Not always. Eric Byrnes sucked but he was very popular in Arizona, and I'm sure marketing was a key reason reason they gave him 3/30. He may be an exception and not the rule, though. I'm trying to think of other players who were not very good but were popular anyway. David Eckstein?

This happens a lot with position players but almost never with pitchers, seems to me.

It's tough for a pitcher to be "gritty" without being successful. An outfielder can go crashing into the wall face first and even if he doesn't catch the ball the effort will be appreciated. The only comp for a pitcher is a guy who gets good run support and gets a lot of wins despite a high ERA. I would say those guys do get disproportionately liked but they are rarer than the Byrnes/Trot Nixon/Eckstein types largely because it's out of their control.

I'm trying to think of other players who were not very good but were popular anyway. David Eckstein?

Darin Erstad fits this profile. He was good with the glove, but couldn't hit a lick, sans 2000.

It's tough for a pitcher to be "gritty" without being successful.

Pitchers (starters, anyway) also only play every 5th game or so. A starting offensive player has nine innings every single game to endear himself to the audience.

The only people who could be sources here are the owners or Theo.

This reminds me of when I read Woodward & Bernstein's The Final Days. They were protecting their WH sources, but there were scenes in which the source could either be (A) Richard Nixon or (B) the only other guy in the room (often Kissinger). I have grave doubts about Nixon's being forthcoming with reporters . . . who is being protected here, if it's obvious that your "unnamed" source is Dr Kissinger?

"...when an anonymous club source told The Boston Globe that Francona appeared distracted during the season," Shaughnessy writes in the excerpt. "It was actually the opposite. Coping with a dissolving marriage, a son in Afghanistan, and severe pain and insomnia, Francona sought refuge at the ballpark and went to work earlier than in any of his previous years in Boston."

Sportswriter, not logician.

It's tough for a pitcher to be "gritty" without being successful. An outfielder can go crashing into the wall face first and even if he doesn't catch the ball the effort will be appreciated. The only comp for a pitcher is a guy who gets good run support and gets a lot of wins despite a high ERA. I would say those guys do get disproportionately liked but they are rarer than the Byrnes/Trot Nixon/Eckstein types largely because it's out of their control.

There's your Jack Morris HoF plaque.

Maybe I'm wrong on this, but with baseball players, 'marketable' and 'good' tend to correlate pretty strongly, no?

Jeff Francoeur says hi.

On pitchers, the key is to be quirky or have a cool motion -- Willis, Fernando, El Duque, Fidrych, Fingers with the mustache, the Mad Hungarian, Bill Lee. But, still, pitchers are on a short quality leash.

How many owners truly love the game and don't view it as a hobby? Ryan I guess, but other than that...?

Mike Ilitch played minor league ball, long before he dreamt up Little Ceasars.

Jeff Francoeur says hi.

Not sure if he's the best example; his marketability is enhanced by his heart/grittiness/nickname/etc..., but all that rests on a pretty damn impressive slash line his first (half) season, followed by some XBH's and (IIRC) gritty fielding in a nationally televised playoff series. That he's stayed more marketable than most ballplayers despite performing worse than most of them does lend itself to your point (and probably reflects his willingness to market/whore himself, as well as the heart/grittiness etc...), but it's not liked he was terrible when he got anointed.

35. jacksone (AKA It's OK...) Posted: January 16, 2013 at 11:53 AM (#4348116)
Speaking of ARod, horses, and sex appeal...

neigh, neigh

no sex appeal - at least not to straight females