Is Major League Baseball Lacking Star Power?

[The Brain]

Is it just me or does it seem like Major League Baseball does not have nearly as many superstars as it did ten to fifteen years ago? When I say superstar I don’t mean just performance on the field. I’m talking about star personalities. I’m talking about recognizable names and faces away from the diamond. Take a look at just a few of the big name stars from back then that are now retired.

Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., Pedro Martinez, Gary Sheffield, etc.

There are plenty of great players in the game today but not many match the names listed above in terms of star power. Why is that? Is it because home runs are down considerably thanks to the game being cleaned up? I don’t mind seeing power numbers returning to where they were before the steroid era but those home runs did bring a lot of fame and fortune to those that were hitting them. Is it because the newer stars just haven’t had the time to develop into household names yet? Maybe five to ten years from now Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew McCutchen will be just as big of names as Mike Piazza and Manny Ramirez. Or is it not that way at all and MLB has plenty of superstar personalities today. Maybe I just feel this way because the people I listed above are all older than I am and I used to collect their baseball cards. Now I’m older than most of the players in the game and maybe I’m just not star struck by guys that were still in diapers when I was collecting the cards from the players I mentioned.

What are your thoughts? Is MLB missing the big name stars or am I just a guy that’s getting older and not giving proper recognition to the younger talent?

Once again, I am referring to star personalities and big name recognition, not ability on the field.

 

[Slash-LN]

Do they get the same kind of exposure the players got when we were younger? It seemed liked guys like Sosa and McGwire were getting mainstream exposure on tv and stuff. I would to Walmart and see posters of some of the bigger name players. (Honestly I don't even know if Walmart still sells posters or not.)
As someone who has become a very casual baseball fan (I was a bigger fan when I was younger) I probably couldn't name you the 10 biggest stars in baseball right now and I somewhat follow the game. I'm excluding Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols because they have all been established for several years. The only two I can think of off the top of my head are Ryan Braun and Ryan Howard. Maybe Prince Fielder?

 

[Big Sexy]

Chicks dig the long ball. In all seriousness, the steroid era for as much hate as it gets, was helpful in creating stars. The home run race in 1998, Barry Bonds going for the HR record, all of those stories were huge and the biggest stars were the home run hitters. Nowadays you still have some stars like Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout is becoming more of a household name, Justin Verlander, David Price, Clayton Kershaw, Robinson Cano, King Felix, but the game has changed. It's becoming more about pitching and fielding which is why there's more big name pitchers then there are hitters.

You also have to take into consideration the fact that baseball is no longer king when it comes to the 4 major sports. Back in the 60s and 70s it was more about small ball but that didn't matter because baseball was still the most popular team sport in the US. Every good player was a household name and a star. In the 80's and 90's the NFL became king and even the NBA surpassed MLB for a lot of people. Because of that baseball needed something else to help create stars. Roided out monsters hitting 50 home runs a year worked well for them. Then you had the 95-100 MPH fastball pitchers like Clemens and Johnson who were a great opponent for these power hitters. It's hard for baseball purists to accept but baseball's popularity as a sport and it's ability to produce household names is never going to be what it was during the steroid era.

 

[braveh]

I would have to say that Brian Wilson is the biggest celebrity to come out of baseball in the past 5-10 years and it's more about his look than his performance in the game. It's easy to understand why now that NFL is at an all time high in everything (attendance, money, media coverage, tv-ratings), NBA has the most polarizing team, possibly in the history of the League in Miami Heat and Lebron is a huge star....there is no room for baseball players to become celebrities...I would still Think that Wilson was a bigger star than say Crosby or Brock Lesnar (when he was in the UFC).

Chicks dig the long ball. In all seriousness, the steroid era for as much hate as it gets, was helpful in creating stars. The home run race in 1998, Barry Bonds going for the HR record, all of those stories were huge and the biggest stars were the home run hitters. Nowadays you still have some stars like Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout is becoming more of a household name, Justin Verlander, David Price, Clayton Kershaw, Robinson Cano, King Felix, but the game has changed. It's becoming more about pitching and fielding which is why there's more big name pitchers then there are hitters.

I Believe that at the end of the day that era did more damage than good to baseball. Remember how A-Rod was the great big hope for baseball? He was destined to be the Michael Jordan of baseball and it all blew up in every baseball fans face. I think we will live the backlash for many years now.