it's because he's on a bad team, but I wish he got better recognition. Hell of a player and very respectable too.
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Yeah, I have no idea who he is. Like football and basketball you hear some stuff about it whether you want to or not, but baseball is easy to avoid.
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Spooking posted...

Never heard of him. I just know of Randy who played for the Diamondbacks back in the 80's.

Hombre Diamondbacks did not exist in the 80s. Pretty sure they came in with Tampa in the 90s.

He did pitch there though.

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furb posted...

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]



Hombre Diamondbacks did not exist in the 80s. Pretty sure they came in with Tampa in the 90s.

He did pitch there though.

1998 was their inaugural season.
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John_Galt posted...

Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is

This. Among non sports fans, only the best of the best are known, aka Tom Brady and LeBron.

Only exception is if they get into the news cycle for non sports reasons, like Kaepernick. If he was still playing, he'd probably be the third most well known active athlete.
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Good on him for re-signing with the Angels to stay with one team for his whole career, but it would have been a much better career move for him to go somewhere else, even to the Dodgers if he didn't want to move. A lot of other teams would have given him the $426m/11 he just signed for and more.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

Baseball is boring as fuck. So this makes sense.

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doomcrusader posted...

John_Galt posted...

Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is

This. Among non sports fans, only the best of the best are known

This is a bad post if you're talking about Trout.
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Baseball does it to itself. If a player tries to be flashy, other players will not just talk trash, they'll physically assault the guy from the pitcher's mound. And it's commonly accepted as an unwritten rule. So you have a culture where it's beneficial to not stand out. Which was fine for baseball when the sport dominated the market.
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Doesnt help that he's never won a playoff game. I bet Aaron Judge is more famous.

Baseball and hockey have real problems with having marketable players, although at least hockey got a little bit better thanks to Ovechkin being a glorious, mad bastard. Pretty much anybody who shows personality is shamed and treated like shit by the sport itself and it's media members to the extent that it damages their career. Others see this and choose success over showing personality and the cycle continues. It really is a shame, can't wait for all the sour old people to just fucking die already and let sports be fun like they should be.
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Damn_Underscore posted...

doomcrusader posted...

John_Galt posted...

Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is

This. Among non sports fans, only the best of the best are known

This is a bad post if you're talking about Trout.

The best of the best get championships. Trout will never be known to the average person if he doesn't get a few titles. Good luck to him on the angels.

Shit, even among sports fans, no one would even recognize the guy if he walked into the room without his uniform on.
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Guy is only on pace to be the greatest baseball player on the planet, even though I hate him.

Hes severely underpaid too.
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Dont think the Angels paying Trout more money and being unable to afford giving him good teammates will give them any playoff success.

He's a baseball player. No one gives a fuck about baseball.

doomcrusader posted...

Damn_Underscore posted...

doomcrusader posted...

John_Galt posted...

Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is

This. Among non sports fans, only the best of the best are known

This is a bad post if you're talking about Trout.

The best of the best get championships.

More so than any other sport, the best of the best baseball players are easily determined by statistics. At this point of his career Mike Trout is a guaranteed first ballot hall of famer who is in his prime right now. You can't say that about anyone else in MLB.
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doomcrusader posted...

Damn_Underscore posted...

doomcrusader posted...

John_Galt posted...

Drew brees over 50%?

Seems like a stretch?

I dunno, I wonder what Bryce Harper is

This. Among non sports fans, only the best of the best are known

This is a bad post if you're talking about Trout.

The best of the best get championships. Trout will never be known to the average person if he doesn't get a few titles. Good luck to him on the angels.

Shit, even among sports fans, no one would even recognize the guy if he walked into the room without his uniform on.

Tell that to Bonds. Baseball is the sport LEAST affected by a transformative player. Trout will finish his career with top 5 all time numbers, more than likely.

The simple fact is baseball is now a regional sport. Teams play almost half their games within their own division.
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Unknown5uspect posted...

He's a baseball player. No one gives a fuck about baseball.

This. The league is going to fold in 10-20 years for sure.
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foreverzero212 posted...

Unknown5uspect posted...

He's a baseball player. No one gives a fuck about baseball.

This. The league is going to fold in 10-20 years for sure.

LOL, no.
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Who?
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its b/c he refuses to market himself like the other stars do. he talked about this on espn.
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That's honestly a higher percentage than I figured.
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