There’s a new study out confirming that Major League Baseball teams increase their fan base and their ticket revenue by having international players on their rosters.

Perhaps it’s a no-brainer but this study from the University of Michigan spells it out and does the math for us.  The research was done over the years 1985-2005.  While there was initial prejudice at first, fans warmed up to international players and by end, there was shift to the polar opposite, that is, a slight prejudice towards teams without international players. 

To put numbers on it, each international player added to an MLB team could mean over a half million in ticket sales based on 2000 data. 

The preference peaked in 2000 when each international player added approximately $595,632 to ticket sales, the study showed. The average MLB team that season showed 10.8 foreign-born players on its roster and garnered an average of $6 million in additional revenue, the paper said.

Of course, if these numbers just reflect ticket sales, I can only imagine what kind of effect they may have on media such as television, cable, and online advertising. 

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Last August, I wrote about the deal between MLB and Topps and how it was arranged that Topps would have exclusive rights to MLB logos and graphics. 

Now there seems to be another chapter to the story. 

MLB is now suing Upper Deck for trademark infringement for using its logos on its cards without permission. 

It said Upper Deck’s cards improperly feature various sport and team logos, and that some 2010 packaging featuring New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter may confuse consumers because of its similarity to authorized packaging used in 2009.

MLB wants to halt sales of the cards and seeks “triple and punitive damages”.

I’m all in Upper Deck’s corner for the non-competitive deal that MLB made with Topps last year but surely Upper Deck didn’t think they could get away with this.  MLB (and Topps for that matter) would be keeping their eyes on them for any trademark infringement.  And sure enough, they caught them with their hand in the figurative cookie jar. 

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Three months ago, MLB signed Topps Company to a major contract to produce and market baseball cards with the MLB teams’ logo.  This was an exclusive contract to the detriment to other card making companies such as Upper Deck. 

Now, Topps has scored another coup.  They have reached agreement with Major League Baseball Properties in a multi-year licensing deal to produce certain nationally distributed Minor League cards. 

The agreement makes Topps the only trading card manufacturer licensed by MLBP to produce nationally-distributed trading cards of top draft picks and prospects within Minor League Baseball, and will give Topps the rights to names and logos of the 160 affiliated Minor League clubs and current Minor League players in uniform on baseball cards and stickers beginning on January 1, 2010. In addition, Topps will now have the exclusive use of the Pro Debut logo. Its first product will be its 2010 Topps Pro Debut Series 1 to be unveiled in early March 2010.

As it was three months ago, this deal is exclusive. 

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Looks like baseball’s general managers weren’t interested about expanding the role of instant replay in baseball.  The topic wasn’t even brought up during their annual meeting on Tuesday.

"There are those who clamor for more and more instant replay," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB executive vice president of baseball operations, "I think we need to digest what we’ve got. I know some (general managers) have talked off-line about the expansion of instant replay, but the commissioner (Bud Selig) doesn’t see any reason to consider it."

Good on them, I say.  Even if you favor the system, it’s too soon to rush into it because a few umps made some bad calls. 

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Bill Clark of the Columbia Daily Tribune writes about how Major League Baseball is entering the realm of DNA testing especially in Latin America.

In an attempt to eliminate cheating on age and identities in Latin America, particularly in the Dominican Republic, MLB has admitted to genetic testing to determine the true identity of players being signed, particularly those receiving big bonuses.

In addition to establishing the identity of players, it is possible to also provide clues to their age.

Federal legislation that was passed last year, will prohibit companies from testing employees (or a family member) on the basis of their DNA.  This law will take effect on November 21 of this year.  It is unclear how this U.S. law will affect American companies implementing these procedures in other countries.

Here is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 in its entirety.

According to the New York Times, MLB has declined how many players have been tested and whether or not the test results were kept or destroyed.  Given the situation with the recent controversy with the 2003 steroid list that was under law supposed to be kept under wraps, you can see where that can lead us.

The whole thing stinks to me.  Major League Baseball has no business doing this.  If they can find out what they need to know the old fashioned way by forging relationships and establishing communications, then they need to do their homework.  DNA testing and the like is one more thing that will set their work down there backwards.

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2009 can be known as the year that the Dodgers toppled the Yankees… at least in attendance figures. 

For the first time in six years, the Yankees didn’t lead the majors in total yearly attendance.  They came in second.  The top honor goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers who had 3,761,661 go through the turnstiles at Dodger Stadium.

Number 3 shouldn’t be a big surprise.  Given their World Championship status and relatively large market, the Philadelphia Phillies grabbed that spot.

As for Chicago teams. the Cubs ranked sixth and the White Sox came in sixteenth in 2009.

Overall, Major League Baseball had a slight downturn in attendance from 2008 (6.6% less according to MLB.com) but with an attendance of 73,418,479, MLB is spinning it that this year is the fifth most attended year all time.  Yay, Baseball.

For those attendance stat geeks, The Biz of Baseball does a good job of breaking it all down for us.  Their pdf looking back at this past decade of MLB attendance team-by-team is quite detailed.

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Here it comes… the inevitable dismissal of general managers who in the eyes of the powers-that-be, just couldn’t cut the mustard. 

Kevin Towers, general manager of the Padres was let go Friday.  He was in his 14th season with the team.

And in the American League, J.P. Ricciardi was dismissed by the Toronto Blue Jays after eight years as general manager. 

Perhaps this is just the New York Post stirring the rumor kettle but reports are the New York Mets are interested in either Towers or Ricciardi to work in the organization.  Omar Minaya has reportedly called both to schedule a meeting.

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With the season they had, this had to be coming.  The Washington Nationals have lowered their ticket prices for many of their seats. 

Here’s President Stan Kasten with the spin:

The Nationals are committed to providing a top-notch, affordable, fan experience for all guests.  We are pleased to lower prices on over 3,300 seats, including over 2,000 in the lower bowl, and will continue to offer season ticket plans for as little as $10 per game. We thank our fans for their continued support of the Washington Nationals as we continue to build towards a winning ballclub in the Nation’s Capital.”

More details at The Biz of Baseball

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…or is he just blowing smoke?

“I’m not going to tolerate the numbers I have right now for very long,” Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m certainly not going to stick around for a big contract if I’m not having fun and not producing.”

He left himself an out though.

“I’m not saying I’m retiring at the end of this year or the end of next year, but if I become an average player, I’m not sticking around,” he said. “I’m not going to hamstring the ballclub with the money I’m making, and I’m not going to be happy being a mediocre player.”

My guess is that he’s just blowing off steam after going through a nasty slump.  He’s hit .117 in the last 23 games.  He has two more years of a lucrative contract left.  I doubt he’ll walk away from that.

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Oh, the interesting things I get in my inbox when I’m signed up for mlb.com’s Cubs email list.

Today, in MLB’s ongoing effort to justify their bottom line, I got an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts disguised as a contest.  “Win Coffee for a Year!” they claim.  But yeah, the fine print says you gotta sign up for their annoying DD Perks which no doubt means you give them all your personal information first.

The gist of it all is that nothing baseball related coming from this email.  Unless their giving the hint that folks should be drinking more coffee at games and less beer.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain.  It’s better than getting another email and hearing that the Cubs lost to the Nationals once again. 

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