MLB Hispanic Week?

We're sitting here at Chili's having an early supper, watching the demise of Shackleford.

Anyways, they just flipped the channel to baseball. Why are the names on the jersey's in Spanish tonight?

It's the Cardenelas vs the Cerveceros!

I've never seen this before and they're playing in Milwaukee.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Persons of Hispanic / Latino origin make up 16.3% of the US Population. They are the single largest minority group in the U.S.A., having passed Blacks a few years ago. As for Wisconsin, 5.9% of the 5.69 million people who live in the state of Wisconsin are Latino/Hispanic, while 6.4% of the state's inhabitants are Black.

That still works out to 335.5k individuals. If 10% of them buy a jersey at $100, MLB is still getting $800k, (assuming a 25% cut). I think that is worth making all the players wear "alternate" uni's.

Quote: ten2win

I've never seen this before and they're playing in Milwaukee.

In case you missed the last few decades here is a list of over 750 Latino Major League Baseball Players. I think the percentage of latino players is in the 25% to 30% range.

Quote: ten2win

We're sitting here at Chili's having an early supper, watching the demise of Shackleford.

Anyways, they just flipped the channel to baseball. Why are the names on the jersey's in Spanish tonight?

It's the Cardenelas vs the Cerveceros!

I've never seen this before and they're playing in Milwaukee.

MLB shakes things up sometimes. Last year, maybe year before the Pitates wore the uniforms of the Homestead Grays, a Negro League team back in the day and I guess one of the strongest in their league.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Persons of Hispanic / Latino origin make up 16.3% of the US Population.
If 10% of them buy a jersey at $100, MLB is still getting $800k, (assuming a 25% cut).

Ten percent seems a low figure. I once drove into a parking lot in Miami and the Hispanic valet parker was waxing ecstatic about some baseball player who had spoken to him and given him an autographed ball over twenty minutes before. The Hispanics seem to take their baseball quite seriously and any intense interest means money, so as long as you don't have to bet in pesos, get used to the Spanish names on the uniforms.

Yup, it's the money. Jerseys are wicked expensive. A football jersey runs near $100. My 90's era Leafs sweater ran me almost $200. While I'm sure there are more than one reason for the leagues having more than a simple home/away configuration, you know the biggest one has got to be the money. I know a bunch of guys who get caught up in this. They want to support their team by wearing their jerseys. Not only a jersey, but the specific configuration their team has on this week. Dark primaries when home and light secondaries when away. Then all of the sudden came the "alternate" jersey featuring some color not found on the standard home/away, and they have to go get that one. Then it's "throwback week" and they got to get their brand new 1960's AFL replica. For one guy to feel he's adequately supporting his team, he now has 5 "same but different" jerseys for one player. 5 is better than 1 from a marketing standpoint.

So why not cater to a large market (hispanic fans) while at the same time creating yet another jersey for the fans to buy. I'm less surprised that it's happening than I am that it hasn't happened already. A red and gold "Cuarenta y nueves de San Francisco"? Who wouldn't buy one?

Is the Hispanic influence responsible for the crowd singing before each game starts "Jose, can you see ? "

Quote: FleaStiff

Ten percent seems a low figure. I once drove into a parking lot in Miami and the Hispanic valet parker was waxing ecstatic about some baseball player who had spoken to him and given him an autographed ball over twenty minutes before. The Hispanics seem to take their baseball quite seriously and any intense interest means money, so as long as you don't have to bet in pesos, get used to the Spanish names on the uniforms.

BB has been big in Hispanic countries for many yeras. For some reason they seem to both love the game and are very good at it.