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Baseball talk: investigating fan participation in the blogosphere
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Baseball talk: investigating fan participation in the blogosphere
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Content
Baseball Talk:
Investigating fan participation in the blogosphere
By
Adam Clinton Symonds
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Communication
August 2013
Copyright 2013 Adam Clinton Symonds
2
Abstract
This study examines a slice of the blogosphere to investigate the generic functions of
baseball talk and the methods of fan participation therein. In particular, this study examines
weblogs dedicated to the Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies to
understand what functions the genre of baseball talk serves for fans and what is at stake in
fan interactions for these communities. While the project draws on two distinct strands of
academic thought—genre theory and fan participation studies—this study concludes they
share goals that make their methods mutually reinforcing. Both theories prove useful in
revealing the current uses and functions of baseball talk in the Mariners’, Cardinals’, and
Phillies’ fan communities. Baseball talk is revealed to serve important identity and
community functions by employing a unique technological medium to create direct
interaction between fans, provide a space for additional team specific information, and
facilitate complex statistical examinations.
3
Dedication
For Sylvia. My best friend, firm but patient taskmaster, and number one fan. Special thanks
to our puppies, Sam and Doc, for keeping me company along the way.
4
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6
Why study baseball blogs? ............................................................................................................... 16
Procedures ........................................................................................................................................ 25
Scope and theories ........................................................................................................................... 32
Expanding Theoretical Horizons ....................................................................................................... 38
Chapter 2: The Seattle Mariners .......................................................................................................... 43
Background ....................................................................................................................................... 43
Prelude to 2011, the 2010 season .................................................................................................... 46
The Controversies ............................................................................................................................. 50
Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 72
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 88
Chapter 3: The St. Louis Cardinals ........................................................................................................ 90
Background ....................................................................................................................................... 90
2010 and 2011 Season Highlights ..................................................................................................... 92
The Controversies ............................................................................................................................. 94
Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 133
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 150
Chapter 4: The Philadelphia Phillies ................................................................................................... 152
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 152
2010 Season ................................................................................................................................... 155
The Controversies ........................................................................................................................... 157
Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 191
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 207
Chapter 5: Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 210
What is a baseball blog? ................................................................................................................. 211
History and evolution Baseball Talk ............................................................................................... 227
Baseball Talk and Digital Genres .................................................................................................... 234
Theoretical issues for Fan Studies .................................................................................................. 255
Vernacular Baseball Talk ................................................................................................................ 270
5
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 277
References .......................................................................................................................................... 280
6
Chapter 1: Introduction
There are an estimated 130 million weblogs, in better or worse states of repair,
across the internet today.
1
These blogs cover an endless array of topics. Political blogs, for
instance, are designed to report and provide commentary on contemporary news. Since
their inception in 1997,
2
blogs have frequently claimed center stage by breaking major
stories.
3
In addition to breaking stories, blogs may serve a non‐trivial fact‐checking function.
Bloggers have proclaimed that their articles play a crucial “watchdog” role in the act of
confirming or denying the veracity of mainstream media claims.
4
These incidents and more
raise national and global awareness of the news work being done by bloggers. Trust in
mainstream media has fallen so far that a great majority now say they no longer trust major
media sources.
5
The proliferation of sources of news online and high quality content on blogs,
combined with these high profile events, has readers increasingly relying on digital media
for news coverage. Indeed, polls indicate that the majority of Americans prefer to get news
1
Grandy 2009; later Technorati State of the Blogosphere reports have suggested that number continues to
climb.
2
While the term Blog was coined from Weblog in 1999, the advent of the media itself appears to have taken
place in 1997. See Perlmutter & McDaniel 2005; The Economist, April 20, 2006
3
For instance, when Trent Lott, then Speaker of the House, made racially insensitive remarks, the national
media paid it very little attention. After one, then several, then hundreds of blogs repeated the remarks and
insisted on repercussions, pressure built on Lott to resign. Eventually, he did. Significant media events such as
these, which were first communicated via blogs, wrenched the spotlight from traditional media, suggesting
that the information age would usher in a new era of citizen‐news. See Perlmutter & McDaniel 2005
4
In a prominent example, Dan Rather produced official documents claiming that President Bush had never
completed his National Guard duty. After two weeks of bloggers challenging the validity of the memo from Lt
Colonel Jerry Killian and the rest of the national media investigating the authenticity of the memo, CBS finally
dropped its support for the story, admitting that they could not verify that Killian’s memo was legitimate.
Rather retired within the next month. See Perlmutter & McDaniel 2005
5
Tucker 2010
7
online, and declining subscription rates seem to bear out this relationship.
6
This ever
widening expanse of news media suggests it is increasingly important for communication
scholars to examine the content and functions of blogs. Moreover, the primary difference
between newspapers and blogs—the ability for readers to participate actively through
comments on the article page—demands that scholars analyze the types of participation
taking place at internet news media and blogs. Much work
7
has already been done in the
sphere of political news, but with 130 million blogs and counting, there is a great deal left to
be done. Even specific, small categories of blogs bring a very high number of entries—
ranked sports blogs, for instance, account for over ten thousand of the entries at Technorati
Authority.
8
The top‐rated sports site, a baseball page called MLB Trade Rumors, averages
35,572 hits a day, reaching its peak with nearly 600,000 unique visitors during the high
trade volume months of December and July each year.
9
Academic work can identify emerging genres in the blogosphere and mapping the
relevant issues, arguments, and rhetoric, thereby surveying in article content and reader
responses expressed in each of specific genre. Toward that end, I will study a slice of the
vast network of blogs: those dedicated to Major League Baseball. Baseball blogs may
represent the perfect union of form and function of new online communication formats: as
long as baseball has been America’s national pastime, fans have argued about the game.
Fans argue with fans of rival teams about who will win the division; about the league’s best
hitters and pitchers; about the Yankees’ payroll. They argue about the value of the
6
Arango 2009
7
For a thorough run‐down of early theoretical works on blogging, see Kaye 2005
8
Technorati Media n.d.
9
ValuetheSite.Org 2013
8
Designated Hitter, who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and which General
Managers and Coaches should be fired. They argue about these and many other facets of
the game because, as fans, they identify with teams – they are personally invested.
The investment of fans in Major League Baseball constitutes a series of reiterating
temporal events – the ebbs and flows of baseball fandom recur during each new season.
Shortly after the World Series Champion is crowned, the Hot Stove is lit, and fans follow the
plethora of trades and Free Agent signings. As winter turns to spring, MLB teams head to
Tampa Bay for the Grapefruit League and to Phoenix for the Cactus League, and hope
springs anew for players and fans alike. The standard cycle of baseball argument is
refreshed again, as fans and writers search for any reason they can find to believe this is the
year that their team will win the pennant. During the season, rhetorical battles are waged
off the field in a—largely vain—attempt to determine who will win the wars on the baseball
diamond. As summer turns to fall, fans of the few teams lucky and strong enough to survive
shift attention to the teams face in the Division, League Championship, and World Series.
Perhaps the most prominent form of argumentative fan participation in the game
emerges in the phenomena of the “armchair GM”–debates about what the fans would do if
the teams were theirs to manage. Blogs offer fans the opportunity to fantasize managerial
participation by arguing with other fans about the best teams, best players, and best ways
to rebuild or build winning teams. In so doing fans role play as team manager. Indeed, page
long threads on particular team’s sites are often dedicated to hypothetical roster
constructions dreamt up by fans. Moreover, this desire to emulate the management of an
9
MLB team has even given birth to a multi‐billion dollar per year industry, Fantasy Baseball.
10
In turn, Fantasy Baseball spawns a plethora of blogs dedicated to analyzing baseball
statistics to improve fantasy teams. Thus, baseball specific blogs represent an enticing
subject of study, as the medium is used frequently by a great deal of fans.
In addition to representing a significant quantity of overall activity, blogs dedicated
to MLB also provide a great source of interesting communication phenomena to study.
According to scholars, there are a variety of reasons to believe that all manners of fan
participation in sports, including baseball, do significant ideological work that extends
beyond the realm of sport into everyday life. Brummett,
11
for instance, argues that
“performances in and around sports and games—as central components of popular culture
today—have rhetorical impact on audiences, leading to social and political changes” (p. 1).
Performances serve to mark, construct, and solidify various identities (centered around
race, class, gender, nationality, among others), which communication scholars explore in
abundance.
12
Specifically, sports are fully mired in the production of ethnic and racial
difference, and thus the subject of communication studies of difference.
13
As crucial
10
ESPN estimates that fantasy sports generate $4 billion in revenue each year. Kurland and Jansen n.d.
11
Brummett 2009 provides a tremendous topical overview of the current field of rhetorical investigations of
sports culture, fan and athlete performances of identity, and broader cultural uses of sport regularly
employed.
12
In Brummett 2009, for instance, chapters pursue identities constructed through the rhetorics of monsters,
style, nostalgia, masculinity, heroes, ninjas, capitalists, wrestlers, competitive eating, hip‐hop and the NBA,
college football and college basketball. Other studies have pursued the identity construction of the
mainstream media and bloggers (Schultz and Sheffer 2008), journalist bloggers (Domingo & Heinonen 2008),
athletes as bloggers (Sanderson 2010), among others.
13
In Vlasich 2006, for instance, scholars takes up a great number of racial and ethnic controversies across
baseball, football, NASCAR, golf, and other professional sports.
10
purveyors of identities, then, sports are worthy of study to determine what identities are at
work and the potential implications.
14
Beyond identity production, Brummett notes that sports are thoroughly imbricated
in popular culture. Although sports’ significance as popular culture serves here as a distinct
reason to assess the power of sport to shape culture, Brummett builds a case on the
foundation of identity as well: “Increased media attention toward sport, games, and
athletes and ever‐pervasive advertisements for sporting goods, products, and the athletes
themselves have made performance of race, gender, sexuality, and nationality in sport and
games into a critical component of popular culture” (p. 18). Tracing popular culture is
virtually impossible without recognizing the pervasive influence of sport. The very
mechanisms (sports broadcasts, 24‐hour sports networks, endorsements) that are used to
broadcast sporting identities are leveraging sport into a position of greater impact on
popular culture. This combination of identity performance and pervasive influence in
popular culture leads Brummett to conclude that “Sport and games are so connected with
who we are as individuals and as groups that we are constantly performing those identities
as we engage sport and games. Thus subject matter is not mere entertainment, it is
important” (p. 23).
Although these justifications for the relationship between sport and culture are
abstract, their explanatory power is brought into stark relief as these theories are applied to
specific case studies. Sports figure prominently in cultural and political controversies. One
14
Along this trajectory, Wilcox, et. al, 2003 argue that sports franchises serve to construct a normalizing
identity for the city – one that inhibits meaningful community development centered around matters of local
import that might otherwise spur collective performances.
11
need only glance at the Vick and Roethlisberger “redemption” stories in the NFL playoffs to
find strong connections to see struggles over social issues play out.
15
Baseball, in particular,
is often integrally involved in important social cleavages and has frequently been at the
forefront of cultural change. During World War II, while Rosie was riveting away to support
the war effort, baseball championed women’s leagues, mirroring the sexual revolution in
the workplace.
16
While the war was still raging, baseball leapt into another social
controversy – with the Dodgers crossing color lines to sign Jackie Robinson. Nearly ten years
before Brown v. Board and almost twenty before Congress would pass the Civil Rights Act of
1964, baseball was embroiled in racial controversy over the signing.
17
In recent years,
discussions of race in baseball have focused on low numbers of minorities in front office and
ownership positions and the precipitous decline of black players in baseball.
18
If the blogosphere is a burgeoning medium for communication, particularly in its
content,
19
and baseball is a meaningful site for cultural ideology, then it stands to reason
that a study of baseball blogs can produce insight into both spheres. The purpose of this
dissertation is to track digital rearticulations of baseball argument and fan sentiment as
15
Vick’s comeback after serving his prison term for masterminding a dog‐fighting ring was perhaps the most
significant story of the 2010 NFL season. After beginning the season suspended for 4 games after being
charged with sexual assault for the second time in the recent past, Roethlisberger led the Pittsburgh Steelers
to the Super Bowl. This led many pundits to discuss the possibilities of redemption for Big Ben should he and
the Steelers win the Super Bowl. Both Vick’s and Roethlisberger’s comebacks thus placed dog‐fighting, sexual
assault, and the power of celebrity front and center in the spotlight of the NFL playoffs. Whether or not
audiences buy into the possibility of either Quarterback “redeeming” this social transgressions through their
play on the football field would seem to clearly implicate their broader treatment of animal abuse and sexual
assault.
16
Fintz 2009
17
Bloom & Willard (2002), p. 2. Of course, as Bloom and Willard point out, Jackie Robinson never could have
broken the color line if “the organizers, managers, and players of major league baseball had not decided to
discriminate against African Americans in the first place.”
18
Walker (2007), Ogden (2007)
19
See Miller & Shepherd (2004): “bloggers seem to agree that content is the most important feature of a blog”
p. 5
12
they present themselves in authorship and reader responses on baseball blogs. First, I will
seek to develop a genre analysis
20
of baseball blogs in order to provide a functional
taxonomy of the field. Such a taxonomy maps the transformation of the baseball‐argument
genre in its digital forms, as well as maps the possibilities for social action. Second, I will
trace fan culture(s)
21
constructed across various team blogs to evaluate what baseball fan
culture suggests about contemporary theories of civic participation. These purposes should
be viewed as interrelated projects, rather than distinct strands of research. Fan engagement
in baseball arguments on these sites is simultaneously a body of performances of fandom
and (re)constructions of what baseball talk is/means/does. That is to say, reader
participation on blogs is a similar move to the act of fans creating their own blogs – both
rearticulate the genre of online baseball talk through their fandom. Thus, genre articulation
and fan participation are inseparable in that both are constructing in these same interactive
spaces.
20
Genre analysis here follows the traditional notion of Genre Criticism in rhetorical theory, such as the works
of Campbell & Jamieson (1978), Miller (1984), Swales (1990), and Miller 2004 would suggest, although here it
will need to be slightly altered to accommodate the format of blogs as well as the heavy influence of reader
response. Fairclough 2003 provides a solid foundation for deploying genre analysis under these conditions.
21
The theoretical grounding for my understanding of fan culture emerges from the fan studies literature,
where seminal texts cited typically include Jenkins (1992), Bacon‐Smith (1992), Hills (2002), and Baym (2000)
among others. Ranging from content regarding soap operas to science fiction to football, these studies
typically begin with the notion that fans are active agents in their consumption of media, rebutting
assumptions in earlier studies that fans were simply passive recipients of whatever messages the media
produced. For instance, Jenkins’ fan communities that (re)write Star Trek fan fiction to illustrate the capacity
for fans to actively (re)produce the very objects of their fandom. Fan culture studies further seek to
understand both how and why fans choose to participate in their communities of fans. Indeed, in Convergence
Culture, Jenkins (2006) suggests that we ought to consider the shift to consuming media content across many
platforms a form of “communal media.” Here, Jenkins argues that we are witnessing a shift in consumer
culture, where fans pursue their interests across a wide spectrum of media. Similarly, this dissertation will
examine fan cultures in the particular contexts of specific baseball teams in the blogosphere. The baseball
blogosphere is experiencing precisely this convergence of new and old media, where fans watch games and
sports programming, while following players and columnists on Twitter, and reading their favorite blogs,
whether they are provided by fans, journalists, or the teams themselves.
13
As this study resides at the edges of generic criticism and fan studies literature, a
word about the conceptual ties between these fields and this dissertation is in order. First,
the evolution of genre analysis demands some explanation to demonstrate the theory is an
appropriate fit to the study of baseball blogs. According to Lynn Miller, generic criticism
seeks to move beyond the substance and the form of discourse to focus “on the action it is
used to accomplish” (Miller, 1984, p. 151). In this way, the genre study is valuable not for
the taxonomy it creates, but instead, for its emphasis on “social and historical aspects of
rhetoric that other perspectives” cannot capture (p. 151). Swales (1990) adds an important
element that genres are tools utilized by discourse communities to construct expectations –
genres are products of communities rather than individuals. Miller (1994) highlights this
move to community by referring back to the greek polis, establishing that the heart of the
rhetorical construction of community lies in agon – the contest that excites fluid, contested
boundaries between us and them (Miller, 1994, p. 74). These two moves produce a vision of
generic criticism apt for examining baseball blogs – it is the rhetorical participation in the
agon on these sites that is of particular interest in this study.
22
As for fan studies, there is currently little
23
to connect this body of literature to the
study of sport. Even amongst existing studies, none utilize the blogosphere as a place from
22
Miller 2004 and Fairclough 2003 also articulate genre analysis in the specific context of the internet,
worldwide web, digital communication, and the blogosphere. Miller suggests examining the Semantic, Formal,
and Pragmatic Action characteristics of blogs in a generic criticism. Fairclough, alternately, focuses on Activity,
Social Relations, and Communication Technology. Both will be utilized to varying degrees in this study, as
there are significant convergences and divergences that suggest a synthesis might be most productive.
23
Although there are not, as of yet, studies of fan participation and culture in the specific context of MLB
blogs, there are a number of analogous studies of football (soccer for us Americans) fans that lay a solid
analytical foundation for the work to be done in this study. Sandvoss (2003) provides a particularly in‐depth
treatment of football fan studies in A Game of Two Halves. In it, he argues that most studies of football
privilege either the text of the sporting event or the significance of production, while largely ignoring analysis
of the fans themselves. As a result, Sandvoss pursues a direct examination of fans to understand the rise of
14
which to cull data on fan participation in sporting events as this study pursues. However,
the absence of specific, analogous studies of sports fans does not mean that there is no
theoretical grounding for this project. The fan studies literature extends backwards more
than two decades as a field of study, covering fan communities of areas ranging from
science fiction to soap operas. Among these projects, there are a variety of lines of research
that may prove valuable to the study of fan participation within web communities
dedicated to MLB.
24
Writ large, the fan studies literature offers insights into the functioning
of communities of participants that take their deep and abiding interest in television (and
other popular media) programming online in search of others that share those interests. At
its core, then, fan studies as a theoretical body is concerned with precisely the same
interactions and communicative phenomena this study will examine across baseball blogs.
The baseball blogs on which fans perform these digital interactions generally fall into
one of four types: (1) There are team blogs managed by the front office of the individual
particular fan practices, attempting to understand the relationship of fans to an increasingly commodified
sport. Thus, Sandvoss seeks an ethnographic method that can situate fan participation and production in
relation to the “intended” participation producers of the sport seek to induce. Related fan studies topics of
interest in the area of sports include: family participation in British ice‐hockey (Crawford 2002; Crawford
2003), questions regarding the authenticity of female participation in fan communities (Crawford & Gosling
2004; Gosling 2007; Hong 2003; Kim 2004), and, of course, more football studies, especially examining
“hooliganism” (Crawford 2006; Giulianotti 2002; King 2000; Sandvoss 2003; Theodoropoulou 2007).
24
Although not sport related, there are a number of important parallel lines of fan studies that offer
theoretical insights valuable to researching the participation of fans on baseball blogs. For instance, studies of
soap opera fans often emphasize the significance of fans participating on an everyday basis (Harrington &
Bielby 2005b; Scardaville 2005) and suggest that these fans experience higher than average levels of
institutional support (Brooker 2005). Both of these phenomena are present in the case of MLB fans. Another
line of related fan study research revolves around the importance of fan pilgrimages to sacred sites from their
favorite programs (Brooker 2007; Brooker 2005c; Hills 2002; Brooker 2005b; Brooker 2005a). Fans have been
known to travel to Vancouver, B.C., for example, to see buildings and sites filmed in the creation of the long‐
running series The X‐Files. Similarly, baseball fans travel to the sacred stadiums in the game, such as Fenway
Park, Yankee Stadium, and Wrigley Field. Finally, much of the fan studies literature tracks the significance of
the particular online forms that fan communities employ for communication (Rutter & Bryce 2003; Crawford &
Rutter 2007; Hu 2005; Jenkins 2006; Sandvoss 2003). As this study will be comparing the genre of baseball talk
offline to that online, studies discussing the particularities of methods of interactivity fans use to participate
online will be highly valuable.
15
teams, (2) journalist blogs maintained by national sports writers and beat writers, (3) there
are team‐specific blogs written by fans, and (4) there are fan sites devoted to baseball
generally—rather than teams specifically—including those statistically (and sabermetrically)
oriented. Technorati authority, a site that compiles and monitors blogs based on standing &
influence as measured by linkage both to and from, currently counts 934 blogs devoted to
baseball.
25
The same issues and conflicts plaguing debates over civic participation in citizen
journalism are present in this segment of the sports blogosphere: bloggers seek to gain
access, demand accountability from beat writers, and purport to provide better fact
checking than the mainstream media. Professional journalists denounce bloggers’ expertise,
deride them for following stats instead of watching the games, and simultaneously embark
on their own blogs. As the number of baseball and other blogs continues to escalate so too
will these conflicts. Moreover, fan engagement with blogs shapes consumption of Major
League Baseball. Thus, scholars need to examine the content of fan involvement and the
theory of communication. Relationships between authors and readers are growing. While
this project does not attempt to explain all blogosphere participation by proxy, the
reemergence of these (and other) issues on baseball blogs suggests that this microcosm of
the blogosphere ought to be examined with an eye toward understanding the genre of the
blog and how it relates to social action.
25
Technorati Media n.d.b
16
Why study baseball blogs?
Online media represent the vast frontier of communication and journalism research.
Communication technology in these venues continues to move at a rapid pace. A quick
glance at social media sufficiently highlights the speed of change to these communication
avenues. The social media market offers an incredible number of software platforms for
consumers to stay connected: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and FourSquare are
just a few of the more popular examples. Major League Baseball is aware of these trends,
and capitalizes with its own social media presence, including a Twitter feed and an array of
Facebook pages (covering each MLB team). The explosion of online coverage is certainly not
limited to social media ‐ in recent years MLB has produced applications for the iPhone as
well as Windows and Android based operating systems on cellular phones. As these online
communication technologies rapidly proliferate, so should research. Whether or not new
software platforms prove to be short‐lived, each represents significant opportunity for fans
to alter methods of communication, making expanded inquiry necessary.
26
Little work has been done on the specific manifestations of blogs in the world of
baseball. Ample work has been undertaken to lay the foundation for this study of media
blogs and fan blogs, some even oriented towards sports.
27
Each chapter looks at fan
communication and culture as constructed on media and fan blogs. Ongoing expansion of
news coverage in the blogosphere has predictably led the established media to adopt blogs
26
This is precisely Jenkins’ point in Convergence Culture: convergence is not simply a technological fact or
outcome. Instead, it implicates how readers (or viewers) alter their participation across different forms of
media. The explosion of blogs covering baseball teams offers dramatically more choices and entry points for
consumers, and this study will endeavor to reveal what these strategic choices in participation yield in terms
of fandom (Jenkins 2006).
27
Miller 2004; Boyle 2009; Chin & Hills 2008; Domingo & Heinonen 2008; Xenos 2008; Schultz & Sheffer 2008
17
as part of regularly scheduled programming. Schultz and Sheffer note
28
that many
newspapers now require columnists and journalists to maintain blogs on the company’s
website. While journalist bloggers are largely resistant to making behavioral or writing‐style
changes to accommodate the open, participatory nature of blogs, Schultz and Sheffer
nevertheless note the importance of “journalist blogging” as a particular class of blogs
worthy of study. Others call for expanded investigation of the relationship between blogs
and journalism.
29
This dissertation heeds these calls by analyzing, first, the modes of
participation on media blogs and, second, comparing these responses to participation on
fan blogs.
In the past four years, much has been written in about the massive growth in sports
blogging and what it might mean for sports and for communication. Just as political news
has moved to incorporate digital media, such as blogs, into its regular repertoire, traditional
sources of sports news have been forced to adapt.
30
A great example is the launching of
ESPN’s SportsNation – a television program that asks viewers to respond to questions on its
website, recaps audience votes that take place throughout the day or week, and generally
uses Web 2.0 features to gather audience participation.
31
Many consider the uptick in
interest in sports blogs to be tied to a shift from linear communication transmission to
interactive participation with fans and consumers.
32
Following this line of thought, Poole
reminds us that some of the greatest news writers found their home in sports writing.
33
He
28
Schultz & Sheffer 2007
29
Domingo and Heinonen 2008
30
Boyle 2009; Hutchins and Rowe 2009
31
Weintraub 2009
32
Hutchins and Rowe 2009, Schultz and Sheffer 2007, Boyle 2009
33
Poole 2009
18
argues that the growth in consumer participation on blogs, coupled with a decline in
following sports news in print media offers a challenge and an opportunity for the
mainstream media to make itself relevant again by tackling the very content and grand
ideas that are making sports blogs gain so rapidly in followers.
Media transmitters of sports and sports news are not the only ones forced to adapt
to changing conditions in digital transmission. Boyle
34
suggests that this new age of
information has increased the available options for consumers of sport so much that the
professional sports leagues and franchises have been forced to respond or be left behind.
While the National Hockey League opted to create its own YouTube channel to push video
content to fans, several leagues have gone the opposite direction, clamping down as
restrictively as possible on any dissemination of game footage. This restrictive impulse has
even produced tension between traditional media purveyors of sport and the sports
leagues themselves. Hutchins and Rowe
35
analyze the growing conflicts between the
media’s and sports’ responses to the digital age, conflicts that led the Australian
government to create a political forum to deliberate over the meaning of sports news and
exclusive broadcast rights under these new media conditions. They conclude that
retransmission of telecast sporting events will produce greater conflicts in the future both in
volume and intensity.
Media participation in the blogosphere portends other potential problems as well.
Tiano has argued
36
persuasively that media sports blogs can be categorized into two distinct
34
Boyle 2009
35
Hutchins and Rowe 2010
36
Tiano 2009
19
types of coverage: informational and investigative. Informational refers to content that
reports what transpired on and off the field, content that is directly applicable to the
sporting event. In the case of investigative sports reporting, he refers to stories that reach
beyond the boxscore to find a “scandal” that will shock the audience. Taking cues from
investigative political reporting, Tiano argues that ESPN, for instance, cares much more
about making a splash to get viewers than to include content that fans desire. He concludes
that huge volumes of information on the internet combine with scandal to leave fans with
no well‐written or interesting information, much less access to their favorite teams. Chin &
Hills
37
suggest that the media blogs serve a third function: that of promotional or public
relations tool. As such, they argue that this form of media blogging may demotivate citizen
participation in the format, when compared to participation in non‐journalist blogs.
In addition to media blogs, the chapters tracing fan cultures for the Mariners,
Cardinals, and Phillies will also pursue fan‐created and maintained blogs. However, it is
important to note that the distinction between fan and media blogs is more tenuous than it
might first appear. Rather, as Domingo & Heinon
38
argue, blogs are shaped along a
continuum ranging from highly institutionalized in the media to those with little or no
established ties. For instance, this study analyzes Rob Neyers’ Sweetspot (media) blog as
part of the ESPN network and Lookout Landing’s (fan) blog as two discrete types of blogs;
even though Lookout Landing is also hosted by the larger SB Nation website, which
positions it much closer to Neyer’s blog, institutionally, than the individually run Section 331
(Mariners’ fan site). Of course, this continuum works in the opposite direction as well. If a
37
Chin & Hills 2008
38
Domingo & Heinonen 2008
20
mainstream media author like Neyer wanted to characterize Lookout Landing as a
“stathead” site that had no credibility, he would have to ignore flatly the institutional ties
the site has developed (both with SB Nation and through its participation in other pages).
This notion of a continuum between media and fan blogs is a significant one, given
tendency in traditional, mainstream press to suggest that sports bloggers don’t watch the
games, but simply read the stats and write about them from their “parents’ basements.”
Renowned sports‐writer and TV broadcaster Bob Costas referred to bloggers as “pathetic
get‐a‐life losers” and suggested that reading blogs is akin to listening to what “a cab driver”
thinks about sports.
39
Zirin argues that many top sports writers make similar statements
about blogging, highlighting Buzz Bissinger’s tirade against Deadspin.com and sports
blogging on Costas Live. Hutchins and Rowe
40
tie this phenomenon to the reality that digital
sports media are pushing us toward a world of plentiful choices for fans to find their sports
information. As the options expand, the cult of personality enjoyed by famous broadcasters
such as Costas or Joe Buck will steadily decline. Fans are able to tune them out in favor of
commentary they prefer, whatever the reasons for those preferences may be. Indeed,
Schultz and Sheffer
41
believe that the choices new media offer to fans are everything when
it comes to fandom and participation in sport. Thus, conflict between journalists, bloggers,
and readers may manifest as communication controversies centered around control.
Control is just one of the prominent themes in three recent studies of blogs in the
world of sports. For instance, in a study of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals from Germany,
39
Zirin 2008
40
Hutchins and Rowe 2009
41
Schultz and Sheffer 2008
21
Dart
42
examines many categories of blog sites, “including independent bloggers, bloggers
using football‐themed Web sites, and blogs hosted on corporate‐sponsored platforms” and
concludes that corporate sites essentially won the day, controlling the dominant messages
of the cup. Chua
43
looked at several virtual communities, explaining the emergence of
silencing speech in these communities. He finds that collective identities frequently emerge
within the larger collective identity of a particular community – prompting silencing speech
as a mechanism to prevent noise from derailing the virtual community’s reason for
existence. Sanderson
44
examined a slightly different aspect of community when he
reviewed 514 reader comments on Curt Schilling’s blog. Analyzing audience responses to
posts in which Schilling attacked sports writers and issued an apology for criticizing Barry
Bonds on air, Sanderson concluded that Schilling’s readers constituted a support group that
collectively affirmed his identity as a legitimate sports critic. Sanderson’s study offers a
specific example of the type of content analysis this dissertation will pursue.
Sanderson’s work also highlights another baseball blog theme that figures
prominently in this study: a significant focus on statistics. In particular, the inception of
sabermetrics provides a new wrinkle in these baseball calculations, as the field established
new measurements of the effectiveness of hitters and pitchers, which are most notable for
normalizing player performances to account for any number of factors that might cause
discrepancies.
45
Furthermore, these advanced statistical analyses include measures of
player’s contributions to their team’s wins, by establishing a formulaic relationship between
42
Dart 2009
43
Chua 2005
44
Sanderson 2010
45
Differences such as home ballpark dimensions, pitchers faced, weather, strength of schedule, etc.
22
runs scored or runs created and team wins. By doing so, Bill James was able to create a
rudimentary (at the time; it is now very finely tuned) balance sheet to establish player
values. In later analyses, these player values have been used to calculate the value of
purchasing wins with dollars, which allows anyone with solid statistical skills to establish
how much free agents ought to be paid, how much value a team is making by paying young
players below‐free‐market contracts, and how many wins a team is likely to produce in a
given season.
James’ individual history may also illustrate an additional evolution of fan interest in
the game: the desire to individually influence the game that they love so much. James
began by printing what he called the Baseball Abstract in 1977—he offered copies for sale
through a small advertisement in the Sporting News.
46
He continued to crank out these
abstracts each year, publishing them himself, and winning admiration by a small, but
growing community of baseball fans. Fast forward 25 years, and James was hired by the
Boston Red Sox after the 2002 season, shortly after the Oakland Athletics $60 million team
reached the playoffs and inspired Moneyball. In the next 5 years, the Red Sox would win 2
World Series titles. While James would be the first to say that he had nothing to do with the
championships,
47
admirers have long associated the two. Nevertheless, James’ story might
be an American dream of sorts for baseball fans who would love to create a career for
46
He sold 75 copies at $4 each for a book that was 80 pages in length. See Okrent 1981.
47
Posnanski 2012
23
themselves in MLB. Even if they never reach a consulting position with an MLB team, these
fans are clearly seeking to influence their team and the game in any way that they might.
48
At the same time that sabermetric analyses have risen in popularity, the relationship
between fans and journalists have continued to evolve. On the one hand, the media
through which fans may consume the games changed radically over the lifespan of the
sport. While fans could only see the games live in the earliest era (1880s), new modes of
consumption appeared every few decades. Newspapers became the first alternate avenue
for fans to follow teams, publishing box scores from each game in each morning’s edition.
Not long after the emergence of mass radio, baseball teams began hiring play‐by‐play
broadcasters to describe the games in real‐time, allowing fans to follow the games live.
With the advent of television, fans were spoiled by a new, more comprehensive way of
capturing the games without attending in person. Several decades later, MLB developed
MLB.tv to take advantage of the internet, offering fans the opportunity to watch any game,
in any market.
On the other hand, fans’ increasing methods of obtaining live or archived game
stories has been matched by an increasing number of alternate avenues to retrieve
information about their favorite teams. While beat writers were the sole source of access to
MLB teams in the earliest days of print media, the advent of radio, TV, and the internet
provided alternate sources of baseball content, to differing degrees. Radio offered sports
talk programs where fans could call in to ask question. Television offered 24 hour sports
48
Fans have long sought to influence their favorite teams, believing that they can manage more effectively
than the owner, GM, or manager. Online forums in which fans can post their analyses provides greater hope
that they may fulfill these dreams. See Stein 2005, p. 188‐192.
24
news network programming that could cover games in more depth. The internet, in turn,
exploded the number of sources to the point fans may find content on hundreds of pages.
49
All of these changes in media lessen the dependence of fans on beat writers. These
journalists must now compete with the plethora of available baseball sources that fans can
read. Appeals to authoritative journalism mean little in an era where fans seek up to the
minute information and find it readily available on other sites. While beat writers
maintained the greatest level of access to teams for a long time, even this norm is changing.
Bloggers receive invitations to press boxes at games much more frequently now than at any
time in the past.
50
Teams appear to be following the axiom that all press is good press, as
they lean on bloggers to fulfill fans’ desire for ever more team related content.
Finally, then, the study of fan culture on blogs targets teams’ abilities to stimulate
interest and create a genuine market for their on‐ and off‐field products. Buchanan and
Luck
51
surveyed sports organizations to discover if they were communicating with their
stakeholders and, if so, how. Stakeholders were surveyed to determine how they wished to
receive communication from the franchise. Not surprisingly, stakeholders want more use of
new social media and teams are reluctant to do so, given fiscal constraints. In a separate
study,
52
the authors lament the lack of new media being used by teams to communicate
with the public as well as their stakeholders. Specifically, they theorize that greater use of
Blogs and SMS (texting), and MMS (video or picture messages) would greatly enhance
sports franchises’ abilities to stimulate interest.
49
Stein 2005
50
Stein 2005
51
Buchanan and Luck 2008b
52
Buchanan and Luck 2008a
25
The preceding brief review of contemporary studies on blogs suggests the
possibilities of inquiry need to be pushed forward. On the one hand, sports have largely
been underrepresented in the current conversation about blogs. On the other, the few
studies that have been done treat all sports blogging as a monolithic enterprise – one that
ignores the specific textures of teams, leagues, and particular brands of sport. Many are
global in scope or purely foreign, leaving analysis of US sports blogging further
underdeveloped. There are also numerous communicative conflicts generated by the rapid
explosion of blogs, including territorial controversies marking the blogger‐journalist divide
and the media‐team divide.
Procedures
The research objectives of this study are to show the blogosphere expands upon
traditional sports controversies in ways that maintain and reconfigure the baseball talk
genre and sports culture(s). The first objective is to map the genre of baseball talk on blogs
– especially those with significant readership. Douglas Fairclough suggests that the
important questions scholars can ask about given genres include: what are people doing
(Activity)?, what are the social relations between them (Social Relations)?, and what
communication technology, if any, does their activity depend on (Communication
Technology). This study pursues these questions in order to specify the genre of digital
baseball talk. The second research objective is to uncover the ways that baseball fandom is
constituted within online coverage and media. Pursuing this objective requires documenting
the issues and arguments that routinely appear in the segment of the blogosphere
26
dedicated to baseball fan‐dom. While there are many fans of baseball, most are fans of
specific teams, first, and fans of the game, second. As such, this study investigates virtual
communities for specific teams
53
: The Seattle Mariners, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the
Philadelphia Phillies.
The first research purpose of this dissertation is to identify and analyze the genre of
baseball talk as manifest in blogs that follow the sport. In order to do so, the project will
examine blogs dedicated to these three teams during the 2011 baseball season, beginning
just after the conclusion of the 2010 World Series and continuing up to the conclusion of
the subsequent championship. This allows comparative analysis of both the form and
content of the blogs themselves, while also facilitating discussion of similarities and
differences of fan participation among the teams’ fan bases (this is especially interesting
and useful given the significant reversals that may take place in a team’s fortunes from year
to year). In order to identify the genre of baseball talk and analyze the contributions of
blogs and fans to the genre, there are four aspects of genre that I pursue in particular:
semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements.
54
53
Examining specific teams also provides additional theoretical in‐roads in the fan studies literature. Gray’s
work (2003; 2005) on Anti‐Fans and Anti‐Fandom is particularly interesting in the context of sports studies
such as the one pursued here. Gray advances an atomistic model of fandom, positing “close readers” as the
neutrons, “fans” as the protons (positively charged towards the object/artifact), and “antifans” as the
electrons (negatively charged), while “nonfans” are altogether disinterested (if they even are aware of the
object/artifact). Given the significant place of rivalry in MLB (Dodgers‐Giants, Yankees‐Red Sox, etc.), the
positioning of fans and antifans should offer invaluable insights into the functioning of fan texts accessed in
this study. Indeed, Theodoropoulou (2007) pursues this line of inquiry in regards to two Greek football clubs
(Panathinaikos Athletic Group and Olympiakos Fun Club of Piraeus), concluding that fans of PAO are anti‐fans
of OSFP and vice versa. Thus, fans and anti‐fans may be understood as are binary opposites, each driven by
extreme antagonism against the other club. Further theoretical reflections on and expansions of anti‐fandom
may be found in Alters (2007) and Harrington & Bielby (2005).
54
Miller & Shepherd 2009 suggest that the starting point for any Genre Analysis of the blogosphere ought to
begin from the premise that the blog does not constitute a genre but a technology and a medium. This
foundation further provides that such analysis must identify specific sub‐groupings of blogs with similar formal
27
Semantic features refers to the formal features of the blogs, including the standard
elements that readers expect to find on any given blog: such as dates, time stamps, reverse
chronological order listing of posts, and comment sections. While many of these features
are standardized and even believed to be universal, statistics suggest that many formal
features of blogs are, in fact, quite distinct.
55
The syntactic features of these blogs may be
related to both the specific construction of the genre of baseball talk taking place on the
particular websites as well as the degree, volume, and tenor of fan participation on those
particular sites. Thus, analysis of the semantic features should provide useful insight for
generic analysis.
Topics refers to the process of identifying the loci of representation and issues that
these team‐dedicated blogs choose to pursue, as well as which topics invite commenters.
The topics are significant because, as Miller notes, “Almost across the board, bloggers seem
to agree that content is the most important feature of a blog.”
56
In most cases, topics are
constituted by league‐wide and team‐specific news the blogs originate, transmit, or pickup.
They also provide insight into the type and style of engagement that the blog intends to
make in the baseball community. Heavily statistically oriented posts, for instance, tend to
locate a blog in a different slice of the baseball talk genre than a blog dedicated to team
features and content to determine the existence of and extent of a genre (see also Herring et al 2004). Miller
& Shepherd 2004 further establish the significance of tying the content of blogs to the pragmatic social action
context in which the blog appears. In the setting of baseball blogs, this means analysis of blog posts and
comments should be tied to the specific context of the team for that season (see also Fairclough 2003). Finally,
Genre Analysis in the age of the blogosphere has challenged the traditional notion that genres are stable –
indeed, genres in online media now seem to be characterized by change (Giltrow & Stein 2009).
55
Miller & Shepherd 2004, p. 7
56
Ibid, p. 5
28
news. This potential sub‐genre, then, highlights the necessity of including analysis of topics
in a genre‐based method for baseball talk.
This dissertation’s examination in tone traces the particular attitudes that the
bloggers and participants take towards one another in their posts. There are a variety of
expected tones at work throughout any particular blog. Posts and respondents may be
argumentative, defensive, sarcastic, matter of fact, condescending, dismissive, angry, rude,
and belligerent, just to name a few. The interest in tone here reflects the belief that, even
though this is text‐based media, fans may communicate meaningful information about their
state of mind in the blog format. Examining the tone of the posts and comments should add
to the information available about the construction of fan culture through affect that
courses through the team‐dedicated websites. If these sites are really generating fan
culture through their participation, then specific tones ought to recur in similar patterns.
Arousal and satisfaction refers to the process by which blogs and commenters
generate interest in particular topics, teams, and players such that fans expect a particular
payoff. For instance, a blog might run through a detailed analysis of statistics to argue that
Jeff Francouer will have a breakout season for the Royals in 2011, creating fan expectation
that such a breakout is likely. Whether Francouer succeeds in meeting the projections will
determine the satisfaction of rising expectations from the point of view of the fanbase.
Similarly, news about a team from the blogosphere may generate expectations of improved
player development, better scouting, exceptional pitching, or even poor hitting. Each of
these engages the fans in a particular cycle of participation that may operate as a window
into the culture of the team’s fanbase.
29
The last category of genre to be analyzed in this project is the interactive
engagements amongst and between bloggers and fans. Interactive engagements is the
category under which ongoing arguments will be catalogued. The process of interaction,
including the content of the arguments provided in these forays, is just as interesting as the
norms that blogs and commenters establish regarding the process of communicating. The
generation of these norms simultaneously involves the creation of specific codes regarding
baseball talk. It is the maintenance of fan culture through the construction of participation
rules. These proscriptions and prescriptions governing fan comments, then, establish
specific contexts in which interactive engagements occur. Moreover, the interactive
engagements between website producers and fan purveyors are the primary focus of the
second method of this dissertation: namely, the analysis of sports controversies.
This study is organized around sports controversies that play out in blog posts and
responses as fan commentary. The analysis of sports controversies here presumes that such
conflicts are windows into cultural exchange points where difference becomes engaged to
promote specific identities.
57
A variety of such identity‐difference binaries will be
spotlighted through the course of study: local vs. national, past vs. present, true fan vs.
bandwagon fan, stat‐head vs. casual fan, champions vs. also‐rans, rich (Yankees) vs. poor
(Royals), just to name a few. I posit that blogs offer topics and space for fans to engage in
debates over particular sports controversies and that these engagements construct fan
57
Communication and sociology scholars alike argue that sports function as a microcosm of broader society
(Coakley 2005, p. 21). In particular, sports offer us a window into culture through controversies that reflect
broader social controversies (Fuller 2006, p. 4; Eitzen 2005, p. 5). For instance, repeated controversies in
sports have included gender discrimination (Prettyman & Lampman 2006; Messner 2005a), masculinity
(Messner 2005b; Winslow 2009), racism (Vlasich 2006; Bloom & Willard 2002; Prettyman & Lampman 2006;
Carrington 2010), and class (Kraft & Brummett in Brummett 2009).
30
identities, which break down along the specific lines of binaries such as those mentioned.
Thus, analyzing posts, reactions, and debates over these sports controversies ought to
reveal the particular parameters or boundaries of each team’s fan culture(s).
58
The analysis of the genre of baseball talk and sports controversy is to be explored by
investigating fan participation regarding the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies. The blogs
dedicated to the Mariners: USSMariner, Lookout Landing, Seattle Sports Insider, Geoff
Baker’s Mariner’s blog at the Seattle Times, and the official Seattle Mariners MLB blog. The
blogs dedicated to the St. Louis Cardinals analyzed for Chapter 3 include: Viva El Birdos, The
Cardinal Nation Blog, the official Cardinals MLB blog, and Fungoes. To analyze the online fan
community for the Philadelphia Phillies, the fan blogs included are Crashburn Alley, The
Fightins, PhilliesNation, Beerleaguer, and the official Philadelphia Phillies MLB blog. In
addition to all of these team‐specific blogs, a variety of national baseball blogs, including
fantasy baseball sites, inform this study, such as Fangraphs, the Sports Nation blogs of Rob
Neyer and Jeff Sullivan, and many pages at ESPN, among others.
In each chapter, the study examines the ways that blogs both construct generic
baseball talk elements and fill out the scope of fan culture for each team. Chapter 2 is
dedicated to the Seattle Mariners; Chapter 3 to the St. Louis Cardinals; and Chapter 4 to the
Philadelphia Phillies. In particular, each chapter traces fan comments, arguments, and
rhetoric to uncover the peculiarities associated with fandom in each of these communities.
Each chapter draws conclusions about these localized fan groups, hopefully providing
58
Of course, just because these blogs follow the same teams is no guarantee that one singular fan culture
emerges for any particular team. Indeed, while team‐specific contours emerge, differentiation along the lines
of particular identities within the Cardinal fanbase, for instance, would seem inevitable given that many fans
may not even read blogs. The point is not to establish a homogenous conception of team fan cultures, but
rather to understand the particular cultures that may be created and maintained on these sites.
31
unique insights based on locations and histories. The conclusion of the dissertation, Chapter
5, expands the conclusions drawn in previous chapters to this political and social terrain.
The goal is to discover in what ways fan culture surrounding baseball online might inform
study of genres in the blogosphere, civic participation, and the role of sports in shaping
both. Since the vast majority of blogs are hobbies and do not generate revenue, the
social/civic function that the writers fulfill renders these blogs a particularly valuable site of
study.
While my scholarly interests in this study are extending digital genre and fan studies
theories, my personal stake in the subject matter emerges from a life‐long interest in
baseball. Born and raised in Washington, I’ve always been a Mariners fan. My family lived
quite a long way from Seattle, so attending a game typically meant a trip totaling 7 hours.
Every excursion to see the Mariners play felt like an event. Some of my strongest early
memories are family outings to the Kingdome to see Harold Reynolds, Alex Rodriguez, Edgar
Martinez, Jay Buhner, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey, Jr. As a result, I come to this project
with more personal attachment to the Seattle franchise than either the St. Louis Cardinals
or Philadelphia Phillies.
At the same time, I approach this study with more information about the Seattle
franchise as an avid reader of blogs and online articles about the team. While I share the
desire to read many of these pages about the Mariners, my own interests generally stop
well short of participating in the communities on these sites. Over the past 7 or 8 years, I
have posted responses to baseball blogs only a handful of times. Only twice have I engaged
in any back‐and‐forth series of responses. In the course of this study, I found most of the
32
respondents were repeat posters, suggesting that even amongst the community of readers
for baseball pages, there is a hardcore segment that is not satisfied with their participation
unless it involves public airing of their opinions. So although my fandom is similar in many
respects to those who posted on the blogs I studied, there is also likely a significant gap
between my investment in these communities and the investment of regular posters.
Finally, as an avid and moderately successful fantasy baseball player, my
understanding and treatment of the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies may be different than
those of other fans. Fantasy baseball values very particular statistical measures, which
filters and frames the information that I use to understand the Phillies and Cardinals
players. In contrast, my fantasy pursuits simply add more and different information to the
stockpile of Mariners’ assessments I have from watching games. Without regularly watching
Cardinals and Phillies games (I probably see no more than 10‐20 games of each team per
season), this fantasy lens instead shapes virtually all of my personal information about the
St. Louis and Philadelphia players. All of these particular experiences with fandom inform
my reading and interpretation of the fan comments reviewed throughout this text. These
experiences also suggested to me that anti‐fandom and fantagonism would work most
effectively in analyzing the commentary. The next section will delineate these theories as
well as theories of digital genre employed throughout this project.
Scope and theories
The goal of this study is to develop an understanding of the function of blogs in
baseball fan culture. A project covering the entire system of blogs, of course, is simply
33
impossible. For instance, there are no less than 64 blogs devoted to the Philadelphia
Phillies.
59
Attempting to read all posts related to all thirty teams would undoubtedly be a
never‐ending project. The first mechanism for limiting this study, then, is the restriction of
content and/or sites to those committed to three representative MLB Franchises: the
Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies. These teams were selected
for geographical diversity, variety of divisions and leagues, volume of participation on the
pages, differences in short term and long term success, as well as the specific attributes of
the organizations. Second, each team‐specific chapter of content is limited to a handful of
sites to restrict the volume of content. The blogs selected to pursue Mariners, Cardinals,
and Phillies content were chosen primarily for their volume of fan participation. Third, the
study will cover only the 2011 MLB Season. The dates for study will begin the first day after
the conclusion of the 2010 World Series, concluding with the final day of the 2011 World
Series. Pursuing fan narratives over the course of one specific season should allow for a
wide range of responses while simultaneously providing a sufficiently narrow scope to be
adequately studied.
Selecting the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies assures representation from the West
Coast, Midwest, and the East Coast while at the same time balancing leagues (2 American
League teams, 1 National League) and divisions (1 each from the West, Central, and East).
Although this certainly doesn’t cover every area of the country, it does preserve much
greater coverage than a similar analysis focused on the major markets of the Mets, Yankees,
and Red Sox would. The specific websites selected for each of these teams also draw a great
59
Shafer 2010
34
deal of commenters, providing sources rich (at least in terms of quantity) in material to
analyze. Although selecting a team that appears to have a vibrant blogging community in
place may introduce the risk of selection bias in discussing the community functions of
blogs, the greater risk is that selecting a team with minimal coverage will not provide any
meaningful baseline for analysis. Choosing a team around which a community of blogs has
self‐selected their interest guarantees that the study will be able to address the community
functions of those blogs as the authors fulfill their tasks.
Across these three franchises, there is a great diversity in terms of short and long
term success. The Seattle Mariners are an incredibly young franchise in baseball terms –
while they were founded in 1977, the team is one of two that has never appeared in a
World Series (let alone won the title), and has only 9 winning seasons and 4 playoff
appearances after 35 years.
60
In contrast, The St. Louis Cardinals (founded in 1882) have
more World Series Titles (10) than the Mariners have winning seasons. With 23 playoffs
appearances and over 50 winning seasons, the disparity in historical success between these
two franchises could not be greater.
61
The Phillies’ history offers a middle ground of sorts
between the two teams, with a history as lengthy as the Cardinals’ (Philadelphia’s franchise
started in 1883), but with a substantially smaller history of success. The Phillies have only 2
World Series Titles, 13 Playoff appearances, and 36 Winning seasons.
62
Significantly, the
diversity of these franchises in terms of historical success and geography should adequately
yield different segments of baseball fan culture. Personal experience and anecdotal
60
Baseball reference n.d.g
61
Baseball reference n.d.f
62
Baseball reference n.d.e
35
evidence suggest that both location and success have a great impact on one’s style of
fandom – thus, Cardinals fans are known as intelligent, appreciative fans, while Phillies fans
are thought to be rowdy and prone to boo their own players.
Initial reading suggests that the fan community and blog content of each of these
three franchises recommend study as well. The Seattle Mariners are an interesting case to
follow, given the national prominence of 2 fan blogs: USS Mariner and Lookout Landing.
Authors on both of these sites regularly contribute to national sabermetric websites and
baseball blogs.
63
Their blog posts are also frequently cited in major media blogs, such as Rob
Neyer’s and Buster Olney’s page. Mariners’ Blogs were also selected study because the
Mariners’ blogosphere is extensive and covers each different category of baseball blog that
are of interest to the study. The Mariners’ blogosphere includes author‐less blogs that offer
posting privileges to any registered reader, such as Seattle Sports Insider, and Mariners
Central. Finally, blogs covering the Mariners also include scouting approaches to the game,
such as ProspectInsider.com. Moreover, Mariners’ fans participate in droves on these blogs.
Any happenings in the world of Seattle baseball draw great response. This is particularly
interesting in light of the organization’s mediocre to poor performances since its inception
in 1977. While the Mariners’ do own the league’s best record for a single season (116 in
2001), 2 recent years with over 100 losses, including 2010, suggest it may be a pyrrhic
victory.
Although the Cardinals narrowly missed the playoffs this season, their franchise
offers a stark historical contrast to the Mariners in terms of team success. The incredibly
63
Dave Cameron is a prominent figure at Fangraphs, while Jeff Sullivan is a featured writer at SB Nation.
36
long history of winning baseball in St. Louis suggests that the fanbase there may produce a
very different online culture than the Mariners fans would. This is particularly likely if, as
they say, the Cardinals are the knowledgeable baseball fans around.
64
If nothing else, this is
certainly reflected in the volume of fan participation on Cardinals’ blogs. It’s not uncommon
for Viva El Birdos or Fungoes to receive 100+ comments on a post. This is perhaps
unsurprising, given that the Cardinals are perennial contenders. Thus, analyzing the fan
culture from a franchise accustomed to winning should garner different perspectives than
that of the Mariners’ fans. The Cardinals also had one of the best hitters of all time in Albert
Pujols during the 2011 season and one of the winningest managers ever in Tony La Russa –
a project of this nature ought to capture some of the best that fans have to enjoy.
The Philadelphia Phillies are a good selection to study in the 4th chapter because
their segment of the baseball blogosphere is rapidly growing. One site put together a
March‐madness style bracket of 64 Phillies blogs, highlighting the incredible growth in
interest amongst fans.
65
Confirming this growth, a recent analysis of baseball blog links
concluded that Phillies’s blogs were near the center of contemporary baseball discussions.
66
This may be a direct product of the Phillies recent successful seasons, including their World
Series Championship in 2008 and their World Series appearance the next year in 2009. From
start to finish in the 2011 season, the Phillies were favorites to repeat as NLCS champions
and, for many, to win the World Series again. Tracing fandom for a team that is out in front
of the rest of the league all season adds an element that the study of the Cardinals and
64
Steinberg 2006
65
Shafer 2010
66
Allen 2010
37
Mariners fanbase would not yield during the 2011 season. Although the Cardinals were in
first place in the NL Central during portions of the year, ultimately they did not make the
playoffs. Following a team in Philadelphia also balances out the geographical diversity of the
teams being studied, adding a prominent East Coast media market to the West Coast
Mariners and the Central Cardinals. Finally, it’s interesting to note that before their World
Series title in 2008, the city had not won any professional sports title since 1983. That’s
almost as long the Mariners’ organization has existed. Hopefully, this maintains a fair
balance in fan expectations across the three groups of fan sites or helps to produce
interesting patterns of response that fall upon lines of success.
Given the significance of the New York Yankees in any conversation about baseball,
a brief word about the decision not to include the Yankees blogosphere seems in order. The
Yankees franchise has produced so many more championships (27) than the second place
(10) Cardinals, that the level of fan expectations may be orders of magnitude different than
fans of other franchises. Such an incredible monopoly on the highest levels of success in
MLB could produce a fan culture so radically different than any other franchise that the
insights could be limited significantly. The introduction of the Yankees also inevitably
produces visceral reactions about the horrible or awesome effects of their organization on
all of baseball. This polarized discussion might overwhelm any other potential content
analysis that might be performed. Finally, the Yankees’ vast resources to acquire players
typically produce an attitude amongst fans that they can hire the best player at every
position, every offseason. Given that this attitude is applicable to no other MLB franchises,
it seems highly likely that attempting to compare fan culture across the Yankees and other
38
teams would prove unproductive in a great many ways. Analyzing similarities and
differences across fans of teams that can’t purchase any player they desire appears more
viable in this sense.
Expanding Theoretical Horizons
The cumulative impact of this study should add theoretical insight in at least four
places: first, new theories of genre as they pertain to the internet; second, understanding of
the construction of local cultures; third, this study maps the nature of epideictic, forensic,
and deliberative rhetoric onto the terrain of baseball talk; and, fourth, in assessment of
impact of news and political blogs. This study works through an intermittent stage in the
development of sports transformation from traditional one‐way to digital‐interactive
structures. As such, it carves out a small slice of much broader efforts by scholars to map
communication phenomena, genre, and participation in the digital age.
67
Just as baseball
talk is a genre that is being altered by posts, comments, and interaction on blogs, other
genres are engaging the digital. The insights gleaned about fan cultures using baseball
communities offers the prospects of building a base to examine other digital genres. Indeed,
the blogosphere is so inundated with specific and particular genres that only a series of
specific studies can produce tangible research gains in this regard.
68
Similarly, investigations into sports rhetoric must proceed by way of examinations of
particular discourse of the sports world.
69
Thus, this study pursues only the microcosm of
67
Miller & Shepherd 2004; Giltrow & Stein 2009
68
Miller & Shepherd in Giltrow & Stein 2009 p. 283; Askehave & Nielsen 2005, p. 1
69
Brummet 2009 p. 22.
39
baseball related blogs as they pertain to three specific teams. At the same time, this study’s
approach to understanding the specialized rhetoric of baseball blogs does not remain
isolated from broader inquiry into rhetorical cultures. Indeed, this study demonstrates that
sports offer windows into the process of community building in local culture through
competitive cooperation. In particular, one of the most significant contributions of this
study is the unearthing of the baseball vernacular.
70
The central focus of this study is
squarely on the comments posted by fans, rather than devoting interpretive space to the
lead articles on these sites. Vernacular’s theoretical assumptions make it directly applicable
to the space of baseball talk. As fans engage in conversations about their teams, they
constitute a specific public. The baseball blogs on which fans participate then function as
public spheres for said teams.
Furthermore, my analysis of these publics shares the premise that “public opinion is
fashioned through the dialogue of vernacular talk.”
71
Fans’ opinions are thus not
monolithic, but shaped through participation seeking common understanding on websites
dedicated to enlivening baseball communities. Such a presupposition requires detailed
attention to the specific encounters that prompt fan dialogue on particular controversies—a
task that is pursued throughout this study. If scholars plan to take seriously Gerald Hauser’s
70
Gerald Hauser first proposed vernacular rhetoric as a as an alternate theory of understanding public opinion
(Hauser 1998). In contrast to theories that viewed public opinion as rational deliberation, on the one hand,
and opinion polling, on the other, he argued that public opinion ought to be understood as a process of
formation through discursive practices (85). This move has the benefit of avoiding the assumption that “the
public has formed and has a dominant opinion” (85). Vernacular rhetoric “would stress their organic cycles of
emergence and decline mirrored in…everyday rhetorical exchanges” (85). This theory has been applied to a
number of different communities (Johnstone 2004; Hauser 2008; Hauser 2007), although scholars only
recently imagined vernacular as a vehicle for interpreting online communities (Barton & Lee 2012; Hess 2008;
Howard 2008). The investigation of baseball talk under the rubric of vernacular rhetoric offers an opportunity
to further expand the applicability of this theory in light of the burgeoning growth of fan commentary from
baseball to other high participation fields on the internet.
71
Hauser, 1998, p. 86
40
claim that there is a significant difference between public opinion as dictated by the elite
and the media and public opinion as it is on the ground, then studies like this one that pay
heed to the actual opinions offered by fans, wherever we may find them, are essential in
such a project.
Third, this study establishes a map of epideictic, forensic, and deliberative rhetoric
as they are manifest in baseball talk. By epideictic rhetoric, I refer to moves to praise and
blame players, management, MLB, and other fans. This category also includes fan efforts to
construct counterfactual worlds that would improve their teams. Under the heading
forensic rhetoric, I group those comments that use online communication to unearth and
share historical information about players and teams. The third subunit—deliberative
rhetoric—includes arguments about what are the most advantageous courses of action
available to the team.
72
The bulk of the posts fall in to either the epideictic or deliberative
genres, although deliberative posts often overlap with forensic posts they typically employ
backwards looking statistical claims as evidence.
73
However, forensic rhetoric seeks to
understand why a player or team is performing in a particular way, without offering a
course of action. In this sense, forensic rhetoric has statistical information as its core
72
These categories stem from Aristotle’s claim categorization of the ends of the three genres: “5. The “end” of
each of these is different, and there are three ends for three [species]: for the deliberative speaker [the end] is
the advantageous [sympheron] and the harmful (for someone urging something advises it as the better course
and one dissuading dissuades on the ground that it is worse), and he includes other factors as incidental:
whether it is just or unjust, or honorable or disgraceful; for those speaking in the law courts [the end] is the
honorable [kalon] and the shameful, and these speakers bring up other considerations in reference to these
qualities.” For epideictic rhetoric, the end is praise and blame of the current state of affairs. Kennedy 1991, p.
48‐49.
73
In the strictest sense, statistics as a whole are backwards looking and have no ability to predict the future.
However, this does not prevent fans from using statistics to justify their beliefs in future performance and
optimal roster constructions. Modern advanced metrics also attempt to predict future performance on the
basis of statistics, further blurring the boundaries between forensic and deliberative rhetoric in baseball
communication.
41
purpose, while deliberative rhetoric places persuasion at the center. By mapping baseball
talk onto these traditional Aristotelian categories, this study begins the process of
identifying more specific processes through which fans seek to communicate opinions
about the game, their teams, and themselves.
Finally, the investigation of blog as genre puts into play fan cultures participating in
sports controversies. This may aid in theory construction regarding news and political blogs
which, too, find controversy a generative source. As suggested earlier, sports frequently
function as a microcosm of broader societal trends.
74
In the case of baseball, there is great
reason to believe that controversies surrounding the explosion of baseball blogs (by
journalists as well as fans) mirror significant debates in political news. Many of the same
divisive debates that split the traditional media and bloggers in their respective coverage of
the news also appear in relation to sports coverage. Accountability, for instance, is a theme
that repeats across both spheres. Bloggers of both political and baseball tilts believe they
have an obligation to hold journalists accountable doing further research to confirm or deny
what is being reported.
75
Debates over access are also prominent in both baseball and
political blogs: Bloggers want journalists to ask more demanding questions and provide
more thorough relays of information since they have access.
76
On the flip side, journalists
often rebuke bloggers precisely because they lack access to people involved (politics or
sports) to support claims. The notion that bloggers are shut‐ins working from their parents’
74
In the case of sports and politics, Whannel 2008 suggests two reasons to believe that sports may directly
implicate politics. For one, politics functions much like a team sport, rather than individual achievements. The
values of teamwork, organization, and hard work taught in youth sports are the same values that govern
politics. For another, political affiliations, like sports and popular culture, must be discovered through social
interactions.
75
Miller & Shepherd in Giltrow & Stein 2009
76
Ibid p. 276; McCauliff 2001
42
basement is a claim that these digital dedicants never have to be held accountable for what
they choose to write.
77
77
Hutchins and Rowe 2009; Fisher 2006
43
Chapter 2: The Seattle Mariners
Background
The Seattle Mariners organization is one of the youngest in Major League Baseball.
The team was founded in 1977 during a round of league expansion, which included the
Toronto Blue Jays. While this makes both teams 35 years old at this point, only four teams
have been added to the league since: the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies in 1993 and
the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998. As one of the six youngest
franchises in the sport, then, the Mariners presumably lack many of the traditions and
legacies of popular, storied franchises, such as the Yankees and Dodgers. Indeed, during the
franchise’s 35 years in MLB, the team has appeared in the playoffs only four times, and is
one of two teams to have never played in a World Series (The Montreal Expos/Washington
Nationals franchise being the other). In terms of both longevity and peak success, the
Mariners rank among the league’s least successful franchises to date, despite its record
tying 116 win season in 2001, despite drafting Ken Griffey, Jr. and Alex Rodriguez, and
despite producing the game’s best Designated Hitter to date in Edgar Martinez. The
Mariners’ franchise is even responsible for drafting the highest number of currently active
major league players at this time of this writing.
78
Since the remarkable 2001 season that
saw the Mariners eclipse the 1998 Yankees’ record for the most games won in a single
season, the team has finished last in its division 7 out of 11 years, including the 2011 season
studied here and the subsequent season.
78
Schoenfield 2012
44
If the Seattle Mariners have produced such a historically bad record, why then
should they be subject to examination as part of this study? For one, the city remains a
major baseball media market, as one of only a handful of cities that has drawn 3 million
baseball fans to the ballpark in a single season.
79
While this attendance record came at the
height of the team’s success in 2001, the adherence of so many fans despite such a terrible
record of ineptitude suggests that Mariners’ fans and blogs ought to be a productive
counterpoint to the record of incredible success offered by the example of the St. Louis
Cardinals. There are intuitive reasons to believe that winning franchises attract more fans,
but the fierce loyalty of fans that flock to a losing franchise may prove more fruitful for
analyzing how fandom works in baseball than simply following fans that jump on the
bandwagon when their team wins. Finally, two of the blogs in Seattle are prominently tied
to the rest of the baseball blogosphere by virtue of their high profile writers: Dave Cameron
of USS Mariner also writes for Fangraphs while Jeff Sullivan of LookoutLanding also writes
for SB Nation’s baseball section. As a result, the commenters are occupying a fairly central
place in the overall blogosphere by virtue of commenting on Mariners specific sites.
80
Before delving into the commentary on Seattle Mariners blogs, a word about the
mechanism for the study is in order. As discussed in the introductory chapter, the nuts and
bolts of this study are an examination of the ways that individuals participate in chatter
about baseball on blogs dedicated to the sport. Toward that end, this chapter will trace
patterns through fan comments pertinent to the 2011 Mariners season, beginning on
November 1
st
, 2010, just after the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series,
79
Knight 2006; SafeCo drew 3 million fans in a season 4 times since its opening in 1999.
80
Allen 2010
45
concluding at the end of the 2011 World Series, won by the St. Louis Cardinals. The study
pursues fan comments on a variety of fan websites (USSMariner, LookoutLanding,
SeattleSportsInsider), the team homepages (Mariners.com), online journalist logs (Geoff
Baker and Larry Stone’s blogs), industry blogs (Fangraphs, SBNation), and fantasy sites
(yahoo.com, espn.com, cbssports.com).
In order to make the data more manageable and to provide an opportunity for
comparison across websites, the investigation is limited to a series of major events and
controversies regarding the Mariners over the course of the 2011 season. While there are
many different controversies at the level of day‐to‐day operations regarding each of the
games, the controversies selected here are a bit broader, departing from minutia such as
the optimal lineups manager Eric Wedge should be deploying. This more expansive
approach to the controversies is taken with an eye toward offering a greater volume of data
on each controversy, on the one hand, and finding themes that fans were generating on
several different blogs simultaneously. The resulting events and controversies are, in order
of appearance in this chapter: the Mariners’ 17 game losing streak, Milton Bradley and Josh
Lueke’s presence on the team, and the passing of MLB Hall of Fame Mariners’ broadcaster
Dave Niehaus. The remainder of this chapter proceeds with a brief look at the Seattle
Mariners’ 2010 season, followed by categorization of each of the controversies, in turn, and
concludes with analysis of the relevant patterns of communication discerned in the baseball
on these sites. The goal is not to provide a conclusive statement about how fans participate,
but rather to offer a discursive map of the many ways that fans choose to participate while
46
simultaneously to compare and contrast the modes of online baseball talk against
traditional baseball arguments conducted offline and pre‐blogs.
Prelude to 2011, the 2010 season
The 2010 season for the Seattle Mariners marked the 2
nd
year of General Manager
Jack Zduriencik’s tenure, and project of systematically rebuilding the team’s depleted farm
system. After his hire in the winter of 2008, “Jack Z” engineered several high profile trades
and the team finished 85‐77 in 2009, a full 24 games better than the previous regime. This
marked turnaround, produced largely through an emphasis on pitching and defense,
offered fans many reasons to be hopeful. The team had drafted a terrific infielder in Dustin
Ackley, each of the trades Jack Z had executed seemed to be working entirely in the
Mariners’ favor, the team brought back icon Ken Griffey, Jr. for a farewell tour, manager
Don Wakamatsu appeared to be a great leader of men, and the rebuilding project seemed
to be paying off dividends much faster than expected. Unfortunately for Mariners’ fans, the
2010 season undermined even the most cautious optimism, as the team cratered to a 100
loss season – the first $100 million payroll team in MLB to ever lose 100 games, in fact.
81
Wakamatsu was fired, Griffey quietly retired just over a month into the season, the players
acquired through trades fell back to earth, and no offense help seemed to be on the way
from the minor leagues.
Exiting the monument to futility that was this season, the Mariners’ organization
abandoned the slogan “Believe Big.” Instead, the 2011 season kicked off in spring training
81
Shea 2008
47
with a vow to be better, and a commitment to competition amongst any (and all) players on
the roster.
82
Expectations, needless to say, were much, much lower to begin the season.
This team wound up winning only a handful more games than the cratering 2010 version of
the Mariners, losing 95 games, 6 games ahead of the 101‐loss Mariners of the previous
season.
83
While the 2010 team had Felix Hernandez’s Cy Young award to trumpet as a silver
lining to an otherwise horrible season, the 2011 version had no such bright spot. Indeed, its
competitive abilities were nationally noted only in reference a 17 game losing streak that
fell four game short of the modern era record for consecutive games lost.
84
Many fans
seemed to remain hopeful that 2011 was the last rebuilding year – a transition year that
would see the team shed a great deal of cash tied up in bad contracts, including those of
Milton Bradley, Carlos Silva, and Jack Wilson.
85
Adding insult to injury, the Mariners’ Hall of
Fame Broadcaster Dave Niehaus, the only television broadcaster the team had employed in
its 34 year existence, passed away just a month after the conclusion of the 2010 season,
sandwiched between two horrifically bad seasons for the franchise and fans.
During a baseball season, fans intuitively identify any number of stasis points for
favorite team (and often for teams other than their own). A star player is injured, a trade is
made (or rejected), a manager is fired, and so on. In the land of sports blogs, these turning
points become obvious talking points for journalists and fan bloggers alike. In turn, fans that
read the commentary concerning these talking points often feel the need to respond. At
this juncture, talking points turn to controversies. These disagreements, bandied about in
82
Stone 2011
83
Baseball reference n.d.g
84
According to MLB, the record is 21 consecutive losses, set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1988 (Gonzalez 2011).
85
Geoff Baker reports that the money owed to these three players totaled $17 million in 2011 – all of which
came off the books at the end of the season (Baker 2011d)
48
the comments of baseball blogs are the entry point employed here to analyze the modes of
fan participation and the social functions of the genre of baseball blogs. In the context of
Seattle, the controversies selected reflect unique characteristics of the Mariners’ 2011
season. The first regards the team’s 17 game losing streak. The second controversy
concerns two of the team’s players’ (alleged) behavioral problems and subsequent calls for
their release. The final dispute concerns the Mariners’ historically bad offense and the call
by fans for the franchise to shell out the money necessary to sign Prince Fielder in 2012.
Each of these controversies occupies a significant space in the blogosphere devoted to the
Seattle Mariners from the conclusion of the 2010 World Series through the end of the 2011
championship.
While the study of controversies
86
found in rhetoric scholarship has not penetrated
fan participation as a distinct subfield, similarities with existing fan theories on soap operas
(as well as others) suggest such a move would be fruitful. For instance, studies of fans of
soap operas have long noted the significance of the daily soap routine.
87
Barring special
circumstances, soaps air new episodes 5 of every 7 days, punctuated by significant turning
points in story lines each Friday. Major League Baseball teams play 162 games over the
course of 6 months, which works out to 5 or 6 games per week. Since these games are
scheduled as 2, 3, or 4 game series against other teams, each week marks 2‐3 rivalries.
Teams also have one or two week long home and away trips. Significant storylines
surrounding the teams frequently develop along these schedule‐related divisions, much as
the soap operas turn on Friday plot twists. These mini‐climaxes in the plotlines share
86
Phillips 1999; Goodnight 2004; Miller 2005; Ono & Sloop 1999
87
Harrington & Bielby 2005; Scardaville 2005
49
essential characteristics with public engagement that forms the basis of the controversy
approach taken here: both mark significant breaks from expected behavior, both function
as stasis points which spawn strong reactions from their viewers, and both spark arguments
amongst fans/viewers.
The similarities of the everyday nature of the viewing habits of soap opera and
baseball fans permit examining whether or not there are concomitant similarities in the
methods, types, and intensities of fan participation. If previous studies of fan participation
on sites dedicated to soap operas are correct in their findings, then holding these as a
baseline should serve as a useful heuristic in measuring to what extent participation on
baseball team sites qualifies as “fan” participation in the sense that existing studies have
typified. While sports “fans” obviously share the moniker with those pursued in the field of
fan participation, the dearth of literature devoted to studying sports fans with these tools
suggests such an intuitive connection still lacks methodological support for the purposes of
drawing academic (or even sociocultural) conclusions. Thus, the deployment of
controversies as specific referent points for interpreting fan culture on baseball blogs
should further serve to explore the applicability of fan participation studies and methods to
sports arenas. After reviewing fan blog posts and comments related to the three Seattle
Mariners controversies (17 game losing streak, problem team members, and signing impact
offensive players), this chapter then turns to an application of genre theory and fan culture
theories to these fan comments.
50
The Controversies
17 game losing streak. As the 2011 MLB calendar turned from June to July, the most
prominent storyline for Seattle was the team’s surprising proximity to the (tied) division
leaders in the AL West. On July 5
th
, the Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics, evening
their record at 43‐43 just past the halfway point of the season (81 games). The Mariners
stood just 2.5 games behind the L.A. Angels and Texas Rangers, a surprising development
for a team that had lost over 100 games just the season before. After 2 one hundred loss
seasons in the previous 3 years, Mariners’ fans were pleased that the team could actually
play meaningful games in a division race in the second half of the season.
88
Beginning the
next day, however, the Mariners would lose 17 consecutive games, dropping their record to
43‐60 and eliminating any chance of playing in any meaningful games in the second half of
the season (let alone making the playoffs), as they now sat 14.5 games behind the first
place Rangers and 19 games behind the Yankees in the Wild Card standings.
89
The Mariners’
losing streak was one for the ages – not only did they set the franchise record for the most
consecutive losses, they approached the all‐time record. Indeed, only 5 teams have had
worse such streaks since baseball divided the NL and AL into divisions in 1969 and the
longest losing streak since 1900 belongs to the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies at 23 games
(Yellon 2011).
As might be expected, such a long stretch of futility did not go unnoticed by fans. As
July wore on, bloggers devoted more and more “ink” to the story, and fan responses
intensified. The most intense discussions (and most frequent fan/commenter posts) were
88
For a good example, see Schoenfield 2011a
89
For July 27, 2011, ESPN.com 2011c
51
devoted to 3 distinct reactions to the streak: one set of reactions focused the blame on
ownership, another distinguished “real” fans from fake, while a third set of reactions
actively rooted for the streak to continue. While each of these response lines is clearly
present across the blogs examined, they were not mutually exclusive. Often, in fact,
reactions would combine some elements of more than one, or see‐saw back and forth
between a couple of different reactions. Nevertheless, the categories prove useful in
assessing the nature of responses to the streak.
During the 2011 Seattle Mariners’ 17 game losing streak, many fans responded to
blog posts and articles by arguing that the team’s ownership was to blame because it
refused to invest more money into the on‐field product. For instance, at the tail end of the
streak one fan wrote:
We can assume with the Ms doing nothing to improve their offense in the off‐
season, nor as the team was making at least the semblance of a run just a few weeks
back, that the powers that be just don't give much of a hoot. They're in it sirictlyfor
the money and as the economy in general is diving even deeper into a morass and as
Nintendo in particular appears to be on the ropes, nothing will get none [done] in
the near future.
90
This particular fans comment proved to be prophetic, as the team indeed invested very little
in signing free agents after the conclusion of the 2011 season – no free agent hitters, and
less than $5 million on relief pitchers, only one of whom actually made the team after
90
Posted by Cookiecrumble (Baker 2011c)
52
spring training.
91
The Nintendo comments are directed at the Mariners’ owner, Nintendo of
America.
92
The majority owner is Hiroshi Yamanuchi, the third president (retired as of 2002)
of Nintendo. Yamauchi had never actually seen the Mariners play – he is represented by
Howard Lincoln of Nintendo of America and Chuck Armstrong (President of the Seattle
Mariners).
In the above quotation, the fan indicts both the willingness of ownership to spend
(“they don’t give much of a hoot”) as well as the impact of the down economy on Nintendo.
The notion that the owners are “in it strictly for the money” is certainly not unique to the
Mariners, or even to baseball. Although baseball is certainly plagued with teams like the
Marlins (both of which has been chastised by MLB for not spending revenue sharing income
on their player salaries
93
), one need only look at the history of Los Angeles Clippers owner,
Donald Sterling, to find clear evidence of owners who are only looking to turn a profit.
94
As
a phenomena that is not unique to the team or the sport, it is possible that fans reacting in
this way are operating from a trained incapacity—that they are pursuing this line of thought
because countless hours of commentary on small market teams has constrained their brains
from thinking about it in another fashion.
95
While the complaint (and the behavior, frankly) that owners are only interested in
making money off the team is widespread throughout professional sports, the particular
91
MLB Trade Rumors has a complete breakdown of the Mariners’ offseason acquisitions (notably, the lack
thereof in this case) (Dierkes 2011a).
92
For a fuller backstory on Hiroshi Yamauchi’s purchase of the team, see Thiel 2012.
93
MLB actually forced the Marlins into an agreement to spend more money on payroll – raising the specter
that low‐payroll teams like the Pirates, Royals, or Rays could be targeted for similar MLB action farther down
the line (Brown 2010).
94
While this has certainly been the general perception for a long time, J.A. Andade’s article cites frustrated
team officials who could not convince Sterling to spend the team’s profits on expensive talents (Adande 2011)
95
Swanson 2010
53
structure of the Mariners’ ownership is unique, and fans often ascribe the team’s failures to
ownership as a result:
We live in a market that doesn't have a competitor till you reach the bay area. That
is huge! Yet we continue to employ Lincoln and Armstrong, two guys who can
remain below sub standard and keep their job let alone get pay raises. We have an
owner who has never attended one game. When you have a team's management be
ok with mediocrity, it really isn't surprising that the club mirrors that effort.
96
This commenter makes several notable points echoed in various spaces. For one, he
highlights the fact that Yamauchi, the majority owner who resides in Japan, has never even
been to a Mariners’ game in person. This holds true today, even after the Mariners opened
the 2012 season with 2 games against the Oakland Athletics held in Japan.
97
The absence of
a visual association between Yamauchi and the team suggests to fans that he (and by
extension the organizational administration) is not emotionally invested in the team’s
success. Indeed, many fans, making this same intuitive connection, have called for someone
like Mark Cuban, the visibly fiery owner of the Dallas Mavericks who appears behind the
bench at every game, to purchase the team.
98
The blaming of ownership reaches beyond Yamauchi to the organizational leaders
that are in residence, and therefore, direct control of the team. Not only do fans blame
Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong for a decade of failure (the Mariners last reached the
96
Posted by Auggie19681330 (Schoenfield 2011b)
97
See Kaduk 2012
98
For instance, in the middle of the losing streak, Bellevue Rob called for Cuban to buy the franchise (Baker
2011c).
54
playoffs in 2001), they blame the organization for continuing to employ (and even give
raises to) both men. As one fan wrote,
My faint hope is someday, somehow, someway somebody in the upper echelons will
finally notice how incompetent Lincoln and Armstrong are and will finally send them
shuffling off in their limos into the unemployment line. Never have I seen an
organization that rewards horrible failure so long or so handsomely.
I think the M's may be a perfect microcosm of what's happened to my wonderful
America.
99
Another fan calls for Lincoln and Armstrong to “show some guts” and fire themselves.
100
Collective sentiment seems to be that the Mariners are a very poorly run organization,
starting at the top with an owner that doesn’t care if the team wins or loses, backed up by
two men in charge of running the team who can’t manage to win the division (or wild card)
once in a decade – in the easiest division in baseball, since the AL West only has 4 teams.
The previous comment also suggests that the organizational failures of the Mariners
are in some way representative of “what’s happened to” America. Presumably, this fan is
alluding to the same phenomena that spurred the Occupy movement: large relative
increases in profits that CEOs and organizational leaders in the United States get even as
they fire and cap the salaries of their workers.
101
Certainly, they seem to be suggesting that,
as a class, people who run organizations are largely failing and being promoted, rather than
99
Posted by Cold Beer Cold Beer (Baker 2011a)
100
Posted by Maoling (Baker 2011b)
101
Blodget 2011
55
fired, just as Lincoln and Armstrong continue to reign in Seattle. One fan connects these
dots quite explicitly:
There really is no reason why this club doesn't have a payroll of $150 million. The
fans would turn out for a winner, allowing management to pay whatever luxury tax
they might have to pay. I tired of the funny commercials, we need to stop being the
lovable losers of the American league and demand more from our team's
management. If it means that stadium only has 5000 in attendance a night, then so
be it. As long as they continue to make money putting no effort into the product
they are selling, what is in it for them to enact any change?
In reality it is time for the Culture of the Pacific Northwest to change. Until that
happens, we will always be mired in a state of mediocrity.
102
Rather than fielding a winning team to raise fans interests, management is perceived to be
luring fans to see a bad product through tricks of advertising. In addition to the “funny
commercials” referenced above, for instance, fans often complain about the hydroplane
races shown on the jumbotron and other such in‐game entertainment as ways to attract
casual fans
103
without having to foot the bill for a contending team. This belief that the
team is committed to drawing fans in the cheapest way possible thus suggests that
management only cares about the financial bottom line.
As a result, this fan concludes that the culture of the fans in Seattle is also to blame –
the culture that suggests baseball fans should tolerate a historically bad team, a terrible
102
Posted by Auggie19681330 (Schoenfield 2011b)
103
The next subsection will endeavor to explain the characteristics that Mariners fans themselves use to
define what it means to be a casual fan (or a real fan, or just a fan). For now, it’s sufficient to note that such a
distinction is used in fan parlance on these websites.
56
management structure that can’t win the division even once in a decade, that continues to
fund such a team by attending games only to have a good time watching hydroplane races
or some such.
104
Here, the fan implicitly compares what it means to be a baseball (although
perhaps they mean to extend it to all sports fandom in the city) fan in Seattle with the same
meaning in other cities and concludes that Mariners’ fans are not demanding enough of
their management. With every dollar fans spend to attend games, they are sanctioning the
terrible process and product management continues to employ. Comments such as these
were certainly not isolated, as the 2010 and 2011 seasons saw a widespread #firenintendo
movement on Twitter.
105
This movement sought to build up a boycott of the team’s home
games until Nintendo sold the franchise. These sentiments certainly spilled over into the
rest of the internet, with calls to fire Nintendo appearing on several blogs.
106
This category of responses, the group of individuals who blames the ownership,
frequently intersects with the second category of responses, those who sought to establish
how “real” fans should respond to the losing streak (and generally the loser status of the
Seattle Mariners over the last decade). One typical response, for instance, blames the
President and CEO, claiming the franchise will “epitomize the word suck” until they do, then
says:
I will still root for this team no matter what because I love the Mariners and I always
have since I was little. I wont payto go to games but Ill watch them and talk/write
104
For a primer on the hydro race controversy, see Zumsteg 2007.
105
For instance, there is a “Twibbon” (short for Twitter Ribbon, designed to digitally replicate the phenomena
of support ribbons like the pink Breast Cancer Ribbons or Yellow Support Our Troops ribbons) for
#FireNintendo on Twitter.
106
The primary location for the fire Nintendo movement is http://firenintendo.wordpress.com/. Periodically
fans post on USS Mariner, LookoutLanding, Geoff Baker’s Mariners Blog, or other blogs with #fireNintendo in
their communication.
57
about them no matter what. The badwagon jumpers all I have to say is peace out. I
will be here in the darkest depths rooting as well as when we see the light again.
Thats what real fans do. Sure we can complain and saywe wont stand for this but I
will never turn my back on them.
107
For BleedPurpleAllDay, being a “real” fan involves many significant elements. First, it means
challenging the ownership’s poor decision making. This includes boycotting the games until
conditions improve (#firenintendo fans would clearly meet this notion of authentic
fandom). Second, it means loyalty to the team, no matter what. If you are a “real” fan, you
will follow and root for the team, no matter how bad it gets. This is distinguished from
bandwagon fans who no longer follow the team since the Mariners lose more often than
not.
Within the same blog post, several commenters pushed back against this notion of
“real” fans boycotting games at Safeco Field. For instance, one poster suggests that if you
“like to watch baseball in person” then you ought to attend the games because staying
away doesn’t indicate “anything to the club.”
108
He concludes that he’ll be attending the
next homestand because “I’m a baseball fan.” This raises an interesting question about
what community or communities fans posting on these sites circulate in. Hillbillybob’s
fandom for baseball in general leads him to ignore the calls for real fans to boycott; he
compares the state of the Mariners to that of his favorite childhood team – the Pirates,
another historically bad franchise – and argues that “The Ms are more frustrating because
they spend money (unlike the Pirates) and seem to have bad luck getting much for it.” By
107
Posted by BleedPurpleAllDay (Baker 2011b)
108
Posted by Hillbillybob (Baker 2011b)
58
putting the struggles, failures, and organizational mismanagement in the larger context of
Major League Baseball, the Mariners don’t look quite as bad – and that positive light that
you can enjoy a baseball game live, in person makes it easy to toss aside the notion that real
fans can’t subsidize the terrible Mariners’ product.
Another commenter challenges this dichotomy between a Mariners’ fan and a
baseball fan explicitly, asking
Real Fans? Isn't a fan just a fan and a basic blanket category of someone who follows
baseball or a particular team? When people put the word "real" in front of it, they
are saying more about themselves than about others.
109
The point here is clearly that fan ought to mean anyone that roots for any team or someone
that generally enjoys the sport of baseball. This commenter seems to believe that general
statements about the relative quality of fans reveals more about the personality and
characteristics of the person that wants to be a real fan than it does about the not real fans.
Mikester77 also argues that the quality of his particular fandom should remain exactly that:
individual and private. He writes, “the whole idea or manipulating thought of others to be
"real" fans just doesn't fathom. I will worry about my own fandom in peace and I wish
others would do the same.” Mikester77 finishes his post by suggesting that all fans should
be discussing their misery at the current plight of the team.
110
This comment reflects the
notion that fans have a relationship with the team – a relationship that can’t be challenged,
altered, judged, or determined by outsiders.
109
Posted by Mikester77 (Baker 2011b)
110
Posted by Mikester77 (Baker 2011b)
59
The relationship implicitly posited in this comment is, ironically, precisely the
sentiment that spawned the original “real fans should boycott” post to which this post was
supposed to respond. The real fans post defines fandom through loyalty to the team of
players, which the fan claims to have developed at a very young age. Mikester77’s response
takes offense at the notion that someone else could claim to judge another fan’s loyalty,
but leaves intact the fundamental premise that loyalty is the primary determinant of
fandom. This sentiment is reflected in all manner of posts, and shouldn’t really be too
surprising. For instance, after one poster suggested they were going to stop following the
team, another challenged them, saying:
You are a miserable sports fan to quit on a team and jump ship after a trade you
didn't like. Can't wait to see you back in an Mariners hat in a few years after
Zduriencik's draft picks finally reach the majors. Tool.
111
While not an unexpected emotional response, the level of vitriol hurled at this fan who
intends to stop watching the Mariners is somewhat curious. Through either jealousy (at the
ability to root for other winning teams until the Ms are good again) or sheer anger that such
a “bandwagoner” could be considered the same level of fan as this poster, the ire is clearly
raised.
To close the circle and tie these real fan comments back to the blaming ownership
discussion, another fan, agreeing with the significance of loyalty to one’s team no matter
how bad things get, suggests that the entire culture in Seattle is to blame:
111
Posted by The Decision (Baker 2011b)
60
Seattle is a bandwagon town, why do you think there are so many Red Sox and
Yankees fans here? Think we had a huge migration of Boston and Seattle folk move
here a few years back? Many baseball fans is Seattle follow whomever is cool at the
moment. From 1996‐2003 that was the M's, but when they started to lose, those
people wondered off to another team. They will be back when the Ms start to win
again by the way, because it is the cool thing to do.
112
Just as we saw in the ownership posts and comments, there is a clear line of thinking that
suggests Seattle is a “bad” town for sports fans. In this strand of the argument, it is the lack
of loyalty to the team that makes the fans inferior to other cities’ fans. Yet, in the case of
the ownership conversation, the problem seemed to be that the fans were supporting the
team, despite its bad ownership and management.
The third category of comments frequently levied in response to the 17 game losing
streak appears to be a radical break from the first two, in the sense that these fan
comments expressed desire to see the team continue to lose games, in order to set the
Major League record for consecutive losses.
113
As one fan succinctly put it, “I want them to
establish a new record for futility. Why be this bad if you are not going to set a record at
it?”
114
After 17 straight losses, the Mariners were stuck in a 3 way tie for 7
th
longest losing
streak in the history of MLB, placing them behind 16 other, longer streaks. Noting that
teams had had streaks of 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, and 24 losses, one fan wrote, “Personally, I
112
Posted by skeetss (Baker 2011 b)
113
Geoff Baker notes that the record for consecutive losses is held by the Cleveland Spiders which lost 24
games in 1899, en route to a 20‐134 total (Baker 2011c).
114
Posted by Cold Beer, Cold Beer (Baker 2011a)
61
think they should go for 22 in a row, as no other team has that number.”
115
The fans that
express this reaction to the losing streak appear to simultaneously be expressing loyalty to
the team, much in the same way that the proponents of the first two types of reactions to
the streak. In this case, the fans that wanted to see the streak extended even longer were
looking to cement the legacy of the 2011 Mariners, even if it was a legacy of infamy. Rather
than fade away as one mediocre season among hundreds, they wanted to see their team
set a memorable record.
At the same time, this particular brand of loyalty, which values legacy of the team
ahead of the success of the team, can trouble even fans that do appreciate the magnitude
of the streak. For instance, one posted comment read:
The losing streak is definately one for the ages.
I would've enjoyed this streak more if this team had more players I couldn't stand. I
wish this streak happened in 2008 (as opposed to the 11‐game one). This team has
players I genuinely enjoy watching so it's been difficult to watch them have to go
through this streak. Still, this streak has been quite fascinating.
116
This fan also has an appreciation of the streak for its value as legacy but, unlike the previous
two posters, struggles more with the fact that the losing streak comes at the expense of
players whom he wants to see succeed as part of his favorite team. In this case, there is
clearly a greater attachment to both victories and the well‐being of the players on the team.
The next section deals with a controversy in which loyalty to the team and to the players
are at odds—and the majority of fans choose the Mariners over the player.
115
Posted by PackBob 7‐26‐11 (Baker 2011c)
116
Posted by ThundaPC (Carruth 2011)
62
Milton Bradley. The second major controversy of the 2011 Seattle Mariners’ season
concerns the calls by many fans for the team to release Milton Bradley. In Bradley’s case,
fans refer to a variety of behaviors – many off field in nature, but many actually take place
on the field as well.
117
Fans posted their opinions about the legal and other troubles for
Milton, with the bulk of the controversy centering around fans that called for him to be
released. In general, those fans that responded to such calls for dismissal did so on the basis
that Bradley could be beneficial to the team. Most of the fan chatter took place in the
offseason, after the conclusion of the 2010 season and before the start of 2011. Seattle
traded for Milton Bradley in the offseason between the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The
Mariners sent a bad contract in the form of Carlos Silva to the Chicago Cubs for the (equally
bad) contract of Milton Bradley. The Mariners needed hitting, the Cubs needed pitching,
and both teams hoped that a change of scenery would lead their new acquisition to clean
up their acts both off and on the field.
118
Both teams would end up disappointed, as the
Cubs released in the latter half of the 2010 season and Bradley was finally released in late
May of the 2011 season.
119
Bradley had a long history of bad image behaviors spanning his career in
professional baseball. For instance, in 2004 Bradley landed in jail for 3 days after driving
away from a traffic stop after a police officer had caught him speeding. Later that year, he
117
A relatively comprehensive, although not exhaustive, list of Bradley’s on and off field troubles prior to being
traded to Seattle is available from Nusbaum 2009. Another extensive list was compiled by the folks at USS
Mariner (Zumsteg 2009)
118
ESPN Chicago’s trade announcement at the time reflects the belief in both cities that the outgoing player
was trash and the incoming player at least had a chance of turning things around given a change of scenery
(ESPN.com 2009a).
119
Silva lasted just one season in Chicago, being released during Spring Training in 2011 (Levine 2011). Milton
Bradley didn’t last much long with Seattle – while he made the 2011 team, he was let go in the middle of May,
less than a third of the way into the season (ESPN.com 2011b).
63
also protested an ejection by throwing baseballs on the field and into the stands. After
landing with the Padres, he managed to tear his ACL in an altercation with his manager and
the umpire.
120
In just his first couple months in Seattle, Bradley made obscene gestures at
an umpire
121
and spent time on the disabled list while attending anger management
classes.
122
Teams continued to tolerate (or at least ignore) these behaviors because Bradley
could flat out hit. In 2008 with the Texas Rangers, for instance, Bradley was selected for the
MLB All‐Star game and finished 17
th
in the American League MVP voting, with the second
highest On‐base‐plus‐slugging percentage in the league.
123
With all of this background in
mind, it’s certainly easy to understand why there might be mixed and controversial
reactions to Bradley, generally. The specific trigger for this instance of controversy
surrounding Bradley under California penal code section 422, which is a felony “criminal
threat.”
124
As a result of this arrest, multiple websites considered Bradley to be a strong
candidate to be released or for the Mariners to void his contract.
125
Indeed, one set of
responses to this arrest was actively hopeful that the incident would be enough for the
Mariners to finally void his contract:
120
Nusbaum 2009; Zumsteg 2009
121
G 2010
122
Milton erupted after being pulled from a game, then asked the team’s front office to help him deal with his
anger (Associated Press 2010b).
123
Baseball reference.com n.d.k
124
Sullivan 2011a
125
U.S.S. Mariner, LookoutLanding, and, later, MLBTradeRumors all had variants of this story, for instance.
64
We're still awaiting more details, but one would think this would finally be enough
to void the rest of his contract. The troubled Bradley is still owed $12 million for the
2011 season…
126
That would be a platinum ‐and‐diamond lining, but its quite unlikely.
127
This fan recognizes, while commenting, that this is likely only a hopeful scenario, with the
likelihood being low. This makes intuitive sense, given that there are no similar cases one
could point to where a player’s contract has been voided for an arrest. Another fan picks up
on precisely this distinction, writing:
The plus side to this is that a player with Bradley's reputation coming into the
contract might be the type of player in which a club would put in a specific clause
regarding felonies. The downside is that if the clause requires a felony conviction to
trigger the void, Bradley can probably get enough continuances to get through most,
if not all of the baseball season.
128
In both cases, it appears the fans have realistic, yet hopeful responses to the news that
Bradley has been arrested.
As expressed by other fans, the impetus for this desire to void Bradley’s contract is
his ineptitude as a hitter. While previous teams (and the Mariners up to this point) had
been willing to overlook Bradley’s behavioral problems, they had done so in the hopes that
they would get a well above average hitter in their lineup. After the 2010 season, the
Mariners probably had no such delusions, as Bradley managed only half a season and
126
Posted by RunningFool (Sullivan 2011a)
127
Posted by Teej (Sullivan 2011a)
128
Posted by trenchtown (Sullivan 2011b)
65
produced at a rate 20% worse than an average hitter.
129
One commenter posted a detailed
breakdown of basic and advanced stats to detail just how far Bradley had fallen as a Major
League Baseball player:
he is not an all star or anything special he didnt even play half a season last year with
a .205/ .292/. .348 slash line , producing a ‐.1 WAR,which is bad and the year before
with the cubs he produced a .257/.292/.348 slash line with a 1.1 WAR oh also a ‐73
UZR for the m's in right and a total OF uzr of .6 again nothing special at all.
130 131 132
133
Not only was his hitting worse with the Mariners in 2010 than with the Cubs in 2009, his
fielding was atrocious in Right Field, while average across all the outfield positions. Granted,
this fan is only tallying numbers from the most recent two seasons, while the Mariners’
trade for Bradley was premised on the hope he could rediscover his 2008 form, but this
129
Bradley had 278 at bats with an OPS+ of 80. OPS+ is a weighted stat that converts a hitters on‐base and
slugging performance to a scale that adjusts for hitting in different eras. 100 on the OPS+ scale marks an
average hitter, 130 OPS+ would be 30% above average and 80, which Bradley had, is 20% below average
(Baseball reference n.d.k). For a primer on OPS+ see Fangraphs n.d.c
130
Posted by jwsox 3‐8‐11 (Dierkes 2011b)
131
The “slash line” numbers referenced here are the player’s batting average / on‐base percentage / slugging
percentage. The batting average is measured by hits divided by at bats. On base percentage divides number of
times on base by plate appearances (including walks, sacrifice flies, and hit by pitches). Slugging percentage
measures the total number of bases touched by the batter, divided by their official at‐bats. Most traditional
statistics would stop at batting average. Advanced statistics prefer on base and slugging percentage to
measure how often players avoid making outs and just how well they drive the ball when they do get hits.
132
WAR refers to Wins Above Replacement. The purpose of this statistic is to measure players through relative
comparison to other players at their specific position. Thus WAR is a measurement of how many wins a player
adds to a ballclub when compared to a completely average player (although this is a calculated, abstract
number rather than a specific player) at that position. WAR includes a measurement of both fielding and
hitting abilities. There are two different websites that track WAR and they are calculated independently from
one another: baseball‐reference.com and Fangraphs.com. Frequently, they are referred to as bWAR or fWAR
as a result.
133
UZR refers to Ultimate Zone Rating. This is a measurement of players’ fielding abilities. It is calculated by a
group of baseball analysts who watch every play of every game and determine whether or not a “hit” should
have been reasonably stopped by the closest fielder. Players gain points for making plays out of their
position’s expected range and lose points for failing to make plays expected to be made by players at their
position. 0 means a completely average fielder at the position in question. Negative numbers mean worse
than average, positive numbers mean better than average.
66
comment provides multiple reasons to believe that Bradley will no longer be an average or
better contributor.
As a result of this recognition, then, many fans saw Bradley’s potential release as an
opportunity to either sign a free agent or give someone from the minor leagues a chance to
prove themselves in the big leagues. Clearly, the thought of a player that could possible
provide better value was enticing to these fans. As one fan wrote, “I'm hoping Bradley
didn't do anything, it's a big misunderstanding and nobody goes to jail. But on the other
hand, it would be neato if the M's suddenly had money to go get another arm for the
rotation or a bench bat.”
134
A slightly different reason for fans to want to be rid of Bradley,
of course, is the multitude of behavioral problems that he repeatedly demonstrated over
his career:
I dont know how well you follow what milton bradley has done in his career inside
and outside the lines ,but milton bradley is a total piece of crap as a baseball player,
as a team mate, and as a human being. So why would you wish the M's to keep that
club house cancer.
1 milton bradley will not have a bounce back year ( he is washed up)
2 the M's would be better trying someone from triple A as their bench player / pinch
hitter
3 what the heck has bradley done now with reguards to the law
4 whatever it is it reflects badly on baseball AND the M's
135
134
Posted by short (Sullivan 2011b)
135
Posted by gunsnascar on (Dierkes 2011b)
67
References to Bradley’s legal troubles, accusations that he was a “clubhouse cancer,” and
general insults were pretty common in these fan reactions. In fact, moral stands were pretty
typical both for general baseball fans discussing Milton Bradley
136
and Mariners fans when
discussing other players, such as Josh Lueke.
137
On the opposite side of the ledger, fans that argued for the team to retain Bradley
largely ignored any sort of moral positioning in favor of hoping Bradley could regain the
form that hitting abilities that he showed earlier in his career. One fan wrote:
yes, he's time and time again proven to the world that he is batshit insane. yes, he's
a proven clubhouse cancer. yes he was a part of the most disappointing baseball
team seattle has ever witnessed. these things we know to be true. We don't know
that he is so finished that he can't be a useful bench player when healthy, which is
why the mariners are most likely going to give him longer than the month of march
to prove that he has a healthy, productive bone left in his body. a hitter's a hitter
even if he's a stupid jerk.
138
Interestingly, the clubhouse cancer argument was more muted that it had been prior to the
2010 season when Bradley was acquired.
139
In the wake of his initial trade, much of the
Seattle (and general baseball) blogosphere was rife with debate over the effects that his
136
Bears1bulls 2010
137
Lueke was acquired from the Texas Rangers during the 2010 season. After the trade, the media discovered
that he had a “no contest” plea in a sexual assault case. There was a large uproar from the Mariners
ownership as well as the fan base that called for Lueke to be let go. For instance, the team’s President, Chuck
Armstrong, told The Seattle Times that he had no knowledge of Lueke’s legal infractions before the team
acquired him from Texas (Baker 2010b). For fan reactions, see LookoutLanding’s post: Sullivan 2010b.
138
Posted by Raymond Schwabacher (Dierkes 2011b)
139
At the time of the trade, USS Mariner suggested that Milton’s past was so terrible, that he even supercedes
the standard debates about how much (if any) chemistry can be measured (Cameron 2009).
68
bad attitude would have on the chemistry of the Seattle team.
140
This prompted, in turn,
responses that chemistry has no effect on teams because there have been no studies that
proved a quantifiable, significant impact.
141
While it is certainly impossible to measure
chemistry, no quantification is necessary to measure the widespread effect of one Dave
Niehaus on the Mariners’ organization and fans. The next section pursues this relationship
in detail.
Dave Niehaus. On November 10, 2010, the voice of the Mariners, Dave Niehaus,
passed away. Niehaus was the broadcaster for Seattle’s televised games since the team’s
inception in 1977. Niehaus’ voice was the medium for fans to engage their team for nearly
5,000 games over 33 years. Not only that, Niehaus had been inducted into the Hall of Fame
just a couple years for his outstanding work as a broadcaster. Fans of baseball lost a
significant piece of the game that day as well. This section analyzes many of the fan
comments on the day of Niehaus’ passing and after the 2011 opening day ceremony that
recognized his years of tireless devotion to the team. Although this is not a controversy in
the strictest sense of the term, it did mark a significant rupture for fans of the franchise.
Niehaus was a big a part of Mariners franchise history as any of the players had ever been—
perhaps more. As the primary vehicle for fans to connect with the team, his loss meant
losing much more than a single fan’s voice.
In the sense that fan comments about Niehaus’ are unanimously positive, there
wasn’t much of a controversy surrounding his death. However, the news unleashed a
140
For general discussions of the deleterious effects of Bradley on clubhouse chemistry, see: Baseball Fever
2005 and Olbermann 2009. For the Cubs management’s reactions after shipping him to Seattle, see Associated
Press 2010a. In the Seattle blogosphere, see Sec 108 2010.
141
Zumsteg 2008; While this post pre‐dates the Bradley acquisition, it is a fair summary of the arguments
made by those who think the effects of chemistry are likely overvalued and perhaps nonexistent.
69
torrent of emotional responses that seem to reveal a great deal of information about the
attachments that make up a Seattle Mariners fan. One category of response to Niehaus’
passing is comprised of those responses that used some of Dave’s favorite catchphrases,
such as “My, Oh My” or “Fly, Fly Away.” A typical response in this style: ““Fly fly away” Dave
Niehaus. You were a true hall of famer and always made Mariner baseball worth watching
regardless of the score. Mariner baseball and my summers will never sound the same. You
will truly be missed.”
142
Just as fans equate Niehaus with the Mariners, Dave’s catchphrases
stand in for all of his game calling. Illustrating this point, another fan writes: “I don't know
how this season will feel without the "Grand Salami"s and the "My, oh my!"s, but I know
that Dave will be broadcasting each game in spirit.”
143
In equating Niehaus’ voice with the Mariners team, fan posts bleed into the next
category of response: that the relationship with the Mariners will never be the same
without his game calling:
I don’t think ANYBODY will be able to fill the void that his passing is leaving. Dave,
you will be missed, dearly, by everyone associated with the Mariners and anybody
nationwide who was lucky enough to hear you call a ballgame.
144
One of the reasons that fans felt this way was the longevity of the broadcaster: “He’s been
the voice of baseball for me since the day I was born.”
145
Longevity, this case, was amplified
by the fact that Niehaus was the Mariners voice from the franchise’s very inception. As a
result, many fan comments read like this one: “RIP Dave. You were the Mariners. You made
142
Posted by SeattleJustin51 (Cameron 2010b)
143
Posted by Mswillreturn (Johns 2010)
144
Posted by crazyray7391 (Cameron 2010b)
145
Posted by ScottBrowne (Cameron 2010b)
70
the game come alive on the radio, I could almost smell the fresh cut grass, and feel the
excitement of the game through your words. You made baseball in Seattle exciting.”
146
Fans
clearyly have no point of reference that will allow them to envision watching Mariners’
baseball without Niehaus.
Fans also missed the voice of Niehaus because he was a talented announcer.
Comments such as this one reflect the esteem in which fans revered his abilities:
is just won't be the same ever again. I used to take a radio to the games so I could
listen to Dave and Red while I was watching the games. the stories those two told
are from baseball history. they knew Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Don Drysdale. they
made the past come alive with stories of players past and present. I loved heating
Dave talk about listening to the game on the radio on a summer's evening sitting on
the front porch.
147
The art of storytelling was evidently one of the broadcaster’s gifts, one that fans, avid or
not, recall in their posts. Earlier posts revealed how Niehaus brought the present game to
life for fans; here, he is praised as well for his ability to breathe life into the stories of the
past that relate to the games he would call in the present.
While there is certainly the possibility that Mariners fans who don’t watch other
teams’ broadcasts overrate him as the only announcer they listen to, his induction to the
Hall of Fame for his broadcasting heavily mitigates that possibility. In addition, there were
numerous fans that expressed similar sentiments this: “I grew up on Vin Scully and thought
I’d never hear someone of his caliber again after moving from the LA area to the Seattle
146
Posted by geofftoons (Cameron 2010b)
147
Posted by falcon53 (Johns 2010)
71
area. I could not have been more wrong.”
148
Although the cities that fans originated from
varied, the sentiment that Niehaus exceeded their expectations and even rivaled Hall of
Fame broadcasters such as Vin Scully, who is almost universally viewed as the best baseball
broadcaster on Earth.
149
To compare Niehaus to Scully is thus very high praise. For it to
come from a Dodger fan, whose childhood memories amplify the stature of Scully, is
borderline ridiculous praise. These childhood memories are precisely the subject matter of
the last category of responses to the news of Dave Niehaus’ death.
Nostalgia is the word that most effectively describes the final participatory
responses to Niehaus’ passing. Fans far and wide posted comments that linked childhood
memories to the Mariners through the vehicle of his voice. For instance, one fan writes:
Dave really was one of the key factors in my love for baseball growing up. Many
people can remember where they were and how they felt for major events in their
lives. One of these for me was when the M's won the ALDS in 1995, with me being
all of 6‐years‐old, jumping up and down in my parents' living room. I still get chills
and flutters in my gut where I watch replay of "the Double" and hear that familiar
commentary. Baseball has lost one of it's legends, and Seattle has lost a it's most
important sports icon.
150
“The Double” refers to Edgar Martinez driving in the game winning run in Game 5 (do or die
game) of the 1995 American League Division Series, propelling the Mariners to victory over
the New York Yankees. This is by far the most referenced call of Niehaus’ in these
148
Posted by HeyItsTodd (Cameron 2010b)
149
Indeed, a search for “Vin Scully best baseball broadcaster” yields nearly 300,000 articles. For a wonderful
recent piece that extols his virtues, see CBSNews 2012.
150
Posted by Mswillreturn (Johns 2010)
72
comments, and the play itself is the most famous in the Mariners’ franchise history.
151
More
generally, another fan commented: “A big piece of a lot of childhoods went away today.
There was no other feeling like tuning in the radio for that first spring training game and
hearing Dave Neihaus.”
152
Analysis
As discussed in Chapter 1, Miller and Shepherd suggest that, for the purposes of
genre criticism, blogs ought to be approached through the 5 category system of semantic
features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements.
153
This section
pursues each of these categorical elements, incorporating fan participation studies into the
latter two categories. Rather than presuppose that baseball blogs constitute a genre, this
study seeks to investigate the genre potential of blogs and specific team blogs, pursuing the
hypothesis that blogs are “a constellation of affordances” rather than a genre.
154
The
recognition that blogs are medium rather than genre is not to say, however, that there are
no genres to be found online. Instead, this move lends itself to the belief that “such study is
best conducted at a low level of generality, that this is the meeting ground for linguistic,
rhetorical, and literary approaches to genre.”
155
In one sense, the semantic features of the baseball blogs reviewed here are
indistinguishable from the general formal characteristics of blogs typified in earlier
151
While the majority of franchises in MLB have a World Series championship (or at least an appearance), the
double sent the Mariners to their first ALCS ever, in their first trip to the playoffs. To date, the team has only 2
losing ALCS appearances to its name. Baseball reference n.d.g.
152
Posted by BadBadger (Cameron 2010b)
153
Miller & Shepherd 2004
154
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 283
155
Giltrow & Stein 2009 p. 23
73
studies.
156
The posts are all time stamped, organized in reverse chronological fashion, they
have blog rolls
157
linked on the side of the page, and virtually all of the blogs have
comments enabled for each post. But, as a distinct genre of (baseball) blogs, there are
unique characteristics that aren’t captured in previous classifications. For instance, all of the
Mariners‐dedicated blogs
158
have both “Game Thread” posts, the purpose of which is to
offer fans a space to make comments as the game progresses. In most cases, these game
threads are not updated by the blogger, although occasionally the blogger may updated
with pertinent events from the game, with those events internally time stamped. In
addition, most of these blogs carry game recap posts, where the blogger for the site will
present their spin on what happened.
159
Thus, these blogs share many formal features with
others, yet they also exhibit unique characteristics that make them distinct from those
classifications. This lends credence to the notion that blogs are a medium, rather than a
genre, as it demonstrates the multiplicity of blog species that have emerged since the initial
blogs that were the subjects of previous studies.
160
156
Devitt 2009 p. 44‐45; Devitt makes the point that blogging software largely sets the limitations on forms
that bloggers are able to pursue. This is certainly the case in the post formatting of the Seattle Mariners’ blogs.
157
Certainly, the specific blogs that they link to are unique, as they point towards Mariners’ blogs or other
baseball blogs of various sorts, but as a semantic feature, these blog rolls are not unique to either baseball or
the Mariners. More on blog rolls later as the analysis moves towards the blog content.
158
Here I am referring to USSMariner, LookoutLanding, SeattleSportsInsider, ProBall NW, Geoff Baker’s
Mariners’ Blog, and Larry Stone’s blog.
159
Although one could arguably place the Game Thread or the Game Recap under the Topics heading instead
of semantic features, the repetitive, stabilizing function of these types of post dictate placement under
semantic features. The content of these posts is not the subject of analysis here: instead, the point is that, by
virtue of being a Mariners’ team blog, fans expect that there will be recaps of the game as well as threads for
them to share their thoughts and read other fans thoughts. In fact, Game Threads are often completely devoid
of author generated content, emphasizing it is the simple recurrence of the feature itself that generates fan
interest.
160
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 283
74
But if baseball blogs are to be considered a distinct subspecies, then clearly we must
be able to demonstrate distinct functions of the genre that emerge, at least in part, from its
formal characteristics. Indeed, recent genre theory calls for a return to the significance of
formal features of texts, specifically looking for scholars to tie the semantic features to
effects on social action.
161
This call suggests that genre theory has substituted the
dynamism and instability in recurring forms for stable characteristics.
162
In terms of this
study, the question is “in what ways do the unique semantic features of baseball blogs
mobilize action?” Blog rolls, game threads, and game recaps serve to create an engaged
community of fans. While many blogs may feature regular posts weekly, semi‐weekly, or
even daily, the unique feature of baseball game threads/recaps creates the expectation of
content every day that the Mariners play, as well as wrap up content the day after. But this
is more than expectation of a post. Instead, fans are expecting a very particular type of
message, based only on the knowledge that the blogger will preview or recap the most
recent game.
Significantly, even without discussing the particular content of these posts or
comments, fan participation on game threads and reading game recaps (with or without
having watched the game in question) demonstrates the importance of conceiving of fan
“texts” as much more than the televised or in‐person vision of the game. Fan studies
authors have pushed the notion that the text “has left the television,” noting that it “flows
161
Devitt 2009; Miller & Shepherd 2009
162
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 265
75
freely through talk, fears, ritual, community and debate.”
163
Game threads appear as empty
vessels to fans who fill with their perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or even taunts during the
course of the game. As a form then, they are the perfect embodiment of the notion that the
text (baseball game in this case) has left the television (or even the field). While game
recaps take place after the event, they nevertheless function in a similar fashion, offering
fans a centralized location to react to the game, after reading the specific thoughts of the
blog author. Both of these blog post forms, then, give witness to the mobilization of fan
affect in dedicated, local communities.
Most of the shared semantic features of blogs investigated in this chapter constitute
repetitions of broader blog characteristics, there is far less stability in comparing the topics
of Mariners baseball blogs to generic blog features. Indeed, content is the area that yields
the largest differentiation since initial studies were done.
164
There is a great deal of
similarity in topics across the various Mariners’ blogs, yet little overlap between them and
any sort of identifiable generic blogosphere.
165
In terms of general topics, they cover games
through previews and recaps, document any personnel changes made by the Mariners,
provide links to national media stories (if any) about the team, analyze team and individual
player skills, offer scouting perspectives on Mariners minor league players, and cover any
controversies that arise (such as the losing streak, Milton Bradley, and Dave Niehaus stories
163
Gray 2005 p. 843; See also Bird 2003 on the significance of studying the fans beyond the text, in everyday
life.
164
Indeed, it is this speciation of blog content that leads Miller & Shepherd to reverse their position on the
genre status of blogs from 2004 to 2009. While their original piece concludes blogs are a genre, this is
primarily a product of the dominance of personal blogs at the time of their first writing. Since then, the
explosion of different content styles—they focus a good deal of time on the public affairs blog—has radically
altered the conclusions they had originally reached.
165
This is, of course, why Giltrow and Stein (2009) call for such a low level of generality in the study of blogs as
genre today.
76
pursued in this chapter). Although extensive, this list is certainly not exhaustive: one of the
topics that recurs with great regularity on all of the Mariners blogs is the clash between
traditional baseball acumen and advanced statistical measures.
166
The heavy reliance on advanced statistics in game threads, recaps, and other posts
on Mariners’ blogs seems unique to baseball blogs.
167
A typical post at USS Mariner or
LookoutLanding, for instance, might refer to metrics such as UZR, OPS, OPS+, and wOBA, it
may include hit‐charts that demonstrate all of the fly ball data for a hitter, or they may even
should a strike‐zone heat map that reveals weak/strong areas for a specific hitter. Thus,
across the expanse of Mariners‐related blogs references to advanced metrics such as those
available on Fangraphs.com or Baseball‐reference.com are a stable, recurring element that
constitute a significant element in the semantic features of this segment of baseball blogs.
However, it is worth noting that there is noticeably less of this sort of advanced statistical
measurement on the journalist blogs, such as Baker’s and Stone’s, which suggests that they
are attempting to reach a broader audience, one that is less concerned with specialized
data. However, Baker’s blog does reference a fair number of these metrics, even if it is less
frequent and less presumptive that the readers understand all of the terms.
166
Some might call this scouts vs. sabermetrics or even refer to the use of advanced metrics as the Moneyball
approach after the Michael Lewis book documenting the Oakland Athletics highly profiled use of such
measures as a part of an effort to operate a successful team with a small budget. While certainly consistent
with this phenomenon, scouting vs sabermetrics wouldn’t entirely capture the traditional approach, given that
most fans are not scouts and do not have their abilities. Referring to traditional understandings of baseball vs
advanced statistical measures also has the benefit of explicitly recognize that both sides of this particular
binary employ statistical information—the battle is only over which sets stats are particularly useful.
Traditional fans will recognize homeruns, runs batted in, and batting average. Advanced statistical measures
such as on base percentage, on‐base‐plus‐slugging, and ultimate zone rating, on the other hand, would fall
into advanced statistical measures.
167
Of course, it is also possible that this is unique to the Mariners fanbase as well. This will be investigated in
relation to the Cardinals and Phillies’ fans in the following chapters.
77
If the semantic features of the Mariners’ content blogs predispose fan readers to
participate in their local, online Mariners community, what can be gleaned from the
particular topics that are generated by and within this community? Given the broad range
of topics, it is clear that each blog attempts to provide a comprehensive site for fans. At the
same time, none of these sites seems designed to be an exclusive clearing house that would
make other sites superfluous. In fact, aside from some mutual references between USS
Mariner and LookoutLanding, there were almost no links between the major Seattle
Mariners blogs. Links to press releases, newspaper stories, and national media stories about
the team were far more prevalent. Additionally, while there is frequently overlap in the
topic areas, the perspectives from which they emerge and approaches taken are varied
enough that there is less substantive overlap than one might think. There is enough
similarity in topics to categorize them and make the assertion that they are part of the same
genre (or at least the same subspecies of a genre), yet enough variation in the angles taken
to suggest that together they reflect a heterogenous fan base.
For instance, LookoutLanding and USS Mariner focus heavily on advanced statistical
measures. Each are linked to larger blog networks at the forefront of the statistical
revolution. USS Mariner’s chief writer is also a lead writer at Fangraphs.com, the primary
source for advanced statistical measures.
168
LookoutLanding’s two authors write at
SBNation and Fangraphs.com.
169
Geoff Baker’s approach to these statistics is less immersive
and tempers the perspectives of managers and players – those that are on the field.
168
Although baseball‐reference.com also is quite thorough in this regard, Fangraphs has a number of writers
who are frequently breaking down the relevance of particular statistics as they relate to leagues, teams, or
even players. Baseball‐reference.com is purely a statistical clearing house.
169
Jeff Sullivan is one of the lead writers at SBNation and Matthew Carruth is a frequent contributor at
Fangraphs.com.
78
Frequently, Baker’s approach to the same set of data is surrounded by either teaching
moments or reasons that numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Even within these
sites, of course, there are discrepancies over which data is most relevant or most sound.
170
Then blogs like Larry Stone’s present almost no advanced statistical data, falling very much
within the realm of traditional baseball acumen. Finally, many blogs, like Section331,
represent individual fan reactions primarily to whatever games or team happenings that
draw their interest. These blogs reflect many of the same properties documented in the
early genre work on blogs, as early blogs were almost entirely personal, diary style works.
171
As varied as these topics may be, however, they are all ultimately tied together by the team
in question: the Seattle Mariners.
Blog tone similarly displays overriding, similar themes while simultaneously revealing
a number of dissimilarities. Perhaps not surprisingly, much of the fan commentary analyzed
in the controversies above exhibits tonal qualities of a culture of losing. For instance, many
fans expressed a desire to cease watching the team. Others wanted to boycott the team
until management was replaced. As seen in the Milton Bradley case, still others actively
rooted for players on the team to be jettisoned in order for unproven, average players to
take their place – believing that the team was so bad anyone could be an improvement.
These responses are, of course, all tied to the context in which the fans found the team: 2
one hundred loss seasons in the previous 3 years, the first $100 million team to lose one
170
The most frequent example is the use of very small amounts of data to reach conclusions. Although most
commenters or bloggers on these sites refer to this problem as “small sample size,” that’s not really accurate
that the data is not a “sample” of a larger, bounded set of information.
171
Miller & Shepherd 2004
79
hundred games during the 2010 season, and a 17 game losing streak in 2011.
172
The large
(or at least vocal) group of fans that calls for #firenintendo boycotts of the Mariners are
certainly influenced by the tone of failure that pervades virtually all online communication
about the Seattle franchise.
These responses are also tied to the specific blogs and posts to which fans choose to
respond. Fans are thus situated in both the event to which they are responding (17 game
losing streak) and the specific blog conversation to which they’ve chosen to respond (USS
Mariner vs. Geoff Baker’s blog for instance). While there has been some theorization about
blog authors being situated in multiple conversations in this sense, no work has yet been
done to theorize the ways in which fan choices to comment on a specific blog, in reaction to
a certain situation may reveal multiple contexts in which they are embedded.
173
The
problem with approaching blog posts or comments as if they are engaged in a singular
conversation is that it provides too limited a contextual understanding to really understand
the social action generated.
174
To provide an example, it is not enough to simply analyze all
fan comments about the Mariners’ 17 game losing streak. The particular blog that they
posted on may speak volumes about their perspective.
For instance, the bulk of folks who blamed ownership and wanted them to be fired
wrote on Geoff Baker’s blog, which was a post highlighting that the Mariners were only 6
games away from the all‐time consecutive loss record. This is a blog that has spent years
posting stories about the failure of team management to sign a quality Free Agent hitter. In
172
Baseball reference n.d.g
173
Grafton 2009 p. 87
174
Ibid p. 87
80
contrast, posts where fans wanted to see the Mariners achieve the record, if only to live in
infamy, were located primarily at LookoutLanding in response to a post about the massive
statistical improbability of the streak. This is a site that excels at humorous interpretations
of the day’s or week’s events, and that, combined with the sense of marvel at such a
statistical oddity in the post, seem to infect the commenters as well. Of course, this also
returns us to the significance of tone in social action – the consistently humorous tone at
LookoutLanding certainly softens the blow of a terrible team, inviting participation and
engagement, even though their favorite team is quite bad.
Of course, this analysis of tone should highlight that many of the categories of genre
analysis bleed in to one another; in a sense, the tone of LookoutLanding and Geoff Baker’s
blogs are synonymous with the arousal/satisfaction dynamic. One could conclude, for
instance, that Baker’s posts about management cutting payroll and refusing to shell out big
money for big bats seeks to arouse fan discontent over the management of the team. In
response to the 17 game losing streak, many more fans posting about removing ownership
posted on his site than on others. However, tone is still not enough to explain this
discrepancy. The disparity in content regarding the ownership group makes a significant
difference as well. Over the 2011 time period for instance, USS Mariner and LookoutLanding
didn’t have any posts haranguing team management in the way that Baker did. Instead,
both blogs assumed a static level of payroll spending from year to year and focused on the
81
money that was available and tried to construct scenarios that would maximize the return
on investment.
175
Across the Mariners’ blogosphere, the posts drafted in response to Dave Niehaus’
passing took reverent and respectful tones, and the fan comments largely followed in the
same vein. By posting their stories about how Niehaus connected them to the Seattle
Mariners as well as baseball more generally, the blog authors generated an expectation that
fans would reveal their own connections to the Mariners’ community of fans by way of their
nostalgia. And by recalling their early childhood memories and detailing how Niehaus
exemplified the Mariners ball club for them, these fan comments demonstrate the
significance of nostalgia in building this baseball community. This is not surprising as
communication scholars have pursued the relationship between nostalgia and baseball
many times before.
176
The combination of Niehaus being the only voice of the Mariners
since the franchise’s inception and the childhood memories fans have of games called by
Niehaus means that much of their loyalty is maintained through that very nostalgia. Thus,
the arousal of nostalgia offers the opportunity for fans to cement their identities as fans by
connecting their stories with the similar stories of other fans.
Turning from the arousal/satisfaction dynamic to a discussion of fan interactive
engagements, two related theories of fan participation are especially instructive in
illuminating the interactive engagements of fans in the cases of these three Mariners’
175
For instance, USS Mariner’s yearly installment of the Offseason Plan for 2011 kept payroll at $92 million,
essentially the same level as the year before (Cameron 2010a).
176
Greene 2009
82
controversies. The primary theory at issue is the atomistic model of fans and anti‐fans.
177
In
this theory, the text is the neutron, fans are protons (positively charged and the closest
readers of the text), anti‐fans are electrons (negatively charged and at a distance from the
text), and non‐fans are positrons (the charge is positive because they do choose to view the
text, but they remain at a distance from the text).
178
In sum, the theory seeks to map the
various modes of fan engagement, ranging from very close, invested, affective readings to
very distant, disengaged, negative readings. Extensions of the theory have suggested that
anti‐fandom constructs anti‐fan communities via online communication like blogs,
179
that
these anti‐fan communities will continue to grow as online technology continues to
expand,
180
and that fans embrace anti‐fan positions to protect the texts in which they are
invested.
181
Theodoropoulou
182
obliquely extended this last element of the theory specifically to
sporting contests, examining the relationship of fandom and anti‐fandom as it pertains to
rooting interests for football teams in Greece. In this extension of the theory, fans are
necessarily also anti‐fans. This formulation of fandom and anti‐fandom in sports suggest
that
the anti‐fan is the person who hates the fan object of another fan for the simple
reason that this object is in direct, straightforward, or historical competition with
177
Gray (2003) first created this theory, although it has been elaborated upon and extended in several works
since then. See Gray 2005, Johnson 2007, Alters 2007, and Theodoropoulou 2007.
178
Gray 2003
179
In much the same way that early studies found fan fiction helped produce tighter knit fan communities,
Gray 2005 p. 856
180
Ibid. 856
181
Alters 2007
182
Theodoropoulou 2007
83
her/his own object of admiration. This way, an anti‐fan is always a fan. I would like
to suggest that binary oppositions between fan objects are a precondition for such
cases of anti‐fandom. The two competing objects have to be in outright rivalry with
each other.
183
Thus, by virtue of being a Boston Red Sox fan one would be obligated to be an anti‐fan of
the New York Yankees. Given this project’s focus is on baseball blogs and three specific
teams, a theory of fandom that posits binary opposition between teams’ fans is particularly
applicable in this study.
The second and related theory argues that fandom is fundamentally structured by
“fan‐tagonism”—“ongoing, competitive struggles between both internal factions and
external institutions to discursively codify the fan‐text‐producer relationship according to
their respective interests.”
184
The triangular relationship between fan‐text‐producer is an
antagonistic competition to construct the dominant identity markers and beliefs of a
particular fan community. In short, “fans construct competing truths.”
185
The premise of
this theory, then, is that fan communities continue to possess diverse, heterogenous
interests, even though the group is fundamentally centered around fandom of a specific
text. These interests then compete to legitimize particular knowledge claims, resulting in
hegemonies within the fan community.
186
This theory is relevant to this study of baseball
blogs, because the goal of the project is to focus analysis on fan comments. If there are
competing group interests in constructing what it means to be a Mariners’ fan, then the fan
183
Ibid. p. 318
184
Johnson 2007 p. 287
185
Ibid. p. 286
186
Ibid. p. 298
84
commentary should offer avenues for pursuing what these interests are and what they tell
us about the meaning of fandom in the context of this team (as well as others).
The case of fans uniting under the hashtag #firenintendo in response to years of bad
management (and brought to a head with the 17 game losing streak) is a fascinating one
because it sits as a key site of theoretical contestation regarding how we conceptualize fans
and anti‐fans. Studies based on anti‐fandom start from the premise that fans and anti‐fans
engage the same objects in categorically different ways. However, there is some debate
over how rigid these categories should be.
187
The movement to boycott Mariners games
offers an opportunity to test these categorical limits, as this group of Seattle fans is so
frustrated with the ownership they refuse to pay any money to see their team on the field.
This closely mirrors situations frequently pursued in fan studies literature where fans take
producers to task for violating the expectations for either the characters or the series.
188
In
this case, however, there is one major difference: Mariners’ fans have added leverage as
they can refuse to go to the games, thus lessening the team’s revenue.
So where do the #firenintendo adherents fall in the atomic model of fandom? They
certainly share the characteristics of fans: they are affective towards this single team, they
follow the Mariners’ results closely, and, in most cases, they have a great deal of nostalgia
187
Early work by Gray (2005) suggests that fans are affective towards the text while anti‐fans hate the text.
They may do so in two ways: either by maintaining negatively charged distance from the text or by expressing
great familiarity with the text without the same pleasures typically expressed by fans in response to media
consumption. This work does not conclude, however, that fans and anti‐fans were categorically distinct from
one another. Gray deploys the case of fans of Star Wars campaigning against Jar Jar Binks (going so far as to
produce a version of Star Wars: Episode I that edits out all of his appearances) as evidence that fans often
display more characteristics of anti‐fans than fans. Johnson (2007), however, contends that even if there are
alternative modes of fan engagement (those that extend beyond the categories of fan, antifan, and nonfan),
disgruntled fans ought to be categorized separately from anti‐fans.
188
See Johnson 2007 on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for instance.
85
for the team. However, they also exhibit many characteristics of anti‐fans. They are
intentionally maintaining distance from the team because of their disdain for the product
that management is putting on the field. This is analogous to taking issue with a show’s
producer for the bad characters or storylines they created
189
or boycotting Star Wars:
Episode I because of Jar Jar Binks.
190
Fortunately, there is no need to challenge the strength
of determination present in any of these fans: no matter which category they are placed in,
they show so many qualities of the polar opposite, that the placement largely will not make
sense. This suggests that we ought to prefer the reading of these categories that
understands individuals can move between the position of fan, antifan, or nonfan,
depending on the specific context in which they find themselves.
This conclusion is especially warranted given the pervasive notions of bandwagon
fans and the ever‐present conflict between “real” and “casual fans” in the sports arena. We
saw this distinction between real and casual fans in the commentary on the 17 game losing
streak. Some fans accuse those who want to boycott of not being “real fans.” In essence,
they are saying that fans who are only engaged when the team is good are not loyal or
committed enough. In terms of our atomistic model, bandwagon fans map closely on to
nonfans. They are distant, loosely interested, engagement depends primarily on context
(with particular emphasis on the team’s win‐loss record), and they are often engaged in
paraphernalia surrounding the team rather than the team itself.
191
This debate over
whether or not real fans should boycott the team or take extra effort to prove their loyalty
189
Johnson 2007 p. 291‐294
190
Gray 2005 p. 845
191
Gray (2003, 2005) refers to these as paratexts. In the case of the Mariners, an example might be all of the
between‐innings entertainment provided, like the hydroplane races on the jumbotron.
86
especially when the team serves as at least anecdotal proof that fandom is often
constructed through competing knowledge claims about what specific fandom means.
Johnson suggests that fan complaints over particular episodes, characters, or
storylines that are objectionable fail to meet reach the status of anti‐fandom because they
are fundamentally compartmentalized and do not challenge the nature of the text as a
whole.
192
However, the boycott envisioned by the #firenintendo fans challenges the tidiness
of such compartmentalization. A boycott literally bars participation in the text. In the case
of baseball teams, the revenue structure is based on fans attending games; if every fan
stayed home and watched the “episodes,” the business couldn’t survive. This is
fundamentally different than the fan‐producer relationship in the instance of televised
programs, which constitute the vast majority of fan texts subjected to previous analysis.
Moreover, the fans calling for a refusal to pay the team because of their failure to acquire
impact talent is very much akin to fans complaining about bad character development or
plot. Yet, in this case, the fans are willing to abandon the program entirely if things do not
change. This denies the premise that compartmentalization allows fans to continue
celebrating the text even as they challenge undesirable elements. Finally, by forming a
#firenintendo movement, these individuals are constructing an anti‐fan community, one
that can sustain and push forward the demands of the group just as well as any online fan
community.
193
After analyzing the semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and
interactive engagements of Mariners’ blogs during the 2011 season, the exigencies driving
192
Johnson 2007 p. 294
193
Gray 2005 p. 856
87
blog posts and fan participation appear to be the following. First, the Mariners are a terrible
team. Since the fan‐generated blogs were created in the early 2000s, the team has not
made the playoffs and has rarely been better than third or fourth in its division. This context
drives much of the content of blog content as well as the fan posts in response. The topics
and tone of posts clearly drive home the message that fans are disillusioned and they
constantly expect the team to fail. Second, fan‐tagonism does appear to explain a great deal
of the identity construction that is played out in fan blog posts. The board discussions about
what it means to be a “real” fan are explicitly debates about how Mariners’ fans do act and
how they should act (which are often two radically different things in the minds of
“hardcore” fans). There is a perception, especially from extremely dedicated fans or fans
who have been transplanted from other regions of the country, that Mariners’ fans are, at
best, non‐fans who follow very disinterestedly, and only care about the team when they are
winning. Fans that want the culture of baseball fans in Seattle to shift appear to face a
significant uphill battle (or at least they believe very strongly that they face one).
Third, fan posts on Mariners blogs function as an expression of self‐identity as it is
attached to the team. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the comments regarding
the passing of Dave Niehaus. The comments of all of the blogs were chocked full of personal
narratives relating the team, Niehaus, and their own lives. In many cases, the storytellers
linked the team to their childhood, through the vehicle of Niehaus’ game calling. This
repeats the general theoretical presupposition throughout fan studies that fandom is often
an expression of self.
194
The expression of self in these fan posts further suggests that
194
See, for instance, Jenkins 1992; Bird 2003; Hills 2002
88
Mariners’ fans should, indeed, be considered enthusiasts out of the same mold as the
regularly studied science fiction and soap opera fans that constitute the bulk of previous
studies.
195
Fourth, the desire to delve deeply into advanced statistical measures to assess
the worth of players and allow the fans to construct their own managerial counterfactual
worlds looms large. In discussions about Milton Bradley’s value and the 17 game losing
streak, blog authors and fan posts deploy these statistics to justify opinions about what
roster moves should be made to improve the team. Setting aside the specific controversies
for the moment, roster construction arguments based on these advanced statistical
measures is incredibly frequent on all of the Mariners’ blogs.
Conclusion
This chapter analyzed fan participation on Seattle Mariners’ specific blogs as well as
those baseball blogs that carried content about the team during the 2011 season. As a
window into the community of participants on these sites, the chapter took up three
specific controversies that arose during the season in question: the 17‐game losing streak,
the Bradley off‐the‐field contract issues, and the passing of Dave Niehaus. Each of these
controversies sparked a wave of blog posts and fan responses, suggesting their significance
to the perceptions of the team. The controversies allowed a limited analysis of the semantic
features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements of the
Mariners’ blogs as a way of testing the genre potential of these blogs and the status of
fandom in the Mariners’ community. From the analysis provided, it appears safe to
195
Jenkins 1992; Tulloch and Jenkins 1995; Harrington & Bielby 2005; Scardaville 2005.
89
conclude that Mariners’ blogs constituted at least a subgenre of online sports talk and a
distinct fan community with specific identity characteristics (currently centered around the
fans’ relationship to a poor management and losing team).
90
Chapter 3: The St. Louis Cardinals
Background
The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 Major League Baseball World Series titles,
second only to the 27 won by the New York Yankees. Nearly two‐thousand (1998) players
have worn a Cardinal uniform, almost one hundred more than any other MLB team.
Founded in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings, the franchise is fourth amongst all
franchises in total wins (10,234) and games over .500 (709). Fourty‐two Hall of Famers wear
a St. Louis ballcap, including greats Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby,
Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Rod Schoendiest, Enos Slaughter, and Bruce Sutter, all of whom
had their numbers retired as Cardinals. The Brown Stockings were among the first five MLB
franchises, with only the Cubs and Braves (1876) being established earlier. In addition to 11
World Championships, the team has amassed 22 pennants in its 24 playoff appearances. By
virtually every measure available, the St. Louis Cardinals have been as great a Major League
team as the Seattle Mariners have been terrible.
196
In addition to providing a perfect counterpoint to the Mariners’ lack of success, the
St. Louis franchise is worth investigating in this study for a number of other reasons.
Longevity is a particularly salient characteristic in the case of St. Louis. After the Cubs and
Braves were established in 1876, St. Louis (then Brown Stockings), Pittsburgh, and
Cincinnati founded their own teams in 1882. If longevity of sports franchises is a significant
contextual factor in determining fan participation, one would expect to see this factor
produce a marked difference between the Cardinals, Mariners, and Phillies fans. The
196
Baseball reference n.d.c
91
Cardinals are also located in the Midwest, far from the remote reaches of the Northwest or
Northeast where the Mariners and Phillies play. Location, and the attendant socioeconomic
and cultural factors, is another possible contextual factor that ought to be either intently
examined or controlled for in the course of producing a study such as the work done here.
The Cardinals fans may have different modes, means, or motives for their particular fandom
that manifest as investments in place.
197
Finally, considering the 2011 team won the World
Series, an investigation of the fan practices for this team is particularly apropos.
In order to examine the practices of fans of the St. Louis Cardinals, fan blog posts
and comments were culled from a variety of corporate media and fan blogs dedicated to
the team. The official Cardinals’ MLB blog along with posts by Derrick Goold and Joe Strauss
that appear at St Louis Today
198
make up the corporate media blogs pursued here. Goold
and Strauss are beat writers that follow the team, while the official Cardinals’ blog is
maintained by the team. Fungoes, Viva El Birdos, and the Cardinal Nation blog comprise the
fan blogs investigated in this study. These blogs were selected for primarily for their volume
of participation, although spotlighting by the national media (Fungoes is the Cardinals’ fan
blog ESPN carries in its Sweetspot network of baseball blogs) also played a role. In fact, the
volume of comments on these fan blogs was an order of magnitude higher than any of the
Mariners’ fan blogs, providing a wealth of opportunities for studying fan interactions.
The quantity of comments from St. Louis fans was much higher than Seattle fans,
generally, on these blogs during the 2011 season, but two particular controversies stood
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Certainly, works on fan pilgrimages to beloved sites (such as X‐Files fans traveling to Vancouver, B.C. where
the show, set in Washington, D.C., was actually filmed) demonstrate place should be a significant
consideration in studying fans’ interests.
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www.stltoday.com
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head and shoulders above all the rest of the posts for the season: the buildup during the
offseason and failure to re‐sign Albert Pujols before Opening Day, and the trading of Colby
Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays in late July. Both Pujols’ contract and Rasmus’ trade
proved to be incredibly sharp fractures in the moments of day‐to‐day fandom that they
provoked huge spikes in commentary on both corporate and fan sites. In order to
accommodate the unique volume of content of these two controversies, this chapter
isolates only these two, foregoing any third controversy.
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The remainder of this chapter
proceeds by offering a synopsis of the 2010 and 2011 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals,
turning to a detailed textual analysis of fan commentary regarding the Pujols contract and
the Rasmus trade, finishing with an examination of these comments through the filters of
genre criticism and fan participation theories.
2010 and 2011 Season Highlights
Beginning in late 2009, much of the offseason analysis preceding the 2010 MLB
Season predicted that the Cardinals would again be NL Central Division champs.
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As late as
August 13
th
, St. Louis held a 1 game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the division; at this
point, only 48 games remained and the Cardinals sat at 65‐49. Over the remaining 6 weeks
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While a logical third controversy might be fan reactions to winning the World Series, these reactions
actually fall outside the scope of the 2011 season defined as the end of the 2010 World Series until the end of
the 2011 World Series. This isn’t the final word on the subject, though, since the bounds of the season could
be relaxed a bit to incorporate this controversy. The vast majority of comments in the immediate aftermath of
the World Series are understandably celebratory in nature. By virtue of this overwhelming sentiment, other
modes of engagement are necessarily muted, reducing the points of interest available for study. Moments of
widespread agreement across a broad, diverse fanbase offer less useful information, while moments that offer
a break amongst diverse fans rooting for a single team may offer more useful information. See and Hauser
1998 on vernacular.
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Bleacher Report for instance, a site frequented by many fans for original content as well as its clearing
house function, predicted the Cardinals would win the division by 14 games over the Reds (Griffin 2010).
Similarly, the Sporting News, owned by AOL, predicted a Cardinals victory as well.
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of play, the team won only 21 games, lost 27, and finished 5 games behind both Reds in the
Division Race and the Atlanta Braves in the National League Wild Card race. The narrative of
the St. Louis season that began with predictions of a repeat division crown ended with
reporters and fans alike decrying a collapse of epic proportions.
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Just one year after an
underrated Cardinals team surprised the rest of the league by winning its division, a reversal
of fortune saw the 2010 version wilt, perhaps under the weight of expectations.
Against this backdrop, prognosticators sizing up the 2011 Cardinals didn’t know
what to make of the team.
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Fans seemed less interested in predictions of the team’s finish
in 2011 and more interested in whether or not Albert Pujols, perhaps the greatest hitter in a
generation, would re‐sign with the Cardinals by his self‐created deadline to negotiate a deal
before the beginning of spring training.
In fact, the choice of Pujols’ contract was dictated
largely because of the volume of ink spilled about his status as a member St. Louis Cardinals,
both by the media and fans. As the season wore on, the team didn’t have much hope of
winning the division as the Brewers pulled away after the All Star Break. Just at the
deadline, GM John Mozeliak engineered a trade with the Blue Jays’ new GM, Alex
Anthopolous, the core of which sent young St. Louis outfielder Colby Rasmus to Toronto in
exchange for veteran starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. This trade marked a second huge
surge in fan posts; the trade was wildly controversial.
Over the remaining 2 months of the regular season, the Cardinals won more games
than they lost, eventually securing the National League Wild Card berth to the 2011
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Indeed, the team’s own blog under sold the point, writing that “A team widely predicted to win the
National League Central ‐‐ perhaps even to run away with the division ‐‐ instead limped home in second place,
out of the running for all practical purposes with two weeks to play in the season” (Leach 2010a).
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According to Viva El Birdos, Sports Illustrated picked the team to win 78 games, Baseball America’s
projection system, PECOTA, gave the team a 43.5% chance of making the playoffs (Moore 2011e).
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playoffs. St. Louis bested the 2009 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in the first
round of the playoffs, then defeated their division rival Milwaukee Brewers in the National
League Championship series. Despite being the underdog in each NL series, the Cardinals
made short work of both opponents, becoming the sixth
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Wild Card team to advance to
the World Series. Not surprisingly, the Texas Rangers were heavily favored to win the
championship over the Cardinals. After six hard fought games, however, the Cardinals
emerged victorious, claiming their eleventh title in the team’s 140 year history. En route to
this title and the ensuing celebrations, the team was surrounded by much controversy and
fan resentment – chief among those were the Albert Pujols and Colby Rasmus situations,
which this chapter turns to next.
The Controversies
Albert Pujols’ Contract Negotiations. Albert Pujols is certainly one of the best hitters
of his generation (Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Miguel Cabrera are others for instance).
He debuted in 2001 and, along with his counterpart Ichiro Suzuki in the American League,
was named the Rookie of the Year in the National League.
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And, also just like Ichiro, Pujols
finished second in his league’s MVP voting in his rookie season.
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For the next 10 years, he
proceeded to obliterate pitchers across the sport, smashing records along the way.
206
203
St. Louis would also become the fifth wild card team to win the championship. For a comprehensive
breakdown of the Wild Card teams’ results, see Tutor Gigpedia n.d.
204
Baseball reference n.d.b
205
Baseball reference n.d.b
206
The statistical case for Pujols’ dominance is quite remarkable. His fWAR over 12 seasons is 91.6, which
works out to an average of 7.63 per season. His first 10 years, this average is even higher at 8.27. To put this
number in perspective, in 2012 only Mike Trout’s ridiculous rookie season surpassed 8 WAR (10.0). Only 4
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Pujols’ sustained stretch of dominance over this time led most Cardinals’ fans to talk about
him in the same breath as the team’s most beloved icon, Stan Musial.
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Before the 2004
season,
208
Albert signed an 8 year extension worth about 14 million dollars per year.
209
The
deal turned out to be an incredible value for St. Louis. Cardinals fans were treated to
perhaps the greatest hitter on the planet at a ridiculously below market value price.
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As
time marched on and the 2011 season became visible over the horizon, media and fans
began looking for a deal that would lock Pujols’ up as a St. Louis Cardinals for the rest of his
career. As early as the offseason before 2009, with three full seasons still to play under
contract, the team and his agent began discussing possible deals.
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As the team finished the 2010 season and headed into the offseason before the final
season of Pujols’ contract, however, the two sides had still not struck a deal. As the
negotiations heated up, Pujols announced a deadline for talks to reach a conclusion: any
contract would have to be concluded by the time he arrived in Spring Training, on February
16
th
, 2011.
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Although he would still be with the Cardinals for the upcoming season, the
team would have only a 5 day exclusive negotiating window after the conclusion of the
2011 World Series before Pujols would officially be a Free Agent, with whom other teams
other hitters even surpassed 7.6. Indeed, 7.6 is typically high enough to place in the top 5 most valuable
players each year, while 8.27 is close to 1
st
place each season (Fangraphs n.d.c).
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For instance, see Hummel 2009 for a story about an arranged photo shoot with Pujols and Musial. See the
St. Louis Post‐Dispatch 2009 for another photo.
208
At the time, the deal was for 7 years, but St. Louis exercised the option for the 8
th
year, which was the 2011
season.
209
Associated Press 2004
210
There is no shortage of articles identifying the contract as below market. See Edwards 2011, Cameron
2011, and Gaines 2010 demonstrates Pujols generated some $230 million in value over his previous contract,
compared to $96 million in salary from the Cardinals.
211
MLB Trade Rumors reported that the Cardinals and Pujols’ agent began talks after the 2009 season. Axisa
2010.
212
ESPN.com 2011a
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would then be able to negotiate.
213
Thus, failure to reach an agreement before the start of
Spring Training would guarantee essentially that he would head to Free Agency. As a result,
this deadline accelerated the timeline for negotiations, simultaneously ratcheting up the
pressure fans felt for the team to sign their franchise player.
Thus, it should not be surprising to learn that coverage of Pujols’ contract
negotiations dominated the media and fan discussions of the offseason before the 2011
season. When Albert arrived at Spring Training and both sides had failed to reach an
agreement, the nation of Cardinals fans seemed poised to collectively hold its breath
through the entire season. As one wrote, “Wait... Baseball is still going to happen? I thought
it was over til five days after the WS now.”
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The iconic nature of Albert Pujols in the eyes
of Cardinals fans combined with his overall dominance in Major League Baseball makes
discussion of his contract negotiations (and ultimately his impending free agency) a perfect
location in space and time to analyze what being a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals means to so
many. As one might expect, there were quite a number of reactions to the Pujols contract
saga, as fans wanted to make their opinions heard.
In analyzing the diverse set of responses, several categories emerged from fan
commentary. The first to be analyzed contains the debate over Pujols’ exact value, tied to
prescriptions for what the Cardinals ought to offer (and what Pujols ought to accept). The
second was a set of arguments predicting the eventual outcome of the negotiations,
whether or not he would re‐sign and, if not, with which teams he might sign. A third group
of responses encompasses negative and positive reactions toward the team and Albert
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Bois 2011
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Posted by Aranathor (S. 2011b)
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Pujols as a result of the negotiation process. The fourth predicted the success or failure of
the St. Louis Cardinals in future seasons after Albert Pujols. A fifth category of responses
includes debates over the legitimacy of Pujols’ stated age. A final set of responses debated
the merits of setting a deadline for negotiations.
The first set of comments analyzed here pertains to the ultimate worth of the
remaining career of Albert Pujols. These responses all grapple with the Cardinals’
unfortunate negotiating position with the superstar. As one fan wrote, “The Cards are on
the horns of a dilemma… sink a quarter to a third of team payroll into one guy, limiting their
ability to keep a winning team around him… or risk losing him, one of the best hitters to
ever play the game, and face a firestorm of fan discontent.”
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Choosing the latter horn of
this dilemma, one group of fans thought Albert is clearly asking for/worth too much for the
Cardinals to spend. On the opposite side, a second segment of fans believed Pujols was
worth virtually any price. Finally, attempting to grab both horns simultaneously, a number
of fans attempted to predict and thus calculate the exact worth of Pujols’ playing ability
over the next 7‐10 years, providing their own ideas years and dollar amounts the team
should offer in their contract negotiations.
A great number of fans did not think Albert Pujols would sign for a dollar amount
that would make financial sense for the Cardinals to pay. These fans called for the team to
avoid “sinking a quarter to a third of team payroll” into Pujols, suggesting that he wouldn’t
be worth the pay. One commenter astutely observed that “The Cards ain’t the Yanks or
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Posted by HBTexas (Walton 2011a)
98
Phils… the only teams I’m aware of who pay a player over $25M per year.”
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This concern
that Pujols’ contract would tie up resources that could be used to sign other players was
fairly widespread amongst the (relatively few) fans that didn’t want the team to re‐sign the
slugger. This fear is amplified by the likelihood that Albert would seek top dollar and, as a
free agent, likely get it:
If Pujols becomes a free agent, some team will throw stupid money at the guy. It
might not be $300M/ 10 years, but it is almost certainly more than the Cardinals can
afford. So the situation is that Pujols can’t stay in St Louis without a significant
financial cost to himself and his family. The Cardinals can’t commit that kind of cash
to Pujols and stay competitive. He has simply outgrown this market.
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Thus, the conclusion that the mixture of the hitter’s desire to receive top dollar and the
likelihood that at least one team would be willing to pay suggests that the Cardinals’
retention of Albert Pujols could be a massive financial boondoggle. The fear of the
opportunity cost from such a (likely) very large contract was by no means the only reason
that fans wanted to avoid re‐signing the Cardinals’ first baseman.
Most fans that opposed the re‐signing proceeded from the twin assumptions that
Pujols seek a top dollar contract and hitters are not worth those contracts after the age of
35. One commenter suggested “this all comes down to the fact that Dewitt is a solid
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Posted by HBTexas (Walton 2011a)
217
Posted zubin on (Philip 2011)
99
business man and doesn’t want to pay a player 30million for his 38, 39, and 40 year old
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seasons.”
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Another post describes this line of thinking quite clearly:
For those of you who think “just pay him whatever he wants” or think this is a good
deal, look at a few things. What do players over 35 receive on the open market?
Vlad[imir Guerrero], [Lance] Berkman, Manny [Ramirez], and others don’t get paid
top dollar past 35…why?…because players break down more often and their skills
erode by that age. So, you are in favor of paying Albert 30 million each for 6 years of
decline phase, injury prone, time frame. We are always trying to compare this
contract to AROD’s contract. The Yanks are 3 years into that thing and AROD [Alex
Rodriguez] is already not worth the money. They have 7 more years of mediocre or
worse play from a guy making 27.5 million per year.
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Backing up this point, history is littered with great players who saw rapid decline after the
age of 35.
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While each of the players listed in this quotation are great hitters, the Alex
Rodriguez comparison is particularly apt, given that Pujols clearly was targeting the 27.5
average annual value in that contract, and given that Rodriguez is also headed to the Hall of
Fame.
Added to the fears of future decline, several fans complained about the lack of team
results during Pujols’ first 10 years in St. Louis. Despite winning the franchise’s 10
th
World
218
Incidentally, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will be paying Pujols $30 million or more during those
seasons, with his contract being heavily backloaded (Stephen 2011).
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Posted by BigJawnMize (Moore 2011b)
220
Posted by Elvis (S. 2011a)
221
Baseball Analysts, for instance, find that, on average, hitters 35 and older are below average according to
WAR (Greenhouse 2010).
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Series title in 2006, many fans simply didn’t think he’d been as great as advertised. A
particularly well‐written comment argued that:
The point of the problem lies in his almost total failure to bring the Cardinals to a
World Championship, 2006 notwithstanding. We should remember that had the
Central Division put up anything resembling a contender in 2006, the Cardinals
would have been watching the WS at home…I would rather see a well‐paid and
deeeper Cardinal team without Pujols, even if that means his departure comes
sooner rather than later. His great numbers, better than Gehrig we are often told,
failed to bring a repeating championship to Saint Louis between 2001 and 2010.
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The bottom line meant to be taken away from this post is that the only result that matters is
World Series title. The Pujols era produced only 1 title, thus Albert’s greatness is overstated
and, therefore, also overvalued. Curiously, the commenter discounts the one championship
that the team did win over this time span, suggesting that it was essentially a fluke. One
wonders what the reaction might be today, knowing that the 10
th
and final year of Pujols’
stay in St. Louis delivered a second World Series title in the span of 5 years.
A second and distinctly different group of fan opinions thought Pujols was worth re‐
signing at virtually any cost. Contrary to the previous post, these fans held that the slugger
had more than delivered on his first contract, implying either that 1 World Series title was a
significant achievement or that other measures of success and results were also being
employed. The simplest posts of this genre declared a Pujols signing a no brainer: “No
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Posted by desertcardinal (Philip 2011a)
101
brainer! Just sign him and be done with it!”
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A more elaborate example reads: “This is a no
brainer, he's made the team over the past decade, give him whatever he wants and
hopefully he's playing ball to win more World Series.”
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In these responses, the business
element of the baseball front office is entirely relegated to the background, suggesting that
Pujols’ great ability justifies any size contract necessary to keep him in St. Louis. As simple as
these assertions may sound, the sentiment conveyed encapsulates even more complex
arguments for signing Pujols at any price.
One of the main arguments for signing Albert “no matter the cost” stems from the
belief that the Cardinals’ team owes all of its contemporary success to the man. On the
Cardinals’ MLB Blog, one fan writes:
I don't think you realize his "value." It isn't just how good he is. He is THE franchise.
He puts people like you and me in the seats. Without Pujols, the fan base will drop
off, in turn the club will not be able to spend the $$$ on lower players! His
leadership and fan draw, plus his unbelievable talent makes him extremely valuable
to the club!!!
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This perspective intertwines Pujols’ talent, his leadership, the team’s ability to draw fans to
games, its revenue generation, and, consequently, its ability to sign other players. Fans of
this belief see signing Pujols as the only sure path to securing a competitive future for the
St. Louis Cardinals. To wit, many fans shared the following sentiment: “It's put up or shut up
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Posted by nitrobarry (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by Cards_ShinerBOK (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by Blueboy13 (Leach 2010b)
102
time for the Cardinals…I don't care what it takes; management better get this guy
signed.”
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This move to place responsibility for re‐signing Pujols squarely on the shoulders of
management is reflected in quite a number of fan responses. One fan describes in great
detail why he believes that a failure to sign Pujols would be an incredible failure on the part
of the Cardinals’ management:
My response to all this reticence to sign the best player in a generation or two is, My
goodness, put down the calculator and live a little. This opportunity doesn’t come
often. And how do you quantify the post‐retirement decades of goodwill between
Pujols and the Cardinals, the public appearances, media kits, fundraisers, etc etc?
You can’t.
One of the bottom lines in all of this: For the Cardinals to spend so much on Matt
Holliday…and then fail to even be in the ballpark (pun intended) for signing Pujols
would be a spectacular, spectacular failure, PR‐wise, fan‐wise, baseball‐wise.
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This fan post highlights everything at stake for the Cardinals’ management should it fail to
sign Pujols: a loss of a future ambassador of the game for the team, loss of fans tied to
Pujols, a likely dropoff in team competitiveness, and a failure to retain a legendary player
who is a no doubt Hall of Fame selection. Reading between the lines, it would appear that
Pujols has far less to lose by changing teams than the Cardinals would. As a result, this fan’s
belief that it’s all up to management to get a deal done seems well grounded.
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Posted by STL45 (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by Rocketships on (Philip 2011b)
103
In addition to the desire to retain his obvious talent, fans also expressed desire to
see the Cardinals re‐sign Pujols to retain his services as a valued humanitarian and
community leader in the St. Louis area:
I see far too often comments treating … the phenomenal Albert Pujols, as a
commodity primarily, rather than a great humanitarian man. I agree that he IS the
face of the Cardinals Franchise, and one, if not the best baseball player of our
generation…he is a kind, generous human being and family man first, before and in
addition to his baseball prowess. I have read so many comments that basically treat
him as if he were chattel. I find that very disheartening.
228
Interestingly, this fan also expresses the belief that a baseball player, whose rights to
baseball are, in fact, owned by a team, ought to be treated with the humanity and kindness
that he displays towards the St. Louis community. This sort of response is certainly at odds
with 99% of the remaining comments, serving to highlight the ways that all fans treat
players as their own property, as if they themselves managed the franchise. Such a thought
process further illustrates the level of investment that these fans have in their favorite
team.
Of course, while most fans of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted the team to re‐sign
Pujols, not every fan was willing to “pay any cost” to keep him. Indeed, a large number of
the posts about re‐signing Albert sought to find an appropriate value that the team should
be willing to pay – one that matched his abilities but fit in the team’s payroll without
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Posted by CrimsonBird (Leach 2010b)
104
(severely) hampering future acquisitions as well. Fan salary speculation posts about what
money would be enough to retain Pujols were rampant. Take this one, for instance:
Has anyone thought that 10 years ago, $16mil for Pujols was expensive, and when
the contract expired, it was a bargain. Can you accurately tell me that in 2021,
$30mil per year won’t be a bargain for old man Pujols? Maybe some young stud
signs a $40mil per year contract….Something to think about. That being said, I will
contradict myself and say I like 7/210.
229
This post begins by speaking to fans who think $30 million per year is too steep, attempting
to explain that inflation and future player salaries will make $30 million look like a pittance.
It concludes by predicting that a 7 year deal at $30 million a year will be the final salary for
Pujols. Posts like these are a dime a dozen during the months from November, 2010 to
March, 2011. Indeed, it was common for the major Cardinals websites to see threads with
hundreds of posts speculating on the exact salary amounts that Pujols would accept and
with which the team could live.
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Several searched for ways the team could offer Pujols more money than other
teams. They thought it might be a good idea to offer up a stake in the ownership of the
franchise. That way, they reasoned, the team could spend slightly less on his salary than
other clubs, while still offering a better financial package overall. Of course, the fact that
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Posted by 8
th
&Clark (S. 2011a)
230
See The Cardinals Nation Blog on February 21, 2011, for instance, where fans were asked to calculate their
own salaries for Pujols’ next contract with the Cardinals. While this post was designed to elicit such responses,
the post appears to be motivated by a desire to consolidate all of the previous salary speculation posts that
had been cropping up across various Pujols‐related posts and threads.
105
players were prohibited from owning any stake while still playing the game did not deter
these fans.
231
For instance, one fan wrote:
Why doesnt the St. Louis Cardinals just offer Pujols a 10 year, 31 Million a year deal,
but then to make sure that they have the space to sign other players as well and stay
competitive...put in the deal that 10%, 20%, 15%, whatever, is to come out each
year, so that when Pujols retires...he owns...say 15‐20% of the team?
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More posts of this nature appeared on both The Cardinals Nation Blog and Viva El Birdos,
each offering some reason to believe that the future financial stake in the Cardinals team
would be so great that Pujols would make enough money that he would be a fool to leave
for another franchise. Of course, he did leave for another franchise at the end of the
season, in no small part because the Cardinals didn’t offer enough money to compete with
the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
During the 2010‐2011 offseason, the second major category of fan posts regarding
Pujols’ re‐signing offered predictions about Albert’s final destination – whether that was
predicted to be the Cardinals or another franchise. The first subset of these posts is
comprised of those fans who argued Pujols would eventually re‐sign with the Cardinals. As
one fan wrote, “if the cards truely do respect pujols talents and abilitys i believe that the
contract exstension will be there before the end of this offseason.”
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This reasoning, that
the team respects Pujols so much a deal is inevitable, obviously proved incorrect. But it is
representative of this segment of fan responses in that it posited particular team motives
231
Those who were familiar with the rules of MLB quickly put to rest notions that Pujols could be bought by
offering a stake in the franchise. Calcaterra 2010 Vincent
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Posted by LawStu4 (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by woodbat28 (Leach 2010b)
106
that would drive inexorably toward a new Cardinals’ contract for the slugger. Another
motive imputed to the team, and in this case to Pujols as well, was that of “rational decision
making”: “both sides are acting rationally and Albert’s latest interview (mentioned above),
helped to stop any negative feelings creeping into my brain.”
234
Fans who followed in the vein of thinking that both sides were acting rationally in
the final offseason before Pujols’ contract ran out found plenty of reason to believe that he
would re‐sign…eventually. As the previous fan had commented on an earlier blog post,
The more I think about it, the less incentives I see for a deal to be signed now.
there is still PLENTY of time to negotiate, and he is still a Cardinal. I assume (even
though I know nothing, NOTHING!) that each side took pretty strong stances
(Cardinals on the low side, Albert on the high side), and neither side had plans to
budge from those stances.
235
The Cardinals had good reason to low‐ball Albert a full year away from free agency, and
Pujols, looking to cash in, had plenty of reason to seek something comparable to what he
expected to receive as a free agent. Posts such as these illustrated fans who were interested
in thinking about the logic employed by those on either side of the negotiating table,
concluding that rational decision making couldn’t really produce a mutually agreeable
contract until Pujols actually hit free agency.
This rational decision maker model is summed up nicely by one fan in particular:
I think Albert DOES want to stay here. The Cardinals used this exclusive negotiating
window to try and sign him at a discount and Lozano turned it down. I think the
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Posted by SheckieZx (Moore 2011d)
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Posted by SheckieZx (Moore 2011d)
107
bottom line is that Albert wants to stay here but also get paid as much as possible.
The Cardinals weren’t going to offer him market value when he wasn’t on the open
market….once he hits FA and the possibility of him leaving becomes very real, I think
the team will try and match offers and give him the contract he wants to stay
here…..I think the FO played this right. If Albert wants to stay after the season then
he will resign if they give him a fair market deal. There is a chance no one will
actually be willing to give him the kind of money he is hoping for (not likely) or the
chance he has a down year or spends time on the DL.
236
Of course, this post highlights that as much as fans may think they are reasoning through
both sides’ positions logically, they can’t help but interject speculation. Obviously, the
assumptions in this model were incorrect, given that Pujols left for a larger contract than
what the Cardinals offered. Even setting aside the knowledge of the particular outcome,
there are some questionable assumptions in this post. For one, the belief that the front
office will match the largest contract available once Albert’s free agency arrives is entirely
based on faith, rather than any evidence. The logic that the immanence of his departure will
drive the team to pay whatever Pujols wants to retain him presumes that the team has
prioritized Albert above all else – with nothing to substantiate that claim.
Perhaps more importantly, this post begins with the unfounded supposition that “I
believe Albert DOES want to stay here.” In this assumption, the poster has leapt from using
logos to pathos. An exchange on the Viva El Birdos forums illustrates the problem precisely.
One fan argues that Pujols will stay with St. Louis after signing for a lower‐than‐market
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Posted by mick311 (S. 2011b)
108
salary, reasoning that “he just strikes me as a guy who wouldn't play for certain teams and it
doesn’t seem to me that he is as money hungry as most players.”
237
A second fan replies: “I
think you might be letting your heart get in the way of your head.”
238
A third fan opines,
“anyone who kidded themselves into thinking the Cardinals were going to get a discount of
any type was pretty naïve.”
239
Although Pujols never made any statement to suggest that he
would accept a below‐market salary to re‐sign with St. Louis, time and again fans posted
comments premised on the belief that he would give the team a home‐town discount.
Clearly, this faith was scorned by his decision to take the largest contract offered to him
after the 2011 season.
On the opposite side of the ledger, plenty of Cardinals fans wrote Pujols off before
the 2011 season even began. Often the starting point in these fan posts was the recognition
that although Pujols could offer St. Louis a hometown discount, the possibility was really
quite remote. As one fan commented,
I hope Albert can be signed and remain a Cardinal for life. But despite his statement
that he has no control over the matter, he does... a control which comes from not
making an unreasonable salary demand that would leave the team unable to put
enough pieces around him to remain competitive.
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This fan is under no illusion that Pujols has offered (or even would offer) to play for less
money in St. Louis. Instead, this fan takes Pujols’ reported salary demands at face value,
concluding that he can either choose to be paid top dollar (and leave) or he can choose not
237
Posted by Cards Fan in Chitown (Moore 2011b)
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Posted by Tackle Box (Moore 2011b)
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Posted by lopey986 (Moore 2011b)
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Posted by HBTexas (Leach 2010b)
109
to make unreasonable salary demands so that the team can re‐sign him. Other posts make
the ultimate conclusion of this position clear, declaring that “if Pujols won’t accept less than
10/300 then he will walk.”
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Often times, fans that thought Pujols would re‐sign pointed towards his previous
contract as an example that he was willing to give the Cardinals a hometown discount. His
expiring contract was an 8 year, $111 million contract that was the largest ever in Cardinals’
history. The average annual value (AAV) of this deal worked out to roughly $14 million.
242
Compared to Alex Rodriguez’s $27.5m AAV contract, this was surely a pittance. However, as
several fans astutely observed, Pujols did not give the Cardinals a discount on the first
contract. One fan writes: “And it really is a faulty assumption for those who claim Albert
took a hometown discount on his previous contract. He signed the largest contract ever for
someone with that amount of service time.”
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Pujols was so good in his first three seasons
that he landed the largest contract for someone with only 3 years of service time. While his
skills were good enough to routinely land him in the top 5 of the NL MVP voting, comparing
this Cardinals contract to other first basemen of that caliber wouldn’t make sense, because
he had not yet been in the position to be offered a contract of that magnitude (i.e., he had
never been a free agent).
The belief that Pujols would not re‐sign with the Cardinals also frequently stemmed
from other differences in assumptions from the more optimistic fans. For instance, this
241
Posted by crdswmn (Walton 2011b)
242
Associated Press 2004
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Posted by Elvis (S. 2011a)
110
group of fans put no faith in Pujols’ statements that he wanted to be a Cardinal “forever.”
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A fan who believes the Cardinals will not re‐sign the slugger decodes his statement thusly:
“Let’s be realistic. What Pujols has said was this: I want to remain a Cardinal. What Pujols
really means is this: I want to remain a Cardinal, as long as I am fairly compensated.”
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This
same fan goes on to point out (in a post a month later) that this statement is incongruous
with his ongoing salary demands in negotiations with the team:
If he simply wants the most cash per year and the most number of years and that is
all that matters, then he may suspect he will be playing elsewhere next year. In that
case, all the “I want to be a Cardinal forever” talk would seem inappropriately
optimistic.
246
Of course, one simple difference between the fans who did and did not believe Pujols would
re‐sign may be their degrees of optimism and pessimism, as this fan post indicates. Indeed,
taking Pujols’ salary demands at face value would easily lead one to conclude, as these fans
do, that a re‐signing is nowhere near likely.
Fans who reached the conclusion Pujols would leave were also likely to challenge a
different set of assumptions made by the “return likely” crowd. These fans took the logic
train, but jumped off before reaching the conclusion that delaying until free agency would
inevitably produce a deal between the Cardinals and Pujols. One example of this difference
of opinion in rational decision making:
244
Stark 2011c
245
Posted by Brian Walton (Walton 2011a)
246
Posted by Brian Walton (Walton 2011b)
111
Why wait until the end of the season when some team offers him 10/300? Some
team will offer more than the Cardinals are willing to pay. If Pujols would accept less
to stay with the Cardinals, then why not make the offer he would accept before ST
instead of when he becomes a FA and they get into a bidding war with other
teams?
247
By introducing the premise that one of the other 29 teams in MLB was likely to outbid the
Cardinals, this fan undermines the conclusion that the Cardinals could retain Pujols’ services
by winning the bidding war in free agency. Another fan echoes this sentiment, arguing that
the delaying tactics are a surefire sign that Pujols is committed to gaining maximum value:
“I see it as smart negotiating on Pujols’ part. Wait as long as possible for the price to go up
as high as possible before deciding whether or not to remain.”
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Fans who thought Pujols would not sign offered still more reasons that an
agreement could not be reached. In the case of this next fan post, the ramifications of
Albert’s contract on other MLB players’ future contracts take center stage:
The Union will want Albert to get as large a contract as possible.
MLB loves melo‐drama. Bud Selig might love for Albert to go into free agency next
winter, so millions of fans can root their team lands him.
Accordingly I would be a little surprised if Albert signs this off‐season. Its much more
exciting to heighten the drama.
249
247
Posted by crdswmn (Walton 2011b)
248
Posted by Brian Walton (Walton 2011b)
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Posted by JumboShrimp (Walton 2010)
112
The premise that the MLB player’s union will want the contract to be as large as possible is
certainly sound logic. In numerous other cases of top 20 players’ contract negotiations, the
Union has made their position clear that top dollar contracts are necessary to force
ownership to continue to offer comparable salaries to other players.
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If one superstar
takes a below market contract, the fear is that owners will leverage that contract against all
the other MLB players. Given that player salaries account for less than 60% of MLB revenue,
the Union clearly wants to see salaries rising, rather than falling.
Of course, this reality has little bearing on the rest of the fan’s post, which claims
that “MLB loves drama” and therefore will drag contract negotiations out as long as
possible. Apparently, this fan believes that MLB sends their own negotiating team in with
explicit instructions to draw out negotiations until the timing is right (whenever that may
be). Rather than the agent and team haggling over numbers, rights, and extras, this is a
vision of a three way negotiation in which MLB overrules anything that might make a deal
happen at an inopportune (or less dramatic) time. Besides approaching conspiratorial
rhetoric, this post offers no evidence to believe such machinations are or could be in place.
This fan was not alone in theorizing with no evidence – any number of fans “predicted”
specific other teams that Pujols would sign with, not minding the fact that these predictions
were more than a year premature, that Pujols was not a free agent and, therefore had not
had any contact with any franchises, and that the vast majority of teams had no idea what
their needs would be in a year.
250
In Pujols’ case, his manager, Tony LaRussa, made it clear that he thinks the MLB Players Association was
pressuring Albert to accept only a top dollar contract (Stark 2011b).
113
Beyond the will/won’t re‐sign debate, a great number of fans—those fearful about
the consequences should Albert depart—sought to predict the resulting fallout. These
predictions ranged from the belief that fans would reactively towards the team, positively
towards the team, and negatively towards Pujols. Fans also attempted to predict whether
the Cardinals would be worse (the majority) or better (the minority) without the superstar.
One fan, typical of those that would be quite angry with the team should Albert leave
argues, “Somebody said Cardinals have won "only" one WS with Albert. Who has won more
than one? How many teams? In the eighteen years before Albert, how many WS did we
win? Huh? Huh?”
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Of course, during the Albert Pujols decade in St. Louis only Boston won
more than one World Series. St. Louis, of course, would win their second with Pujols in 2011
on the eve of his free agency.
The mere anticipation of the sheer anger that would emerge should Pujols leave led
this fan to lash out an entire year before it would happen. Aiming at those Cardinals fans
who found a way to support trading the best player in baseball, he writes,
Half a dozen "fans" saying trade Albert, trade Albert, trade Albert. Somebody saying
so‐and‐so could play first base. Duh! We already got a first baseman...the best. Let's
downgrade so we can win the pennant...Huh? …
You want a perennial winner? Root for the Yankees. You're obviously not rooting for
the Cardinals. And for those of you who keep grousing about Albert's salary, what do
251
Posted by Simba23 (Leach 2010b)
114
you think another team will pay him, and whom do you think deserves more? You
people p*ss me off.
252
In addition to pointing out the logical problem with letting a rare superstar leave to make a
team improve, this fan challenges the authenticity of the Cardinals fans who think Albert
should leave. Ironically, he is calling for a huge payday for Pujols while accusing those who
don’t want to pay him of being fans of the largest salaried team in the sport.
Other fans who predicted fan backlash at the team over Pujols’ departure echoed
many of the themes discussed previously in this chapter: Albert is the franchise because he
puts fans in seats and is a great humanitarian;
253
his talent is responsible for making the
team competitive year in, and year out, including a World Series title;
254
and failure to sign
the greatest talent of a generation would demonstrate to fans that ownership is more
concerned about making money than winning.
255
Although there was a small and vocal
minority that thought that the team and the fan‐base would survive Pujols’ departure,
clearly none thought that a world of St. Louis baseball without Albert would be ideal. In an
ideal world, the Cardinals and Pujols would agree on a contract that worked for both, and
fans on both sides of the controversy would live in harmony. Of course, this is why the
Pujols’ controversy is so important to understanding the fans – it was a forced disruption in
the natural order of Cardinals’ fandom.
Fans who opted to react to this jarring event by renewing their faith in the Cardinals
generally followed the belief that the institution was larger than the player. While many
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Posted by Simba23 (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by CrimsonBird (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by Cards_ShinerBOK (Leach 2010b)
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Posted by Rocketships (Philip 2011b)
115
fans had begun to think of Albert as the second coming of Stan Musial,
256
the face of the
Cardinals’ franchise, his potential departure offered a revision of that narrative, stripping
him of the good will that fans sought to attribute to him.
257
As a result, fans that more easily
gave up the Musial analogy were able to continue to commit to the franchise, rather than
the player:
I think you underestimate Cardinals fans if you think they'll stop supporting the team
if Pujols is traded. Being a Cardinals fan is a way of life. Other great and much loved
players have been traded before. If it's a good decision for the team as a whole and
it makes sense then I don't think the fans will stay away from the ballpark. They'll be
mad as hexx and I would be too but I'm still going to be a Cardinals fan.
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This fan is responding to scenarios to trade Pujols, but the sentiment that the fandom and
the franchise will remain long after the player reflects the general vibe from fan posts of
this ilk – the team is larger than the player. In the case of Musial, his stewardship of the
game and the franchise had fused his legacy with the Cardina’s franchise. It would seem
Pujols either was not interested in such a legacy, sought to exit the shadow of Musial, or
sought to create his own legacy with another franchise.
Other fans offered a “rational decision making” approach to the decision to leave,
suggesting that it would be in the interest of both the Cardinals and Pujols to part and go
their separate ways. For Pujols, this offered the maximum AAV for a contract. For the
Cardinals, this offered an opportunity to avoid sinking the vast majority of available payroll
256
ESPN.com 2011d
257
Livingstone 2011
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Posted by soulsinger (Leach 2010b)
116
dollars into a single player.
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Fan posts in this category argued that both sides could only
achieve what they wanted by parting. As one post elaborates,
i think that the best thing for albert is to reach FA
which doesn’t coincide with what’s best for us
but i assume he and lozano are rational and they’ll try to maximize return
i’ve accepted there will probably be no deal
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The rationality of Pujols and his agent (Lozano) is pitted against the rationality of the
franchise (“what’s best for us”), and a compromise is deemed unlikely. Many fans that
subscribed to this general position that will be heard from below–those that predict the
team will be better without Pujols–and those above, who tried to find a salary that would
balance team payroll flexibility against his contract, all agree that the team ought to have
plenty of payroll space with which to improve the team, thus making this a positive
outcome for the franchise. Under this logic, if he leaves, the team has acted in the best
interests of fans, making the team deserving of their support.
The final group of fans that swore to continue their Cardinals’ fandom, even if Pujols
left, found value in celebrating what time St. Louis did have with Pujols, rather than
emphasizing the loss to come. By celebrating the time that the Cardinals had with Pujols,
these fans again de‐emphasized the individuality of the player, while enhancing the role of
the player as a member of the St. Louis team. A typical post of this nature reads:
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This was explained in more detail earlier in the chapter, by fans who sought to construct a salary that would
balance between both of these interests.
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Posted by d‐dee (Moore 2011c)
117
As a diehard Cardinal fan, I’ve just decided…If he signs with another team, I’ll be very
disappointed but my love for the Cardinals will grow stronger with or without him. I
can tell my newborn that as a Cardinal fan in NYC, I watched 7 of his first 10 seasons
via the baseball package and witnessed one of the greatest players in the history of
the game. There was never a dull moment with Pujols and he never complained,
whined, embarrassed himself or had a bad word to say about anybody. He just
played amazing, intelligent and intense baseball and kept his mouth shut. I refuse to
look for a reason to hate him…There’s a better way. Get over it and move on.
Baseball will go on, the Cardinals will still play hard
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This fan obviously loves everything that Albert Pujols brings to the game of baseball, but by
choosing to celebrate what he did well with the Cardinals, he is then able to connect this
hard work and dedication to other Cardinals’ players, concluding that that style of play will
live on.
Of course, not every fan was so content to turn the page on Pujols. Many were irate
at the possibility he would leave, despite more than a year still remaining on his contract
during the 2010‐2011 offseason. Earlier, we saw fan posts that expressed the belief that
Albert has more control over the negotiation process than he would let on. In public
statements, he declared that he wanted to remain a Cardinal forever, but it wasn’t his
decision to make (implying that it was a simple decision by the Cardinals to pay him or
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Posted by wdumaine (Philip 2011b)
118
not).
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The recognition that Pujols, in fact, controls a great deal of the process, by way of
his salary demands, generated quite a bit of backlash. As one fan wrote,
I love Pujols, but if I hear him say it's something that he cannot control one more
time I am going scream. How can it logically be possible for one side of a bargaining
table to not be able to control the bargaining. That's exactly what bargaining is; two
sides with an equal amount of control coming to a mutual compromise.
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Although, as this fan goes on to speculate, his agent probably encouraged this response to
avoid fan resentment, the disavowal of an agency during the negotiating process was
already sparking fan anger (if not yet hatred). Hearing their star player claim that
management was at fault for simply not paying him enough apparently did not impress
these fans. Of course, this is an oft‐heard lament, that players ought to be happy with the
millions upon millions they are paid, rather than constantly seeking the top dollar they can
find.
Of course, if his negotiating stance angered fans, then his eventual departure likely
sent many over the proverbial edge. Fan statements about their likely reactions to such an
eventuality certainly seem to square with this assumption. For instance, fans were angered
by the reported size of the contract offer from St. Louis that Pujols turned down before the
start of Spring Training in 2011. To wit:
Based on the comments by different reporters it looks like the fianl offer made to
Pujols was 8 years and somewhere above $25M and below $30M.
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See the post by HBTexas in Leach 2010b, for instance.
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Posted by canocorn7 (Leach 2010b)
119
If this is true and Pujols and agent turned it down….then I am squarely siding with
the Cardinals. I never figured Pujols for the type of player who would be looking to
squeeze the last drop of blood from the team. VERY disappointing to say the least.
Even if he signs with us at seasons end He has tarneshed himself in my eyes.
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Not only is this fan angry that Pujols turned down the contract, he’s so upset that he is
willing to say that he will think less of the man even if he re‐signs. Although none of the fans
seem to suggest they would be as angry as Seattle fans were when Alex Rodriguez left for
Texas (Seattle fans regularly threw money onto the field when Texas came to town years
after that
265
), one fan did suggest catapulting Pujols out of town if he signed with a new
team.
266
It remains to be seen how the fans will react, given that Pujols now plays in the
American League.
The Colby Rasmus Trade. A little more than 5 months after Pujols and the Cardinals
ended their contract negotiations, St. Louis traded its young centerfielder, Colby Rasmus, to
the Toronto Blue Jays in what became a 3‐team, 11 MLB player deal. Toronto first acquired
Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen from the Chicago White Sox for Jason Frasor and Zach
Stewart. Toronto then sent Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzepczynski, and Corey Patterson
to St. Louis in exchange for Rasmus, Trever Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters.
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The trade
was the equivalent of detonating an atomic bomb on the Cardinals’ blogs. A tidal wave of
fan furor slammed onto the sites, with Viva El Birdos having to create 2 separate overflow
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Posted by gossard56 (Moore 2011d)
265
Caple 2001
266
Posted by Alxfritz (Moore 2011a)
267
See Associated Press 2011
120
threads in response to their post chronicling the trade.
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By comparison, the only other
stories that produce more than 1 overflow thread during the 2011 season were either
related to Pujols’ contract negotiations (detailed previously) or the World Series
championship threads after the conclusion of the season. While there were many
responses, by far the most prevalent sentiments could all be classified as variants of fan
anger: outrage, shock, and disappointment.
The volume of expletives tied to these posts was incredibly high – easily more than
any other series of posts, without needing to map the exact scope of the profanities. The
great frequency of the expletives sufficiently conveys the level of anger and disgust felt by
the fans posting on the Cardinals blogs. Some fans used their posts to claim they were too
angry to even speak or think: “CANNOT SEE COMPUTER // TOO ANGRY // VISION RED.”
269
Others were so angry they wanted to throw their hands up and disavow … well, pretty much
everything: “if this is true, i'm done // i need to take a break.”
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Whether this fan is done
with baseball or the Cardinals specifically, it’s hard to say. But it is clear that the trade made
this person feel that their fandom had been abused in some fashion. Some fans expressed
this feeling of abuse through their emotional states: “Is it okay if I cry? … What an awful,
awful trade.”
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The anger here appears to be expressed more through disappointment and
generally being upset, rather than seeing red, as the first commenter did.
Still, angry fan reactions, of every variety, were expressed early and often on the
comment sections after official word of the trade came down. As one fan remarked,
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See Viva El Birdos, July 27, 2011
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Posted by mojowo11 (bgh 2011a)
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Posted by purple_haze (bgh 2011a)
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Posted by Alfie Crow (bgh 2011a)
121
the majority of Cardinals fans think this trade was an abomination. Even most of the
minority who like the trade acknowledge that the #1 reason for it was to get rid of
Colby and improving the team was a distant second
272
Abomination is probably an apt word to use in response to the trade, given that polls on the
various blogs dedicated to the Cardinals demonstrated that a massive majority of the fans
were against the trade.
273
A prominent national sportswriter with FOX, Ken Rosenthal, even
wrote: “Well, I’ve finally identified the most difficult‐to‐find commodity in baseball. Not a
catcher. Not a shortstop. Not a third baseman. Someone who likes the Cardinals’ return for
outfielder Colby Rasmus.”
274
This outrage boiled over enough that there were repeated posts where fans said
they want to confront the Cardinals management directly. In one conversation, a fan asks if
there is “Is there anywhere I could let Mo know what I think? Can we send him a letter as
VEB [Viva El Birdos]?”
275
Mo refers to General Manager John Mozeliak, who was the
architect behind the trade. After one fan jokingly suggests that fans send “thousands of
pounds of Colby Jack cheese” to the GM’s house, another claims to know Mozeliak’s
address and offers to mail a letter of frustration directly to him.
276
Besides the somewhat
creepy nature of a fan having the GMs address, this demonstrates that the fans really want
to give the front office of the St. Louis team a piece of their minds. The motivation for fans
to try to make management hear their voices is not simply “a bad trade,” however.
272
Posted by crdswmn (Walton 2011d)
273
For instance, at Viva El Birdos, a day after the trade, only 16% of respondents thought that the trade made
the Cardinals better in 2011 and beyond (bgh 2011b)
274
Rosenthal 2011
275
Posted by Notorious PSC (bgh 2011a)
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Posted by CarpIsMyManCrush and mick311 (bgh 2011a)
122
Plenty of Cardinals fans blamed members of the organization for either creating the
environment that necessitated a bad trade or pursuing a trade when Colby Rasmus’ value
was at an all‐time low. Many fans blamed the manager, Tony La Russa, Jr., for creating
animosity between himself and Rasmus. As one fan laments,
This trade has gotten me to the point of actively despising TLR
If he clashes so badly with young players that they have to ship out a young, very
talented, cost controlled CF for scraps, what the hell is he doing being a major
league manager?!
Mozeliak gets a ton of the blame, also.
277
La Russa and Rasmus had several dustups that were well documented in the media, which
prompted this theory that La Russa had created a toxic environment for Rasmus. For
instance, La Russa and Rasmus’ father used the media to fire salvos at one another
regarding Colby’s swing. La Russa apparently chafed at the notion that Colby would ask his
father for hitting advice; Rasmus’ father disliked La Russa’s handling of Colby.
278
As a result,
“no one wanted to pay a high price for Rasmus. We were desperate to ship him.”
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In response to a popular perception that the trade was made to eliminate a player
that didn’t get along with their manager, the Cardinals claimed that the trade had nothing
to do with the relationship between both men. Of course, fans weren’t buying it: “Hate the
trade. Love the spin. It had nothing to do with Tony not getting along with Rasmus. What a
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Posted by ViperLjs (bgh 2011a)
278
Hurley 2011
279
Posted by RedbirdAvenger (bgh 2011a)
123
joke. I still love Larussa but I do not believe him.”
280
Fans had witnessed, with their own
eyes and in the media, too many conflicts between the two to believe that Rasmus, who
was under contract for at least 4 more years, was worth only the players that the Cardinals
received in the deal with Toronto. By and large, fans believed in these posts that La Russa’s
strife with Rasmus led to a trade that undervalued his performance and produced a poor
result for the team overall. In general then, these fans thought that La Russa’s spats with
Colby Rasmus prompted the GM, Mozeliak, to trade Rasmus primarily to get rid of him. The
general perception that the rest of the players being shipped out from the Cardinals were
weak links in the bullpen and that the return was not very good likely added to this belief.
Even if the Cardinals’ management did not undervalue Rasmus, themselves, fans
were angered that the media promoted a perception of Rasmus as a malcontent so much
that some Cardinals fans were ready, and even eager to trade Colby. Indeed, fans frequently
lamented the media’s treatment of Rasmus, suggesting that the media essentially ran the
kid out of town,
Then this morning, they’re playing this “I feel so much better…now that you’re gone
forever” …song…Pretty unprofessional if you ask me.
Think what you want about the trade, but it is so frustrating how the media has just
vilified this guy. I’ve literally never heard of a fan/media base turn on a guy this
quickly. Very disappointing.
281
Not only did the flare ups between La Russa and Colby potentially contribute to the
summary dismissal of Rasmus in this trade, but the media played up the angled that the
280
Posted by LarryBird (Walton 2011d)
281
Posted by goodymobb (Moore 2011f)
124
player was entirely at fault. This representation angered many fans and appeared to
increase their anger both with the manager and the front office.
Regardless of the fan’s explanation of choice, all seemed to agree that the franchise
sold on Rasmus when his value was at its lowest point. Instead of buying low and selling
high, the franchise was giving away a potential cornerstone centerfielder who was under
contract for 4, possibly 5 more years for what amounted to a pile of magic beans. Thus, fans
blamed management for being desperate to trade Rasmus (as seen previously), and blamed
other fans for holding the same beliefs: “you reap what ya sow, fellas. you wanted him
gone, and now we have a bunch of spare parts we don’t really need.”
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Indeed, the fan
outrage over what was perceived by most as a terrible value trade boiled over into a series
of accusations that any fans that thought the trade was a good idea were, in fact, not real
Cardinals fans. As an opening salvo, one fan blanketly accused any trade supporters of being
stupid: “Anyone who was dumb enough to want to trade Colby away just in general Is
probably dumb enough to think that this is a good return.”
283
Accusations and harsh words of this nature were widespread across all of the
Cardinals blogs, with “casual fan” being slung around like it was synonymous with leprosy.
One fan posted on Viva El Birdos that “I know I am in the small minority here...but good
riddance on Rasmus. Yes cards should have gotten more, WAY more. Still, I am glad Colby is
gone.”
284
This seems like a reasonable response – frustration that the return was so little,
but happiness that a source of distraction and conflict was gone. The reactions to this post,
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Posted by cschepers (bgh 2011a)
283
Posted by mojowo11 (bgh 2011a)
284
Posted by rva (bgh 2011a)
125
however, were a never ending stream of derisive comments, such as “I'm glad you're glad
we lost a good and potentially great player in exchange for nothing that comes close to
replacing his value, and probably actively makes us worse. Yay for Corey Patterson in CF.”
285
Another response read, “Hi Regular, Everyday, Cardinals Fan!!!!”
286
Another, more detailed
post suggests, “Yeah that makes A LOT of sense. Trading away one piece of the future of the
team for two POS and Edwin Jackson, yeah thats the way to build a winning team.”
287
The obvious disdain for any “casual fan” that might support the trade was vitriolic
enough that it led to entire streams of posts deriding anyone that deigned to post a
comment at the St. Louis Post‐Dispatch. A typical post of this sort reads:
I think you hit the wrong link, you are looking for the PD boards.
You know, where everything is a knee jerk reaction and everyone worships Tony
LaRussa. You know, you probably go there all the time so I dont know why I’m
describing it.
288
This post (and others like it) categorizes an entire group of fans that read and post on the
PD (Post‐Dispatch) news stories as feeble‐minded fans that accept what they are told. It
simultaneously characterizes anyone that suggests the trade could be beneficial as
synonymous with those sheep that would post at the Post‐Dispatch.
289
Finally, it suggests
285
Posted by infallibleopiniongenerator (bgh 2011a)
286
Posted by MaytheForschbewithyou (bgh 2011a)
287
Posted by cardinalswsbound (bgh 2011a)
288
Posted by Heisenberg (bgh 2011a)
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This same sentiment is reflected in an exchange on The Cardinals Nation Blog on July 27 (Walton 2011c).
One fan, jonseals, says: “I’m amazed at the number of fans who think this is a great trade for the Cardinals.” In
reply, crdswmn says: “I’m not. Many fans take everything they are told by the media and the organization at
face value. Too much brain power necessary to think it through and try to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
126
that there are fundamentally different communities posting on the two websites and that
there are essential, determining characteristics that define both groups.
The belief that the Post‐Dispatch and Viva El Birdos (or any of the other Cardinals’
blogs for that matter) host different communities of fans, of course, rests on the prior belief
that each site has its own distinct fan community, with identifiable characteristics. One fan
opines that the Rasmus trade will ruin the community that he’s a part of:
The unfortunate side effect of this trade, if this is the real trade
is that I’m guessing VEB will be kind of unreadable the rest of the year. BCB‐like
arguing about the various ways everyone is incompetent.
Sigh.
290
While this fan would like to continue reading the fan commentary, he is obviously worried
that the tone of the blog will be mired in bickering to such a degree that participation will
no longer be interesting or fun. In this fan’s opinion, then, the trade is damaging to the
(implied) normally civil communication between fans on the site.
In contrast, another fan thought that the trade had sparked enough resentment and
reaction that it lured long‐dormant fans back into the fold: “well one good thing about this
all the jerks people who were lurking on VEB have now turned up again.”
291
Certainly, the
volume of posts during the 24 hour period following the trade would square with that
assessment – as mentioned before, the need for two separate overflow threads reflects a
much higher than average frequency of posts. The sheer timing of the posts makes it
impossible for the same, smaller group of fans to have simply posted more frequently. Still,
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Posted by sdrone (bgh 2011a)
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Posted by Yadi2Second (bgh 2011b)
127
the majority of fans thought that the trade had made VEB posting and commenting worse,
encouraging many not to read the site, such as this fan: “well i've been avoiding the website
for the last 24 hours due to the trade.”
292
Granted, the two comments cited here seem to
impugn their own believability by posting that they are not reading the site on which they
are posting. However, if these fans are willing to proclaim their avoidance, certainly others
are avoiding the site entirely.
After one progresses through the vitriol laden posts, there are a fair number of posts
devoted to analyzing the exchange values in the trade, focused, naturally, on the question
of whether or not the Cardinals “won” the trade by getting more talent and/or value in
return for their young centerfielder. The standard line from fans opposed to the trade was
that Colby Rasmus could provide above average to superstar level performance for 4‐5 cost‐
controlled years which made him, by himself, as valuable as all the returning players from
Toronto – the bulk of whom were in the final year of their contracts.
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Fans of this
persuasion began from the premise that Colby Rasmus was a rising star. As one fan wrote,
“[I] think it is only natural to be pissed about this trade because of what Colby represented.
Young, cost controlled, 2‐8 WAR potential.”
294
WAR here refers to Wins Above
Replacement, or how much better Rasmus would be in centerfield as a hitter and fielder
compared to any average centerfielder. A measure of 8 WAR represents a mark that only
hitters such as Albert Pujols attain in any given year, so the presumption is that Colby had
potential to be the best of the best, at a difficult skill position. Most posts that analyzed
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Posted by FredbirdisaDork (bgh 2011b)
293
See McElroy n.d. for a good example of this line of thinking.
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Posted by OKCardsfan (Moore 2011f)
128
Colby’s value proceeded in a similar fashion, using one of the advanced statistical metrics to
estimate his value over the course of the deal.
As a second step, these fans sought to make the case for their belief that all of the
returning pieces that St. Louis received were essentially broken:
did in your researching you find that Jackson is 55‐58 career and 4.53 era, corey
patterson isnt relevant the jays just wanted to get rid of him, dotel stat line really
impresses me this year (NOT) plus he is 37 years old and i used to hate watching us
play against him when he was with the stros, Rep is the only unknown out of this
trade and i hope that he can play, i know baseball, watch my team every time thier
on, this is a bad trade, Point Blank, La Russa doesnt like you, your out (Ex. Scotty
Rolen).
295
Aside from a few quibbles here and there, this post ably sums up the general position that
opponents of the trade took toward the players Toronto gave up to acquire Rasmus.
Jackson, the key piece for St. Louis, possessed a rather mediocre career stat line. Patterson
had failed out of several organizations over the past decade. Dotel’s numbers as a 37 year
old did not inspire confidence. A young left‐hander whose name was so unwieldy Toronto
fans had referred to him merely as “Scrabble” was the only possibility of a long‐term, useful
piece according to this fan perception.
In addition to the general narrative about Rasmus’ value in relation to this poor
return, many fans offered further competitive reasons to dislike the trade. For one, fans
suggested that the replacement for Colby, Jon Jay, was not ready or capable of replacing his
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Posted by sfinley6 (Leach 2011)
129
fielding or hitting abilities. Writes one fan, “If Jay's BABIP bubble bursts this is gonna turn
ugly.”
296
In a similar vein, this fan goes on to say that the trade reduces the depth of the
team, which could be a problem if the older outfielders on the team are injured: “And if
Holliday/Berkman/Jay get hurt…. Oh… No…”
297
Both sentiments in this post illustrate a
belief that the team is worse in the short term (the 2011 season), although the concern over
Jay’s ability to perform is also a potential liability for the future, given that he is the only
centerfielder under long term contract to the team after the departure of Rasmus. As one
fan quipped, “FLASH FORWARD TO END OF THE YEAR…Man, imagine how much better this
team would have been if we’d just kept Rasmus.”
298
Instead, we know that any prescient individual would have been writing that the
2011 St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series despite or in part because of the Rasmus
trade. Even the most negative retroactive analyses of the trade can only say that the trade
did not harm the 2011 team. Given that the team was not first place in their own division
when Rasmus was traded, more generous interpretations would seem more appropriate as
far as that individual season is concerned. In an attempt to put the trade in perspective, one
fan unwittingly predicted the future outcomes of both the 2011 season and the Pujols free
agency:
I'm not going to try to find a silver lining in this trade
Because there is none.
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Posted by redbirdnation8206 (bgh 2011a)
297
Posted by redbirdnation8206 (bgh 2011a)
298
Posted by mojowo11 (bgh 2011a)
130
However, putting it all into perspective, barring this rag‐tag bunch winning the
World Series, this trade isn’t going to mean a whole hell of a lot if the Cards lose
Pujols in the offseason.
299
The phrasing here is telling: the trade isn’t going to mean a lot barring winning the World
Series. Given that the 2011 Cardinals did go on to win the World Series, one would think
that a variety of the doom speakers and naysayers reversed course, praising the team for
pulling out the team’s 11
th
Championship. Still, the fan is probably right that only a World
Series could smooth over both the Rasmus trade and the loss of Pujols to free agency. The
further removed these fans are from the 2011 season, if the team performs poorly, there
will indeed be much “gnashing of teeth.”
300
Not every fan is on the warpath after the Rasmus trade, however. In fact, a number
of fans took to defending the trade as soon as it took place on July 27
th
. Indeed, fans posting
on the MLB.com St. Louis Cardinals Blog post about the trade seemed to overwhelmingly
favor the trade, for a number of reasons. An anonymous commenter explains why this was
the case: “The fans at home and at the ball park have pretty universally wanted Rasmus
gone in recent weeks. His complete lack of enthusiasm or hustle are a pox that no fan
appreciates. If he turns it around for Toronto, great for him. He wasn't doing it in St.
Louis.”
301
Sentiments such as these were aired frequently, reflecting the same attitude
expressed by fans who disliked the trade – that Tony La Russa and Colby Rasmus had a toxic
relationship that had to be cleansed. While fans against the trade blamed La Russa for that
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Posted by by olddomination (the red baron 2011)
300
Posted by by olddomination (the red baron 2011)
301
Posted by commenter (Leach 2011)
131
state of affairs, fans of the trade blamed Rasmus for being difficult. Thus, the same belief in
a sour relationship between the two produced quite different assumptions about fault and,
consequently, opposite reactions to the trade.
The prevalence of supporters for the trade on the MLB.com Cardinals Blog appears
to pit the site against sites like Viva El Birdos, Fungoes.net, and The Cardinals Nation Blog,
just as those sites appear set against the fans that post on the Post‐Dispatch page. This
would seem to reaffirm the earlier analysis that there are, in fact, distinct communities on
distinct Cardinals’ websites. For instance, posters on the MLB site indicate that “all” the fans
they knew wanted Rasmus gone (see above). In addition, many more fans on this site had
favorable opinions of Jon Jay’s play in centerfield, leading them to conclude Rasmus was the
lesser player and, thus, an extra piece that could be dealt at any time. One fan writes,
…quite frankly jon jay is hitting over .50 higher than rasmus, our offense is better
with jay than rasmus at this point, as a matter of fact your analysis as a crappy trade
couldnt be farther off, GREAT trade for the cards, way to go MO, got us the help
where we needed it and got a rid of a clubhouse cancer in the process.
302
It was common to see fans combine Rasmus’ attitude problems with Jon Jay’s superior play
in the field and conclude that giving up Rasmus was not a big deal that should upset fans. Of
course, this perspective, while perfectly valid, did not really address the fan complaint that
the team sold low and received less value out of Rasmus than they should have. Even if
Rasmus was superfluous for the Cardinals, as a cost controlled, above average centerfielder,
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Posted by CardsfanstuckinMN (Leach 2011)
132
he offered far more value to Toronto than any of the returning players did, according to this
line of reasoning.
Several fans from the official team blog also argued that the real key to the trade
was the expected improvement of the Cardinals’ bullpen. Thus, in addition to the addition‐
by‐subtraction argument regarding Jay and Rasmus, they added the claim that the relief
pitchers acquired from Toronto were much better than the relief pitchers St. Louis sent the
other direction. For instance, the previous fan post continues:
cards unload to lefties who cant get lefties out (miller and tallet) and we get a lefty
that DOES HIS JOB. we get jackson so we can send Mac back to the bullpen, and as
long as we dont use dotel against righties hes a good relief pitcher, we DEFINATLEY
upgraded our bullpen
303
Another fan echoes this belief: “We need the bullpin help, and in my opinion receive a
bullpin upgrade with Kyle going back the pen.”
304
There were a few fans on this blog that
also thought Edwin Jackson might contribute to the team’s success in 2011, but the majority
of the posts relied on these key arguments: that Rasmus was souring the clubhouse, that
Jay was outplaying Rasmus, and that the bullpen help would improve the team
immediately.
While the official MLB.com blog witnessed far more of these arguments than the
other Cardinals blogs, they weren’t entirely absent from the others. Comments about
Rasmus’ attitude appeared (but were rebuked) on both Viva El Birdos and The Cardinals
Nation Blog. Both sites also witnessed several posts about the relative value of Jay and
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Posted by CardsfanstuckinMN (Leach 2011)
304
Posted by commenter (Leach 2011)
133
Rasmus, although, again, far more posts were hostile to this positive comparison for Jay.
Finally, the posts about the relative values of the bullpen arms that were exchanged in the
deal were also present on both VEB and TCNB.
305
As a result, it is difficult to conclude that
there were qualitatively different arguments advanced in the fan posts on the MLB.com
site, although there was clearly a difference in the ratio of positive to negative comments.
The presence of frequent rebukes to the very few positive reactions on the sites that were
not the MLB.com blog made for a clear distinction.
Analysis
In order to round out analysis the fan posts for the St. Louis Cardinals during the
2011 season, I turn to the generic and fan participation theories that will guide the
remaining analysis. As noted previously, the genre features to be examined include
semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements.
306
After evaluating posts on these fan sites in the first three categories, the analysis will then
incorporate fan participation theories into the latter categories of arousal and satisfaction
of interactive engagements.
307
This analysis section pursues the potential of Cardinals’
blogs, specifically, and baseball blogs, generally, to stand as emergent sports blog genres.
Although this study proceeds from the premise that “the blog” is a medium, rather
than a genre, this shift in focus in no way mitigates the many similarities that websites
305
See Rasmus trade posts for July 27, 2011
306
Miller & Shepherd 2004
307
Although generalizations may frequently be made about the Cardinals blogs, the detailed treatment of the
Albert Pujols and Colby Rasmus controversies that constitutes the bulk of this chapter should amply
demonstrate the source of such generalizations.
134
typically share within that medium.
308
Following earlier studies of blogs,
309
this project
found many standardized semantic features on the Cardinals blogs: each post is time
stamped, posts are organized from most recent to least, blog rolls of other Cardinals’ blogs
media are provided, and comments are enabled for fans to post. As part of the SB Nation
network, Viva El Birdos shares many visual cues and content features that reflect the
structure of other sites under this particular sports blog umbrella. All of the blogs reviewed
in this chapter have some sort of Game Thread or Game Recap thread, as one would expect.
Indeed, the interactive features of these blogs, from comment threads, to polls, to RSS
subscription links, and advertisements for baseball related media (such books) all fulfill
standard fan expectations for any baseball blog they might randomly pull up.
The commitment to baseball decorum present in these blogs, then, serves to reflect
fan sense of appropriateness, which aids both fan and blog in participating in the larger
baseball community. Miller & Shepherd argue that the recurrence of form in blogs is
precisely what builds a particular audience: “…what persists is not only the medium but also
the recurring rhetorical forms that it enables, or even requires…as well as the audience
expectancies that these forms promote.”
310
Certainly, if these sites refused to cater to
baseball advertisements, daily game threads, blogrolls to other sites, or coverage of the
team they claim to represent, these sites would not be part of a community of Cardinals
blogs. Similarly, fans that jumped on such isolated sites to comment would be taking their
fandom elsewhere, rather than extending their community from fans at the game to fans on
308
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 280‐283
309
Notably, Miller & Shepherd 2004, in their attempt to classify blogs as a genre.
310
Miller & Shepherd p. 283
135
the internet. This, of course, is particularly true in regard to game threads and recaps: by
virtue of their temporal and content‐based relationship with the games fans watch, these
unique features of baseball blogs to interact with other fans either in real time (game
threads) or shortly after the game ends (recaps) – when fans might otherwise have a hard
time finding a similarly positioned fan to talk to about the game.
In the case of the Cardinals, it should be clear from the Pujols and Rasmus
discussions that fans participate regularly, frequently, and in great depth. Perhaps it is a
unique feature of the fans that follow this team, perhaps not. Regardless, the game threads,
recaps, and major reports on team happenings seem to have generated not only an
expectation of fan participation, but an expectation of genuine interaction among posters.
As many of the examples of reactions to the Pujols and Rasmus controversies revealed, fans
would respond to one another quite frequently, with some response threads becoming 50‐
60 messages deep.
311
Although the nature of the responses frequently varied (some were
humorous one‐liners, others were in depth statistical posts, some were links or references
to outside material), the frequency of interaction itself is notable within the Cardinals blog
entries. This notion of a far‐flung Cardinals fan community that participates well beyond the
confines of the “text” of the games themselves squares with contemporary fan studies
theories that call for broader conceptions of the text.
312
Despite many semantic similarities, however, most of the other genre categories of
analysis witness a significant departure from the general blogs to baseball blogs. Cardinals’
311
For instance, any Viva El Birdos thread on Pujols’ contract negotiations were liable to have lengthy post
chains such as those described here.
312
Specifically, Gray 2005: “when we stop thinking of the text as located, we move toward accepting that
individuals and communities who engage in little direct reception of the text as broadcast may well be active
consumers, in their own right, of the text as I have argued we must more broadly conceive of it.” (843)
136
blogs are no exception to the trend toward a wide variety of content in blogs, as noted by
contemporary internet genre theorists.
313
The topics of these blogs typically concerned
upcoming games, ongoing games, games that have just finished, trades (as well as possible
trades), contracts, ownership, management, personnel changes, the state of the Cardinals’
division (the NL West), polls ranging from “favorite players” to “predict the Cardinals’ final
record,” links to national media stories concerning the team, controversies (small and large)
surrounding the team, and more. While the topics do reflect strong similarities to other
baseball blog sites, they simultaneously demonstrate “…the growth of blogs wasn’t simple
or linear: blogs began to change and adapt, to speciate…blogs became not a single
phenomenon but a multiplicity.”
314
These differences with non‐baseball blogs, suggest, in
turn, that highly‐specific blog studies are the wave of the future for blog‐as‐genre studies.
315
One specific area of baseball blogs on display on these Cardinals blogs that stands
out in particular is the repeated use of advanced statistical measures – typically the same
sets of stats used on the Mariners’ blogs analyzed in the previous chapter. Throughout the
Pujols and Rasmus comments, for instance, fans frequently referenced the “WAR” values of
these players, as well as the other players involved in the trade or potential replacements
for Albert at 1b with the Cardinals.
316
Each of the major Cardinals blogs run by fans (rather
than journalists, the team, or corporations) frequently deployed stats that reached beyond
313
Miller & Shepherd 2009
314
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 263
315
Giltrow & Stein 2009
316
To recap, WAR refers to “Wins Above Replacement” player, suggesting that each player’s contribution on
the field and at the plate can be measured in comparison to a fictitious player at that same position who
defines “average” for that position. Both Fangraphs.com and Baseball‐Reference.com calculate their own
versions of WAR for all players in the major leagues.
137
standard stats such as ERA, Pitcher Wins, RBIs, and batting average.
317
While these
advanced measures are largely taken for granted on these sites, often they are referenced
as gatekeeping functions at the edges of their community. For instance, when a fan
attempts to defend the Rasmus trade on Viva El Birdos (without referencing any advanced
stats), other fans accuse him of straying from the Post‐Dispatch website, where his
comments will fit in.
Advanced statistics are certainly not the only mechanism through which posters
were asked to show their legitimacy as Cardinals fans on these sites – the tone of the posts
in reaction to the Pujols and Rasmus controversies were heavily policed by regular fan
commenters. Any time that a fan posted that they were happy with the Cardinals’
negotiating position with Pujols, for instance, the reaction was immediate and swift. To be a
real Cardinals’ fan, rather than a casual fan, one had to be angry with the team and display
it publicly on these blogs. Similarly, no one was supposed to be happy with the Rasmus
trade if they wanted to post on these sites and be considered a member of the real fan
community. Aside from the example detailed above, many other interactions witnessed a
lone post or two defending the trade, beset on all sides by angry responses to the contrary.
Indeed, anger is a tone that describes most of the posts affiliated with both the
Rasmus and Pujols situations. Perhaps this anger is responsible for the huge upswell in posts
on the Cardinals’ sites regarding these two specific items. Anger, however, does not
characterize the majority of the posts on these sites overall. Instead, the most frequently
317
Without delving into the debate between standard and advanced statistics in baseball, these 4 stats are the
commonly available measures that advanced metrics seek to supplant: ERA and pitcher wins because they
attribute defensive plays to the pitcher; batting average and RBIs because they are incomplete measures of
hitters’ abilities.
138
employed was a demanding tone. These fans root for the franchise with the second most
World Series Championships in MLB. As noted at the beginning of the chapter, a large
number of Hall of Fame baseball players were St. Louis Cardinals. Fans of the Cardinals have
higher standards for their players and their franchise than many. In addition, Cardinals fans
are frequently described as the most knowledgeable baseball fans around.
318
As a result,
the anger displayed in reaction to the controversies detailed here should not be a surprise.
When fans are used to winning their division, if not the NL or World Series, when they are
accustomed to having Hall of Fame players on the team, then the Pujols and Rasmus
situations almost have to produce anger across the fanbase.
Interestingly, however, while the percentage of negative comments about the
team’s approach was quite high on the fan blogs, the percentage of positive comments was
substantially higher on the Cardinals’ official blog. The tones of individual responses on the
respective blogs were shaped by the register of emotion evoked by the blog post to which
the fans responded. For instance, the Cardinals’ official blog presented the Rasmus trade in
a positive light, while none of the fan blog posts that started the thread of fan comments
described it as positive. However, one would have to demonstrate that there was a pattern
of team‐friendly blog posts on the official site and team‐unfriendly posts on the fan sites to
credibly make such a claim. This is so because fans do not engage only in the single
conversation in which they post a comment. Instead, “bloggers…participate in (at least) two
318
For example, when Chipper Jones played his last game as a visiting Atlanta Braves’ player in 2012, Cardinals
fans gave him a standing ovation. As a result, a conversation about the knowledge and class of the Cardinals
fans broke out on the Atlanta Journal and Constitution (Rogers 2012).
139
situations—that of the blog itself and that of the public event—and their resulting social
actions accommodate exigencies belonging to both.”
319
While this argument was initially advanced in relation to bloggers themselves, it
should hold true for fans, in at least two ways. First, fans, as bloggers, are participating on
the blogs on which they choose to post. This participation means that any given fan is likely
to have read far more than just the single post to which they respond. Extending this logic
to cover the numerous posters on any particular site suggests that there is a particular,
ongoing conversation specific to each blog. The Cardinals’ fans conversations on The
Cardinal Nation Blog aptly demonstrate this argument, as many of the same participants
frequently comment across a broad range of stories. The idiosyncracies of individual posters
become easily recognized to the other fans who are reading and writing themselves.
Second, fans also participate in the broader internet conversation about their team.
These conversations are onoing throughout and across individual seasons. The Cardinals
fans’ comments on Pujols and Rasmus, no matter what site they might be posted to, are
evidence of this broad conversation that stretches from the individual games to the general
community and on to the world wide web. As discussed in the Rasmus controversy, when a
fan suggests that the team was wise to dump Rasmus because he was a cancer in the
clubhouse, this post is an individual manifestation of this broad community in that it
combines elements of texts that range across many mediums. The narrative about conflict
between Rasmus and La Russa begins on the field of play, extends into the broadcast booth,
finds its way into local then national media, circulates through fans’ oral histories, and
319
Grafton 2009 p. 87
140
becomes manifest on the website. A fan who simply viewed the games from the stands
would have little‐to‐no ability to identify that such a conflict even existed. It is only by
indexically referencing this incredibly broad notion of the text that allows such a comment
to be posted.
The relationship between the tone of a blog post and the fan comments on that post
is not well researched or understood at this point.
320
However, it stands to reason that the
tone of a particular blog post may be matched or reversed by fans – particularly as the post
becomes more extreme in its tone. Anecdotal evidence from this study of Cardinals blogs
suggests that this is correct, although more negative fan comments followed negative blog
posts, just as more positive fan comments appeared on more positive blog posts. For
instance, the official Cardinals’ blog put a positive spin on the Rasmus trade, suggesting that
the team had acquired key players to shore up the starting and relief pitching for the team.
The bulk of the “good riddance” posts about Rasmus appeared on this site. In contrast, the
fan blogs all took highly negative stances on the trade and saw a very high percentage of
like‐minded fan comments. The few pro‐trade responses that appeared on these sites were
quickly denounced and ridiculed by many voices. Here, then, the tone of the blogs may be
functioning as a type of arousal and satisfaction by positing initial reactions to the trade that
fulfill fan expectations and/or create space for fans to fulfill their own emotional needs.
These blogs also fulfill the dynamic of arousal and satisfaction simply by offering
Cardinals‐related content that extends beyond the game itself. Fans that head to blogs to
320
Indeed, no studies of internet genre or fan participation to this point have sought to investigate whether or
not the specific chracteristics of blog posts have any relationship to the characteristics of the fan posts that are
subsequently attached.
141
read more about the Cardinals are clearly craving more information than what they have
observed at the games themselves. They are even looking for more information than they
could have heard on the broadcasts of those games. The Cardinals fans’ blogs, then, satisfy
this desire for additional content by posting their own thoughts about various elements of
the team and the game. Further, by turning on comments these blogs satisfy the desire for
fan‐readers to be able to share their thoughts on the team/game. Finally, if that were not
enough, these sites offer fans the opportunity to interact with other fans of their team. This
may be especially important from the perspective of arousal and satisfaction, as many fans
may not have an immediate circle of offline friends with whom they can reap the same level
of engagement.
Additionally, the format of these blogs clearly fulfills the desire of fans to participate
in advanced statistical measurements of their team. Fans that only watch the games live or
on television have virtually no avenue for discussing the Cardinals in terms of these
advanced statistics unless they happen to have immediate friends or family who are well
versed in those materials.
321
The online medium of blogs is also ideal for advanced stats
because there is ample visual space to deploy charts, tables, and pursue lengthy arguments
framing data. Finally, the game threads and game recaps that the Cardinals’ blogs offer a
form of posts that structurally arouse the desire for commentary and engagement about
each day’s game. In the same way that the pre‐game broadcasts are designed to build
321
While it is certainly possible that the Cardinals broadcasters employ these states, the odds are pretty
strongly against such usage. The vast majority of baseball broadcasters stick with primary stats such as batting
average and Runs Batted In. Speaking as a fan who has seen some of the more progressive broadcast teams
that have employed some of these statistical measurements, they are still fairly clumsy about it. Finally, even if
the Cardinals broadcasts are one of the more tolerant of advanced metrics, the broadcasts offer no
opportunity for fans to interact with the broadcasters about those numbers, like blogs do.
142
anticipation of that day’s game, these threads and recaps excite fans for that day’s set of
discussions with others about the team. It’s not unreasonable to think that these threads
and recaps may actually build even more desire to watch the games themselves – as they
are the core text upon which the fandom and commentary is founded.
In order to evaluate directly the qualities of these fan interactions, theories that
illuminate the concepts of anti‐fandom and fantagonism are especially useful. Anti‐fandom
theories posit that there are fans who are just as “negatively” charged as fans who are
positively charged towards the object of their fandom.
322
This theory also infers the
existence of non‐fans: those who have some investment in the fan object, but lack the
intense involvement that characterizes most fans who are the subject of fan studies.
323
Anti‐
fandom studies applied to football (soccer) suggest that “Sport genres are the perfect place
for anti‐fans to be “produced,” because one of the central meanings of sports is
competition.”
324
If anti‐fans do exist, one would expect to find them in droves at sporting
contests, which are typically characterized by one‐on‐one, head‐to‐head matchups.
In the case of St. Louis, baseball fans are expected to be anti‐fans of the Chicago
Cubs, who are division rivals. Indeed, one fan writing about the inevitability of Pujols’
departure made one simple request: “please don’t sign with the Cubs.”
325
The Cubs,
however, are not the only team that Cardinals fans might feel highly negative about. At
various points in the past 20 years, different teams from within their division (the NL
Central) have been challengers to Cardinals’ fans self‐image as the class of their division and
322
Gray 2003
323
Gray 2003 p. 74
324
Theodoropoulou 2007 p. 18
325
Joe 2011; wdumaine (Philip 2011b)
143
league. For instance, in 2012 the Reds are running away with the division lead (as they did
in 2010). In 2011 it was the Brewers’ turn, the Cubs took the NL Central in 2007 and 2008, in
2004 and 2005 the Astros were the class of the division, and so on.
326
Such intra‐divisional
rivalry suggests that teams are frequently caught in a series of binary oppositions, rather
than a singular one. Context and history push some of these anti‐fan sentiments more to
the fore than the others. Thus, when the Cubs are terrible, Cardinals fans likely spend more
time reacting to other franchises in their division.
Although hatred of another team is the most obvious example of how anti‐fandom
might work, fans’ relationship to their texts are sufficiently complicated that one may
simultaneously be both a fan and an anti‐fan towards the same object of desire. Gray
expressed precisely this possibility in his initial theorization of anti‐fandom:
fans can become anti‐fans of a sort when an episode or part of a text is perceived as
harming a text as a whole…Behind dislike, after all, there are always expectations –
of what a text should be like, of what is a waste of media time and space, of what
morality or aesthetics texts should adopt, and of what we would like to see others
watch or read.
327
The very same fans that invest significant time and themselves into their participation with
a text and a fan community may easily become anti‐fans if they have particularly strong
expectations about how a text should function, operate, appear, or interact morally.
Studying anti‐fans (as opposed to simply examining fans) becomes significant
because the violation of the expectations that these anti‐fans have may reveal qualities
326
Baseball reference n.d.d
327
Gray 2003 p. 73
144
about fans, fandom, and the things they value about the object of their fandom. Indeed,
“[t]o study the anti‐fan…is to study what expectations and what values structure media
consumption.”
328
When fans converge in their pleasure surrounding a text, their reasons
may be many and varied. In studying fans that become disenfranchised from a particular
text, however, researchers may begin to learn what values and qualities structure an
understanding of and desire for a text. By pursuing studies that ask anti‐fans to divulge
what qualities, values, and expectations are violated to produce such reactions, fan studies
scholars would be able “to focus on the range of everyday viewers’ values, and on how they
interact with media consumption, use and meaning.”
329
The Cardinals fans that spent pages and pages of text criticizing the St. Louis
ownership in the wake of the failed Pujols negotiations, for instance, expected that the
team would open its pockets to keep the best player of the generation. These fans had
specific beliefs about what the St. Louis Cardinals stand for – qualities that they thought
were put in jeopardy by not retaining a home‐grown Hall of Famer. To begin with, these
fans clearly believed that the Cardinals should be a perennial contender that ought to pay
whatever price necessary to remain competitive. Secondly, most felt that the team (and
fans) deserved to have a Hall of Fame player on the team at all times. Only the Cardinals
fans deserved Pujols. Finally, these fans largely believed that Pujols deserved whatever
contract he asked for because he was a loyal Cardinals player who developed strong ties to
the community and played hard like all Cardinals’ players should. The combination of these
328
Ibid. p. 73
329
Ibid. p. 73
145
expectations made it possible for many loyalists to become anti‐fans who were raging
against the team when it became increasingly clear Pujols was going to walk away.
330
The Cardinals fans obviously value winning – reinforcing Theodoropoulou’s
contention that sports are a perfect venue to study the anti‐fan. Those that were upset by
the Pujols and Rasmus controversies thought that losing either player would dramatically
impact the bottom line of the team to win. Fans that were particularly upset by the Rasmus
trade thought the team had given up too much value, suggesting that they value value in
the form of team friendly contracts. The desire to maintain team‐friendly contracts also
reflects fans that desire shrewd moves by ownership. Managerial intellect, then, is another
related value that fans held that caused them to react as anti‐fans in both of these
controversies.
When fans turned on the team in reaction to the Pujols and Rasmus situations, they
were not only demonstrating the theory of anti‐fandom in action – they also exhibited
characteristics of fantagonism. Johnson maps the key characteristics of fantagonism:
“ongoing struggles for discursive dominance constitute fandom as a hegemonic struggle
over interpretation and evaluation through which relationships among fan, text, and
producer are continually articulated, disarticulated, and rearticulated.”
331
Fans turned
against one another, ridiculing and belittling opinions about the Rasmus trade, for instance,
if they did not square the dominant perception of the trade on the particular website that
they choose to follow. Folks that posted positive reactions to the Rasmus trade on Viva El
330
The same is clearly true of the Rasmus trade – if one looks at the explosion of posts (predominantly angry
ones at that), the fan expectations were clearly violated in dramatic fashion.
331
Johnson 2007 p. 286
146
Birdos or The Cardinal Nation Blog were met with swift and vicious responses. These
responses are easily characterized as attempts to challenge the authenticity of the fans in
question. For instance, when one fan tells another that they are posting on the wrong site
and take their comments elsewhere, they are invoking a claim to be an authentic member
of the community of Cardinals’ fans that inhabits that website.
Moreover, when fans posted their belief that “casual fans” were responsible for the
Rasmus trade because they bought into the notion that Rasmus was a bad seed in the
clubhouse, they were illustrated factionalization of the larger Cardinals’ fan base. In this
case, the out‐group is the faction of casual fans, while the in‐group is the set of fans who
post on VEB or TCNB. The controverises surrounding Pujols’ contract and Rasmus’ trade did
not cause this fantagonism so much as they reflected pre‐existing belief groups within the
Cardinals’ fanbase. Indeed, there can be no singular belief set of Cardinals’ fans as “diverse,
divergent fan interests…cannot…be met by any singular canonical iteration of the
series…co‐present meta‐texts…necessarily exist in opposition.”
332
Each of the Cardinals’
blogs functions as a separate “iteration of the series” within the space of the broader St.
Louis fan community. As preceding analysis revealed, fans are participants in multiple
simultaneous conversations that stem from different elements of the broader text of “the
Cardinals.” Blogs within the network are different sources of meta‐texts which frequently,
inevitably clash with one another.
If not the Pujols or Rasmus controversies, VEB and TCNB commenters were likely to
find other reasons to object to the “casual fans” they criticized heavily. This is so because
332
Ibid. 286
147
casual fans possess qualities that commenters on these sites viewed as oppositional meta‐
texts: they don’t follow advanced statistics, they determine a player’s value by watching
them play, they don’t learn about the game of baseball, they believe what the ownership
tells them, etc. In contrast, traditional baseball fans write off sites and fans that use
advanced metrics, calling them statheads, accusing them of living in their parents’
basements, and suggesting that they take all the enjoyment out of the game. These larger
narratives about fandom produce fantagonism regardless of the particular controversy.
Thus, the controversies studied here offer windows into the broader fan struggle for
hegemony amongst their factionalized groups.
333
Criticism of other fans, while expressing fantagonism and demonstrating
factionalization within the Cardinals’ community, is akin to the rhetoric of getting one’s
house in order. This is plainly recognizable when we realize that fans may be critical of their
own team but “When anti‐fans are present, the situation is different. They would do their
utmost to defend their team and fan object choice and refute the critics.”
334
With this
move, it becomes possible to understand how the same fans may simultaneously be both
fans and anti‐fans; disgruntled fans can rail against management and other Cardinals’ fans
and yet believe that their franchise is superior in the face of all others. When faced with a
Cubs fan, however, even the most disenfranchised Cardinals fan will work to protect the
value of the team against an outside threat.
As a result, anti‐fandom demonstrates the same ability to generate and maintain fan
identity that is attributed to fandom. In the case of Cardinals vs Cubs (or Yankees vs Red
333
Ibid. 298
334
Theodoropoulou 2007 p. 324
148
Sox, etc.), “the emotional investment in anti‐fandom is significant to the construction of fan
identity…bipolar oppositions act as the definitive mechanism of distinction to the outsider
and enable identification with the team.”
335
Anti‐fandom may offer a better window into
understanding the reification of such identities, as the binary nature of these oppositions
force fans to entrench themselves further in their team’s camp in order to stave off the
discursive threat. Even the possibility of multiple different anti‐fans outside the Cardinals’
fanbase (Brewers fans, Astros fans, Reds fans, etc.) may force such rigidification of fan
sentiment, suggesting that being beset on all sides may amplify the ability of the anti‐
fandom to construct and maintain identity.
Thus, as a result of detailed treatment of anti‐fandom and fantagonism, we can
identify several exigencies at work in the fan posts on Cardinals’ blogs. First, reflecting great
similarity with the Mariners’ fans, there appears to be a strong tendency toward forensic
rhetoric used to deploy statistical analysis of the players. The medium of the blog is
deployed to great effect in this example of the blogosphere, offering fans an opportunity to
build ever more sophisticated numerical measurements that may then be used to
deliberate over the most appropriate course for the team to take. This leads to the second
exigency, which appears to be direct control over the management of the team. This
impulse, too, was shared by Mariners fans, as both sets of fans used the baseball talk
setting in blogs to argue for changes in management, players, and even outcomes. The level
of investment necessary for fans to participate in counterfactual constructions of their
team, beginning at the level of where the manager should have pinch hit or pulled the
335
Theodoropoulou 2007 p. 317
149
starting pitcher and working their way up to calls for management changes, should not be
underestimated. Where casual attendees at a Cardinals game may not know the
management or even the team construction, fans posting on these blogs were intimately
familiar with all elements of the team, revealing a large time commitment that had been
made.
Third, in a great dissimilarity with Mariners fans, Cardinals posters exhibited
personality characteristics consistent with a culture of winning, rather than one of losing.
These Cardinals fans, much like the stereotypical Yankees fan, held nothing but the highest
possible standards, demanding that the Rasmus trade, for instance, would be a complete
and utter failure if the team did not win the World Series. Several fans who did not wish to
see the team re‐sign Albert Pujols criticized him for “only” delivering one Championship to
the city in his 8 years playing for the team (little did they know he would deliver a second at
the end of the 2011 season). These very high levels of expectation for the players represent
a unique perspective of these fans, particularly when compared to fans of a perpetually
losing franchise.
Finally, Cardinals fans also exhibited a great deal of struggle to define what it meant
to be a real Cardinals fan. However, this was slightly different from the “Real fans” debates
amongst the Mariners commenters. Where Seattle fans sought to ridicule casual fans who
attended games and enjoyed the in‐game, non‐baseball gimmicks like hydro‐plane races,
the Cardinals commenters ostracized fans who had insufficient sabermetric knowledge
about the players. In both cases, knowledge about baseball and the team was used as the
dividing line, yet in the case of the Cardinals, the bar to be accepted into the real fans
150
category was set much higher. Perhaps this has to do with the Cardinals fielding a vastly
more competitive team or perhaps it is related to the general conception that Cardinals fans
are the most knowledgeable in the sport. Either way, the moving target nature of the
real/casual divide highlights the claim that fantagonism is present in all fan communities—
they simply find their own unique ways to draw the borders.
Conclusion
This chapter has sought to employ genre criticism and theories of fan participation
to illuminate the online fan community of the St. Louis Cardinals, as exemplified on a
number of websites dedicated to following the team. Fan comments from blogs owned
variously by fans, the team, and journalists were examined in relation to two specific
controversies: Albert Pujols’ salary negotiations with St. Louis and the team’s trade of Colby
Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays as part of a 9 player deal. Analysis reveals that Cardinals
blogs function as a medium for fans to participate in a broad community, with diverse and
heterogenous perspectives. Fan expectations and desires include a team commitment to
winning the World Series, developing and retaining the best players in the league, a nose
for savvy business moves, and team responsiveness to fan wishes. Moreover, this analysis
of Cardinals’ blogs affirms the supposition that baseball blogs constitute a genre within the
medium of blogging, with unique and repeated form and content across many well‐read
blogs. Although broader claims may not be made about the state of all baseball blogs on the
strength of this chapter, it nevertheless suggests that detailed analysis across all baseball
blogs to assess the generic qualities would reap substantial theoretical benefits. Having
151
established that both the Mariners and Cardinals’ blogs have demonstrated such generic
qualities, it is time now to turn to the Philadelphia Phillies’ blogs to investigate for similar
qualities.
152
Chapter 4: The Philadelphia Phillies
Background
The Philadelphia Phillies entered the 2010 offseason (November‐March) caught
somewhere between disappointment and hope. The franchise won the 2008 World Series,
26 years after their last title. Indeed, in the early 2000s,
336
Philadelphia held the second
longest championship drought of any U.S. city, across all professional sports.
337
Such recent
success, with no turnover amongst the team’s core players, offered much reason for hope.
On the other hand, the 2009 and 2010 seasons had ended in defeat, albeit leading the
Phillies deep in the playoffs. In the 2009 World Series, Philadelphia lost to the greatest
franchise in the history of the sport: the New York Yankees. Eager to recapture the 2008
magic, Philadelphia added perhaps the greatest pitcher on the planet to their team, by
trading with Toronto to acquire Roy Halladay. As a result, the team and its fan base
expected to at least repeat their trip to the World Series and return to the victory circle.
This season, too, would end with a loss, this time a defeat at the hands of the up‐start San
Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series. The Giants would go on to
win their first title since moving from New York to the Bay, but this offered little consolation
to a heavily‐favored Phillies team.
Although this run of success (2 World Series’ appearances, followed by reaching the
NLCS and LDS) puts the team in the upper echelons of contemporary MLB, the Phillies team
is more aptly characterized as an average franchise historically. Thirteen franchises have
336
While Philadelphia’s last title from the four major sports came when the Phillies won the World Series in
1983, Cleveland has claimed no titles in these professional sports since 1968. Paolantonio 2004.
337
Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, and Football.
153
won 3 or more World Series titles, leaving 17 with 2 or less. The Phillies’ 7 National League
pennants Championships places them second amongst teams with two Championships,
landing the team at 15
th
out of 30 teams, all time.
338
As such, the Phillies offer a middle
ground between the legacy of success represented by the St. Louis Cardinals and the
recurring failures the Seattle Mariners. Five Phillies’ players have been selected to the Hall
of Fame, including Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt.
339
This is both substantially fewer than
the Cardinals (10)
340
and far more than Seattle (0).
341
Really, any measure of success over
the franchise lifespan, marks Philadelphia as a middle ground between the extremes.
Given the consistent recent success and the long term mediocrity of the Phillies,
immersive analysis of fan comments for this franchise should not readily fit within the
general tenor of the culture of winning that typified St. Louis fans or completely reflect the
magnitude of frustration exemplified by Seattle. The controversies selected for examination
for the 2011 Phillies season are tied directly into the tension between recent success and
long‐term middling performance. This chapter will examine two ongoing controversies that
speak to the overall success of the team: the team’s epic rotation that failed to win the
World Series and the massive contract of Ryan Howard. After elimination from the 2010
playoffs, the Phillies signed Free Agent Cliff Lee, creating a rotation of Halladay, Lee,
Hamels, Oswalt, and, well, no one cared who the 5
th
starter might be. Expectations rose
dramatically for the 2011 season. Fans’ hopes soared. Such pride arguably led to a harder
fall, however, when the team was eliminated in just the League Division Series by the Wild
338
Baseball reference n.d.c
339
Baseball reference n.d.e
340
Baseball reference n.d.f
341
Baseball reference n.d.g
154
Card St. Louis Cardinals. The narrative that this super‐rotation would win the World Series
was ubiquitous.
The controversy over Ryan Howard’s contract began early in the 2010 season, when
he signed a five year, $125 million contract extension with the team. While not strictly
confined to the 2011 season, Howard’s new contract was only 6 months old at the start of
the 2010‐2011 offseason and less than a year old at the start of play in April. While my
choice to limit the study is a chronological one for the purposes of following one complete
cycle of narratives, controversy is more appropriately captured by past debate than time
limits. In this sense, the controversy surrounding Howard’s contract is an acute one, judging
by the volume and ferocity of the fan posts that attack and defense. Perhaps more
importantly, Howard’s contract constituted an ongoing national controversy. From the time
of the signing, articles and blog posts abound that criticize the agreement for obviously
exceeding the market value for his position (1b) and Howard particularly.
342
The “epic
rotation will win the World Series” narrative was equally pervasive in the national media
and blogosphere, until it became apparent that the team would lose to the Cardinals.
343
Although both stories were prominent throughout the course of the 2011 season,
the rotation of the fearsome four in Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels received significantly
more press attention. Most sites reported that the signing made the Phillies the favorite to
win the World Series, almost from the instant Lee signed.
344
The national attention given to
342
For a good example from the Philly area, see Murphy 2012. For a national opinion that the contract is
awful, see Sullivan 2010a. And The Hardball Times has a nice roundup of various naysayers who categorize the
deal as an albatross (Fisher 2010).
343
The narrative was still prevalent as the playoffs were set to begin (Alter 2011).
344
Articles like this local CBS affiliate blog were the norm during the 2010 offseason (Wheeler 2010). Fans and
blogs nationwide compared this four‐some to the best in history (Lugg 2011).
155
both of these storylines—combined with the previous 3 seasons of dominance within the
National League—made studying these fan comments a must‐include for this project. Even
though Philadelphia had lost to the Giants in the NLCS, the addition of Lee suggested to
most analysts and fans (those that were not Giants fans) that the Phillies reclaimed the top
spot in the NL, if not all of MLB. The Phillies’ story of 2011, dramatically high expectations
dashed by an incomplete title run, serves as a perfect counterpoint to the Cardinals’ (by
their standards) pedestrian season that finished exceeding all expectations (if not desires).
2010 Season
Before the Phillies signed Cliff Lee to a 5 year $120 million through free agency in
late 2010, he had actually pitched for the team quite recently. On July 29, 2009, just before
the trade deadline,
345
Philadelphia acquired Lee from the Cleveland Indians for Ben
Francisco. Although Lee pitched quite well, especially in the playoffs, after the team lost to
New York in the World Series, they decided to turn a different direction. In a dramatic three
team trade, the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay from Toronto, while sending Cliff Lee to
Seattle in exchange for prospects.
346
Halladay’s acquisition cost a great deal in terms of
prospects. General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. sought to replace those prospects (and clear
salary space) by dealing Lee for a different set of prospects. This series of moves stunned
345
Technically, July 31
st
is only the non‐waiver trade deadline, meaning that any trade on or after August 1
st
requires players to first pass through waivers, during which time every team in the league has a chance to
claim the players in question. But in common parlance, this is the trade deadline, as the freedom to include
players is dramatically constrained after the 31
st
, producing far fewer trades. The August 2012 trade that saw
Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett head from Boston to Los Angeles is the exceptional case that
proves the rule in this instance.
346
ESPN.com 2009b
156
almost anyone who followed baseball.
347
By the end of the offseason, however, fans openly
embraced Halladay and expected a trip to the World Series and, God willing, a second
World Series title in 3 years.
348
Philadelphia experienced a few hiccups along the way, but, on balance, the express
train to the World Series appeared to be on track. When Halladay finally made the first
post‐season start of his career, he did not disappoint. Halladay delivered a no hitter,
allowing only a single walk.
349
The Phillies made short work of the young Reds team,
emerging to face the Giants in the National League Championship Series. While the popular
narrative predicted the Phillies’ offense would be the deciding factor in a series that would
feature equally dominant starting pitching for both teams, it was the Giants’ offense that
made the difference in the series. Several key late rallies buried Philadelphia.
As the dust settled on the 2010 season, the Phillies found themselves even further
away from its goal of claiming a second World Series victory with this core of players.
Indeed, many of their players began entering free agency. Between 2010 and 2011, the
team would have to decide whether or not to keep their starting right fielder, Jayson Werth.
Werth came to the club after several injury‐riddled years with the Dodgers. After finally
completing an entire season while healthy, he proved himself to be a well above average
right fielder. As a result, he and his agent sought top dollar in free agency. The club was
unable or unwilling to match the eventual contract offer that he accepted from the
347
National ESPN columnist Jayson Stark remarked on the widespread shock waves surrounding Lee’s trade to
Seattle (Stark 2009). Phillies’ fans were surprised, especially given the quality of his performance in the
playoffs (Corrado 2012). Even Lee himself was stunned by the trade (Zolecki 2009).
348
For an example from Phillies fans see Phuturephillies 2009. Even publications following rival teams thought
the Halladay acquisition made the Phillies a likely Word Series candidate (Botte 2010).
349
Kepner 2010
157
Washington Nationals: 7 years, $126 million.
350
After losing a series in which their offense
proved futile, the loss of a key middle of the order hitter alarmed a great many fans. Just 8
days later, the team would stun the world by turning in an entirely different direction,
bringing Cliff Lee back into the fold on a contract that shelled out $120 million over only 5
years.
The Controversies
The Cliff Lee Signing. In broad strokes, the Phillies 2011 season is a story of
anticipation, rising expectations, fulfillment, collapse, and betrayal. The anticipation was
seemingly unavoidable with the rotation that GM Amaro, Jr. put together in the offseason.
Roy Halladay was the greatest pitcher on the planet at this time: he had thrown a no‐hitter
in his first ever post‐season game and routinely pitched more complete games in a season
than entire teams of pitchers. In 10 years with Houston, Roy Oswalt amassed 143 Wins and
1593 strikeouts with a 3.24 ERA in 1932 innings pitched.
351
In 2008, while the Phillies were
charging toward their 2
nd
World Series title, Cliff Lee burst onto the American League scene
with a 2.54 ERA over 223 innings pitched to claim the Cy Young award.
352
During Lee’s 2008‐
2010 seasons, he was the second most valuable pitcher in baseball, trailing only Halladay.
353
Meanwhile, the team still had Cole Hamels under a cost‐controlled, pre‐free agency
contract. Hamels had produced 4 postseason victories and been named the World Series
MVP during the Phillies’ title run in 2008. With such impressive resumes for each of their
350
ESPN.com 2010a
351
Baseball reference n.d.h
352
Baseball reference n.d.i
353
Indeed, since the beginning of that 2008 Cy Young season, Lee has been the most valuable pitcher in all of
baseball up to today, narrowly edging out Roy Halladay. (Fangraphs n.d.b)
158
top four starters, then, it is no wonder that national and local imaginations were running
wild with possibilities.
That narrative largely held intact throughout the regular season. Philly cruised to
102 wins, winning their division by 13 games over the 89 win Atlanta Braves, and claimed
home field advantage throughout the playoffs, leading the second best NL club by a margin
of 6 games.
354
Only the Yankees were within even 5 games of the Phillies that season.
However, in the opening round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Cardinals, the World
Series train de‐railed, and the Phillies lost the best of five series two games to three. With
such a dominant rotation, 2 recent trips to the World Series, and a wide lead over the field
through the regular season, this outcome was nothing short of a collapse—one that left the
fans feeling betrayed. This sense of betrayal was not limited to the national narrative that
Philadelphia’s epic rotation would assuredly win the World Series: many of the same
characteristics of expectation and betrayal were repeated in fan posts regarding the team’s
slugging first baseman, Ryan Howard. The controversy surrounding the size and length of
his contract (relative to his ability) resurfaced any time the team had a rough spell (although
these were few and far between until the playoffs), especially taking off after the swift exit
from the playoffs. Eighteen months into Howard’s contract, fans remained divisively split
over his value and his ultimate worth to the team.
These two controversies occupy significant, even dominant narrative space across
the course of the 2011 season for the Philadelphia Phillies. While other issues emerged,
none had the longevity, the divisiveness, or incurred as much fan participation as these two
354
Baseball reference n.d.j
159
areas of clash. The well of commentary within each controversy area ran deep. In the case
of the team’s collapse in the playoffs, the controversy plays out in two distinct acts. Act I
encompasses all of the time from Lee’s signing in December 2010, until late in September
2011 when the Phillies encounter a prolonged slump. During Act I, optimism reigns
supreme, as bloggers, journalists, talking heads, and fans continued to build the expectation
that this super rotation would steamroll through the regular season and postseason series
with ease. Act II begins with the lengthy end of season slump in September and lasts into
the offseason after the early exit. This act encapsulates the tragic collapse and fans’
troubled path towards acceptance. This path leads through valleys of blame and cliffs of
denial before the franchise and its fans are able to emerge into fresh fields of hope.
The first act in the tragedy of the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies season begins on
December 13, 2010 with the confirmed rumor that Cliff Lee will sign a 5 year $120 million
contract with the club. Almost immediately, fans, commentators, journalists, and, really,
anyone who follows the sport celebrate the historic nature of the starting rotation. After all,
their fourth best starter was the Most Valuable Player of the World Series just 2 years prior.
Fans on sites devoted to the Phillies display shock and awe. A commenter on Phillies Nation
perhaps said it best: “I feel like a kid on Christmas morning, waking up to this news!!!!”
355
Another fan echoed this sentiment: “WOW! Christmas comes early! Trading Hamels would
be a huge mistake. No other team in baseball matches our top 4. Just learned about the
signing. I think Ruben realized he made a mistake in trading Lee. A great signing!”
356
The
comparison to children on Christmas morning is apt, as landing a big name free agent, one
355
Posted by Trini (Gallen 2010)
356
Posted by Dr. Dave (Floyd 2010)
160
that makes the starting rotation so dominant, is likely the pinnacle of desire for avid fans of
the team. Indeed, many fans attempted to dub the new rotation the Phantastic Phour,
playing off the comic book group The Fantastic Four, which solidifies the connection to
children playing with new toys.
357
At the same time, fans were not just thinking abstractly—most of the excitement
stemmed from the belief that the rotation would take the team back to the World Series,
then win. An alternate nickname, The Four Horsemen,
358
nails that element of fan reaction
quite well. Indeed, the visions in the heads of Phillies fans were World Series trophies and
other teams laid to waste by their hands:
WOW yankees who? look out san fran we got the arms now. as long as we get
batting we will be the next back to back winners of the fall classic in a while. mark
my words PHILLIES ARE NUMBER ONE AINT NO BETTER NOW.
359
Comments like this were the norm, rather than the exception. Phillies fan pages read more
like “Fans Gone Wild” than any sort of rational commentary. One comment, in particular,
illustrated the easy nature with which fans let their hopes and desires take control: “The
Phillies now have the greatest rotation in Phillies history, and quite possibly the greatest in
MLB history. All we need to do is throw in a tomato can in the 5th spot.”
360
These
comments, made the morning of the confirmation that Lee would sign with the Phillies,
reflect a surety on behalf of the fans that the rotation was not only good for the Phillies, but
excellent in comparison to the history of all MLB rotations.
357
See Baer 2010, Floyd 2010 and Gallen 2010.
358
See a post by Jim Z (Gallen 2010). See also a post by Joe Cowley (Weitzel 2010a)
359
Posted by joejack293 (Baer 2010)
360
Posted by Drew (Baer 2010)
161
Certainly, there were some fans that spoke calmly and found cause for concern
when they heard of Lee’s signing. First and foremost, there was the concern that the team
had lost to the Giants because their hitting could not deliver against San Francisco’s
excellent pitching. Committing $120 million to Lee over 5 years (instead of $126 to Werth
over 7 years) did nothing to improve the team’s hitting. It stood to reason that the bats
would actually be appreciably worse without one of the key starters from the 2008
Championship team. As one fan opined,
I still don’t get why we needed Lee. Our pitching wasn’t a problem…we have an
unbeatable rotation, but we still need to score a run now & then. Don’t we need a
rt‐hand bat & a lead‐off hitter & someone besides Contreras in the bullpen (we can’t
expect the supermen starters to play 9 innings every game)?
361
Similar comments that reflected concern over the state of the offense were repeated on
various Phillies‐related blogs.
362
One unfortunate result of the Lee signing was a mini‐
controversy over the utility of spending that money on another starting pitcher—practically
the same dollar amount would have allowed the team to keep Jayson Werth in right field.
363
Aside from concern over the state of the hitters, there were fans that worried that
the Phillies had now sunk too much money in an aging roster, giving the franchise only a
limited window in which to win it all before Father Time took a heavy toll. After listing the
various ages that a list of core Phillies players would be at the expiration of their contracts
(the list contained at least 10 players, all of whom would be 35 or older at their contract’s
361
Posted by CH Phan (Baer 2010)
362
For instance, see a post by RSB (Weitzel 2010a)
363
For an especially lengthy debate, see Floyd 2010.
162
end), one fan writes: “Hey, if we are going to get another champioship in this city, the
winning has to be this year and probably the next. The window is growing smaller and
older.”
364
Another fan added that while
the Phillies will undoubtedly win the most games in the major leagues next year
barring serious injuries, I think that in three or more years, this pitching staff will
begin to resemble a retirement home. I certainly hope that they can win the World
Series next year, because this window is going to slam shut rapidly.
365
The rotation was certainly already old by MLB standards. One never knows when age or
injury will suddenly force a player’s talent to deplete rapidly.
Still, despite these concerns, optimists ruled in the aftermath of Cliff Lee’s signing.
Fans of this persuasion had ready replies to those fearing the team’s hitting ability and the
age of the rotation. For instance, optimistic fans thought the best approach was to
celebrate the current major league club while re‐stocking the farm system. To wit:
I dont agree that the window is only 1‐2 years. The key now is re‐stocking the
system. Who knows what the state of the organization will be in 2 years??? Right
now its a good time to be a Phils Phan. But I do know in sports things can change in a
hurry.
366
If Amaro could pull off a trade for Halladay and ship Lee for prospects, then it stands to
reason, according to this logic, that one can place faith in management to draft well and pull
off the trades necessary to bring the farm system along. If this succeeded, then when the
364
Posted by Brooks (Gallen 2010)
365
Posted by Jim Z (Baer 2010)
366
Posted by Marisol Perry (Gallen 2010)
163
team’s age caught up, the new players would be ready to step in and keep it competitive.
Indeed, more than one fan made the case that the division was so weak in 2011 that this
trade might help more after 2011 than immediately.
367
The Lee signing facilitated this belief by offering evidence to fans that they could
place their faith in Amaro and he would reward it. Time and again, fans praised the GM for
his work to bring Lee back to Philadelphia. Early after the contract news was leaked, a fan
writes: “Words cannot describe the awesome of this deal. To all the RAJ haters, bow down…
now.”
368
Presumably, the moves that Amaro had made since taking over after the 2008
World Series had angered some portion of the fan base, for a fan to lead with this line.
Praise continued to roll in for the GM, however: “Well played, Ruben. Well played.”
369
One
fan suggests that Amaro engineered this deal to appease the fanbase:
Ruben Amaro has a lotta balls. Things like this just don’t happen, obviously. Besides
being one of the best pitchers in baseball, in the short time he was here he became
a great fan favorite. A love affair almost. Does anybody think that Ruben, besides
getting a great pitcher, had a little part in him that wanted to makes this deal to
make us happy? I do.
370
The notion that a GM is actively seeking to sign and make deals to acquire players that the
fans love and want on the team is certainly one that is bound to make fans incredibly
happy. In the case of Lee, a good number of the fans must have been stunned and upset
367
For instance, bfo_33 writes that “If there is a negative, this move does little for 2011 (assuming the whole
staff stays healthy). The division will stink this year – not quite the NFC west, but every team is rebuilding. This
move is for 2012 – 2014, will keep the Phils competitive even if the bats continue to digress.” (Gallen 2010)
368
Posted by Dan (Baer 2010)
369
Posted by Kate (Floyd 2010)
370
Posted by The Dipsy (Gallen 2010)
164
that he was shipped away just a few of months after landing in Philadelphia, after the trade
deadline. The way that he pitched from August to October that year endeared Lee to the
fans, adding to the positive reactions toward Amaro in this instance.
With the love for Amaro overflowing in the wake of this deal, it is no wonder that so
many fans were optimistic about the current season and future prospects of the Phillies as a
team. As the season wore on, fan confidence remained high. Right on the heels of the Lee
signing, fans quibbled only about which of their 4 dominant starters would be benched
during a 5 game series (which typically only requires 3 starters): “we will have to choose
one of these four top‐of‐the‐rotation type starters to NOT USE in the division series. That is
downright absurd. SO EXCITED.”
371
As the calendar turned to January, fan confidence in the
greatest rotation in baseball grew. Predictions that the rotation would produce an
incredible season were expanding. One such comment claimed that:
Not only are the Phil’s starting “four aces” the best in baseball, Blanton is the best #5
starter, if they choose to keep him. It is interesting that Phils 772 runs scored in 2010
were their least in the last 8 years. Yet the +132 runs differential was the best in a
long time (all time?) resulting in 97 wins, highest in baseball. This should only get
better this year. It is all in the pitching.
372
Even though some fans had been afraid that the team might not have enough offense, the
pitching was expected to be so good that even a low scoring Phillies offense could carry a
371
Posted by Nunzio Scholeri (Gallen 2010)
372
Posted by James Ammon (Baer 2011a)
165
wide margin of victory. Indeed, fans were predicting overwhelmingly a 100+ win season by
the time that the team reported for Spring Training.
373
Once the regular season began, nothing could dampen fan enthusiasm. Even
negative information was spun in a Philly‐friendly direction. A month into the season, one
fan noted:
ESPN seems determined to run as many “Phillies are vulnerable” articles as possible.
I’m guessing this is because you can only run so many “Phillies rotation is awesome,
they’re gonna win!” articles before people tune out. People want to read about how
the heavy favorite can be brought down.
374
ESPN joined the crowd.
375
Even when ESPN offered potential vulnerabilities in the rotation,
fans had trouble taking them seriously. This fan simply assumes narrative structure of an
underdog story plays better with fans of other teams. ESPN articles that praised other
teams’ rotations were even challenged by the Phillies fans. In late July, a fan commenting on
a post praising the Phillies rotation noted that it was
Nice to see this defense of the Phillies staff the idiots over at ESPN did a piece that
called the Braves’ staff “hands‐down” the best in the NL – arguing that both teams’
rotations were equivalent but implying that the Phils’ pen was mediocre.
376
Belief in the power of the Phillies pitching was so strong fans not only made claims about
the current season, but reveled in the glory of an epochal moment.
373
See Gallen 2011a for instance.
374
Posted by Cutter (Baer 2011b)
375
For examples, see: ESPN.com 2010b, Stark 2010 or Stark 2011a.
376
Posted by Nate on (Baer 2011c)
166
Indeed, at this point in the season, fans wove themselves into the narrative that this
pitching staff was one for the ages because it would dominate from start to finish. A fan
posting his personal statistical measurement of the greatness of this staff claimed:
I asked if a team has ever had three pitchers with 200+ strikeouts, less than 50
walks, a sub 3.00 ERA and 200+ IP. I ran a query on baseball‐reference.com, and
there have been 30 such seasons. Of these 30 such seasons, I can’t find even two
players from the same team...the Phillies have three pitchers who could possibly do
it this year. If all these guys keep up their current pace, I have no problem calling this
the most dominating front three of a rotation ever. Soak it up, because we are truly
watching history!!
377
The rotation was not just great for the 2011 season, or the Phillies franchise, or even the
modern era. No, according to this fan the rotation stood alone as the pinnacle of dominant
rotations to ever pitch on the same team. Of course, just like the Mariners 116 win record in
2001, this incredible rotation would go for naught if the team was unable to bring home the
World Series title.
In fact, the general sentiment of fans in early August was that the season would fall
into failure unless the team won the World Series. A series of posts on Beerleaguer.com
demonstrated this mentality particularly well. One simple truth was repeated again and
again by fans in this thread: “since the day cliff lee joined the pinstripes for the second time,
it was world series or bust.”
378
A fan replied to this comment, agreeing “Ya they really don't
377
Posted by Fatalotti (Sommers 2011)
378
Posted by Shawn (Weitzel 2011a)
167
look like they can lose.”
379
A third suggested that 2011, and only 2011, was the team’s
chance to win:
if the Phillies don't win this year, they will have failed. This is the best team in
franchise history and the window for this team is over after the WS. We'll likely
never again have 4 #1 pitchers like we do right now. Our core guys (Howard, Utley,
Vic, Rollins) are all in their 30s now and Pence is having a career year too. They will
still be competitive for the next couple years but this is the year where we have our
best shot. We HAVE to win this year.
380
While initial supporters reflected sentiments that were heard in December immediately
after the Lee announcement, fans throughout the web remained incredibly optimistic about
2011, declaring this the best team in franchise history, even as they worried about the age
and health of the core players for seasons going forward.
This optimism continued well into September. Fans continued to make comments
about the historic nature of the Phillies rotation and team, of course. One lifelong
Philadelphia fan posted that this was the best collection of Phillies that he had seen in his
lifetime. The recognition from outside fans and media was deployed as further evidence, if
any were really needed:
it is a special year for the Phils. I was just a babe in 1976‐77 so this team is shaping
up to be the best team I have seen wearing the Red Pinstripes…I never thought I
would see the day when the team in red pinstripes would be talked about in this
379
Posted by Johnnysanz3 (Weitzel 2011a)
380
Posted by NEPP (Weitzel 2011a)
168
manner and to see not only the Phils fans appreciate it, but the fans outside the fan
bases for the most part…and especially the outside media doing it, that’s special.
381
An entire thread on a blot titled, ironically, Crashburn Alley on in early September affirms
these comments, declaring the Phillies the best rotation of all time.
382
This sentiment
amongst fans first appeared only moments after the Phillies website officially confirmed Lee
would return to the team, but it continued unabated through mid‐September, just before
the team began a long slump and, ultimately, exited in the first round of the playoffs.
On September 17
th
, Philadelphia sat at 98‐52. Beginning the next day, the team
would lose 8 games in 7 days, including being swept in 2 separate day‐night double headers.
At this point, the first real signs of fan concern started to bubble up. One fan said he was:
Tired of hearing that these games are “meaningless.” Exactly how confident are they
going to be at the plate a week from now, if they don’t at least sniff something like
positive momentum? This team is poised for an epic flop.
383
Even optimistic fans began to express concerns. The team appeared to have lost its ability
to score runs. One fan was still hopeful that the team would play well in the postseason: “I
admit to getting progressively more worried with each loss.”
384
While many tried to keep a
level head, far more suggested that the sky was falling. This post directly asserts: “This is not
blip; it's a contagion. If it continues and they are bounced out of the first round of playoffs,
watch out…There is much at stake here for this franchise.”
385
381
Posted by Curtwill (Sommers 2011)
382
See Baer 2011e
383
Posted by Scott in D.C. (Baumann 2011)
384
Posted by NYCphan (Nisula 2011a)
385
Posted by Rob (Weitzel 2011b)
169
Notably, even fans that were convinced this losing streak did not matter, coming as
it did on the heels of clinching the division, began to discuss how they would feel if the team
were to lose as early as the NLDS. This marked the first instance in which fans seriously
considered the possibility that the team could fall short of the World Series
386
—in spite of
the fact that the team was five wins ahead of the second best record in baseball. As a result,
once the team lost their fifth and deciding game against St. Louis in the League Division
Series, the fan comments were swift and predictable. Betrayal! The predominant emotional
responses were disappointment and resentment. Capturing the prevailing mood at the
time, a fan wrote,
This was a very sad sad sad ending of the season. To make it worse Howard gets
injured on the last play as the Card’s celebrate. Double painful to watch at
Homefield…I hope the big man is OK though….this is just sad for Philadelphia
again…
387
Howard actually ruptured his Achilles’ heel on the final play of the game, adding injury to
the proverbial insult. Although words likely have a difficult time expressing all that the fans
were feeling as they watched him writhe in pain, “sad sad sad” at least begins to approach
the depths of their collective depression.
For the majority of fans, the collapse in round 1 of the playoffs was unfathomable.
Disappointment was the bare minimum that fans were feeling. For instance, a fan posted
the following:
386
For instance, see Weitzel 2011b. The post as well as the fan comments reveal that the fans consider this to
be a real threat that could derail the World Series express the fans thought they were riding.
387
Posted by bacardipr05 (Gallen 2011c)
170
I am in pain; how could the Phillies do this to Philadelphia‐the best fans in the
baseball world and the source of such pride. I love baseball and I am shocked that
the team hasn’t the ability to dig deep, make hits out of bad pitches and hit good
pitches. I can’t understand why the hitters seem so poor at seeing the ball; takingn
balls right down the middle of the plate and swinging at balls out of the strike
zone.
388
This post links the inability of the hitters to perform to the personal feelings of the fan.
Failing to hit the ball in clutch situations was actively damaging the pride of the fans and
causing them pain. Several echoed the previous fan’s comments that this hurts all the more
because the opposing team got to celebrate on the Phillies’ field: “that is two years in a row
we gotta watch another team celebrate on our turf now.”
389
Sadness was certainly not the only emotion expressed on the fan boards, however.
There was a healthy amount of anger as well. Fans were enraged that the team could spend
so much money, have such a dominant rotation, outpace the rest of the field the entire
season, and capsize in the opening round of the playoffs. In many cases, the disappointment
turned to anger, as fans began to accept the reality that the season was over. As one fan
wrote, “I think I am over being hurt by the loss. Now I am getting really mad that they let us
down. How do you not score one stinkin’ run in a do‐or‐go‐home game????”
390
Another fan
echoed that sentiment: “Substitute “deeply disappointed” for "fuming" & "livid," and you
388
Posted by Jim Pearson (Baer 2011g)
389
Posted by the fan (Gallen 2011c)
390
Posted by debs (Nisula 2011b)
171
express my feelings exactly, JW, both about the postseason and the state of the Phillies.”
391
On top of anger, there were complete defeatists who thought the world was ending:
Phathetic!! After the 2nd inning of Game 2, the starting lineup accounted for only 3
runs in the remaining 33 innings of the series!! The pitching staff is fine…the starting
8 need an overhaul!! This was by far the most disappointing end to a Phils season
ever…worse than Black Friday in ’77!!
392
This fan post also pulls out a thin thread that can be traced throughout the entire season:
the fear that Phillies’ hitters weren’t good enough to sustain a title run. While several
hinted at it after the Lee signing and during the regular season, fans that blame the hitters
for the loss appeared in droves after Philadelphia was eliminated from the playoffs.
This sort of blame after a disappointing end to the season is not surprising, and fans
were all too eager to blame anyone and everyone affiliated with the organization. In one
thread on Crashburn Alley, fans blamed the General Manager for failing to sign a hitter to
replace Jayson Werth, management for failing to pony up the extra cash necessary to
acquire an impact hitter after the Lee deal, the bullpen for allowing runs, and the hitters for
failing to score more than 3 runs in the final 33 innings of the St. Louis series.
393
A few fans
tried to stay above the pointing and blaming, although they were few and far between. But
even these fans were often damning with faint praise. One example:
Why do we have to play the blame game? Flat out we didn’t have what was needed
to win! People seem to forget that these guys are human just like you and I. They
391
Posted by GBrettfan (Weitzel 2011b)
392
Posted by Tom (2011d)
393
See Baer 2011g
172
can’t come out on the field EVERY game and play like God! …We struggled ALL YEAR
offensively and put plan and simple…pitching alone CANNOT win every game!
394
Although this fan post begins by suggesting that the blame game is bad because it puts too
much pressure and responsibility on the players, the message ends by declaring the Phillies’
hitters a collective failure. The proclamation that the team “never” had enough hitting this
year is as much an indictment of the players as the comments to which this fan sought to
respond.
Other fans were more effective in communicating their belief that the end to the
Phillies season was not, in fact, the end of the world. One fan of this persuasion explains
that the ability to stack win the NL East year after year is nothing to sneeze at:
I don’t know why people want to jump off a bridge because the Phillies lost three
games out of five in a postseason series. Is it disappointing? Yes. Is it a failure given
what the Phillies had? Yes. Does it mean the Phillies suck at baseball? No…Let’s be
glad we live in an era where we the Phillies collect division titles like party favors,
and they at least have a chance in the playoffs every year. Most major league teams
can’t say that.
395
This attempt to generate some much needed perspective was both rare and was responded
to with disgust by other fans, determined to wallow in their misery. In response to denial
and self‐pity, optimistic fans were forced to redouble their efforts: “The repetitive theme of
this posting is they weren’t supposed to lose?…Give us a break please with the “weren’t
supposed to lose” crap. Who the hell promised anyone that?…Get over it. There’s no crying
394
Posted by danigirl 92 (Gallen 2011e)
395
Posted by Dustin (Baer 2011g)
173
in baseball.”
396
The use of the famous phrase “there’s no crying in baseball” is notable for its
attempt to get the fans to act as if they were ballplayers, by putting their “chins up.”
Still, despite the efforts to toughen the fans, most were decidedly defeatist both in
their assessments of the 2011 team and the future of the Phillies. As suggested earlier in
the chapter, some fans were worried about the team’s hitting as early as the signing of Cliff
Lee’s contract. After the collapse in the playoffs, more fans jumped on the bandwagon,
suggesting that this the lack of hitting would be a chronic problem going forward as well.
One representative example:
Pitching was NOT the issue in ’09 or ’10 that kept us out of the WS. HITTING (or the
lack of it) was the issue! And that still isn’t solved. Now we are faced with an aging
base of players who’s best hitting years are way behind them. The decline of this
team has started albeit a bit earlier than expected. In the final analysis, despite all
the hype all we really did was dominate the NL East for a few years. That’s it. The
drought has started.
397
Other fans jumped in with variants on this theme, including posts like “I agree, hitting was
the problem for the past 2 years – they are getting older and just don’t have it anymore”
398
and “Next season = over.”
399
The logical follow up to these complaints about the poor hitting (and the poor roster
construction that led to the failure to hit) was the call for new, younger, better hitting as
396
Posted by Lefty (Nisula 2011b)
397
Posted by kenstee (Nisula 2011b)
398
Posted by Jackie (Nisula 2011b)
399
Posted by Scotch man (Weitzel 2011c)
174
part of the offseason. Many fans were calling for (or at least anticipating) a complete
rebuild. One fan described the inevitability of such a project quite succinctly:
The pattern is clear; win it all in '08, lose in the World Series in '09, lose in the NLCS
last year, then lose to the Cards in this year's NLDS> It was a nice run, but the best
days of this Phillies team is behind them. Rebuilding will come sooner rather than
later.
400
Some fans disagreed, some agreed, but those that were not complaining about the
complete collapse in the first round of the playoffs were more prone to discussing ways to
improve the offense than anything else.
401
In many cases, the roster construction
complaints were targeted at one player that many fans believed possessed a massive failure
of a contract: Ryan Howard.
For many fans, this was a natural intersection between two controversies: the team
collapsed because of hitting, and Ryan Howard’s overpaid for what hitting he brought to the
table. One rather unfortunate Phillies fan watched the game with one of the enemy, and
drew this conclusion:
Ryan Howard needs to go. As the Cards fan that I was watching the game with put it:
“We built our lineup upon the rock‐solid foundation of Pujols. Howard…not to say
that he’s like paper, but he sure isn’t rock‐solid. More like sand.
402
400
Posted by commenter (Bodley 2011)
401
Take this fan post by hk for example: “the squad may only have 1 or 2 more years of serious title
contention…I think it is a given that they will get younger in LF, with Charlie probably already having JMJ
locked into the spot with Dom Brown again being pushed aside. Hopefully, they will look for a young 3B who
can make Polanco into a utility player” (Baer 2011g).
402
Posted by Chevy14Man (Gallen 2011d)
175
To back up his logic, this fan points to the complete absence of offense Howard provided for
2 consecutive postseasons. Breaking down his performance in the 2011 playoffs, he writes:
“At this point, I really don’t give a damn how great Howard is in the regular season…What I
care about is how he went 0‐for‐18 after the Game 1 HR.”
403
Another fan responding in the
heat of the moment after the Phillies’ loss: “Howard sucks! He hasn’t done anything since
he got the big contract. I said to my friends on the day he got it that it was a HUGE
MISTAKE!”
404
The emotional politics of disappointment generate feelings of resentment.
The Ryan Howard Contract. This, of course, is the heart of the Ryan Howard
controversy that has been eating at Phillies fans since it was signed in April of 2010: is he
worth that kind of money? To put the point bluntly, these two controversies intersected
after the Phillies’ failure because “Howard is paid big, big $$$‐‐‐for that price he is expected
to deliver big time....”
405
When the offense musters only 3 hits in the series finale and the
highest paid hitter on the team finished riding out an 0‐18 slump, said hitter is in for some
bad press. And while Howard had a handful of defenders in the wake of the playoff collapse,
the bulk of the responses placed a massive chunk of the blame squarely on his rich
shoulders. As one disgruntled fan wrote,
I think the contract that was given to Howard was given to him with the
understanding that he would produce 30‐40 homeruns a year and over 100 RBI’s
403
Posted by Chevy14Man (Gallen 2011d)
404
Posted by Dr. Dave (Gallen 2011d)
405
Posted by Kenny55 (Bodley 2011)
176
which is fine. What I want to know is why does he and everyone else offensively go
in the tank every postseason.
406
Plenty more fans piled on, declaring that Howard could not get it done in the playoffs.
Comparisons were made to other first basemen, particular Albert Pujols since he manned
first base for the Cardinals that had just beaten Philadelphia. This same fan post, for
instance, goes on to say Pujols may experience struggles, but he always performs well in the
playoffs; meanwhile, Howard doesn’t inspire such confidence.
407
Of course, the debate over Howard’s level of production is not nearly as one‐sided
on the Phillies’ fan boards as the posts immediately following the first round exit would
suggest. Rather, the defeatist attitude present after such a collapse gave the upper hand to
those that overwhelmingly opposed his contract. There are, in fact, three overlapping
categories of fan responses to Howard’s $120 million pact: those that support the contract,
those that oppose it, and those that are neutral on the issue. The pro‐contract folks express
either a belief that Howard will be worth his contractual value or a sentiment that he was
worth keeping, regardless of cost. The anti‐contract crowd argues either that Howard’s
contract wildly overpays the market value for his skillset or that it is so expensive it hurts
the franchise’s overall payroll. Neutral fall somewhere in between. This is a rather loosely
organized category of responses, but as much as the pro‐ and anti‐contract positions
disperse at the margins, they certainly never bleed into one another. Thus, a large neutral
reflective space, overlapping with both sides, is necessary to conceive of the fan responses
to the Ryan Howard contract controversy.
406
Posted by bhatter26 (Gallen 2011e)
407
Posted by bhatter26 (Gallen 2011e)
177
Since the anti‐contract positions have already begun to emerge in reference to the
epic rotation collapse controversy, a further fleshing out of this position will serve
contextualize the rejoinders of the pro‐contract side, before turning to those comments
that occupy a neutral space. The starting point for this position is the notion that Howard
will never produce enough Wins Above Replacement to make his production worth the
value of the contract that the Phillies offered him:
why even talk about his contract? I think there’s no question he’ll never justify it in a
WAR sense. It’s clearly an overpay for the amount of production the Phillies will get,
even if he maintains his current level.
408
This comment was made during the height of optimism about the 2011 team, just two
weeks before the end of season slump and eventual elimination from the playoffs. Of
course, this opinion was prevalent starting immediately after the 2010 season, carrying
through all the way to the post‐2011 comments detailed above.
Throughout this time period (October 2010‐October 2011), many arguments were
advanced that suggested the team was essentially paying Howard for more wins than he
would actually deliver. A typical fan post of this ilk:
Ryan Howard's WAR (Wins Above Replacement Player) was only 2.6 in '07, 2.8 in '08,
and 2.1 in last year. Over the past 3 seasons he doesn't even crack the top 70 in the
majors for WAR (this includes both batters and pitchers and takes into account
position scarcity and fielding).
409
408
Posted by Richard (Baer 2011d)
409
Posted by GM‐Carson (Weitzel 2010b)
178
Given that teams were paying, on average, $5 million per win at the signing of the Howard
contract, that suggests that the team thought, at $25 million per season, he would be worth
at least 5 wins (above replacement) per season. As the previous comment makes clear,
those are numbers that Howard had never achieved in any season with the team.
This type of Wins‐per‐dollar‐spent formula was prolific across all sorts of Phillies fan
blogs and comments. Comparisons to other first basemen around baseball and the dollar
values associated with their contracts were constantly used to advance the narrative that
Howard’s contract was outlandish and wrong. A representative example of these dollar
value criticisms of the contract reads:
Ryan Howard has been a great run producer in his career thus far but over his 10
year career Pujols has a .331 BA, 42 HR, 120 RBI`s, less than 70 strikeouts a season
and 2 Gold Gloves… Pujols is only making 16 million this season compared to
Howard`s 19 million and even with his next contract he will probably only earn
slighty more than Howard…
410
Pujols was a constant comparison, likely because the size of his contract, the performances
in the playoffs, the fact that Howard and Pujols were constantly in the NL MVP races against
one another. As another fan wrote, “Ryan Howard sucks! Does anyone seriously put him in
the same league as Fielder or Pujols…When the Phils go down in a few years [Amaro] will
have to pay $24 million of his $25 per year just to get rid of him.”
411
No matter which great
first basemen fans chose to compare Howard to, the value of his contract still was found
wanting.
410
Posted by MBL2011 (Zolecki 2011)
411
Posted by Steve (The Dipsey 2011)
179
From the very beginning of the 2011 offseason straight through to the end of the
line for the Phillies, the comments about Howard’s albatross of a contract also sought to
explain why Howard would not be able to produce the value that was implied in his
contract: he was undisciplined, had poor plate recognition skills, was too old to get better,
and the contract displaced better (and cheaper) options. For instance, one fan detailed
several of these problems by saying:
He is an undisciplined, dumb hitter. He isn’t going to magically become a 100+ walk
guy because he knows there’s somebody behind him to drive in the runs. He isn’t
going to lay off the sliders in the dirt or the high and tight fastballs…
412
He’d “swing at balls outside of the strike zone” was a common complaint in the aftermath
of each of the previous playoff series losses. The difference here, however, is that these
comments were further removed from the elimination (over a month later) and took place
during the offseason when management is (presumably) weighing their options in both the
free agency and trade markets.
In addition to his poor pitch recognition,
413
fans declared him all washed up and
unlikely to improve at his age. One fan declared any opinions to the contrary to be just
“wishful thinking”:
The league has adjusted and he is aging. The simplest explanation is often the
best…His best seasons were had when he was backed up by crappy hitters. Looks
like he’s less effective when pitchers actually try to, you know, get him out.
414
412
Posted by Andrew R. (The Dipsy 2010)
413
Another fan post, this one by jim suggests “I’m more likely to pin Howard’s struggles on pitch recognition
than the guy batting behind him. He’s not going to get pitches to hit no matter who’s behind him if he can’t lay
off them.” (The Dipsy 2010)
180
Two basic causes were offered to explain Howard’s problems: 1. The league has figured out
where his weaknesses are, and 2. Howard is becoming too old to effectively compete. The
previous bit about Howard swinging at balls in the dirt or sliders out of the strike zone
demonstrates the line of thinking pursued by fans arguing for point 1. For more depth on
point 2, consider this fan comment:
he has shown no ability to lay off the sucker pitch…The league has learned to not
throw fastballs over the plate to Ryan Howard. If there is any hope for him, he will
have to learn to work the count in his favor, forcing opposing pitchers to throw
strikes. At this point in his career, that doesn't seem likely.
415
These same criticisms were described in relation to the 2011 playoffs exit as well,
suggesting that these fans were problem right about Howard’s proclivity to swing at bad
pitches.
Even if the money spent on Howard were to be justified by several productive years
that produce a net neutral or net positive value for the expense, fans opposed to the
contract would likely still not be happy. They also advanced a claim that the sheer dollar
amount invested in Howard involved tradeoffs with other areas of roster construction. In
other words, Howard might be worth exactly $25 million a year, but sinking that much
money in one player forecloses opportunities to spread that money across more players
that might be able to produce surplus value, rather than neutral value. As expressed by one
fan, this argument proceeds as follows:
414
Posted by jim (The Dipsy 2010)
415
Posted by Hitman (Weitzel 2010b)
181
The real knock I have on Ryno is that contract and whether that $25 mil a year could
have been better spent considering the core of the team is aging. Could they have
gotten a very good first baseman and infielder for that price?
416
Although formulated as a rhetorical question here, plenty of fans were happy to speculate
about specific players that could be signed for a combination of $25 million a season that
would fill 2 holes as effectively as Howard’s contract sought to plug one. Alternately,
perhaps a better superstar slugger could have been signed for the same amount – more
than one fan speculated that Pujols could have been signed for that annual value.
417
When the Phillies lost the final game of the Division Series against St. Louis, Howard
also ruptured his Achilles’ tendon on the final play of the game. As a result, fans (those of
the anti‐contract variety that wanted him gone) were left without deliberative recourse to
suggest what should be done with Howard’s contract. An injured $25 million per year
contract wasn’t going to motivate anyone to trade decent players in return. At this point,
the declarations of Howard’s final decline dissolved into desperate prayers that the team
could recoup some (any) value in his return from injury:
Hopefully Howard will return at some point. I wouldn't put much stock into next
year though. Bobby Tolan was never the same after he suffered the same injury. Of
course, scope of medicine has changed greatly over the years. Maybe Ryan can
416
Posted by Bobby Cocks (Weitzel 2010b)
417
For instance, see a post by Phillie697 (Baer 2011d). As it turns out, Pujols’ annual average value on his new
contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is just north of $26 million.
182
come back in better shape based on the fact he's done in the past, and remain a
great power threat. All we can do is hope and pray.
418
Poor play in the most important games, a career threatening injury (with a lengthy
minimum recovery time), and a huge contract formed the perfect storm for fans who
dramatically increased their complaints at the conclusion of the 2011 season. The
disappointment that sparked this controversy early in the life of Howard’s contract grew
ever brighter as this campaign waned.
In contrast, a fair number of fans defended Howard’s contract, or at a minimum at
least defended his play, throughout the course of the season. Of course, these perspectives
were easiest for fans to defend during the height of the Phillies’ success during the regular
season and much more difficult to articulate persuasively immediately after either the 2010
or 2011 playoff exits. The core of the defense of Howard and his contract revolves around
his ability to drive in runs (RBI) at a pace well above league average. The pinnacle of such
posts: “So Howard is not only the best run producer in the league, he also is able to advance
runners at an above average rate. What a beast. #WorthEveryPenny.”
419
Another fan sought
to reign in the reckless pessimism:
He’s going to lead the league in RBIs again this year, for the 4th time in his career,
and people are “sick of him”. Absolutely pathetic. The negativity of Philadelphians is
a cultural phenomenon that personally makes me sick.
420
418
Posted by DPatrone (Silverman 2011)
419
Posted by Jay (Baer 2011f)
420
Posted by biz (The Dipsy 2011)
183
Fans (and the team) could always point to the absurd number of Runs Batted In that
Howard would compile year after year, even when he was playing poorly.
421
Carrying on the theme that fans are misguided and overly negative in their criticisms
of Howard’s play, another fan post pointed out that the team was in a no win situation with
Howard’s contract because a failure to re‐sign a hitter producing HRs and RBIs by the
truckload would draw as much or more fan ire:
If Howard had not been locked up when he was all the fans would have been
b*tching about how the organization refuses to committ to its star players, and they
would let him walk to the Yanks, Cards, etc...The fact is this organization will NEVER
see a player with this much productivity over his career for decades to come…you
can't replace 45‐145.
422
While many fans thought that Howard was essentially “lucky” because his RBI numbers
were driven up by the fact that he had more opportunities with runners on base than
anyone else in baseball,
423
pro‐contract fans that were optimistic about Howard really
focused on the difficulty of finding other players with these numbers: “Howard's deal isn't
an "albatross" unless he simply stops being productive at all. If he continues to give us
around 40 HRs/120‐140 RBI a year for the next 4‐5 years, its fine.”
424
While the team might
421
For instance, acclaimed sportswriter Joe Posnanski (2011) pointed out a 60 game stretch in which Howard
batted only .225 yet drove in 47 runs. That meager average would still put him on pace for well over 120 RBIs
in a full season (Posnanski 2011).
422
Posted by Joe Cowley (Weitzel 2010b)
423
Not only does Howard have substantially more opportunities with runners in scoring position, he has a
ridiculous number of opportunities with runners on 3
rd
base, and well above average baserunners in front of
him in the order, which helps drive his numbers up relative to other hitters (Peterson 2011).
424
Posted by NEPP (Weitzel 2010b)
184
only break even on the contract, this fan concluded, it was “not dragging down the payroll”
either.
425
In addition to fan posts that were decidedly pro‐contract, there were was a strong
subspecies that characterized the contract as beside the point, suggesting that the real
question was only whether or not Howard could provide value. Piggybacking off the fan
comments that thought the RBIs justified Howard’s contract, this fan thought the RBIs were
the only issue and the contract a red herring:
Lay off the hate. The contract is already signed, so look at his numbers just as they
are outside the context of his contract. All I care about is him driving in runs. He’s
hitting .318 with RISP and .346 with RISP and two out.
426
Backing up this approach, another fan points out that the contract and the productivity
Howard provides should be analyzed entirely separately at this point: “the question of
Howard's contract should be separated from the question…how productive will he be next
year. Very few people even bother trying to say that Howard's performance will justify his
contract anymore.”
427
This post concludes that indictments of the contract are “beside the
point.”
428
Fans that set aside the question of Howard’s relative productivity in relation to the
cash value of his contract were clearly the optimists. These were the fans that expected
Howard to rebound from a poor 2010 to produce excellent numbers in 2011. For instance,
as December came to a close, many recited the mantra that Ryan would be much improved
425
Posted by NEPP (Weitzel 2010b)
426
Posted by Dave S (The Dipsy 2011)
427
Posted by Jack (Weitzel 2010b)
428
Posted by Jack (Weitzel 2010b)
185
the following year: “Ahh, everything will be great. He'll crush enough balls this year but he'll
age. So will we. But he' s our guy, so we will forgive a little.”
429
Another writes, “I am
convinced the Ryan we all know and love will be back and better this season. Go for 60 HRs
Big Piece! You can do it.”
430
Fans often attributed Howard’s problems to injury and, as such,
wrote them off for 2010: “I completely expect Howard to be back in 2010 as a 45 HR/130+
RBI guy. He had a rough injury filled year...it happens.”
431
A sizeable number even sought to explain how they knew that Howard was going to
produce a better season in 2011. For one, pro‐contract fans exhibited optimism that he was
a strong worker who could improve:
Howard has shown a willingness to work on weaknesses in his game: we've seen him
come to camp slimmed down after his weight was an issue, seen him improve his
defensive range and agility …and this season we saw him improve his terrible splits
against lefties as well as his overall K rate.
432
Given his past accomplishments, fans were willing to believe that he could pull it off again,
this time in relation to this overall hitting prowess. Others thought they could already see
signs of that improvement, suggesting that “Howard changed his approach last season to
correct trending problems like poor contact and numbers vs LHP. He will suffer temporarily
while adjusting, but ultimately will become a better hitter...”
433
Along these lines, another
429
Posted by gobaystars (Weitzel 2010b)
430
Posted by RAUUUUUL (Zolecki 2011)
431
Posted by NEPP (Weitzel 2010b)
432
Posted by timr (Weitzel 2010b)
433
Posted by Jason.tp (Weitzel 2010b)
186
fan declared in Spring Training 2011 that Howard had eliminated his tendency to swing at
pitchers low and out of the strike zone.
434
Finally, underwriting many of the optimistic fan posts was an attitude that Howard
did not deserve the blame that he was taking from all sides, including management. The
following fan comment, for instance, calls for fans to accept Howard’s skillset as it is:
“Confused on what Howard has to do for people to leave him alone. Hes a guy who drives in
runs, hits hr, and strikes out a lot. Thats who he is.”
435
This fan comment emerges from the
premise that other posts are denigrating Howard on the basis that he is not Albert Pujols
and he’s not any other big name first baseman, either. Thus, from this perspective, blaming
Howard is wrong because it’s asking to do more than he can realistically offer. Similarly,
pro‐contract fans often sought reasons to divert blame for the 2010 playoffs loss off of
Howard and on to other Phillies players. One fan comment dispersed this blame across the
team’s hitters:
Howard’s RBI‐less postseason was a GROUP/TEAM EFFORT. He can’t get RBIs if the
guys in front of him (Rollins, Polanco, and Utley) don’t get on base. And he would
have been able to cross the plate a few more times than anyone else would have
been able to if the guys behind him put something together.
436
This argument, of course, turns on its head the claim that Howard only drives in the volume
of runs he does because the players ahead of him provide so many opportunities. Without
the opportunities, yes Howard will look terrible.
434
Posted by The Original Chuck P’s (Gallen 2011b)
435
Posted by Benmoneyog (Baer 2011d)
436
Posted by Kate (The Dipsy 2010)
187
The remaining category of fan comments regarding Ryan Howard may be loosely
categorized as neutral—neither pro‐contract nor anti‐contract. These neutral comments
typically reflect qualities of both the pro‐ and anti‐contract posts, while remaining
ultimately remaining ambivalent about the contract overall. For instance, posts in this
category might worry about his performance while simultaneously rejecting the popular
narrative that his contract was a massive overpay:
As long as Howard can remain productive throughout the contract (even if its as a
30‐35 HR, 100‐110 RBI, .850‐.900 OPS guy), its not a huge albatross. Its if he goes all
Albert Belle/Mo Vaughn on us that it kills us. Having him be overpaid but productive
is annoying...having him be overpaid and non‐existent is killer.
437
The reference to Belle/Vaughn here reflects a concern that Howard might become
completely useless, leaving the team on the hook for $25 million per year, with nothing to
show for it. In 2012, for instance, Philadelphia had to pay this salary to Howard, even
though he was only able to play for half the season after his recovery from his torn Achilles’
tendon. Still, despite this concern, this fan believes that Howard will likely produce a
reasonable amount, more than enough to prevent his contract from shackling team payroll
and competitiveness.
Other comments in the contract neutrality crowd distinguished between the short
term and long term value that Howard might provide on his contract. While many fans who
were anti‐contract expected the entire deal to be a huge overpay because Howard would
definitely fall off the map in the waning years of the contract, these fans thought that the
437
Posted by NEPP (Weitzel 2010b)
188
likely short term surplus value could heavily mitigate the overpayment in future years. Still,
comments of this sort were rarely definitive:
In the long term, I'm definitely uneasy about whether Howard can continue putting
up numbers that even remotely justify his future contact. In the short term, I'm not
terribly worried about him. For all the hand‐wringing about his faults, I just find it
hard to believe that there is some kind of magic blue print for nullifying Ryan
Howard's power output, but it took the league 5+ years to figure out what this magic
blue print is.
438
The last point here is an interesting one, and one that that was entirely ignored by other
fans posting on this thread. As certain as some fans were that Howard was finished, this
defeatism did seem to require embracing the position that after 5 years, a magic bullet
suddenly rendered Howard impotent. Such a short term / long term distinction as the one
made here revealed a deeply rooted ambivalence about the ultimate state of the contract.
Of course, given the consistent failure of fans, pundits, teams, scouts, players, and
management to predict adequately the futures of players or teams in the game of baseball,
neutral responses to Howard’s contract seem far more likely to be accurate than the
extreme positions. While these extreme positions might seem to follow naturally from the
highs and lows produced by Howard’s feats and failures, neutral fans were in no way
immune to this emotional rollercoaster:
Ryan is very good….I would be loath to call him great though. And I do agree that we
cannot blame Ryan for his salary, but Rube for overpaying for declining goods…he’s
438
Posted by bay_area_phan (Weitzel 2010b)
189
a very good player, just not irreplaceable. He is, through no fault of his own,
overpaid. I will continue to marvel at the length of his dingers and continue to be
flustered and gnash my teeth as he gets overmatched by left handed pitching.
439
This fan feels frustrated with the lows and exalted by the highs of Howard’s talent. Thus, the
ability to experience both sides of the emotional spectrum over the contract, as well as the
unwillingness to blame Howard for the contract, places this type of response squarely in a
third, neutral camp. Indeed, the move to shift blame for the contract from Howard to
Amaro, the Phillies GM, reveals that many fans were scapegoating the highly paid player for
a personnel decision they despised that was the responsibility of Phillies’ management.
The general nature of neutral response follows in the same mold of temporizing:
Howard is a great player (but not too great) who is frustrating (but it’s better to have him
than not), who will generally compile his numbers by the end of the season (but will often
fail in significant situations), who is not to blame for the team overpaying him (but man why
is he so hard to watch?). A great example of these responses:
I see the arguments from both sides. I dont want to bash him because he has done a
lot for this team, but I dont think you can argue that it could be a slippery slope for
him soon unless he changes some things.
440
As a broad statement, this encapsulates the nature of the conflicted feelings that neutral
fan responses conveyed. In order to reach such a conclusion, this fan pores over many of
the same issues that pro‐ and anti‐contract fans do. For instance, the endless debate over
Howard’s RBI numbers:
439
Posted by Publius (The Dipsy 2011)
440
Posted by Pat Gallen (The Dipsy 2011)
190
I’m a fan of Howard and have always enjoyed that sweet stroke and the huge power
numbers, but the RBI’s are somewhat a product of the players getting on in front of
him. Now, he has to get them to the plate, which he does – but if he were hitting the
ball even slightly better/harder, those numbers would be much better.
441
Instead of mindlessly pointing to high RBI totals or suggesting that all of Howard’s numbers
were the product of the batters in front of him, this fan offers and supports both sides of
the argument.
The other major line of neutral posts regarding Howard’s contract basically took the
form of cascading questions: Can Howard bounce back? Can Howard produce at a high
enough level to justify the contract? These questions were neither rhetorical nor doubting
his ability. Instead, these appeared to be honest questions from fans who (unlike anyone in
the pro‐ or anti‐Howard contract camp) did not purport to know the answer. A typical post
in this vein reads,
The only question is and will continue to be whether he's worth all that money. If he
hits 45 homers and knocks in a lot of runs (way more than 100‐110) on the average,
and continues to work on his fielding, then he will be worth the contract. If he
doesn't, then he will be a burden on the budget.
442
This post more or less defines the neutral position: in contrast to those that say he’s worth
every penny or those that call the contract an albatross, this fan reserves judgment and
expresses genuine curiosity, wondering if Howard can execute at a level that will make the
441
Posted by Pat Gallen (The Dipsy 2011)
442
Posted by aksmith (Weitzel 2010b)
191
contract worthwhile. This sort of contingent posting is interesting given that it contravenes
the attitude of certainty affixed to the vast majority of the other Phillies’ fans’ posts.
The controversial signings of Cliff Lee and Ryan Howard are constitute the defining
moments of the 2011 Phillies season. They reflect the narrative generally used to describe
the season, from the point of view of fans in retrospect. After the addition of Lee, fans
entered the season believing that the Phillies had a historic rotation that would cruise to the
playoffs, an NL pennant, and ultimately a World Series title. The few fans that detracted
from this narrative from the outset of the season were primarily worried that money that
could have been invested in retaining an important hitter that left via free agency, thus
undermining an already suspect lineup of hitters. As the season progressed and the Phillies
did indeed cruise, the lone detractors again cited poor offense, frequently pointing to
Howard as enemy number one. When the team suffered a lengthy losing streak in
September and subsequently lost in 4 games to the Wild Card Cardinals in the first round of
the playoffs, fans heaped resentment on the hapless hitters, with calls for Howard’s head
reaching a crescendo.
Analysis
The early narrative regarding an unbeatable pitching staff is reflected in the bevy of
fan posts reviewed here that take on the Cliff Lee signing. The season post‐mortems that
attribute failure to the poor hitting hit similar themes and emotions that the Ryan Howard
contract controversy picked at throughout the 2010 and 2011 seasons. In addition to the
ability to articulate the grand narrative of the 2011 Philadelphia season, these two
192
controversies significantly inform the theoretical notions of baseball blogs as a genre and
speak to the nature of Phillies’ fandom. Fan comments are categorized according to their
semantic features, tone, topics, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements.
443
Under the genre category of interactive engagements, treatment of the fan participation
theories of Anti‐fandom and Fantagonism are explored in relation to these Phillies’ fans’
discourse. In general, the study of the Philadelphia Phillies’ blogs reaffirms the central
findings of the previous two case studies: while blogs are a medium and not a genre,
444
the
specific subset of baseball blogs ought to be considered a genre, given the widespread
similarities in form, content, and function.
Indeed, the semantic features of the Phillies‐related blogs were nearly identical to
the form of both the Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals. Posts follow the general
format of all blogs
445
: the posts are organized chronologically from most recent to most
distant; times are clearly recorded for each post; comments are usually enabled for fans to
participate; lists of other, related websites are provided under “Blog roll” type headings;
pictures of the team in action are available on various posts. Several of the blogs offered
Game Threads on which fans could post their random or topical thoughts about each game.
Most provided Game Recaps that explained their position on what had happened the night
before. All of these semantic features were designed to offer either space for fans to
interact regarding the game or to consume new content with a fresh, in‐depth perspective
that was not likely to be found by simply watching the game, reading the team’s press
443
Miller & Shepherd 2004
444
Miller & Shepherd 2009
445
Miller & Shepherd 2004 is the most notable attempt to categorize all of the semantic features of blogs as
medium. At the time, they took this to mean that this constituted a genre, although they later altered that to
support the notion of blogs as a medium (Miller & Shepherd 2009).
193
releases, or following the Phillies’ official MLB blog. In short, fans expected new ways to
consume new content related to their favorite team, and these blogs sought to provide
both.
While “internet genres have been “volatile,”…proliferated,…differentiated into
multiple “subspecies”,” these subspecies are often quite stable within themselves.
446
The
Phillies’ blogs’ semantic features are quite intelligible across one another, suggesting that
the differentiation across the blogosphere may not extend entirely to semantic features; or,
on the other hand, perhaps the Phillies’ blogs have simply standardized these features as
they pertain to Phillies specific content. At any rate, the standardization of these features
may be one mechanism through which Phillies blogs are seen to be part of a community.
The commonly offered Game Recaps, for instance, provide a unique view of the previous
night’s game from the perspective of that blog’s author. At the same time, the enabling of
comments on these posts reveals an avenue through which fans can respond to that
perspective and give their own. In this sense, these semantic features offer a shorthand
reference that indicates these posts are extended water‐cooler talk about the team. Can’t
get enough Phillies related chat with your friends or co‐workers? Check in at Phillies Nation
and get your fill. Of course, this also suggests that the semantic features of these blogs may
be intimately related to the sense of arousal and satisfaction that the blogs offer—more on
this later.
Another obvious feature of the Phillies fan blogs was the high volume of posts by
fans. In the immediate aftermath of the Cliff Lee signing, Phillies Nation had nearly 400 fan
446
Miller & Shepherd 2009 p. 264
194
comments about the contract.
447
The Official MLB Phillies Blog received well over 3000
comments on its inaugural Cliff Lee post on December 14.
448
The high volume on specific
threads was matched by the high frequency of individual posters, many of whom seemed to
be dedicated readers and posters on specific sites. For instance, NEPP repeatedly posted on
Beerleaguer during the dates of this study, while Jim Z was a high frequency poster on
Phillies Nation during this timeframe.
449
While all of these semantic features recur with
sufficient frequency that labeling them as features of this genre is quite sustainable, this
should not suggest that analysis follow entirely from form. As Devitt reminds us, “Individual
texts have a material reality, a physical, formed existence, and their material matters to
people’s construction of genre. The material reality of texts is formal, but our approach to it
need not be formalistic.”
450
The analysis of the remaining generic categories (tone, topics,
arousal and satisfaction, interactive engagements) will combat this tendency to conflate
significance of form with formalistic analysis by investigating the functions of these
semantic features as well as other, content‐based features housed on the various Phillies
sites.
Before turning to the remaining categories, however, there is one more significant
semantic feature of Phillies’ blogs that demands scrutiny: the heavy influence of
sabermetrics. While the concept of “Moneyball” is familiar to virtually all baseball fans, and
has recently made its way into mainstream, non‐baseball related circles with the Brad Pitt‐
led film, mainstream media have incorporated very little new statistical analysis into their
447
See Floyd 2010 and Gallen 2010
448
See Zolecki 2010
449
Both posted several times on individual threads and across a high number of threads.
450
Devitt 2009
195
broadcasts of games, save the lip service paid to On‐Base Percentage (the tell‐tale stat
referenced so much by the Oakland As in Michael Lewis’ book). By contrast, fan websites for
the Phillies frequently offered large chunks of modern statistical analysis to lend data‐based
support for their claims.
451
bWAR, fWAR, OBP, UZR, FIP, BABIP, OPS+, ERA+… these were
just a few of the advanced metrics that were deployed at various points by fans and
bloggers on the Phillies fan sites. When (a few of) the fans argued that Cliff Lee’s contract
money could have been better spent by paying Jayson Werth to stay in Philadelphia,
sabermetric analysis was front and center. The vast majority of the fans that disliked
Howard’s contract used advanced measures to reveal holes in his game; most fans who
responded neutrally or positively towards this contract typically referred to “old school”
baseball stats like Runs Batted In. As a result, the ability to wield advanced metrics skillfully
was frequently a sticking point in fan conversations with one another and conflicts over
these two controversies.
Interestingly, the persistent presence of advanced statistical measures in Phillies
blogs affirms recent genre theory notions that blogs are “a hybrid of existing genres,
rendered unique by the particular features of the source genres they adapt, and by their
particular technological affordances.”
452
Consistent use of advanced statistics in these blog
pages and fan comments suggest that these pages exceed water‐cooler gossip, with highly
technical jargon and evidence made possible by the immediate proximity of large amounts
of data, combined with the possibility of easily formatting that data for the conversation at
hand. Although fans certainly debated the Hall of Fame and All‐Star election merits of their
451
For a good example, see Baer 2011b.
452
Herring, et al. 2004, p. 10
196
favorite players long before the internet and sabermetrics were even possibilities, locating
these conversations on web pages with vast sums of data only a few keystrokes or mouse
clicks away generates a new form of this genre that is a hybrid of the original genre and
these new technological affordances.
While certainly relevant and fascinating, clashes over statistics were not the only
ways that fans interacted in the Lee and Howard controversies. Fan comments regarding
these two contracts were highly emotionally charged, and they covered most of the
emotional map. If one follows the 2011 season chronologically, beginning with the
surprising signing of Lee in December, ending with the collapse in the playoffs, there is a
rather simple rise and fall narrative that is tough to look past. Euphoric is the simplest way
to characterize the thousands of posts in the wake of Lee’s contract announcement. This
euphoria blanketed many of the fans that chose to post after the announcement, and
spread rapidly beyond the Phillies to national baseball analysts and media, as discussed
earlier.
Euphoria faded somewhat as the grind of the regular season settled in, but the
dominance of the Phillies rotation from the outset of the season carried through to the very
end of the year. This yielded many opportunities for fans to go back to that emotional
well—even if they were unlikely to feel as giddy as they had in the offseason. In the waning
days of the 2011 campaign, as the team hit an 8 game losing streak, all signs of euphoria
disappeared. Signs of nervousness and anxiety began to creep in. Fans were no longer
devoted large walls of text to praising the starting rotation. Now, they bemoaned the lack of
runs scored by the team’s offense. Criticisms of Ryan Howard’s contract and his ability,
197
while occasionally mentioned earlier in the season, suddenly became frequent and more
vehement. As the calendar turned to October and the Phillies fell flat on their faces against
a team that lost nearly 10% more games than Philadelphia during the regular season, fan
expressions of disappointment with the offense turned to blood‐curdling screams of rage.
No aspect of this journey across the rugged emotional terrain should come as much
of a surprise for a team with an immediate history of success. Sports are inherently
competitive endeavors for the players on either side of the ball. The fans feed off this
competition, too.
453
The 2 World Series appearances and LCS appearance in the past 3
seasons, combined with the historically dominating starting pitching rotation ratcheted the
confidence level of Phillies fans up to 11. With an increased confidence level, fans reached
emotional heights before the season and crashed to deep, dark places at the end of the
season. This almost necessarily precipitated fights with fans of other teams like the Mets
and Cardinals as they beat their chests. Not surprisingly, fans of these other teams felt the
need to chime in after the Phillies lost, if only to return the favor. Anger, angst,
disappointment, euphoria, confidence, arrogance, certainty, awe, wonder, confusion, and
disbelief were all present in fans’ reactions to the 2011 Phillies season. These emotions
drove a self‐elaborating discourse directed, at various points, at other fans, individual
players, the team, and management. One might say that to be a Philly fan who was not
overwhelmed with some response to the team was a rarity during this season.
One final interesting note about tone across these Phillies‐related blogs: the
similarity of fan reactions was incredibly uniform, no matter which site or post one looked
453
Theodoropoulou 2007
198
at. Fan reactions to the Cliff Lee signing were 99% euphorically happy. Howard’s contract
drew attacks from supporters and detractors, regardless of which website one reviewed.
This response even spilled over in to national media coverage. As noted in the Cliff Lee
signing story above, the national media was on board with the narrative that the Phillies’
starting rotation was the Unstoppable Force, from day 1. While “bloggers…participate in (at
least) two situations—that of the blog itself and that of the public event—and their
resulting social actions accommodate exigencies belonging to both,”
454
in this case those
situations virtually matched one another. A fan posting his faith in the unstoppable rotation
on a team blog might as well have been posting in on a national blog—the tenor and nature
of the dialogue was the same on both.
Interestingly, the fans and the blog authors appeared to take the same tone in the
vast majority of the Howard and Lee controversy posts examined for this chapter. Early blog
posts on Lee, for instance, were overwhelmingly in favor of signing the ace pitcher. Fan
responses were also lopsidedly for the deal. A good chunk of this may simply be correlation,
because who wouldn’t want to sign a pitcher of his caliber just 2 years removed from a Cy
Young Award winning season? On the other hand, it is certainly plausible that the tone of
the blog author encourages fans to take the same side. One can imagine that fans
(consciously or unconsciously) seek to curry favor with the blog authors. Or perhaps they
side with the original poster because it grants them entrance into the community of fans
that are reading Phillies Nation. In other contexts, the frequent blowups between fans over
what constitutes an “authentic” fan leads one to suspect that fans may be doing work to
454
Grafton 2009, p. 87
199
show off their credentials in their posts. Finally, one way blogs acquire readership in
sabermetric communities is to demonstrate their skill and intelligence in wielding such data.
Readers that affirm intelligent application of advanced metrics may build their own
credibility amongst the same group of fans.
This is not to say, however, that fans always affirm blog posts—clearly they don’t.
However, it is reasonable to think there may be a self‐selection bias where fans choose to
read and post on the blogs that most closely fit their particular fandom. Turning to a
discussion of the topics that these blogs offered may shed some light on what areas
influence a fan’s selection of blogs. To begin with, obviously the specific content of these
blogs is all related to the Phillies. So the topics are seeking to satisfy both the bloggers’ need
to write about and the fans’ need to interact about the Phillies. The blogs all had some
version of game recaps, whether it was a regimented, day‐by‐day breakdown or it was a fly‐
by‐night operation in which the blogger posted when the urge struck him or her. Series
previews were not a prevalent feature, but occurred occasionally. Both the team’s official
site and the fan sites analyzed player development, in the minor and major leagues,
discussed possible trades, evaluated actual trades, and informed fans about various team‐
related news. These blogs also provided links to national news stories from time to time,
although these usually bore some relationship to the Phillies specifically, rather than
baseball for its own sake. Finally, reflecting one of the semantic features discussed above,
the topics quite often were about new and potentially interesting ways to utilize
sabermetric measures to evaluate players. The goal of these posts was almost universally to
200
cajole fans into understanding different sides of players or to encourage them to completely
change their value from negative to positive (or vice versa).
After looking at the semantic features, tone, and topics, there are connections to be
drawn from each to the arousal and satisfaction as well as the interactive engagements that
fans draw from these characteristics. In the first instance, the Phillies content, both its
features and topics, arouse fans’ desires to participate in a community of fans that also
share their interests in talking about the Phillies. Whether they can’t find a friend or a co‐
worker that is as engaged in the sport or team as they are, or they just have an
unquenchable thirst for more Phillies stuff, blogs can satisfy this desire. Of course, it is not
sufficient to conclude from this that Phillies content works for Phillies fans. As Grafton
suggests, “An emphasis on publics entails viewing people as members of a myriad of
publics, participating as both audiences and rhetoric, who realize publics through the
rhetorical act of update (by “paying attention”) and who re‐imagine and re‐circulate publics
through texts of their own.”
455
In this sense, the participation of fans on the blogs is
matched by the significance of the bloggers even offering the posts and pages in the first
place.
That bloggers contribute to an ongoing conversation about baseball should not
come as a surprise. But the fact that these bloggers want to contribute more content
related specifically to the Phillies should tell us something about the cycle of arousal and
satisfaction specific to their interests. Namely, these bloggers looked around and failed to
see the sites that offered the content they wanted to read about their favorite team.
455
Ibid. p. 107
201
Whether those are game recaps, spring training scouting, winter league posts, farm team
descriptions, or just random thoughts about games. These blogs perhaps satisfy the inner
fan’s desire to see these pages. At the same time, these blogs arouse the writer’s fan‐based
desire to be read broadly by other baseball writers. At this point, the blogosphere is so
flooded with sites devoted to each baseball team that anyone starting a new page must
think they have special content that should be heard. The desire extends for others to read
and affirm their work.
The content on these blogs anchors a grand narrative of an epic Phillies’ rotation
that would sweep away all historical records for pitching en route to a World Series victory.
The pitching statistics for the Phantastic Phour that blogs piled up over the offseason
aroused the fans’ desires for an incredible season (read: Championship). While one can
never prove that without these posts fans would have reacted differently, the sheer scope
of the blogs and fans claiming victory was all‐but‐assured contributed mightily to the feeling
of invincibility. In short, the Phillies blogosphere produced an echo chamber
456
that
artificially aroused expectations and satisfied, for a time, the fans’ desire to have the best
team. Of course, this means that these blogs are equally implicated in the explosions of fans
after the collapse in October. Continued build up and anticipation created a higher peak for
fan expectations, resulting in a steeper fall. In this sense, the dramatically upbeat tone of
the bloggers (and then fans) also appears responsible for contributing to aroused fan
expectations that were left unsatisfied when the team came up short.
456
Young 2012 illustrates the problems with this echo chamber effect in terms of FOX News and the GOP
shock on election day.
202
Finally, since each of these blogs offers space for fan comments, they may heighten
desires for a sense of community or, alternately, for trolling Phillies’ fans. In addition to
arousing fan expectations about demonstrating credentials, fans might who assert
legitimate interests in participating in ongoing conversations about the team. On the other
hand, individuals who like to post purely to raise the ire of others enjoy trolling fellow
enthusiasts. A Mets fan, for instance, might feel an irresistible pull to post on a Phillies blog
simply to provoke responses. Either way, the commenting functions offered on these sights
are able to arouse and satisfy desires.
These latter forms of arousal and satisfaction point towards the importance of the
final category of generic analysis, interactive engagements. As before, this section of
analysis is broken into two related theories from fan participation studies: A Mets fan
trolling a Phillies site, for instance, lends itself to an analysis of “anti‐fandom,” the notion
that a fan might define the object their fandom as much by their hatred of an opposing
object as they do through their initial attachment. In sports terms, a fan may hate the Mets
as much as he hates the Phillies. Indeed, this is part of the ritual:
Sports fans, in fact, take great pleasure in talking and arguing with anti‐fans. They
enjoy participating in a “game,” as they call it, of exchanging witty lines with their
“rivals,” and take up a contest of who will defend and prove that her/his fan object
is better.
457
457
Theodoropoulou 2007, p. 323
203
Sporting contests offer a perfect venue to look for anti‐fandom because most leagues
encourage rivalry games between two franchises, which practically demand that fans be
prepared to root as much against their opponent as they root for their own team.
In terms of the Phillies blogs and their fans, anti‐fandom was rarely expressed as
hatred for another team in the controversies reviewed. However, when ESPN ran an article
claiming the Atlanta Braves (a rival NL East team) had the best pitching staff in the league, a
blog post at Crashburn Alley took it as an opportunity to demonstrate that the Phillies staff
was better. The comments section that resulted aptly demonstrates the inherent anti‐
fandom in competitive sporting activities: not only were the fans quick to defend the
superiority of the Phillies pitching, it necessitated diminishing the Braves pitching staff as
well.
458
This circle the wagon mentality is also reflected in the tendency of fans to criticize
their own team but cry bloody murder if someone from outside the circle attempts to do
the same: “When anti‐fans are present, the situation is different. They would do their
utmost to defend their team and fan object choice and refute the critics.”
459
This double standard is revealed in the other form of anti‐fandom defined in the fan
participation literature: fans that viscerally react to negative directions that their fan object
takes. Gray expresses this concept as: “fans can become anti‐fans of a sort when an episode
or part of a text is perceived as harming a text as a whole…Behind dislike, after all, there are
always expectations – of what a text should be like.”
460
Clearly, the grand collapse of the
Phillies, followed by ruthless fan posts attacking the hitters and team management,
458
Baer 2011b
459
Theodoropoulou 2007, p. 324
460
Gray 2003, p. 73
204
represents a reversal of fan expectations: the entire offseason and regular season narrative
was about an unbeatable team, thanks to its historic pitching. Now that the jig was up, fans
were livid on all fronts. They became anti‐fans by virtue of their disappointment and anger
at the turn of events that unfolded at the end of the season.
The significance of studying anti‐fandom of this sort is that it appears capable of
constructing and maintaining identity in the ways typically associated with fandom. Put
another way, “Sport fandom, and practices of [football] anti‐fandom in particular, one could
argue, provide not only mechanisms to safeguard one’s fan identity but also ways to gain a
great deal of “identity boost” and self‐esteem.”
461
While that study looked at football,
462
this study of the Phillies baseball team seems to yield much the same conclusion. Fans may
reinforce their Phillies‐fan identities both by rooting for the Phillies and by hating on their
enemies. The notion of enemies helps explain how this identity construction functions;
indeed, it reveals that fans are reinforcing their notions of self through distinction with the
other. Further, undermining the value of the other franchise serves to inflate their value in
identifying with their own team, solidifying identity.
Before moving to analysis of fantagonism as it relates to the Phillies blogs, it is
interesting to note that the fans that were fundamentally neutral toward the Ryan Howard
contract might be good examples of what Gray dubs “non‐fans”: “those viewers or readers
who do view or read a text, but not with any intense involvement.”
463
These fans, recall,
often recognized both sides of the argument, but were not invested in either side at the
461
Theodoropoulou 2007, p. 325
462
Soccer
463
Gray 2003, p. 74
205
expense of the other. Many of these fans simply didn’t know what to expect from Howard
going forward, so they appreciated uncertainty, wondering if he would live up to the
contract or if the contract would hamstring the team. As a result, all of the fan posts under
this category appear to be representative of interested, but reflectively invested modern
fans. Not surprisingly, responses with this thoughtful involvement were rare given that the
Phillies are a competitive franchise and that fans watch to see them win games. Fans who
were neutral on Howard’s contract reveal the quintessentially cosmopolitan identity and
thin solidarity typically associated with non‐fans.
464
Thus, non‐fans are best conceived of as
disaffected fans rather than disinterested ones.
The debate over the Howard contract is also quite illustrative of Johnson’s relatively
recent notion of ““fan‐tagonism”—ongoing, competitive struggles between both internal
factions and external institutions to discursively codify the fan‐text‐producer relationship
according to their respective interests.”
465
Fans that love the contract and fans that hate the
contract are fighting for supremacy over definitions of what it means (a) to be a Phillies fan
(fan), (b) for the Phillies to be successful (text), (c) for Amaro, Jr. (and the rest of
management) to do a good job (producer). All of these are related, of course, and the
struggle to define them represents the struggle for control that typifies fan‐tagonism. Fans
that use advanced statistics to prove that Howard’s contract will be a failure are challenging
all three types of definition. For instance, they are challenging the fan status of anyone that
supports Howard’s contract, essentially claiming that any real fan would want the team to
464
See Giulianotti 2002 for a taxonomy of football (soccer) spectators. The characteristics of flaneurs in that
study map quite well onto the notion of non‐fans.
465
Johnson 2007, p. 287
206
win and to do that you have to be against the contract. In addition, fans that support the
contract are stuck because if they utilize traditional metrics, like Runs Batted In, to justify
the contract, they are cast out of the fan community that so values advanced sabermetric
measurements. Yet, if they use advanced measurements, there is no way to logically and
rationally defend the contract to the satisfaction of detractors (yes, the advanced numbers
are that definitely against Howard’s contract). Blogs thus leave an aporatic space, inciting
extended cooperative discourse among some.
Additionally, they are suggesting that Amaro, Jr., has failed to appropriately
construct the roster with the money available. This is so because Howard will not succeed
during the contract and he will also prevent the team from retaining great players or signing
new free agents as contract represents an opportunity cost. In tandem, then, this argument
both challenges the on field product (the text) and the management that put that product
together (the producers). This challenge represents a classic fan‐tagonistic struggle:
Antagonisms external and internal to fandom structure its practices, with fan and
institutional interests competing to establish dominant meta‐textual interpretative
discourses while legitimizing specific audience relationships to the industrial
production of the hyperdiegetic text.
466
The institution of the Phillies is responsible for creating the Lee and Howard contracts, and
pushes forth a narrative that these are beneficial contracts to the team. In the case of the
Lee deal, the vast majority of fans were willing to accept this narrative and even contribute
to its substantial growth. In the case of the earlier Howard contract, there was major
466
Ibid. p. 287
207
pushback from the fans who were unwilling to accept the narrative of Howard’s value to the
team. But, as we saw, there was much controversy within the fan community itself on this
point as well.
Conclusion
In sum, this analysis of the Phillies fan blogs regarding the Lee and Howard
controversies suggests that there are several exigencies driving the demand for these blogs.
First, there is a clear need, on behalf of both the bloggers and fans, for stories and data
about the team that comes from beyond mainstream media. Fans read these sites
religiously because they can’t get enough, or the right kind of, material from the game
broadcasts and the national media stories. There are 15 games for 30 teams on most days.
The media has an incentive to disproportionately assign air time to major media markets.
No one should be surprised this is the case. While bloggers are also fans and share the need
for information, their interest is also slightly different. They offer detailed analysis for
anyone in the world to consume. Thus, their need for new material as a fan is merged with
a much stronger need to contribute something meaningful (judged by whether or not other
fans read and respond). Fans without blogs may certainly host a similar need when they
choose to post their thoughts on a site, but those that choose to blog clearly have a much
greater motivation and commitment.
Second, fans desire a space for community discussion and interaction about their
team. More than just consuming new material, fans that are regularly traveling to Phillies
sites and posting are revealing their urgency to participate in a conversation. This may
208
reflect a lack of sounding boards, or may simply mean that their particular attachment to
the team is strong enough that they need even more interaction. Fans that post on
particular sites regularly exhibit this desire even more strongly, suggesting that they value
communicating their own ideas as a key part of their presence in that community. Third,
fans on these sites are far more likely to be familiar with and competent to use advanced
statistical measures from sabermetrics. Certainly not all of the fans that post are wielding
these numbers. But the frequency with which they are used is quite high. The technology
that facilitates the blogs makes them uniquely conducive to arguing with such data. Face to
face conversations, which constituted the bulk of baseball argument before blogs, make
sabermetrics unwieldy by demanding either broad memorization of all statistics or large
volumes of data which one must pore over manually.
Finally, blogs offer a place for fans to engage in controversies. While this is a subset
of the need for community, it is a subset subject to emotional surges and swings, as we’ve
seen from this particular Phillies season. Only on these blogs could the fans really engage in
sweeping euphoric praise for the Phillies starting rotation, express their belief that the team
would win it all, and be reaffirmed by a sea of countless comments. National baseball blogs
could replicate part of it, but there would be other fans posting there who sought to bring
down their high. Face to face conversations with family and friends could mimic some
portion of it as well, though only to the extent that those individuals were similarly invested
fans. No, only on these blogs could Phillies fans ride a massive wave of praise and certainty
that the team would win the World Series. And, in the end, only the Phillies blogs could
209
offer a sufficient venue for the same fans to vent their frustrations when the epic collapse
was complete.
210
Chapter 5: Conclusion
This study began with the goal of extending genre criticism
467
and fan studies to
baseball blogs in hopes of understanding how communication about baseball functions in
an online, digital era. The first section of this chapter summarizes the accounts of fan
communication on the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies blogs in order to lay out the key
characteristics of baseball talk as it is found. This section serves as a precursor to the
conclusion that baseball blogs ought to be considered a genre, even if blogs writ‐large are
only a medium. At the same time, the application of both genre criticism and fan studies to
this area represents an extension of each beyond their traditional spheres and thus offered
an opportunity to test the limits of application, validate foundational claims, and revise
particular postulates. The second section delineates the history and evolution of the genre
of baseball talk, highlighting converges and divergences from oral history that predates the
advent of the internet. The third section pushes digital studies to expand and shift to
account for the revelations of the nature of the genre of baseball talk. Section four
examines implications for theoretical research for fan participation studies, with an
emphasis on broadening the subjects of said studies. The final section seeks revisions to
vernacular studies to apply lessons from baseball talk to other globally engaged local
communities.
467
And more specifically genre theories about digital and internet based forms of communication
211
What is a baseball blog?
Before discussing the ways that this study speaks to genre and fan studies theories,
it is first necessary to find what, if any, generalizations may be made about the nature of
baseball blogs. In particular, this summary will serve to answer whether or not baseball
blogs ought to be considered a genre, based on the criteria laid out by earlier works on
genre, blogs, and digital communication.
468
The answer to this question proceeds through
the semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive engagements
present across the fan blogs of the Seattle, St. Louis, and Philadelphia franchises that are
examined in this study. In sum, while there are both distinctions and variations between the
form and content of these blogs, these are overwhelmed by strong bonds of similarity that
ultimately constitute a baseball blog genre.
Semantic Features. There are a great number of semantic features found on each
and every blog. Following earlier genre analysis,
469
baseball blogs are found to consist of the
same reverse chronological, time‐stamped posts that characterize earlier analyses. This is,
of course, the most distinctive unifying feature of the large category known as “blogs.” In
addition to these earlier categorized features, these blogs shared other recurring features
that typify blogs, writ large: a blog roll (listing like‐minded blogs that readers might follow),
polls, category labels to catalog posts, RSS feed links to allow users to read the blogs in
external applications, comments are enabled for readers to post responses to each post,
banner ads that largely pay for the site, and posts are typically heavy with links to provide
468
As noted in previous chapters, the structure of genre analysis employed here largely models Miller &
Shepherd 2004.
469
Miller & Shepherd 2004
212
evidence for claims or simply further reading on specific points. But these are only the
typical characteristics of form that these blogs share with generic blogs.
Across all three sets of teams, these blogs exhibited distinctive baseball features, as
one might expect. Such features include video clips of games, links to outside statistical
information and player biographies,
470
and recurring game threads, recaps, and series
previews. As suggested by internet genre critics, the unanimity of these semantic features
builds a pattern of expectation and fulfillment that allows fans to understand the basic
function of the blog simply by recognizing the formal similarities. A fan who reads Lookout
Landing every day for Mariners news can jump to Crashburn Alley, for instance, and
intuitively grasp how the site will be laid out in order to fulfill its function as a fan site for
the Philadelphia Phillies.
One final, significant semantic feature that may be unique to the baseball context:
many blogs have become affiliates of SB Nation
471
or the ESPN SweetSpot Network, both of
which provide their own visual and feature‐based structures on top of the affiliate site.
LookoutLanding and The Good Phight, for instance, are both SB Nation affiliates, and
possess nearly identical site designs – from font, to right‐hand column design, to the size
and shape of their “Facebook” and “Twitter” buttons. Similarly, Pro Ball NW and Fungoes
are both SweetSpot members. While this affiliation only involves tacking an ESPN Affiliate
bar at the top of the page, the mere addition of ESPN and SweetSpot at the top gives the
site instant authority on sports matters for having been selected by the most recognizable
name in sports media. Between the generic blog and specific baseball blog similarities,
470
Especially to Baseball‐reference.com and Fangraphs.com.
471
SBNation.com claims to host over 300 sports blog communities across any number of sports
213
there were, finally, very few discernible differences in these features of the blogs. Individual
variances serve only to reinforce the larger conclusion that the vast, vast majority of
features are anticipated, recognized, and constant across these pages.
472
Topics. While the topics of baseball blogs studied here also appear to have vastly
more in common than not, there are more notable variances in this category than there
were in semantic features. For instance, most are dedicated to content for one specific
team. The few combed for comments that were not team‐specific were dedicated to
covering MLB content from all teams. As a result, as the content available differed, so did
the topics. When the Phillies signed Cliff Lee, Cardinals blogs took little note, while Mariners
blogs were more interested, given that Lee had played for Seattle just the season before. A
player of Lee’s stature still masks the effect of this variance, however, as Cardinals blogs
were at least interested in his signing given how large the salary was, his abilities as a
pitcher, and the fact that he signed with another club in the National League. A more minor
player, like Kevin Millwood with the Mariners, is probably a more relevant example, where
neither the Cardinals’ or Phillies’ blogs would take time to note the transaction.
Still, the differences in content that drive much of the variance in topics only serve
to reinforce the larger pattern of shared topics. Types of posts that were unearthed across
all three teams include: Game Posts (series previews, game threads, and game recaps),
Player Analysis (bios, statistics, trade analysis, and comparisons), Team Analysis (theoretical
roster constructions, team assessments, trade analysis, rumors, and breakdowns of team
472
The variances are not discussed at further length here because of their minor nature. These differences
include features such as fonts, color schemes, frames, banners, and page titles. While these are certainly
semantic features of these blog pages, they are only tweaks at the margins of the major characteristics that
have already been discussed—characteristics that are quite uniform.
214
press releases), and General Baseball Information (rumors, news, advanced statistical
analyses, and miscellaneous posts). Certainly not every blog had posts across every one of
these topics, but each blog’s posts cut through a very high percentage of the categories.
Perusing the topics from the month of September on Viva El Birdos, for instance, one finds
41 Game Posts (2 series previews, 34 game threads, and 5 game recaps), 9 Player Analyses
(0 bios, 6 statistics, 0 trade analyses, and 3 comparisons), 19 Team Analyses (8 theoretical
roster constructions, 11 team assessments, 0 trade analyses, 0 rumors, and 0 breakdowns
of team press releases), and 3 General Baseball Posts (0 rumors, 0 news, 0 advanced
statistical analyses, and 3 miscellaneous posts). Of course, this is a simple top level analysis
that ignores the possibility of posts fitting multiple categories of topics and there may be
discrepancies in categorization from one person to another, but even this rudimentary
classification demonstrates that these topics are likely to be found on any baseball blogs.
One subcategory in particular merits special attention aside from the rest: advanced
statistical analyses. All throughout the fan blogs for the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies,
advanced statistical analysis, known in the baseball world as sabermetrics, was prominent
in blog posts and fan comments. Many of the Player Analyses that one can find on USS
Mariner, for instance, will involve numbers such as wOBA, OPS+, ERA‐, and UZR. Frequently,
these blogs will take time out to pursue analyses of these advanced metrics—explaining the
concept by way of application to the Mariners’ players or evaluating the measure through
the use of statistics from those players.
The medium of online communication is the perfect vehicle for fans to deploy
statistical comparisons. The growth of these new metrics and their use is not necessarily
215
linear or inevitable. As the case studies have demonstrated, traditional measures of
offensive (RBIs, batting average) and defensive performances (UZR, ERA) continue to carry
significant weight with fans, players, broadcasters, and more. The player analyses
conducted in response to the Colby Rasmus trade by St. Louis, for example, typified the
“scouts vs stats” conflict narrative that has emerged in the wake of Moneyball.
473
The
success of the Oakland Athletics and, later, more prominently, the Boston Red Sox enflamed
the scouts‐stats conflict even further.
474
Although it is unlikely that any successful major
league franchise would pit their scouting departments against their statistical analysis
(instead of combining the insights of both), fan arguments throughout the Bradley, Rasmus,
Pujols, Lee, and Howard controversies exhibit repeated conflict between fans that are for
and against newer statistical metrics.
Ultimately, each of these topics demonstrate one final significant point regarding
the topics of baseball blogs: these blogs quite frequently find their topics through response
to controversy. Not only does this finding further validate the method of controversy
analysis employed in this study, it also suggests that these blog posts (and with them fan
commentary) are a productive indicator of fan sentiment about what areas about the team
most concern or interest them. That posts on Rasmus and Pujols vastly outpaced all other
blog posts and comments about the Cardinals during the 2011 season suggests fans care
most about these transactions, rather than others. Similarly, the frequency and volume of
the responses to the Niehaus and Bradley controversies in Seattle and Lee and Howard
473
Lewis 2004
474
Most baseball analysts agree that the Red Sox finally broke the curse of the bambino by employing some of
these same advanced statistical measures that led Oakland to the postseason in 2002. For instance, see Drum
2011.
216
contracts in Philadelphia demonstrate these fans care vastly more about these
controversies than others.
Tone. Aside from frequency and volume, of course, there is still the tone of the
responses to consider. In large measure, the fan posts regarding these controversies
exhibited extreme reactions: anger, hatred, and euphoria being the most prominent. In the
case of the Mariners fans, frustration and anger at the team management spilled over into
an online campaign to #fireNintendo, the owners of the of the Seattle franchise. In St. Louis,
many bloggers and fans spent countless keystrokes documenting their anger at
management for trading Rasmus to Toronto or failing to sign Pujols; others expressed
disappointment and fury at Pujols for his refusal to give a home team discount to the
Cardinals. In Philadelphia, fans continued to rage against Amaro, Jr.’s decision to extend
Ryan Howard—a full year after the contract was actually signed.
Clearly not all fan reactions were negative in tone, even in response to these
transactions. The outpouring of support for Dave Niehaus from Mariners fans included
every manner of nostalgia and happiness tied to these old memories that one could
imagine. The Cardinals’ World Series Championship that followed the Rasmus trade and
preceded Pujols’ departure to Los Angeles drowned the fanbase in euphoria. Fans mobbed
the Philly blogs to join in jubilation with one another once they learned Lee would join their
rotation and create an unstoppable starting staff. While fans more often took to the blogs
to voice their negative reactions to new team‐related events, they were still likely to be
motivated positively by beneficial developments for the team. In addition to making
intuitive sense, this recognition also affirms studies that examine fan attendance patterns
217
and conclude that winning is the best way to breed fan participation as measured by
purchasing tickets and showing up at the park.
475
Of course, the tone of fan posts was frequently related to the relative competitive
state of their team. Mariners’ posts, on the whole, tended to be angrier, more frustrated,
and more disappointed. On the one hand, this is not terribly surprising, as Mariners fans
have endured 35 years of futility, with only a handful of playoff appearances to show to
help slake their thirst for victory. On the other hand, one wonders why fans would continue
to care about a franchise that has fared so dismally over its lifetime. The much smaller
frequency of posts, of repeat posters, and the lower total volume of fan comments on blogs
may provide an answer. There may be less Mariners fans commenting on these blogs simply
because there are less fans that are still interested. But, Mariners fans may be so
accustomed to losing, events that might produce pages and pages of comments for other
franchises elicit far fewer responses for such fans. By contrast, the massive upswell of fan
posts in response to Cardinals controversies may well demonstrate the opposite.
Arousal and Satisfaction. The application of the arousal and satisfaction dynamic to
three species of baseball blogs revealed a number of consistent mechanisms present across
the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies fan posts and comments. First, baseball blogs devoted
to the team fulfill fans’ desires for additional content above and beyond the games or the
information provided by the team. While a St. Louis fans may head to third party sites such
as ESPN or Baseball‐Reference to look at the statistics for their favorite Cardinals, without
sites like Viva El Birdos, it would be incredibly difficult for them to find articles, analysis, or
475
Thurm 2012
218
additional information specific to the team. Indeed, fans of less competitive teams, such as
the Mariners, would only rarely see the national media posting columns about their teams
and thus would remain starved for information. Moreover, the bloggers who post these
articles are themselves fans, who are able to fulfill their own desire for additional content
by researching and posting such information as they see fit.
Second, in addition to fulfilling a desire to consume more content related to their
favorite team, blogs offer a space to participate among a community of fans. This desire for
participation in community is clearly present for those Cardinals fans, for instance, that
repeatedly post on Viva el Birdos. They share not only the Cardinals games watched, but
hold ongoing conversations about the games and the team. And given the sabermetric slant
of that particular site, the fans are participating in the larger advanced stats conversation
taking place across baseball. Shared exposure to all of these conversations contributes to
the construction of particular iterations of the Cardinals fan community within each of the
blogs on which fans choose to post.
In the case of Dave Niehaus’ passing, blogs provided a space for fans to share their
memories of listening to the Mariners’ Hall of Fame broadcaster call games during their
childhoods. Niehaus was the voice the Seattle franchise on radio or television for the
entirety of the team’s existence before his death. Countless stories were shared by fans
across the Mariners blogosphere, demonstrating that blogs were a site for fans to connect
via shared memories of the team and what it meant to them individually. Shared
219
experiences are a significant contributor to building community,
476
and Niehaus’ call of “The
Double” in the Mariners’ most famous game provided fans with a memory that rivaled, for
Mariners fans, Al Michael’s call of the Miracle on ice.
477
Moreover, the outpouring of support for Niehaus on blogs revealed that this nodes
within this medium may function as collection points for the nostalgia that fans often
exhibit about baseball. Films such as Field of Dreams and Moneyball are illustrative of this
genre. The notion that baseball is America’s National Pastime is founded squarely on
nostalgia for the game’s past. Reading through the stories of Niehaus’ significant calls for
the team, one can’t help but feel the communal connections fans drew from listening to
Niehaus. Blogs offer a space for such nostalgia to be carried over from game to fan to other
fans, rather than remaining bottled up.
Third, the regular pattern of series preview, open game threads, and game recaps
create a strong recurring foundation for engagement for each of the regular and post‐
season games. This is not an insignificant point: given that the MLB season is 162 games
long, many fans likely have a hard time finding other avenues to discuss individual games
with fellow fans. The grind of such a long season often makes individual games and even
series appear largely irrelevant, even given the knowledge that at the end of the season 1‐2
games frequently separate the final playoff teams from those that just miss. The 2011
Cardinals had to win virtually every game in September while relying on the Braves to
collapse down the stretch. In the end, 1 game on the final day of the season sent St. Louis to
476
Tulloch and Jenkins 1995, p. 107; For a vision of shared meaning making that includes hegemonic struggles
between fans to generate such meanings, see Johnson 2007
477
For a good piece detailing the enduring legacy of the Miracle on Ice call see Mizell 2002.
220
the playoffs (and ultimately the World Series title), yet this knowledge does not necessarily
make games the next April feel as significant as those late in the season.
Fourth, while this long grind may certainly cause apathy that undermines fans’
ability to find interests in the season, controversies throughout cause shifts in tone that
contribute to arousal and satisfaction dynamics. For instance, Mariners posts throughout
the 2011 season were fraught with frustration, but the passing of Dave Niehaus radically
shifted the emotional register of blog posts and the fan comments that responded to them.
Cardinals fan posts were frustrated throughout the season, beginning with the failed Pujols
negotiations, until September when a playoff berth suddenly became possible. Fans posting
on Phillies’ sites were heavily laced with an air of inevitable victory after the signing of Cliff
Lee, but Howard’s ineptitude during the team’s playoff collapse completely reversed the
tenor of Phillies’ posts.
Thus, new events often spark shifts in tone by arousing different feelings toward the
teams than had previously existed. These shifts in tone, however, are not always led by new
events. Frequently, the tone of a blog post offers a new appreciation for some aspect of the
team, inviting fans to respond to this new tone either through rejection or acceptance. Ryan
Howard’s contract, for instance, was extended early in the 2010 season. Yet, blog posts that
hammered away at the poor judgment this contract showed produced a series arguing over
the value of Howard and his contract. Many of these comments agreed with the tone of the
blog posts themselves, despite the grand narrative that the Phillies would inevitably win the
2011 World Series. These posts appeared to offer a counterpoint opening to the continual
arousal and satisfaction of the belief that the Phillies were a team of destiny.
221
Fifth, one of the possible downsides of the strong sense of community that these
websites generate is an “echo chamber” effect, similar to the post‐mortems on FOX News’
election predictions that now seem completely out of whack.
478
In the case of the Phillies,
for instance, the vast majority of blog posts and fan comments firmly believed that the
Phantastic Phour made a victory exceedingly likely, if not inevitable. While some fans
reacted to the Lee signing by wondering about their offense, very few on Phillies sites were
pressing the argument that the team could not win without a better offense. Once the
offense was exposed by sufficiently good Cardinals’ pitching in the playoffs, of course, the
tune of the fans suddenly changed to decry the sorry state of Ryan and the other hitters.
The Phillies’ fans’ responses to ESPN’s claim that Atlanta boasted the best pitching staff in
all of baseball may represent another such instance of this echo chamber, where fans piled
on to explain why their staff was better than Atlanta’s.
Those Cardinals fans’ posts that adamantly believed Rasmus was more valuable than
anything the team received in the trade may turn out to furnish another example of this
effect. Rasmus was worth less than a single win during all of the 2011 season, his first full
year with the Blue Jays.
479
Although Cardinals fans saw a budding superstar traded for what
amounted to a pile of magic beans, the fact remains St. Louis won the World Series and
Rasmus has yet to land even as an above average regular.
480
This phenomenon does not
appear to be limited to Cardinals either: Geoff Baker, the Mariners columnist for The Seattle
Times, has been warning for several years that in an era where all minor league numbers
478
Young 2012
479
Breen 2011
480
Sheets 2012
222
are easily tracked by fans with computers, prospects are becoming overvalued by bloggers
and fans posting on team‐related sites.
481
Indeed, Baker argues the 2012‐2013 offseason
represents a shift back towards MLB teams valuing players with MLB experience much more
than prospects, as evidenced by the R.A. Dickey trade to Toronto and James Shields trade to
Kansas City.
482
Finally, fan’s access to advanced statistical measures has grown with sites like
Baseball Reference and Fangraphs. Blogs have become the vehicle for fans to make
arguments with these statistics. Whether they host a blog for such musings
483
or post to
preferred fan sites, the opportunity to collect, parse, and present data (that will be read!) is
uniquely accommodated by the medium of blogs. A fan could create a website other than a
weblog to host musings on baseball, but the time‐stamped, category‐based post format of
blogs is vastly more convenient for cataloguing the entries in a way that is readily
understood by fans. Not only that, the analyses that fans pursue tend to be related, at least
tangentially, to in‐game phenomena that strike their fancy. As a result, the linear,
chronological structure of blogs is a perfect vehicle for posting analyses.
Interactive engagements. While advanced metrics are deployed by fans on blogs to
participate in the expectation and fulfillment of deeper, more penetrating analysis than
what broadcasters provide, they simultaneously reflect just one of the many issues that fans
deploy in order to interact with other similarly interested fans. The theories of anti‐fandom
and fantagonism offer great insight into the interactive engagements throughout the
481
Baker 2010a
482
Baker 2012
483
Baseballmusings.com for instance.
223
analysis of the Mariners’, Cardinals’, and Phillies’ websites. In the course of analyzing how
fan engagements may fit or fall outside of the atomistic model posited by anti‐fandom, a
couple of relevant points emerged. First, fans posts demonstrated that expectancy
violations by the front office can produce anti‐fandom on behalf of even the most ardent
fans. Failure to sign Pujols and trading Rasmus without receiving any cost‐controlled talent
generated an incredible resentment by Cardinals fans. Losing in the first round sparked a
backlash by Phillies fans who were fed up with Howard and the offense.
Second, anti‐fandom offers a reasonable explanation for the continuation of fan
rivalries, such as those between Red Sox and Yankees, Dodgers and Giants, or Cubs and
Cardinals, matter so much to both sides. The theory of anti‐fandom argues that a fan’s
negative investments are just as powerful in the construction of their identity as their
positive investments. Put in terms of these baseball rivalries, fans that spend their time
cursing at Yankees players are affirming their loyalty to the Red Sox which, in turn, affirms
their identity as a true Red Sox fan. Fans that plead to Albert Pujols, “please don’t sign with
the Cubs,” were affirming their status as loyal Cardinals fans. By hating on the Cubs, these
fans offered their status as faithful St. Louis fans and sought acceptance from other fans
participating on these boards. While one my believe oneself to be a Cardinals fan, the
affirmation of identity appears to be just as crucial in the maintenance of that identity. If no
one bears witness to the fandom, then this identity remains unfulfilled.
Finally, anti‐fandom helped explain the persistent clashes where Mariners fans, for
example, accused other fans of being “casual” or “not real” fans. Some of the fans that
posted on Seattle‐related blogs deemed themselves to be true fans because they continued
224
to root for the Mariners no matter how bad they became. This was often voiced as a
response to those fans who were threatening a boycott of Seattle games. The anti‐fandom
model characterizes fans threatening a boycott as anti‐fans—negatively charged particles
like electrons. Given that they are attacking elements of the team, it stands to reason that
other fans, those more deeply invested in the team (protons) would object to their threats
against the team. If these characterizations are correct, then the clash between positive and
negative charged fans would appear inevitable.
Moreover, this metaphor works quite well to explain why deeply invested fans
would accuse other fans of being casual or not real: they label fans who loosely follow the
team or fans that attend a few games but don’t pay attention to the season overall as
nonfans that have some familiarity but lack quintessential elements to be considered fans.
This real/casual binary repeatedly appears in several different contexts in this study,
including discussions of bandwagon fans (who only showed up to root for the team during
the playoffs or an extended period of success). Fans who failed to respond to advanced
statistical measures with other statistical measures, such as in post‐mortem analyses of the
Rasmus trade, were often accused of being on the wrong website and failing to fit in to this
group of real fans.
Anti‐fandom is not the only theory within fan studies that offers insight into the
real/casual fan binary—fantagonism argues that fans are jockeying for hegemony within
their fan communities. Operating under such an assumption, fans would accuse one
another of being fake or casual fans in order to assert their own superiority. As such, they
would have a more legitimate claim to being a Cardinals fan than any casual fans. Perhaps
225
more importantly, they would establish a trump card for their own authority to speak/write
about issues related to the St. Louis team. When fans who supported the Rasmus trade
were accused of posting on the wrong website, this was a larger attempt to characterize the
entire blog as an authoritative fan site that had more right to make claims about the team
and its management than any other site (and certainly more than those posting on the
official Cardinals MLB blog).
The Rasmus trade, like Ryan Howard’s contract, also revealed the way that fans who
study advanced statistical measurements are jockeying for position within their own fan
communities. Many see traditional measures of player values as inferior metrics that lead to
incorrect assessments of worth and thus cause their team to lose more games than they
should. Anxiety over Howard’s contract extension, for instance, is tied directly to the belief
that the opportunity cost of the funds used to sign Howard is far greater than the worth of
the contract itself. In an ideal world, the Phillies management would never make a
suboptimal transaction again. Ironically, these fans who believe they have far superior
measures of player performance than others who continue to place faith in old stats, like
RBIs, do not seem to consider the possibility that the team’s management might deploy
ever further advanced measures to which they themselves are not privy.
In addition to anger at management, fans of new statistical measures are outraged
by other fans who continue to believe in the old measures that have led the team in to
disrepair in the first place. Perhaps they implicitly believe that if every fan learns the right
way of thinking about statistics, the team will never make bad signings or trades again.
Played out to its logical extreme, this notion makes no sense given that baseball is a
226
competitive sport and even a league composed of perfectly optimal decisions would still
yield a winner and a loser in every game, 10 teams in the playoff each Fall, and a single
World Series victor every season. Thus, the Pujols and Rasmus fights amongst Cardinals fans
were significant controversies at the time, but conflicts like these were likely inevitable over
some transaction, given the desire of fans of new and old statistics to see their side win the
war of player evaluation. Certainly, Pujols status as the greatest player of his generation
upped the ante in such a conflict, but in terms of fan interaction, the struggle for hegemony
would have been the same.
Seen in this light, while Seattle blogs may function as iterations of a larger Mariners
community, they, like individual commenters, are jockeying for position within the larger
Mariners blogosphere. USS Mariner, for instance, frequently responds to posts by local
columnists, directly contradicting claims made about the team with evidence typically
provided from newer statistical measures.
484
While USS Mariner and LookoutLanding, are
darlings of the sabermetrically inclined fans on the internet world, plenty of other sites in
the Mariners section of the world wide web disagree with their conclusions frequently, and
post their rebuttals accordingly.
485
As fans are posting comments on each of these sites
arguing for their method of evaluating players and the team, so too are the Mariners fan
blogs compete with one another for the rights to claim superior analysis regarding the past,
present, and future of the team.
484
A good place to start is the series Combatting Emotion with Facts (Cameron 2012)
485
For instance, see SeattleSportsInsider refuting USS Mariner claims that franchises that spend $20 million on
2 superstars can’t effectively field a team (jemanji 2011).
227
History and evolution Baseball Talk
Given similarities in form and function present across each of these categories,
baseball blogs appear ready to be categorized as a distinct genre of communication.
Perhaps this is an intuitive conclusion, easily reached without demonstrating the significant
similarities in semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and satisfaction, and interactive
engagements. However, from a theoretical standpoint, this conclusion was far from evident
at the outset of this study. Early forays into the blogosphere led by genre scholars
concluded that the weblog was a genre unto itself, defined by several distinct
characteristics.
486
As evidence of the generic status of blogs, Miller & Shepherd identified a
number of shared features and functions, largely those followed in the content chapters in
this study.
487
After demonstrating the common foundations in these categories across all of
the blogs under their microscope, Miller & Shepherd then turn to delineate the genres that
precede and contribute to the form of blogging that they identify.
488
They do so because
genres do not simply appear out of thin air – they are adaptations and iterations of previous
genres.
489
In the case of baseball blogs, there are several precursor genres that contribute to
this avenue of fan participation. For one, baseball talk before and external to the internet
486
Miller & Shepherd 2004
487
Ibid. For one, blogs share “reverse chronology, frequent updating, and combination of links with personal
commentary.”
488
The fact that they later recanted, characterizing blogs as a medium within which genres may continue or
emerge, does not undermine the deployment of their method in that piece to demonstrate the claim that
baseball blogs constitute a genre of communication. Indeed, what forced their reconceptualization in their
later study (Miller & Shepherd 2009) was not a flaw in the method, but an unexpected radical speciation of
“the blog” into a myriad of distinct content types. Baseball blogs, according to this study, are one substantial
incarnation of the speciation that
489
Miller & Shepherd 2004
228
laid the foundation for this niche of the blogosphere. Baseball talk has evolved right along
with the game and its fans, since its very inception. Baseball blogs represent the newest
iteration of this talk, although the medium of the blog may have altered it significantly
enough to qualify as its own distinct genre. For another, sports talk radio represents an
earlier space in which fans interact with radio hosts and, through those radio hosts, other
fans. While sports talk is a broader venue in which all manner of sports are discussed and
baseball only receives a slice of the pie, the ways in which fans choose to participate in
response to controversies, team results, and host queries are significantly related to the
methods of fan participation on baseball blogs.
The history of baseball fans demonstrates constant formal characteristics and
functions, but evolutions in their interests and methods of participating. The constant
features include: love of the game being passed on generationally, the existence of a more
rabid class of “fans,” fan interest in the statistics of the game, and gambling on the games.
The notion that love of America’s National Pastime is passed on from generation to
generation is a standard component of the American mythos. Father and son sharing a
baseball game is one of the most popular iconic images of a family baseball experience.
Field of Dreams is, at its core, about a father and son bonding through their love of the
game. Moreover, baseball “has been the one sport a child can play in some manner with a
parent…A familiar family picture could include a youngster playing catch or hitting a
baseball with his father.”
490
490
Stein 2005, p. 6
229
While the study of baseball blogs did not directly exhibit parents and their children
playing the game together, the fan posts regarding Dave Niehaus reveal the significance of
baseball during childhood. Most of these stories were from 30‐, or 40‐, or 50‐somethings
who grew up listening to Niehaus call games in the late 70s and 1980s. These fans could not
fathom hearing any voice other than Dave’s calling a Mariners game, since their relationship
to the team had been shaped by their early years listening to his call of the games. As the
place that these fans shared these memories and continue to pursue their fandom, baseball
blogs continue this constant feature of baseball fandom for the next generation.
Of course, not every fan tracks down additional information about their team online
or participates in the fan blogs examined here. However, the distinction between more
deeply invested fans and those that prefer to simply watch the games is a second constant
feature of fans that is extended into the genre of baseball blogs. As early as the 1880s,
members of MLB could identify a distinct class of people attending games that took added
interest in the team and game compared to the rest of the public. These fans were originally
called “kranks.”
491
Kranks were known for hanging around the Boston ballpark searching for
any information they could find. According to one early study of these fans, kranks were so
desperate for inside information, they became annoying pests.
492
A former manager of the
St. Louis Browns claimed to have invented the term “fans” from the word fanatics in
describing some of these kranks.
493
491
Stein 2005, p, 2
492
Stein 2005, p. 6
493
Stein 2005, p. 2
230
The baseball blogs surrounding the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies continues the
marked speciation of fans, from those that are loosely interested in following the team’s
trajectory, to those that are deeply invested in their own team, and, finally, those that are
deeply interested not only in their own team, but in unearthing the mysteries of the game
itself. Fans that scour Fangraphs.com and Baseball Reference so much that they decide to
create their own blogs (a la LookoutLanding) to be able to post their thoughts and ideas of
the team (backed up by whatever evidence they see fit to deploy) exemplify today’s version
of the kranks. While most of these blogs are now so well established that their ad buys fund
the continued existence of the blog, they each began with a particularly invested and well
informed individual fan attempting to solidify their place in the analysis of the team and/or
sport.
Third, and relatedly, statistics surrounding the game of baseball have always been a
special area of interest to fans.
494
“Baseball generates a mountain of statistics assembled in
a meaningful and usable form,” which lends itself to endless fan interpretation and
debate.
495
Fans can easily identify significant counting stats for hitters, like Homeruns, RBIs,
singles, doubles, triples, etc. Once these stats caught on as the standard measure of hitters,
they were regularly published in the game boxscores, the stats were compiled and printed
on the backs of player’s baseball cards. Pitching statistics were similarly tracked, with
Strikeouts, Wins, and ERA dominating the numbers used to judge pitchers. While statistics
494
Indeed, the publication of Numbers Game – Baseball’s Lifelong Fascination with Statistics, which traces the
origin and evolution of the use of statistics by those in and outside of the game from the 1870s up through the
early 2000s, demonstrates both the massive amount of statistical information and the deep seated
attachment.
495
Stein 2005, p. 10
231
could not capture every aspect of the game (dazzling plays, significant moments in the
game, clutch play), they offered a giant pile of information for fans to dissect.
The Phillies, Cardinals, and Mariners blogs examined here certainly reflect the
commitment of many fans to following the statistics of baseball. In the battles over Ryan
Howard’s value to the Phillies, for instance, the battle between fans of new statistics and
old statistics bears a common denominator: both sides are employing measures to defend
their point of view. Those supporting his contract lean heavily on RBIs, which Howard
produces in incredible volume, while those in opposition use newer measures that parse his
performance with respect to the hitters that set the table in front of him, his inability to hit
left handed pitching, and his predicted future abilities at the end of the contract to conclude
that the extension will damage the Phillies franchise. Regardless, both sides are deploying
statistics: they are simply selectively applying statistics that support their point of view.
In contrast, there are a number of aspects of baseball talk and fandom that have
evolved, rather than remaining constant, throughout the history of the game. The majority
of these evolutions are connected to fans’ attachment to the game through their love of
statistics. The advent of computers and the increasing speed at which they are able to
function offers fans the ability to participate more predictive statistics and analytics,
accelerating compiling operations that used to take weeks to the point that only mere
moments are needed.
496
The further addition of websites that catalog all baseball statistics
available back to the origins of the game have amplified this ability even further. The
496
Stein 2005, p. 195
232
combination of computing power and available statistical data allows fans to perform their
own analyses and engage in counterfactual roster constructions.
If sabermetrics suggests a progenitor to the content orientation of contemporary
baseball talk, then Sports Talk Radio programs may have given birth to the idea that fans
should share their beliefs about how to run a team. The genre of Sports Talk Radio is a clear
progenitor to the genre of baseball blogs, with the show hosts providing talking points and
fans calling in to ask questions and offer their opinions on the day’s topics. Before sports
talk radio allowed fans to interact through the show, they could only share their fandom
with their friends and perhaps those that they met at baseball games. Before the internet
offered billboards, forums, and blogs on which fans could interact, there were only friends,
games, and sports talk radio. Indeed, these radio programs continue to be a place for fans
to meet and interact even today.
497
Typically, these programs are local broadcasts that
focus on the collegiate and professional sports teams in the area. Of course, there are also
national sports broadcasts that ask fans to call in with any questions about any teams—
these are programs dedicated to specific sports, such as MLB.
498
Baseball blogs, as a genre, ask fans to read and, if they choose, participate in an
imagined community of like‐minded fans who are at home on their phones, tablets, or
computers reading the same material. They share this characteristic with sports talk radio,
which offers listeners to chance call in and receive an answer to their question or to simply
offer their perspective on the topic of the day. Indeed, sports talk radio functions through
497
Nylund 2007, p. 154
498
SiriusXM carries the MLB Homeplate channel, which features dedicated baseball talk programs throughout
the day.
233
the imagined community of callers—most of these fans are listening to the program on
their way to or at work, for instance.
499
Ostensibly, this is why ardent fans and frequent
callers of The Jim Rome Show are referred to as “clones;” to generate a communal identity
amongst these fans through the process of naming.
Radio programs such as Jim Rome’s also exhibit characteristics of fantagonism,
where fans struggle for preeminent position in the eyes of the radio show hosts as well as
all of the listeners that follow the program. For instance, one study of codes of masculinity
within sports talk radio speech communities concludes that there are a great number of
contradictions, ambivalences, and struggles over these codes, despite the lack of any
outright opposition to standard modes of masculinity.
500
Additionally, this study finds that
fans are able to use sports talk radio in ways that combat the hegemony of big market
owners and teams,
501
which demonstrates the function of this genre is similar from the
functions of the baseball blogs which hands power to fans to articulate their resistance to
(or anti‐fandom for) such big market teams. At a more basic level, the ability to vent their
anger demonstrates sports radio programs offer a space for fans to participate by sharing
their concerns with other fans.
502
Sports radio programs, like baseball stadiums, draw more of these fans and
participants during the playoffs.
503
The reality of these increases in volume is that there are
clearly fans that are deeply involved throughout the season, but there are far more that
might be considered bandwagon fans that are loosely invested unless and until the team is
499
Nylund 2007, p. 124‐125
500
Nylund 2007, p. 151‐152
501
Nylund 2007, p. 152
502
Nylund 2007, p. 158
503
Nylund 2007, p. 136
234
succeeding. This distinction between hardcore fan and fan is one that carries over to the
genre of baseball talk on blogs: participation is at its pinnacle on the Cardinals blogs, for
instance, when they failed to sign Pujols and when they won the World Series. The most
exciting controversies, for good or bad, tend to draw more fans to participate in blogs, just
as they do on sports talk radio and in stadiums.
With the strength of similarities across semantic features, topics, tone, arousal and
satisfaction, and interactive engagements, combined with the clear foundational genres of
baseball talk and sports talk radio, baseball blogs meet the detailed criteria for a digital blog
to be considered a genre.
504
If applying genre theory to baseball blogs in the case studies of
the Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies produces the conclusion
that they are a genre, what is the significance, if any, of this conclusion for the field of genre
studies? This is the question that the next section will examine.
Baseball Talk and Digital Genres
If baseball blogs are a genre, then there are two sets of necessary implications that
follow: implications for our understanding of baseball talk and on the general category of
digital genre analysis. Recognizing baseball blogs as a distinct genre suggests that it is a
meaningfully different iteration of the baseball talk that has preceded this format of
communication. Indeed, the previous section has detailed a number of ways in which
baseball blogs extend previous notions of baseball talk while also breaking in significant
fashions. This section argues that the significant constant features across all baseball talk
504
Miller & Shepherd 2004
235
are reflective of epideictic and deliberative rhetorics, while the substantial breaks that these
blogs make from previous iterations of baseball talk fall almost entirely in the realm of
forensic and deliberative rhetorics. Indeed, the fundamental rhetorical shift in fan
communication that takes place on blogs is the move toward advanced statistical analyses
with in‐depth research processes and conclusions. Much of this analysis is past‐oriented fact
finding, but largely appears as support for epideictic and deliberative modes of argument.
Truly forensic rhetoric in baseball is difficult to come by, as even the most mundane study
of past results is ultimately aimed at deducing better predictive measures of player
performance. Despite this shift towards granular, and in‐depth data analysis, fan affect
remains paramount, continuing to guide the tenor and shape of evolving deliberative
conversations.
The categories of epideictic, forensic, and deliberative that I apply to baseball
emerge from Aristotle’s first detailed schematic of the three genres in On Rhetoric. He
begins from the premise that there are
three genera of rhetorics; symbouleutikon [“deliberative”], dikanikon [“judicial”],
epideiktikon [“demonstrative”]. Deliberative advice is either protreptic
[“exhortation”] or apotreptic [“dissuasion”]; for both those advising in private and
those speaking in public always do one or the other of these. In the law court this is
either accusation [kategoria] or defense [apologia]; for it is necessary for the
disputants to offer one or the other of these. In epideictic, there is either praise
[epainos] or blame [psogos].
505
505
Kennedy 1991, p. 48
236
Beginning with epideictic, the nature of praise and blame is simply to categorize and
identify in baseball communication. Fans frequently blame players, team management, and
other fans for the state of poor play. Often in the course of praising a team’s leadership,
communication relies on comparing alternate possible worlds to highlight the GM’s
effective actions by way of comparison.
Deliberative communication, in the sense of exhortation and dissuasion described by
Aristotle, manifests in fan suggestions (most are couched as demands) about roster
construction, lineup decisions, and game management (pitching changes are a large area for
second guessing for instance). Fans argue about the best and worst courses of action that
the team can take in the draft, in free agency, in trades, etc. Forensic rhetoric in baseball, in
contrast to epideictic and deliberative, is relatively infrequent. The species of accusation
and apologia do not often find their way to fan communication about the team. In the case
of apologia, the fans are in a position to criticize the team according to controversies, but
not in a position to defend or apologize for the team.
To understand why blaming the team is marked as epideictic rhetoric, rather than an
accusation and therefore forensic in nature, I turn to Aristotle’s discussion of the temporal
nature of these genres:
Each of these has its own “time”: for the deliberative speaker, the future (for
whether exhorting or dissuading he advises about future events; for the speaker in
court, the past (for he always prosecutes or defends concerning what has been
done); in epideictic the present is the most important; for all speakers praise or
237
blame in regard to existing qualities, but they often also make use of other things,
both reminding [the audience] of the past and projecting the course of the future.
506
Forensic rhetoric is concerned solely with fact finding in the process of adjudicating events
of the past. As such, in baseball circles, it is typically confined to debates over which players
have amassed sufficient careers to earn entrance into the Hall of Fame. In contrast,
deliberative rhetoric concerns itself with the future—thus the need for exhortation and
dissuasion. The bulk of fan communication about their teams is concerned either with this
desire to see future success or praise/blame about the current state of affairs.
In fact, most fan posts continue to fall into the epideictic mold, praising or blaming
contemporary events, while making reference to the past decisions and future trajectories
that forensic and deliberative rhetoric afford. The revolutionary digital space in which this
baseball talk occurs, however, proves far more amenable to detailed forensic and
deliberative responses by fans than previously available. In fact, fan communication has
always sought to deliberate over the successful qualities of players and teams, but the
presence of blog pages for statistical data mining has shifted the nature of much of
deliberative communication such that it is more heavily inflected by research and evidence.
That fans responses are primarily epideictic in nature should not be terribly surprising –
extreme emotions of joy or anger are always more likely to provoke fan responses,
generally.
507
If one further views the desire to actually formulate and post online as a
506
Ibid.
507
Indeed, Aristotle argues that such amplification is the very nature of epideictic rhetoric: “In general, among
the classes of things common to all speeches, amplification is most at home in those that are epideictic; for
these take up actions that are agreed upon so that what remains is to clothe the actions with greatness and
beauty. But paradigms are best in deliberative speeches; for we judge future things by predicting them from
238
barrier to such responses, then affective investment in the team—the same affect that
drives epideictic rhetoric—motivates fan decisions to post online in the first place. As a
result, rhetoric to praise or blame the players and teams seems far more likely than either
forensic modes of argument.
There are several easily recognizable forms of epideictic communication present in
the studies of Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies fan communication in this project. First and
foremost, fans frequently post to place blame for losses. Ryan Howard was blamed for the
Phillies’ offensive collapse in the playoffs. The Mariners’ management was blamed for years
of ineptitude, including becoming the first team to spend $100 million and lose 100 games.
Team management is blamed for bad trades and bad drafting, even though most prospects
fail, drafts take years to mature to the point where judgment makes any sense, and fans
have little to know working knowledge about draft considerations. In the case of the
Mariners, fans blamed an owner that had no interest in the sport for a decade of terrible
teams. Frequently, the teams are blamed for losses before they even begin; the Cardinals
were blamed for failure to win the World Series when they could not re‐sign Albert Pujols
and again when they traded away Colby Rasmus.
Of course, they actually did win the World Series that year, which produced a wave
of praise for the players (and in some fashion the management) for such a remarkable and
unexpected season. So, not all of fan communication is designed to blame. There is, indeed,
much praise for the players and managers that succeed. The reality, however, is that only
one team wins the World Series each year, which leaves most fans in a position to
past ones; and enthymemes are best in judicial speeches, for what has happened in some unclear way is best
give a cause and demonstration [by enthymematic argument].” Kennedy 1991, p. 87
239
communicate blame far more frequently than they are in a position to forward praise. In St.
Louis, for example, Albert Pujols was widely declared the best offensive player on the
planet. Yet, many fans were upset that the team had won “only” one championship during
his first 10 years in the big leagues with the Cardinals. Mariners’ fans, by contrast, more
often than not criticize the team ownership and management, but continue to relive the
glory days of “The Double” which propelled the team to merely an ALCS appearance. The
Ms, in fact, remain one of only 2 teams to never appear in the World Series.
508
In this case,
limited praise for a historical event which none of the current players or management had a
hand in shaping serves primarily to function as blame for the current state of affairs. But,
simultaneously, these memories appear to function as the glue that binds fans to the
Mariners, even as they have continued to sink further into the depths of the American
league.
This, of course, highlights the most significant function of fans’ epideictic rhetoric: it
reaffirms their identities as fans of the team. This rhetoric constructs and maintains fan
identities by, first, demonstrating the allegiance to the team and, second, by positioning the
fan as an authoritative member of the team who can speak to the legitimacy of the
ownership and players in the team’s quest for a championship. In the first case, taking the
time to post blame for the Mariners’ ownership online serves to publicly affirm one’s
allegiance to the team’s success. While it may seem counterintuitive for fans to be angry
with the management of a team they profess to love, the anti‐fandom theories applied in
these case studies demonstrate that fan displeasure with team management is often quite
508
The Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) is the other franchise that has not appeared in
the World Series (Sullivan 2012).
240
violent precisely because of the incredibly strong ties that bind fans to the concept and
memory of the team, which extends beyond the particular individuals that currently own,
manage, and play for the team.
Indeed, this epideictic rhetoric allows fans to affirm the emblems of the team,
associating themselves with the team’s history, present, and future. In the case of the
Mariners, this means affirming the careers of Ken Griffey, Jr., Randy Johnson, and Edgar
Martinez. For St. Louis fans, they are attaching themselves to the second‐winningest
franchise in the history of the sport, while also identifying themselves as part of a fanbase
frequently referred to as the most knowledgeable and most classy. Phillies fans are re‐
connecting with the champions of the past, engaging in a community of sports followers
that is typically viewed as rowdy but incredibly passionate.
509
The prevalence of nostalgic
memories of the game of baseball further reinforces the notion that fans are choosing to
identify with far more than the contemporary success of their chosen team, bandwagon
fans notwithstanding. Fans of Edgar Martinez and Ken Griffey, Jr.’s time in Seattle, for
instance, have no attachment to the contemporary team, save their earlier attachment to
the team while these two greats played.
Second, when fans post online praise or blame in regards to their teams, they are
laying claim to an authoritative position as a member of the team. Bandwagon fans, for
instance, immediately claim a sense of superior fandom relative to others by donning the
regalia of the team leading the pack. These fans, who previously displayed little or no
relationship to the sport let alone their team, now suddenly have an upswelling of team
509
Kelly 2009 recounts several of these stereotypes while defending particular behaviors (like booing) that are
frequently linked to Philly fans.
241
pride because they are rewarded and validated for supporting a first place team. When the
team struggles to a last place finish, a la the Mariners, displaying this affiliation produces
only negative associations with their fandom, thus discouraging any emphasis on this facet
of their identity. Put another way, the significance of the Phillies likely altered dramatically
in Philadelphia in 2009 as the team marched towards the World Series win. As a result, fans
living in the city felt more attachment to the baseball team than they had at any point since
the last championship team in 1983. Demonstrating affiliation with the team thus became
substantially more important for a wide variety of Philadelphians.
Just as bandwagon fans are identifying that they are part of the winning team, fans
that post epideictic rhetoric demonstrate that they are part of the team by showing
significant investment in the outcomes of the offseason, trades, regular season, and
playoffs. Despite being hidden in website comment sections, these affirmations of
allegiance are most likely greater signs of investment than simply wearing the appropriate
colors and gear. Fans that seek out online participation have a more formulated opinion
about the team, on average, than fans that only choose to display the team logo. By their
very medium, fans are forced to divulge feelings or reasons for investing in the team, where
wearing a team emblem does not require such public explanation or willingness to divulge
any further details.
Relatedly, fan praise and blame online also lends an air of authority to a post. By
stating opposition to trading Colby Rasmus (early and often), for instance, Cardinals fans
position themselves to look correct if Colby should succeed while the Cardinals flop. Such
long term prognostications can certainly make fans look like authorities when their guesses
242
are right. But in the short term, the very act of enticing other fans to read their point of
view on players, management, transactions, and the general state of the team, those who
protested any Rasmus trade were claiming an authoritative stance within the realm of
Cardinals fans. As the fantagonism literature suggests, fans in these baseball blog
communities were jockeying for supreme position within their group of Cardinals fans.
Posting a comment on a significant blog, on an important post, that receives a number of
reads and even a healthy dose of thumbs up, establishes some authority on behalf of the
fan posting. This authority, in turn, validates their fandom. Of course, if their comment is
rejected by the group, their authoritative position is reversed and potentially eliminated as
a result.
Another method that fans use to demonstrate their authority is the pursuit of
deliberative rhetoric in their posts. Specifically, the increasingly mainstream phenomenon
of fans doing their own statistical research into player values to argue for the optimal roster
construction is the most common type of deliberative communication that persists across
the fan blogs in all three team’s communities. Fans tend to employ such analysis to declare
what free agents the team should sign, what players the team should trade for, what
players should be cut or promoted, who should start, the order in which players should hit
in the starting lineup, whether or not trades the team proposes or completes are valuable
or ultimately losing propositions. Fans take these efforts even further in fantasy baseball
games, where they draft, trade, own, and manage the rights to the statistics of any number
of players. Deliberative rhetoric gives way to actual team management.
243
However, not all statistical rhetoric on fan blogs is necessarily tied to deliberation.
One need only look at yearly debates about which players deserve admission to the Hall of
Fame to see forensic rhetoric flourishing on the basis of this statistical revolution. One can
see fans pursuing research questions such as “Are strike zones smaller or larger depending
on the count?”
510
Similarly, fans can and do continue to pursue deliberative questions about
roster construction and trades without employing much statistical analysis. For instance,
the folks that defended the Colby Rasmus trade frequently used the argument that Rasmus’
attitude was bad for team chemistry. However, at their core, posts that are deliberative in
nature are still fundamentally driven by a desire to reveal new information about the game
that may produce competitive advantages.
Blogs and the commenting space provided for readers enable fans to document the
statistical feats and failings of any player they wish, including advancing lengthy arguments
based on these statistical foundations and conclusions. While fans certainly have the ability
to memorize and recite stats to one another without such a medium, blogs allow copying
and pasting, they allow readers to re‐read the information to let it sink in, they enable
comparison charts, and generally offer a more convenient “printed” format for fans to
access and digest the material. As the number of blogs dedicated to specific teams increase,
fans wishing to engage in such statistical arguments and roster construction have ever more
avenues to participate in these forensic arguments either by reading others’ work or posting
their own.
510
Carruth 2012 does a fantastic job of investigating this question. The strike zone does indeed appear to
change based on the count, becoming larger when the count hitters the favor at 3‐0 and much smaller when
the count favors the pitcher at 0‐2.
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As suggested earlier, fans that are particularly methodical, meticulous, and well‐
reasoned can gain a certain amount of ethos within their fan community by enticing fan‐
readers to agree with their research process and conclusions. Undoubtedly, there is also a
desire by these fans to have their opinions about the team validated, even if this falls short
of affording them an ultimate position of authority. A handful of these amateurs, for
instance, have risen from the level of fan to regular blogger and, finally, to employment by
an MLB franchise. Although not a blogger, Bill James’ story (discussed in Chapter 1) is the
most legendary amongst the baseball fan community. Recently, D. Turkenkopf was hired by
an unspecified MLB team, removing him from the regular contributors at Beyond the Box
Score.
511
Thus, forensic and deliberative rhetorics on baseball blogs may fulfill other
functions besides garnering support for opinions on the game: for some fans, it is a way of
holding on to their dream of working in baseball.
Of course, the driving force for deliberative rhetoric by fans is the desire to see the
team win. This affective investment reveals that deliberative rhetoric ultimately serves only
as support for the edifice of epideictic rhetoric built by fans. In the case of their research,
forays into the players on the team and potential moves to improve the club, fans channel
this affect into the competitive result of the team. Indeed, fans are directly attempting to
influence wins and losses (even if through sheer force of will, with little hope of being
heard). As Stein documents,
512
fans have attempted to influence front offices with their
ideas as long as they’ve been attending games. The medium of blogs, however, has
511
Kienholz 13 documents the story of Turkenkopf, from Beyond the Box Score contributor, to The Hardball
Times, then Baseball Prospectus, and now an MLB front office. A search of Dan’s last name and MLB front
office reveals that he is in fact working for the Tampa Bay Rays as a “Developer, Baseball Systems.”
512
Stein 2005, p. 191
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advanced this ability beyond catcalls during games to advanced analyses backed up by
research and reasoned positions. It’s no wonder that the best of the bloggers are being
snatched up by MLB teams.
Similarly, fan arguments about the greatest players of their generations and disputes
about the greatest hitters, greatest pitchers, and greatest fielders are frequently informed
by fans’ attachment to their individual teams. Forensic rhetoric frequently appeared
regarding Albert Pujols’s contract. For these fans, the negotiations offered an opportunity
to look back at what he had accomplished as part of the team and what he had contributed
to fans and the St. Louis community. Certainly, posts that lauded Pujols for his ability to play
the game at an elite level or praised his humanitarian behavior represent epideictic
rhetoric. But some posts sought only to argue for Pujols’s career performance placed him
among the all‐time great baseball performances in St. Louis and MLB history. Even these
more limited, forensic claims demonstrated affect for the man and the team on behalf of
these fans.
At first blush, the significant role that competition and the desire to win play in these
baseball fans’ push for forensic and deliberative rhetoric may suggest that generalizations
about commenters on other digital media sites would be misplaced. For instance, “beating
other teams” doesn’t seem to translate very well to many other genres of blogs and digital
communication, as most of these genres are not professional, competitive leagues that
necessitate zero‐sum win/loss settings. However, further examination provides some strong
evidence that competitive desire may be far‐reaching. For instance, politics blogs may
reflect the desire to win quite well. Republican and Democratic Party members post
246
thoughts and positions on public policy online specifically with the goal of attempting to
secure wins in local, state, or national races. This may be the most obvious parallel to
baseball blogs as a genre, but they are certainly not the only one.
In addition, while the desire to succeed competitively may not translate to all cases,
the desire to be “right” and have that correctness affirmed by other readers is certainly
apparent across all manner of digital communication. One need look no further than the
rise of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com during the last few election cycles to see readers
celebrating the triumph of research aggregation that aims for accuracy and correctness. The
parallel is particularly appropriate given that Silver was an early pioneer of advanced player
valuation methods in baseball, inventing the PECOTA system still utilized by Baseball
Prospectus to predict player performance from year to year. One could argue that even
Silver’s rise is built on the desire to win (either by Silver or democratic fans), as his
aggregate polling data proved a decisive Obama win when many pundits predicted the
election would be close or even result in a Romney win. However, such a position would
ignore the fact that Silver’s model predicted virtually every GOP winner in the 2010 House
landslide.
513
If the insights about epideictic, forensic, and deliberative rhetoric on baseball blogs
prove useful to understanding baseball blogs, then this may offer further insight into the
broader study of fan communication on baseball blogs. Namely, it is possible that fan
modes of participation in other blog areas (such as those devoted to food, politics, hobbies,
and other sports) may reflect similar divisions and fan motives in posting. Perhaps the high
513
For instance, check out Silver’s blog entry from the day before the 2010 Midterms, where he predicted 54‐
55 seats would be picked up by the GOP (Silver 2010).
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concentration of epideictic posts is a structural feature of blogs generally. For instance, fan
posts may be inundated with praise and blame because vitriol is necessary to push fans into
a desire to post online. Such a possible linkage suggests that more sub‐species of blogs must
be investigated, particularly at the level of fan posts, to determine if fans participate in ways
that match the epideictic functions of baseball fan communication.
Similarly, the space afforded for investigation into baseball statistics may be a
substantive outgrowth of the formal/structural characteristics of blog themselves, rather
than being specific to blogs devoted to baseball. As a result, statistical investigations that
inform both forensic and deliberative communication may be on the rise across the entire
medium. Certainly, the traditional emphasis of fans on statistics must aid this result in the
context of baseball, but the penchant of blogs generally to link to a number of stories
designed to prove their claims reflects a process that is forensic and deliberative in nature.
The growth of interest in quantitative political data, such as aggregate polling models at
Princeton and the New York Times, is further evidence that this particular feature of
deliberative and forensic rhetoric may be on the rise as a product (or feature) of blogs
generally. Moreover, the explosion of fact checking sites during this year’s presidential
campaigns also exhibits signs of forensic rhetoric for fans of political news to consume. The
growth of statistical rhetoric of either variety appears to be significant and relevant to other
areas of digital communication studies, but it is by no means the only implication for future
studies into these genres.
Broader Implications for Digital Genres. Even if the delineation of epideictic,
forensic, and deliberative elements of fan rhetoric in baseball produced no meaningful
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theoretical results, the broader implications of this study on the nature of digital genres
would remain. First, blogs must be understood as a medium within which genres may
develop, rather than as a genre themselves. Second, content appears to be the most
significant constitutive element in digital genre construction, at least in the case of blogs.
Third, and relatedly, theory must account for the attachment to specific communities in
seeking to understand how fandom constructs and maintains identities. Without these
adjustments, digital genre analyses will not only lack explanatory power, but will fall even
farther behind as digital media promises to accelerate.
For one, the tight‐knit nature of form and function across all of the Cardinals,
Mariners, and Phillies blogs indicates that recent calls to treat blogs as a medium and
instead focus genre criticism on blogs grouped specifically by content are fundamentally
correct.
514
While early work by Miller & Shepherd sought to categorize blogs as a genre, the
speciation of blogs by their content revealed blogs functioned far more like Television or
Radio mediums than they did as a genre.
515
This multiplication may even have been
anticipated by this early study, when it asserted that “content is the most important feature
of a blog.”
516
Indeed, content appears to enjoy a constitutive relationship with the formal
features embedded in baseball blogs.
For instance, game threads and fan comments depend upon one another. Fan desire
to have a place to interact with other fans during a Phillies game encourages blog hosts to
post game threads, which in turn relies upon active fan commentary to make the thread
514
Miller & Shepherd 2009
515
Ibid. p. 283
516
Miller & Shepherd 2004
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worthwhile. Similarly, fan expectations about series previews and individual game recaps
drive the topic generation for these sites, as they must fulfill fan expectations to continue to
draw traffic to their sites. The expansion of advanced statistical measurements may also be
a formal feature driven by the desire for new content on the blog. While blogs dedicated to
the Mariners are created out of a sense of sameness (fans of the Mariners), they are
simultaneously created with the desire to contribute new and different content that the
authors could not find elsewhere. This desire for differentiation within the Mariners’
blogging community may inexorably be pushing bloggers and fans toward more advanced
analysis, as it represents the cutting edge of player valuation and prediction. If baseball
blogs share these features as a genre, then future genre studies of blogs should define the
scope of their studies via content groupings of the subspecies.
Relatedly, the affirmation of genre at the level of content also suggests blogging,
writ large, should be understood as a medium rather than a genre. While blogs share a
number of important features and functions, the wildly varying content across the
blogosphere rendered early arguments for the genre of blogs untenable. The most
significant reason for this is that the differentiated content makes a shared kairos across the
blogosphere impossible. Instead, the functions of blogs, at least in terms of the fans studied
here, appear wedded to the content. As a result, the shared formal characteristics (e.g.,
time stamped posts displayed in reverse chronological order, with fan comments) are more
intelligible as indicators of a universal medium, than as responses to particular exigencies.
A detailed examination of the kairos of baseball blogs appears to demonstrate that
in order to understand the social functions of any digital communication, content must be
250
placed front and center. The exigencies revealed from the study of these baseball blogs
include: the desire to engage in a fan community tied to a specific team, the maintenance
and construction of identity, interest in consuming more team‐specific content, and a space
to pursue advanced statistics. The latter two are quite clearly particular to the nature of
specific fandom and content on these blogs. While the notions of fan community and
identity in the former two exigencies appear at first blush to be generalizable to fans of any
ilk, the types of identity and community engagement revealed in the baseball blogs are
quite strong pieces of evidence that kairos is a function of content.
Indeed, of the posts that fall within the broader category of desires to participate in
a community of like‐minded fans, they were heavily influenced by the context of the team’s
history and fan communities in which the posts were engaging. One telling example from
the fans of the Mariners, Cardinals, and Phillies franchises is the stark contrast in the teams’
competitive histories. For instance, Mariners fans’ posts were heavily inflected with the
taint of nearly 30 years of losing seasons. Given that Seattle had reached the playoffs in just
4 seasons since its establishment in 1977, fans have very little to celebrate. The
#firenintendo movement stands as a perfect symbol of fan frustration with the ownership
of the team – even though that same ownership is the only reason the city of Seattle was
able to retain the franchise in the late 1990s.
517
Moreover, the outpouring of nostalgia and
grief over the loss of the Mariners’ long‐time radio voice, Dave Niehaus, demonstrated the
widespread desire by Mariners’ fans to have something, anything to celebrate. Although
Niehaus was a Hall of Fame broadcaster, he had done so for 34 years for a genuinely
517
For a recap of the process of Yamauchi’s group buying the Mariners, see HistoryLink n.d.
251
pathetic sporting franchise. The fact that fans would seek universally to pay him such
tribute also suggests this is a fan base that could bear little more bad news from their
franchise.
In the case of the Cardinals, fan commentary on the most prominent baseball blogs
was also infused with the characteristics of their fan community, but in this case the posts
reflected a winning culture, one quite distinct from the fans posting on Mariners’ blogs. The
St. Louis Cardinals started the 2011 season with 10 World Series titles—second amongst all
MLB teams. They finished the season by adding another championship and extending their
lead over third place, all time. Fan outrage on both sides of the Albert Pujols debate
featured arguments about whether signing or not signing Pujols would be more likely to
produce more championships in the future. Mariners’ fans were unlikely to even mention
titles—they had trouble envisioning a team that could crawl out of last place in their
division. Similarly, Cardinals many fans objecting to the Colby Rasmus trade did so because
they thought Rasmus would be a superstar in CF that would be a crucial component of the
team’s next World Series title.
518
Phillies fans occupied a unique third position between the futility of the Mariners
and dominance of the Cardinals: the team possessed a recent run of great success, including
a World Series title, that stands in stark contrast to the franchise’s overall legacy of
mediocrity. When the 2011 season ended, these fans were largely driven to post by their
anger over the inability of the offense to produce and the failures of management to put a
winning offense on the field. While the anger they demonstrated was certainly mirrored by
518
See McElroy n.d. for a good example of the crowd that thought Rasmus would be a superstar.
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the anger of the Mariners and Cardinals fans, the anger appeared as a function of a limited
window of opportunity, rather than a failure to bring the next World Series title sooner
(Cardinals) or the inability to even field a reasonably competitive team. Most discussions of
Howard’s terrible postseason and the age of the Phillies’ high‐investment contracts
highlighted claimed that the team only had a handful of years in which these contracts
would produce positive results. As the older players began to decline, World Series titles
would be out of the question and competitive teams making playoff appearances would
disappear as well.
The competitive differences between these teams are, of course, only one specific
manner in which fans within the larger genre of baseball may be differentiated. However,
the stark differences in fan behavior connected with the competitive state of each of these
franchises prevents one from concluding that the kairos associated with a single genre
within the blogosphere may be generalized to other digital genres (blogs or otherwise). Any
number of other specific instances of fan participation on these blogs may also serve to
highlight the difference in function attached to different communities in which fans engage:
advanced statistical analyses, player transactional analyses, game threads, and game
recaps. Each of these could be drawn out in a similar fashion.
Moving from community engagement to fan maintenance of identity, this desire
first appears to be a generalizable phenomenon that explains much of a reader participation
across the blogosphere, but upon closer inspection, the types of identities that fans sought
to construct on baseball blogs are rather quite specific to the content the fans are
consuming. A small part of the identity maintenance taking place is surely explained by a
253
general interest in seeking affirmation from other reader/fans. But at the same time, the
hyper‐specificity of the comments on some of these player transactions, for instance,
suggest a far greater investment team specific identity than in generic self‐esteem ploys.
The Colby Rasmus debate on the Cardinals websites centered around fans’
assessments of his long term value weighed against the short term value of the pieces
acquired in the three team trade with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago White Sox. In
order to make such assessments, fans needed immerse themselves not only in current
games in which Rasmus played, but also the histories of comparable players, the incoming
traded players, and trades that resembled this one. Fans may or may not have taken the
time to investigate the ways in which advanced statistics measured his abilities, although
those who did so opposed the trade fairly consistently.
The sides that fans took on the Rasmus trade reveal a great deal about their identity
construction in these online Cardinals forums. For one, fans that delved greatly into
advanced statistics demonstrated a desire to be identified as an astute, well‐read student of
the game. This is a particularly meaningful identity for fans of the Cardinals, given that they
are frequently referred to as exceptionally knowledgeable fans. For another, fans engaged
in blogosphere turf wars, jockeying for position as the best site for Cardinals‐related
content. For example, a fan on Viva El Birdos told another fan who liked the Rasmus trade
that he was on the wrong site.
519
This move appears bound up in both achieving pole
position as a Cardinals fan and preserving their favorite blog as a space that affirmed their
519
For instance, a fan was told they should be on the Post‐Dispatch message boards instead of Viva El Birdos
(Heisenberg in bgh 2011a)
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particular identity as a Cardinals fan. This is an identity wrapped up in holding on to Rasmus
to watch him blossom as a superstar.
Similar accounts of very specific identity maintenance persist across the Mariners
and Phillies blogs as well. On the Mariners’ side, fans that took time to post about their
favorite memories of Niehaus calling games were affirming their identity as fans of the team
since childhood, as fans who enjoyed radio broadcast of the game, and as authentic
Mariners fans simply by affirming Niehaus’ greatness. On the Phillies’ side, fans are
choosing to affirm or contest an overarching identity that suggests Philly sports fans are
rowdy, destructive, and prone to booing. More than one fan that posted optimistic projects
for the team during the 2011 season felt it necessary to comment that they were breaking
the stereotype of doom‐and‐gloom Philly fans who despised the team management.
520
These three cases should serve to drive home the point that, while maintenance of identity
is a broad category, the particular instantiations of fan identity construction in this genre
depend very much on the idiosyncratic features of fan identity from each of their teams.
This again affirms the notion that the notion of genre is applicable to blogs only at the level
of shared content, rather than shared formal, technical features.
At the same time, the move to focus on sub‐species of content within the medium of
blogs does run the risk of fracturing the locus of analysis into such small pieces that nothing
useful may be gained for genre theory. This project has reached the conclusion that
baseball blogs are a genre, but there are still a myriad of differences within these blogs that
could lead one to attempt further differentiation while still seeking distinct genres. Are
520
For instance, one fan, cited in the Philadelphia chapter, said they thought they would never see the day
that a Phillies team would be praised by Philly fans (Curtwill posting in Sommers 2011).
255
blogs dedicated to minor league baseball distinct from major league baseball? While both
seek dialogue about the abilities of major league players, minor league blogs are dedicated
to predicting future major league outcomes, which could be interpreted as a wholly
different exigency. Even if one concludes baseball is the appropriate level of genre, there is
no guarantee that such neat distinctions will hold up in other content areas, such as politics
or food.
The explosion of food blogs may indicate that these constitute a genre, but it may
also be the case that the content and purpose of these blogs are so varied that theorists
may spiral ever downward to blogs following specific types of cuisine. Similarly, political
blog styles may differentiate enough from author to author that scholars may pursue genre
studies at smaller levels than “politics.” In either case, it is conceivable that studies pursue
ever smaller levels at which to test for genre. While the testing itself ought to prove fruitful,
as this study has done, the possibility of focusing on too narrow a slice is a risk raised by the
move to pursue subspecies of particular content areas. Baseball, itself, is a subspecies of the
larger sports talk content in the blogosphere. The task for future studies, then, is to verify
that the level at which genre is wed to the functions of the blogs in question.
Theoretical issues for Fan Studies
Fan studies has a solid foundation to explain sports fandom, but it nevertheless must
shift if it is to successfully incorporate all of these fans under the big tent. First, fan posts on
baseball blogs share many more characteristics with fan fiction than scholars pursuing in
science fiction and soap opera fans have argued. The widespread construction of
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counterfactual worlds seen in sports fan posts makes this abundantly clear. Second, the
connection between existing fan studies and sports is also reflected in the producer‐text‐fan
model. The relationship posited in scholarship thus far fits baseball appropriately, meaning
that analysis of this relationship in sports venues is long past due. Third, applications of
existing fan participation models must adapt to account for unique qualities suggested by
baseball fandom. Specifically, fans demonstrate shifting alliances and an overriding
commitment to statistical research. Aside from a select number of studies investigating
anti‐fandom and fantagonism, current research is unprepared to analyze the nature of
sports allegiances. No research from fan studies has established a foundation from which to
explain such commitments to statistical research. Fourth, fan studies must expand boldly
into the world of sports. In particular, investigations should pursue fan posts and
commentary. Additionally, the field of fantasy sports is ripe for analysis.
To begin, connections between existing fan scholarship and the nature of sports
fandom must be pursued to understand the extent of the overlap with existing research.
Clearly, the few existing studies on football and hockey fandom are insufficient to cover the
entirety of this terrain. While fan responses to blog posts are not directly analogous to the
new fiction produced in these other two genres, baseball fans assuredly participated in
counterfactual worlds in much the same way. For instance, St. Louis fans that ranted about
the terrible decision to trade Colby Rasmus to Toronto foresaw many years of Rasmus
playing superstar level defense and offense from CF in a Cardinals’ uniform. Certainly, they
informed their predictions and speculation about such a possible future with statistical
research, intuition, and scouting.
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Rather than marking difference between baseball fans, sci‐fi fans, and soap fans, this
research in to the player to describe their future playing performance represents strong
similarity. Fans writing their own stories involving the characters from Star Trek: The
Original Series, for instance, take pride in their ability to closely adhere to the personality
traits of each of the characters.
521
In order to do so, these fans had to be intimately familiar
with every bit of data available for each character, including biography, history, interactions
with all previous characters, expressed preferences, and more. This level of detail required
for accuracy in crafting accurate character dialogue and behavior really is tantamount to the
detailed statistical analyses used to predict the future playing performance of baseball
players.
Perhaps more importantly, the effort that baseball fans put into predicting future
individual and team performance directly reflects the desire of fan fiction writers to picture
counterfactual worlds. Although the types of counterfactuals may seem radically
disparate—after all a fan fiction piece that details a romantic relationship between Kirk and
Spock sounds nothing like a blog post that projects Colby Rasmus for 90 runs, 30 homeruns,
and 90 runs batted in in his age 26 season—in essence, they are joined by several unifying
characteristics. First, both types of counterfactuals express visions the fans want to see.
Thus, they are detailing fan desires that remain unfulfilled by the text that producers are
putting forward for fans. As a result, the Kirk/Spock relationship and Rasmus projects
similarly produce fan desires for other fans to read.
521
Jenkins 1992, p. 45‐55
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Second, both counterfactual experiences are expressed in a format and location for
other fans to partake. While fans could revel in their own imaginations, the act of taking
these desires and “putting them to paper” shows that both sets of fans are committed to
creating an imaginative space with other fans. This is a different desire than the first, one
that is bound up in a sense of community and seeks to engage other fans in a projected
outcome not yet figured by the text proper. Thus, fans that write about Rasmus’ likely
superstardom are asking other St. Louis fans to imagine this scenario before calling for him
to be traded. Third, both sets of counterfactuals are rooted in incredibly strong investment
in their respective fan objects. Just as many fans watch science fiction and soap opera
serials without venturing online to write their own stories, the vast majority of baseball fans
don’t find their way into online communities to participate either. Indeed, baseball fans,
just like those in traditional fan studies, range from those with minimal investment (who
merely watch an occasional game) all the way to those fans who religiously watch every
game and regularly post online.
522
Indeed, these strong similarities between the counterfactual approaches suggest the
second reason to believe this study solidifies the theoretical grounding of fan studies
regarding sports: the producer‐text‐fan relationship that has been so well documented in
fan participation research is directly applicable to sports. In the case of the baseball teams
studied here, the management should be read as producers and the team’s season(s) as the
text. Baseball fans paid a great deal of attention to the games themselves – indeed, the
need for bloggers to provide “game threads” is driven by the desire of fans to have some
522
For the importance of envisioning fans on a continuum, rather than seeing them in rigid, static categories,
see Crawford 2003
259
place to comment on and engage with other fans as the games take place. But at the same
time, the off‐field efforts of the GMs to draft and sign players drew huge amounts of
attention from fans. Of the seven largest
523
controversies from the Cardinals, Mariners, and
Phillies pursued, five centered on management player transactions (Bradley, Pujols, Rasmus,
Lee, Howard).
The controversies generated by management and taken up by fans as their own
crusades in these baseball settings closely parallel petitions by fans of scifi and soap operas
when characters have been eliminated.
524
In fact, those Mariners fans that are pushing the
#firenintendo campaign are pursuing a nearly identical tactic, as they are fed up with the
text that the producers are offering—they want some sort of control in the process or at
least the outcome if they are going to continue to watch the team. However, the nature of
professional sports suggests at least two significant differences in the producer‐fan
relationship. On the one hand, the transactions management makes are much more widely
and heavily publicized than the production choices for fictional television programming.
While television fans can follow sites like TMZ that will ferret out information on the future
of the favorite shows, offseason trades and acquisitions are actually an integral part of the
baseball text. Certainly, the behind camera machinations of television producers affect the
show on television, but in baseball the Hot Stove is treated as a second season while MLB
games take a respite from November to March. As a result, the producers are actively
523
Largest as defined by the volume of posts on the subject. This methodological choice is discussed in
Chapter 1.
524
Scardaville 2005
260
broadcasting their changes to the text in ways that producers of standard television
programming rarely, if ever, attempt.
On the other hand, the first person experience of any baseball game requires a
financial investment in the team and the sport that fans of fictional television programming
never need pay. Fans of sci‐fi television shows have been known to purchase merchandise
that emerges from their favorite programs, but watching the program itself requires no
purchase similar to the fans buying tickets to enter a baseball stadium and watch their
favorite team play a single game. Even the Comic Conventions (ComiCons for short) that
now invite hordes of comic and science fiction fans to attend each summer fail to compare
with the cost of sporting event tickets, as this is a one‐time expense, compared to the 82
possible home games fans can attend should they choose to purchase season tickets, for
example.
525
For fandom, the primary consequence of this initial financial burden imposed
on sports fans is a more direct and substantial producer‐consumer relationship between the
team and the fan. The fan’s emotional investment becomes amplified by the financial
investment required to follow the team. This direct commoditization of the act of fandom
suggests that analyses of sports fans will require a different calculus concerning the
financial investment that fans make in the production of their fan‐object.
In particular, John Tulloch’s theory of Powerless Elite demonstrates the ways that
the fan‐text‐producer must be re‐envisioned if we are to bring sports fandom under a larger
525
Even setting aside the cost of in‐person attendance, fans cannot typically see every game from their team
without purchasing an extra package of channels from Directv or purchasing access to online games directly
from MLB. Moreover, fans that wish to follow any team other than the one in their local market can only
follow their team through these purchased sports packages. Given that most fans are transplanted in some
variety and that few games from any one team are ever broadcast nationally in a particular season, the size of
the financial investment is indeed quite large.
261
tent. In Science Fiction Audiences, Tulloch examines “the aesthetic of a particular generation
of Doctor Who fans in terms of their structural position as a powerless elite between the
power of the industry that makes the show, and the general public on whose ‘votes’ its
future depends.”
526
While largely powerless against either pole in this configuration, they
are considered elite because “senior fans do have discursive power in establishing the
‘informed’ exegesis for their subculture of fans. Thus they establish and control an
important reading formation.”
527
The powerless elite of fans express their opinions publicly
to shape how other fans position stories relative to fan interests and public interests (noting
that the two are generally quite different).
Applying the these theoretical tenets to baseball, games are the text, teams’ front
offices are the producers, fans watching games are the wider public, and bloggers/posters
are the powerless elite. Team management assembles the coaching staff and players that
will play the game. Bloggers and fan commenters on those blogs are seeking to shape the
reactions of the broader team‐specific viewing audience, but remain unable to alter front
office behavior. People who watch the games are the wider public, as they constitute the
audience that the front office wants to attract. While the theory easily maps on to the text
and the principal players, the theory of powerless elite makes at least one major
assumption about the relationship between fans‐audiences‐production that fails in
application to baseball. Namely, the theory would assert from television programming
studies that continued production of baseball depends on the team fulfilling the desires of
526
Tulloch & Jenkins 1995, p. 143
527
Ibid. p. 149
262
the public. In this case, that means winning the World Series, the Division, or at least the
Wild Card.
This assumption that lack of public interest will cause cancelation does not hold true
in baseball the way that it does for televised programming. In the very rare cases where a
baseball team fails to turn a profit, there are always more potential owners waiting to
purchase a team. Franchises thus have a safety net that is rarely exercised in TV programs. If
a Doctor Who fails to generate enough of a viewership and the BBC producers choose to
pull the plug, other production companies and channels are not likely to rescue the
program, because the economic model has already been found wanting.
This also highlights a second reason baseball is distinct from TV programs: the
economic models are vastly different. Unlike an individual show, a single MLB team is
backed by 29 other franchises. As long as the entire sport continues to generate revenue,
528
individual teams can suffer attendance declines without threatening the teams. Case in
point: for the 2011 MLB season studied in this project, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Oakland
averaged below twenty thousand attendees per home game, while league average hovered
around thirty thousand and the top three teams cleared forty thousand.
529
This safety net
for MLB teams is enhanced by the league’s revenue sharing scheme, which requires every
team to submit 31% of their net local revenue to the league. The money is then equally
528
The value of the average MLB team grew 16% during the 2012 season according to Forbes. See Ozanian
2012.
529
ESPN n.d.
263
distributed amongst all thirty franchises.
530
This system guarantees a baseline level of
revenue that keeps every team afloat, even in the worst of times.
If television programming functioned analogically, a network like FOX would have to
subsidize its lower ranking programs (in terms of viewership) with the profits from its most
watched shows. In addition, there would need to be a pool of producers willing to take
money out of their own pockets to resurrect any of the myriad of failing programs. This is
obviously not the case. Moreover, MLB (and professional sports in general) have an added
economic advantage: live sports largely defy the consumer trend to digital video recording,
providing an incentive for advertisers to purchase air time on sports than on serials.
531
This
is borne out by the explosion of regional sports networks and billions of dollars these
companies are paying MLB teams to secure exclusive broadcast rights over the next twenty
to thirty years.
532
However, prolonged failure does raise the prospect of an MLB franchise
being sold to new owners. During such a transition, there is also a possibility that the new
ownership may desire a move to a new city. Even in these cases, the league must approve
of such a move, dramatically limiting such occurrences.
Given that the risk of losing one’s favorite baseball team is, for all intents and
purposes, nil, what does this mean for the future application of the powerless elite theory
to sports fandom? It’s certainly tempting to declare that the theory is unworkable, but
there are too many similarities to simply throw one’s hands up in the air. The case study on
the Mariners particularly highlights the position of powerlessness that bloggers and fan
530
Fangraphs n.d.d
531
Fortunato & Windels 2005
532
Toms 2010
264
commenters occupy in relation to their team. Fans appear to be tied to a sinking ship that
they cannot right through confronting management (#firenintendo has produced no results)
or expressing their frustrations with casual fans (who are frequently cited as the problem).
Even though the broader audience of casual viewers has little to do with the sustained
existence of the Mariners, the elite fans still appear to be caught in the middle.
One way to bridge the gap between serials and sports is to associate a broader array
of possible outcomes to a show’s failure to connect with the wider public. Where Tulloch’s
initial theory posits that elite fans must rely on acceptance from a broad audience to
maintain the show’s very existence, this appears not to be the case with sports. However,
there are consequences short of cancelation that still may productively demonstrate the
producer‐fan‐public dynamic. Before shows are canceled, for instance, falling Nielsen
ratings may force changes in the composition of characters and storylines on the show.
Similarly, falling attendance at Mariners games in the past 5 years has produced a declining
payroll for the team, from $120 million in 2008 to under $85 million in 2013.
533
In both
cases, there are consequences of failed audience participation that are triggered well
before cancelation of the fan object.
Moreover, powerless elite theory should continue to emphasize positive outcomes
for successful production that engages both fans and a wider audience. While Tulloch
certainly explores the ways that elite fans shape the opinions of a broad network of other
Doctor Who fans, the ability of bloggers/commenters to influence their readers’ opinions of
the team is but one aspect of these potential positive outcomes. For instance, the ongoing
533
Baseball Prospectus 2013
265
growth of stats‐oriented websites is driving greater inclusion of advanced metrics in game
broadcasts and baseball related programming. Broadcasts around the majors frequently
refer to metrics like OBP and OPS today, when OBP was barely referenced by MLB front
offices in the year 2000.
534
In addition, bloggers are sometimes hired by actual MLB
franchises to exclusively provide their statistical insights to a single team. More frequently,
though still relatively rare, high profile bloggers may be retained as outside consultants.
Similarly, soap opera fans have produced many petition campaigns over the years,
seeking to avoid particular storylines or outcomes that they deem detrimental to the show’s
development. While baseball blogging has no strict analog (#firenintendo is a petition, but
seeks a far harsher outcome than typical soap opera fan petitions), the types of outcomes
detailed above serve many of the same functions as petitions without directly demanding
particular procedures of individual broadcasts. Tulloch’s initial read on powerless elite
opens the door to incorporating these sorts of fan community engagements, while not
explicitly establishing their fit within his concept. Nevertheless, envisioning an entire series
of positive (for continuing shows) and negative outcomes in the producer/fans/public
relationship offers the ability to incorporate sports case studies without losing the
theoretical force of the powerless elite.
In addition to pointing toward a reimagining of the producer‐fan relationship, this
study of baseball blogs suggests three more significant revisions to existing fan studies
theories. First, more attention ought to be paid to fans’ forensic rhetoric and behavior.
While the detailed examination of regular and advanced statistics on baseball blogs is
534
On Base Percentage was the particular “market deficiency” that the Moneyball‐era Oakland Athletics
exploited.
266
readily apparent, the attention to detail required for fans to write their own episodes of
their favorite programming is a functionally similar process. Although the data being mined
is different (love interests and emotional reactions vs. hitting and fielding abilities for
instance), fans in both cases are laying out the fruits of their research labor in plain view for
other fans to see.
This emphasis on forensic rhetoric by fans is significant for fan scholars to pursue to
not only for its frequency across multiple cross sections of fan object areas, but also for the
possible explanatory power it offers for future fan studies. If the heavy inflection of forensic
rhetoric in baseball studies is only a shift in emphasis from other examples of fan
communication, rather than a qualitatively different sort of fan rhetoric, then attending to
instances of investigatory fan posts will offer deeper understanding of fan participation than
analysis which remains blind to forensic purposes. This is not so much to say that previous
studies have been incomplete, but rather to offer an additional tool that scholars may
employ to discover motives and meanings in fan participation. The significance of attending
to forensic rhetoric in fan communication online is only heightened by the increasing
significance of data oriented blogs in mainstream parlance today.
Second, although scholars may find categorizing fans to be a useful heuristic for
analyzing behaviors, this study suggests the borders between these categories are
exceptionally porous. In the process of applying the theory of fantagonism—that fans are
jockeying for position within their particular communities—the roles of fans and their posts
were more fluid than solid. In the cases of both the Phillies and Cardinals, there were
heated debates over the value of Pujols, Rasmus, Lee, and Howard. While all of these
267
commenters
535
shared fandom for the same team, fans on either side of a particular fight
often resorted to derogatory and pejorative language to characterize those “fans” that
opposed their point of view.
536
Other fans were told that they were on the web site. These
internal struggles for power—this fantagonism—demonstrate the ways in which fans can
migrate between more inclusive and exclusive fan identities depending on context. In the
context of debates with other Cardinals fans or struggles with management, it is common
for fans to be highly critical of the team and each other.
The introduction of fans of other teams, however, alters the context such that
criticism becomes intolerable and it’s Cardinals or bust. In essence, external criticism
produces a rally around the uniform effect—one that pushes fans toward far more inclusive
identities. Controversies such as those studied here highlight the moments of crisis in which
fans are likely to crystallize their Mariners fandom in particular ways, but the fungibility of
those identities across separate controversies and the way that facets of identity may wax
and wane militates against strict categorization of fans. Such a realization means that the
atomistic model of fans, anti‐fans, and non‐fans should not attach actual persons to the
positions of protons, electrons, and neutrons. Instead, fan comments and behaviors ought
to be categorized in this way, with the understanding that fans themselves move fluidly
between these positions depending on the controversy and topic. The Phillies’ 2011 roller‐
coaster provides a perfect example: the same fans that adored Ruben Amaro, Jr.’s free
agent signing of Cliff Lee in the winter of 2010 cursed his name in October 2011 for failure
to assemble a competent offense.
535
Aside from the occasional interlopers, which regularly flagged their own allegiances.
536
This was rampant in the Rasmus and Pujols discussions in the St. Louis case study, for instance.
268
Moreover, fans may engage in identical behaviors with entirely different motives.
Mariners fans that are currently campaigning to #firenintendo, for instance, have set
themselves apart from other fans in their rejection of management and their boycott of
tickets at home games. Interestingly, after several years of truly terrible on field products,
Seattle has experienced a precipitous decline in attendees,
537
the bulk of whom have no
affiliation with #firenintendo. Similar behavior here is driven by similar motives, but entirely
different fan identities. Those fans committed to firing Nintendo would pit themselves
against the casual fans whose attendance has slipped, because they are more interested in
having fun at the game than following the intricate details of every pitch.
538
While both
types of fans in this instance are declining to spend their dollars on Mariners games because
the team has been awful, there are nonetheless significant differences in motive attached
to those nearly identical decisions.
Finally, this study demonstrates two areas that immediate and substantial
application of fan studies theories ought to reap significant benefits. Thus, fan participation
studies ought to expand accordingly. First, sports fans are ripe for analysis from fan studies
scholars. While a few studies have proceeded from this assumption already,
539
as noted in
Chapter 1, the overall volume of studies devoted to sports fandom is incredibly low given
the millions of sports fans that attend and watch all manner of sporting events nationally
and abroad. Given that the bulk of fan studies that have pursued sports focus on leagues
537
Stoloff 2012
538
Saul 2011
539
Most notably, Sandvoss’s (2003) examination of football (soccer) fandom.
269
that are decidedly second tier in American culture, the demand for fan studies of baseball,
football, and basketball is even greater than one might initially expect.
More specifically, there is a potential gold mine of fan studies research to be done in
the field of fantasy sports. Providing games across all professional sports, fantasy sports
sites are a several billion dollar a year industry.
540
Tens of millions of fans flock to any
websites they can find that will provide insight that will aid them in the quest to defeat their
friends and enemies. Fantasy sports appear to greatly amplify the counterfactual nature of
sports fan posts online, both in the sense that these games ask fans to concentrate on their
favorite players and to construct hypothetical rosters comprised of players from all around
the league in question. Fans playing in these leagues often have a more direct financial
investment in these games than they do in their actual franchises, as they may pay large
entry fees in an attempt to win even larger prizes.
The incredible popularity of fantasy sports points toward the second area for
examination: fan comments and posts. The majority of work to date on digital fandom as it
pertains to blogs has focused on the authors of these pages.
541
While there are many great
reasons to continue studying fan blog posts, we ignore the incredibly high volume of fan
comments on these sites at peril. On the one hand, the number of fan comments vastly
outstrips the number of full blown fan posts on nearly any given subject. This not to say that
every comment is worthy of deep reflection and analysis, but even if only a tiny fraction
these comments prove interesting, this study suggests they will vastly outnumber the posts
540
Kurland and Jansen, n.d.
541
See Giltrow & Stein 2009 for examples of genre criticism centered around primary blog authors rather than
commenters. For a fan studies example focused on fan posts on blogs, see Scodari 2007.
270
available to pursue. For instance, the hundred posts by Cardinals’ fans about Pujols’
contract was outpaced by at least an order of magnitude, as fans dropped thousands and
thousands of comments just on a handful of St. Louis websites.
542
On the other hand, fan comments offer more direct engagements with other fans by
their very nature. Blog posts prompt other fans to respond to the material contained
therein, which in turn offers space for still more fans to engage any of the fan posts that
preceded them. Anthropologically speaking, these interactions offer an opportunity to
observe fan communication, investment, engagement, and interaction without risking the
process of observation altering any of the above. At the same time, future studies might
benefit greatly from taking the time to engage individual participants in follow up interviews
to assess the reliability of the conclusions drawn from the comments read in the wild. While
the volume and frequency of behavior offered distinct patterns that could be analyzed in
this study, direct contact with sports fans will likely yield further insights.
Vernacular Baseball Talk
Baseball talk functions as a model example of the dialogic process of constructing
public opinion envisioned by Gerald Hauser when he proposed the theory of vernacular
rhetoric. Fans arguing about the state of their teams constitute a public and the team‐
dedicated blogs are the spheres in which they post. The controversies examined throughout
this study reveal the dialogic processes through which fans attempted to make meaning of
the teams’ seasons. Yet the location of this public sphere within the medium of weblogs
542
See Viva El Birdos, The Cardinal Nation Blog, and the St. Louis Cardinals Official Blog between December
2010 and February 2011.
271
creates a unique set of dynamics that require attention. Baseball blogs create a
vernacular/technical hybrid space that is personal, emotional, and charged with feelings,
while exhibiting the supportive use of technical information, reflexive commentary, and the
push and pull of setting standards for state of the art practice. As a result, theories of
vernacular rhetoric must be restructured to account for the insights unveiled by the
examination of baseball talk. Specifically, baseball talk’s unique vernacular elements require
scholarship to adapt to account for individual communities, suggest a collapse of the
local/global, and reveal the significance of emotional registers.
Baseball talk exhibits a number of unique qualities as a result of its
vernacular/technical hybrid mold: topical continuity over time, reflexive discussion of best
measurements, and the merging of informal style with technical information and rhetorical
claims. Each of these characteristics has the potential to translate to other sports,
demanding that research take these elements seriously to refashion theory. The format of
baseball blogs functions to produce continuity across time. All of the repeated features and
topics create rhythms of expectation and fulfillment for fans. Fan posts exhibit the same
formal tendencies on game threads, for instance, across the entire season. Topical
continuity is evident also in the intertextual references fans make to ongoing controversies.
Bloggers and fans refer to previous conversations and threads. Frequently, these references
reach across blogs communities to other pages that host stories and comments about the
team.
As fans proceed through these spheres intertextually, they do so with a functional
hybrid of vernacular/technical jargon. The discourse is vernacular because fans post their
272
own opinions about the team. These opinions come in any number of forms and dialects.
Posts often eschew grammar and spelling. Profanity is common. Hostile, unprofessional
communication occurs regularly. These spaces are technical discourse because participation
frequently requires skillful wielding of statistics in order to join the conversation. The
hybridization is an inevitable product of the blog format: web pages allow information to be
re‐read, encouraging greater complexity, while fan comments produce the equivalent of
oral interaction and engagement. Fans further this hybrid quality of blogs by intersplicing
new and old statistics with common slang and verbal battery.
Participants engage these hybrid discourses reflexively, however, openly pursuing
conversations about how communities ought to value their measurements of teams and
players. When fans offer a particular justification for an opinion about which players to
trade, the criteria used are subject to scrutiny by other community members. Often, the
stasis point in these conflicts is the type of statistic used to value a player or team—whether
one abides by RBIs or OPS controls ultimate conclusion about worth. Those members of the
community with greater experience in the forums recognize these stasis points and react
swiftly to call out what they deem to be inappropriate measurements. What is recognized
as the most authoritative measure on one site has absolutely no guarantee of passing
muster on any other page.
As a result of these unique aspects of baseball vernacular—topical continuity,
informal/technical hybridity, and reflexive measurement discourse—particular knowledge
outcomes arise. Fan opinions about these teams are constructed by exchanges that contain
one or all of these qualities. The common aphorism that St. Louis Cardinals’ fans are the
273
most knowledgeable in baseball provides evidence for their impact: fan communities are
constructed right along with perceptions of the team itself. The extent to which participants
skillfully wield intertextual references while navigating through hybrid discourse controls
the perceptions of readers. Commenters are literally creating what it means to be Cardinals,
Mariners, and Phillies fans.
Second, earlier studies of vernacular on the internet concluded that Web 2.0 blurs
the line between local (the zone of the vernacular) and the global (ostensibly an area of
rational deliberation).
543
As a result, these scholars see studies of vernacular
communication on the internet keeping pace with the sociologically recognized
convergence of local and global. Baseball talk, however, also closely parallels the political
and economic senses in which the world is shrinking. While the web spaces in which
baseball fans interact are decidedly local in their commitment to teams of particular cities
and fans with common interests, they are simultaneously global in reach and accessibility.
Just as television brings baseball to the farthest reaches of the world, so too to blogs open
themselves to the performance of baseball fandom for all who wish to engage.
When a team provides access to its press room and players for team bloggers, then,
it is collapsing the local interests of its fans with its global symbol. More directly, teams in
this position are relying on bloggers and fans to promote the product for them—an
economic move that banks on local communities selling the team in the global marketplace.
This economic relationship is perhaps more direct for bloggers who are afforded access to
press rooms at games, but the ways that fans dialogue about their teams online market not
543
Barton & Lee 2012
274
only the team, but the communities themselves. Thus, baseball fans mirror online political
organizations: both are selling community to a geographically diverse group of individuals
by constructing a common understanding—one sports‐related, one political. In order to
move the power vernacular in online studies to either economically or politically oriented
groups, then, theory must adjust to account for the collapse of local and global. Certainly,
neither has disappeared, but the internet hollows out the significance of physical space.
Local stems more from the grouping of fans around particular shared symbols instead. From
team logos to national flags, vernacular remains local insofar as it is connected to these
symbols. But internet communities have forever unmoored local from space.
Finally, moving from the local to the emotional, examining the vernacular of baseball
talk revealed visceral attachments of fans to their team objects. Indeed, the discussion of
epideictic rhetoric demonstrates the vernacular of baseball talk is rife with emotion.
Significant controversies from each team sparked major disputes amongst fans. During the
course of these arguments, fans frequently reached new emotional registers that can only
be explained by stronger affective ties than one might expect for a sports franchise. Distinct
tones were discernible between the different franchises examined, highlighting the
different ways in which affect manifests as fans identify with specific teams.
544
The addition
of affect to
As a result, fan studies scholars ought to move to incorporate more cultural studies
literature dedicated to affect and emotional investment. Although Nancy Baym identified
544
Siegworth & Gregg (2010) define affect as “an impingement or extrusion of a momentary or sometimes
more sustained stat of relation as well as the passage…of forces or intensities” (p. 1). Affect “is the name we
give to those forces…that can serve to drive us toward movement” (Seigworth & Gregg 2010, p. 1). Cultural
Studies work on affect is rich and well defined, but linkages between these theories and fan studies remain
underdeveloped.
275
“emotionally compelling” storylines as a significant feature in fans’ engagement with soap
operas, affect remains under‐theorized as it pertains to fan investment.
545
This study
suggests that the forensic and deliberative rhetorics employed by fans fundamentally serve
as tools alternate markers for epideictic communication—discourse marked by emotion and
tone. Although the huge upswell of statistically driven forensic rhetoric is unique and not
fully encapsulated under the goals of epideictic discourse, the strength of this connection
suggests that affect may serve as a very strong characteristic that fan studies ought to
pursue more closely.
More importantly, the number of studies devoted to studying affect and emotional
investment specifically in online communities remains quite small.
546
Of the few available,
most are far more concerned with affect than with traditional elements of fan studies
participation. Online support groups for illnesses and injuries constitute the primary zones
of inquiry thus far, but the logic of studying emotion ought not be limited to those with
readily identifiable high stress and difficult situations. At any rate, one might consider web
venues for Mariners fans a similar type of space (in kind, if not degree) given the historic
futility and culture of frustration documented here. Online communities offer perfect
venues to re‐focus fan studies on the emotionally compelling aspects of fan objects by
applying research from the study of desires to modes of fan participation.
If baseball talk is a particular vernacular discourse with specific qualities, what do
these characteristics mean for scholarship? For one, vernacular discourse effectively
545
Baym 1999
546
For a few examples, see Kleinke 2008, Chmiel 2011, Moore 2011. Of course, one potential reason for a lack
of application of affect studies to online communities may be the significance of the corporeal in affect studies
(Siegworth & Gregg 2010, p. 5). Ironically, this study pushes for the application of affect studies to the virtual
realm, precisely because they might reveal the ways that desire drive fan investment in online communities.
276
expands understandings of fan opinions. When researchers discuss public opinion as the
outcome of rational deliberation or as a set of data available from pollsters, the ongoing
dialogue of many public opinions elide this reality. One future direction for fan studies,
then, is to target online political groups to document ongoing dialogues that inform a
variety of opinions on political questions. Doing so opens up the possibility of breaking
through two party ideological impasse by revealing a plethora of public opinions, rather
than relying on calcified notions that every political issue holds exactly two sides.
For another, studies of vernacular ought to take sports fandom very seriously. These
baseball sites are teeming with local fan interactions, heavily inflected with informal stylings
that may reveal much more about the nature of precisely how opinions reach common
understanding (or fail to). While baseball blogs are already thoroughly developed forums for
discourse, other major sports represent major growth potential for online community
research. Baseball has a great following, but American‐style football continues to have a
greater viewing base. If this viewership translates into a network of fan blogs for NFL teams,
an even richer area for analysis may emerge.
Additionally, the effective merging of statistically advanced talk with informal style
(slang, even), means that fan and vernacular studies open entirely new ways reading online
group communication. These fans were found to be driven primarily by affect—desire. As a
community, these fans are able to negotiate between informal styles that verge on the
incomprehensible and incredibly technical and professional jargon. The blurring of these
styles, controlled by the desire to participate in the identity of their teams, requires new
scholarship to look for affective ties that may provide motivation for individuals to acquire
277
new skills that facilitate new modes of engagement. In other words, folks that are willing to
participate online may be more willing to adapt their beliefs (or at the very least the modes
through which they participate in them) in order to deepen their attachments. Such a
perspective can reveal why rational discourse constantly encounters limits to persuasion.
Conclusion
This project began as an attempt to document the key features of baseball talk as it
appears in the growing contemporary format of baseball blogs. In particular, two research
questions drove the investigation: (1) Should baseball blogs be treated as a genre, with all
the attendant consequences? (2) Do baseball “fans” share enough qualities with the
subjects of fan studies such that the extension of theories of fan participation to these blogs
will offer insight into these baseball communities? In the case of the former question,
baseball blogs were found to be a genre of communication, easily distinguished from other
blogs in their specific content, and removed from previous iterations of baseball talk by the
depths of research and specificity in statistical conversations. Indeed, the growth of
investigatory, or forensic, rhetoric accompanied by large volumes of statistical data, graphs,
and charts represents a marked shift in fan communication about baseball.
In response to the second question regarding fan participation and its study,
baseball fans exhibit more than enough investment in their teams and websites to warrant
the extension of fan studies theories to these interactions. In particular, baseball fans
illustrate the theories of anti‐fandom and fantagonism brilliantly and, in turn, these theories
reveal several significant facets of baseball fandom. Anti‐fandom theories help explain fan
278
identities that attach to the varying levels of interest displayed amongst different fans, from
those die hards that watch or attend every game all the way down to those that periodically
attend games. Additionally, this theory demonstrates that the fan identification with team
is typically strong enough that outside challenges to this investment in the team is met with
vociferous defense to maintain a significant feature of self‐ascribed identity. Fantagonism
theories help explain the love/hate relationship that many fans tend to have with a team—
especially revealing how fan attitudes toward management function.
This project extends both genre and fan participation theories well beyond their
current margins, testing the limits of applicability to a vastly under‐researched content area
in baseball. Moreover, the attempt to look at intersections between genre theory’s call for
the function of formal characteristics and the qualities of interactive engagement that drive
fan participation studies marks a unique attempt to analyze convergences of these two
theories. Baseball blogs, as a genre, appear to create and fulfill particular fan expectations
regarding their favorite teams. This offers a fertile ground for examining how fans take up
that opportunity to participate. While much of the baseball blog content is routinized
around the daily schedule of games, on‐and‐off‐field controversies trigger a large number of
the posts, which allows analysis of the genre’s function as it affects fans.
In what is undoubtedly fiction, a St. Louis Brown’s manager from the 1880s claims to
have coined the term “fans” as a short hand reference to the fanatics that were following
the game of baseball at the time.
547
One need not believe this statement to recognize that
the history of baseball is rife with fanatical followers that have sought to analyze and
547
Stein 2005, p. 2
279
become a part of the game since its very inception. This level of investment in the outcomes
of team and individual performance has always lead baseball fans to identify with their
teams by wearing jerseys and ballcaps as emblems of their identity. Today, more than 130
years after the inception of the sport, the internet offers a brilliant new medium for fans to
follow their teams at the level of even microscopic details. More importantly, this medium
has given birth to the greatest forums for fans to engage entire communities devoted to
their favorite team. If baseball is any guide, then blogs have the potential to be real game
changers for fans of all stripes.
280
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Symonds, Adam Clinton
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Core Title
Baseball talk: investigating fan participation in the blogosphere
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Annenberg School for Communication
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Communication
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07/30/2013
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