Brewers Successfully Defend National Sports Forum “ADchievement” Overall Award of Advertising Excellence
The Milwaukee Brewers have been selected as the recipient of the 2013 National Sports Forum ADchievement Overall Award of Excellence. The announcement was made during the NSF awards ceremony, which is currently being held in Orlando, Florida (January 27 – January 29).
The Brewers internal creative team, along with 2-Story, the Club’s agency located in Milwaukee, strategized and developed the campaigns and collateral pieces that were recognized with this award.
The National Sports Forum is the largest annual cross gathering of the top sports marketing, sales, promotions and event entertainment executives from throughout the broad spectrum of teams and leagues, (i.e. NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Minor Leagues, Racing, Colleges, etc.), in North America.
In addition to the NSF ADchievement Overall Award of Excellence, the Brewers were chosen as finalists in five advertising categories, including twice in the Alternative Media category. These categories included the following: Television, Out-of-Home, Social/Mobile Media, Print and Alternative Media.
Finalists and winners in each category were determined by an independent group of Southern California advertising experts who also determined the finalists for the NSF ADchievement Overall Award of Excellence winner through a quantitative scale. Other Finalists for this year’s Overall Award of Excellence included The Orlando Magic, Texas Motor Speedway, The St. Louis Rams, The Oakland A’s, and Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment. In 2012, the Brewers received this same recognition at The National Sports Forum in Oklahoma City. And, in 2011, they received the National Sports Forum’s SAMMY Award (Sales, Advertising, Marketing or Management Idea of the Year) for the “Missing You” campaign, which focused on Season Seat Holder renewals.
Official Release: Finalists Announced in Brewers “Design a YOUniform” Contest
Fans Invited to Vote Online to Help Determine Winner
Three Finalists Invited to Attend “Brewers On Deck” Where Winner Will be Announced
Last fall, Brewers fans were invited to submit their ideas for an alternate Brewers on-field uniform, and the contest resulted in an overwhelming number of fan entries. After receiving nearly 700 submissions for the “Design a YOUniform” contest, the Brewers announced the three finalists today as selected by a panel of judges. A fan vote to help determine the winner now open at Brewers.com/uniform and the three finalists’ designs can be viewed at that link.
“The response to this initiative was tremendous,” said Brewers Chief Operating Officer Rick Schlesinger. “It’s a contest that really has not been replicated before, and we were excited to see the creative efforts that the fans put into their designs.”
The three finalists – two of whom live outside of Wisconsin – have been invited by the Brewers to travel to Milwaukee for Brewers On Deck at the Delta Center on Sunday, January 27 where the winner will be announced on the Klement’s Main Stage. The “reveal” will be hosted by Brewers pitcher John Axford. The winner will receive a trip to Brewers Spring Training 2013 to see the winning design on the field at a game.
Ron Verrecchio from Catonsville, Maryland, Ben Peters from Richfield, Minnesota and Nicholas Fout from Madison, Wisconsin have all been invited to appear at Brewers On Deck to discuss their designs as they angle to win a trip to Spring Training. The panel discussion will take place at 10:15 am on the Main Stage.
Beginning today, fans are invited to visit Brewers.com/uniform to vote for their favorite design. In addition to the fan vote, a panel of voters including Axford, Brewers President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Doug Melvin and Brewers Chief Operating Officer Rick Schlesinger will judge the finalists. The fan vote will remain open until Tuesday, January 22 at 10 a.m. CT and will count as one vote among the panel of eight judges. Other judges include Jill Aronoff, Brewers Senior Director – Merchandise Branding and representatives from Majestic, New Era and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The hats and uniforms from the winning design will be worn by all Brewers players and coaches at the Friday, March 22 Spring Training game at Maryvale Baseball Park against the Chicago Cubs. The winner will receive airfare for two, tickets to the game in Arizona to see the uniform in action. and $1,500 for hotel, ground transportation and other incidentals. The winner will also have the opportunity to select the jersey and hat worn by one player from that day, plus will receive ten t-shirts and hats made from their design.
In addition, the Brewers announced today that the uniforms will also be worn at Miller Park on Saturday, March 30 as the Brewers take on the Chicago White Sox in an exhibition game.
Merchandise including t-shirts and hats featuring the winning design will be available for purchase at the Brewers Team Store by Majestic at Miller Park and at the Brewers Team Store at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix.
The three design renderings – jerseys and hats – are below.
Team “Hall” No
There is no denying the fact that fans of professional wrestling exist in tremendously large number. They sell out arenas around the country, fill up 90,000-seat stadiums for Wrestlemania, and spend millions of dollars on merchandise, pay-per-view television events, toys, replica title belts, etc.
Those of you who identify as members of the WWE Universe will understand my headline and the accompanying video below highlighting the response of the Baseball Writers Association of America collective which was revealed today.
Players from all over the baseball landscape were up for consideration this year. Steroid users (admitted and suspected alike), presumed “clean” players, long career stat compilers, misunderstood marvels, one tool, five tool…the list goes on.
So let’s run down the names and tell you who was announced today as having been elected. For responses, I call upon WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan, one half of the tag team named “Team Hell No”. (Thanks to Daniel for his unknowing participation.)
So, Daniel, thanks for being here. Let’s start off with the BBWAA’s vote on Barry Bonds? Roger Clemens? Mike Piazza? Jeff Bagwell? Tim Raines? Edgar Martinez? Jack Morris? Craig Biggio? Alan Trammell?
Mr. Bryan?
Okay… How about Royce Clayton? Kenny Lofton? Larry Walker? Lee Smith? Curt Schilling? Dale Murphy? Fred McGriff? Sammy Sosa? Jeff Cirillo?
Daniel?
…Really? Thoughts on Rafael Palmeiro? David Wells? Bernie Williams? Don Mattingly? Steve Finley? Shawn Green? Jeff Conine? Ryan Klesko? Jose Mesa?
If you please…
You’re tough, and very passionate. Um…what about Reggie Sanders? Mike Stanton? Rondell White? Woody Williams? Todd Walker? Roberto Hernandez? Julio Franco?
Your response?
Aaron Sele?
Daniel…
Wait…somebody actually voted for Aaron Sele? Somebody knowingly cast a ballot containing demarcation next to the box indicating that they felt Aaron Sele was deserving of enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame?
I can’t even…
Anyway, that’s right. The BBWAA pitched a shutout this year for the first time since 1996, the second time since 1972 and only the eighth time in their history.
And I know you all have your opinions (looky there, a comments section) about who should be in the Hall of Fame and why people to disagree with you are dumb, but the point of this fun little exercise is to point out a major problem that currently exist with the voting process itself.
The largest issue that’s going rear its ugly head over the next couple of years at least is the bloated list of names up for consideration. The Hall of Fame currently only lets a voter choose a maximum of 10 names on a given year’s ballot. Many people felt that there were more than 10 worthy names on the list this year but were limited in who they could name. (This likely caused some players — Kenny Lofton, anybody? — to prematurely fall off the ballot because if you ever appear on fewer than 5% of the ballots submitted, you are not considered for enshrinement again by the BBWAA membership. Otherwise, you can remain on the ballot for up to 15 tries.)
Nobody got elected.
Next year you’re adding in another four top-flight names for consideration. If you already want to vote in 10 or more and now have others to consider, you simply can’t currently vote for all of them. Someone you think is worthy of Hall of Fame enshrinement won’t receive your vote. Enough people do the same and that player falls off the ballot when perhaps in a few years they’d get more consideration with a thinned out ballot.
Again, we can debate worthiness and authenticity and what they do/should mean to the Hall of Fame as a collection of baseball history and memorabilia, but when worthy players don’t have a fair chance to be considered do to a voting limit? That’s dumb.
It needs to be fixed, doesn’t it Daniel?
(*Note, this last video is 10 minutes long and starts repeating the same clip fairly quickly. You get the idea. Don’t watch the whole thing.)
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In other, more serious news, there were three former Brewers on the ballot in 2013. They are Jeff Cirillo, Royce Clayton, and Julio Franco. Only Franco received any votes at all, garnering six. None of the three will appear on future ballots.
Vote. Braun.
Do you remember the ESPN.com vote last year in order to find out which Major League Baseball stadium was considered to be the best in the land? Jim Caple slotted Miller Park as the #24 seed and through a combination of annoyance and disrespect we rose as one and really pissed Jim Caple off more than once throughout the process. So much was his angst that he actively campaigned against Miller Park in his columns during each subsequent round following an advancement by The Keg.
Well, friends and fellow Brewers fans, we have the opportunity for our voices to be heard again.
Growing up, every kid playing a sport dreams of one day playing in a championship game and being directly involved in a victorious outcome. That’s a timeless tale. Another is that every kid yearns to be featured on a baseball card. Lately, however, the currently increasing majority in sport is from the video game generation and seeing one’s pixelated likeness for the first time has become at least as much of a rush for a young player as anything.
Taking that one step further would be to grace the cover of that video game’s packaging. Madden Curse aside (which has finally been overcome, by the way), being the face of a game is an honor which this generation doesn’t (and shouldn’t) take lightly. It’s cool.
That is what we have a chance to decide this year as for the first time the acclaimed franchise of MLB: The Show is opening up a fan vote to determine the cover boy of its 2013 edition.
Do it.
Make no mistake though that this will be no easy victory. In the running are seven of the game’s brightest stars including one from the reigning World Champion San Francisco Giants who, as you may recall from All-Star Game voting last year, know how to stuff an electronic ballot box.
The seven players up for consideration, along with some of their credentials as to why, are:
- Matt Kemp – Los Angeles Dodgers
- Runner-up for the 2011 NL MVP
- Huge market
- Andrew McCutchen – Pittsburgh Pirates
- Face of a franchise who could certainly use a moral victory
- Received MVP votes in 2012
- 2012 NL All-Star
- Bryce Harper – Washington Nationals
- 2012 NL Rookie of the Year
- 2012 NL All-Star
- CC Sabathia – New York Yankees
- Huge market
- Winningest pitcher in baseball over past several seasons
- Buster Posey – San Francisco Giants
- 2012 NL All-Star
- 2012 NL Comeback Player of the Year
- 2012 NL MVP (and numerous other awards)
- Passionate fan base known for ballot-stuffing
- 2012 World Series Champion
- Miguel Cabrera – Detroit Tigers
- 2012 AL Champion
- AL Triple Crown Winner
- Huge support from outside his market and outside this country
And the seventh player that one can vote for is Milwaukee’s favored son: Ryan Braun!
Do it.
There’s been no shortage of Ryan Braun being in the news over the past 18 months. From his National League MVP in 2011 leading the Brewers to a franchise-record 96 Wins to leading the club to an appearance in the National League Championship Series to playing even better in this past season and finishing 2nd in the 2012 NL MVP voting after posting a 40/30 season, all while dealing with the fallout from one evening in October 2011….
It’s been a tremendous run, one worthy of being the face of the most successful MLB-themed video game franchise.
But, beginning on Monday, January 7th we have to make that worthiness equate to votes.
Do it.
Here’s how we do it.
- Head to this link: http://mlb.mlb.com/covervote/app.jsp
- Vote Braun however it is that you do so.
- Clicking on the Vote button, then choose your preferred social network to vote on; tweeting the #MLB13BRAUN hash tag, or posting to Facebook via the app it asks you to install. Whichever method you choose (hopefully both), do it.
- Repeat as often as they’ll let you.
- Tell your Brewers fan friends to read this article and follow these same steps.
This is doable. As Brewers fans our favorite team plays in the smallest media market in the league and one of the smallest based on population yet we still average nearly 3 million tickets sold per season. We have a strong voice when we unify behind a common goal. Let this be that latest goal.
Vote Braun.
Do it. Hey…hey…do it.
Vote. Braun.
VOTE. BRAUN.
Thank You, Brewer Nation!
Please allow me to inflate all of your egos for a few minutes.
But first a brief story.
At some point in 2010 I fell away from blogging actual content. It became a chore and I was really getting into Twitter. It’s actually comical how few new posts I wrote in 2011 and I fell to being the 64th most-read “Fan Blog” in the network. Part of the reason for that was my twitter account (@BrewerNation) having gained a modest following and it simply being easier to blast my thoughts out in 140 characters or less than taking the time to sit, write, find pictures, grab supporting information, etc.
This game deserves more than that, in my opinion. The Brewers deserved more than that, in my opinion. As I would disseminate news, I would have to tweet three or four times to get all of the related information posted. Getting back to blogging has allowed me to have a point of reference for events and milestones and has allowed me to flex my creative muscle from time to time among all of the news items.
This year I finished as the eighth-most-read fan blog and it honestly feels pretty darn good.
I’ve always said that part of the reason I decided to start blogging in the first place was because as a fan who constantly seeks information about his favorite team in his favorite sport, I would be finding out most of what I share anyway. And why should I keep that to myself? Why not start a Facebook profile to provide a community to foster discussion among friends? Why not start a Twitter feed so that people can simply follow along if they want to to save themselves a few minutes of searching for any pertinent Brewers-related happenings?
It began when I decided to bring back my “Brewers By the (Jersey) Numbers” season preview series. It wasn’t always to make each deadline but setting the same helped keep me honest in the goal to get back to blogging on a consistent basis. It took time to build
In short, while I do this to scratch an itch of my own and I’d keep blogging even if no one read them…it sure is a whole lot more fun having everyone else along for the ride from time to time.
Brewers fans are awesome and I’m proud to count myself among our numbers. We fill Miller Park, nobody tailgates like us, we’re passionate, informed (more or less…but I’m trying to help in that regard), and players consistently say that our energy and enthusiasm is felt and appreciated. That’s pretty cool. That some of you out there would give my little space here at MLBlogs.com a sliver of that energy is humbling and appreciated.
Thank you for following, reading, being my “friend”, commenting, interacting, messaging, emailing, listening (when we actually record the occasional podcast), and making this labor of love more love than labor.
The number 8 is one that will likely adorn the facade at Miller Park one day. I will take immense pride in representing the #8 proudly throughout 2013 in the MLBlogs.com Network. But without you reading my content and being interested in the Brewers, it simply wouldn’t have happened.
For that, I say “Thank you, Brewer Nation!”
Here’s to a successful 2013 on the field for the Brewers. If that translates to something here for me…well, that’d be alright too.
Brewers Area Scout Inducted Into Midwest Scouts Association Hall of Fame
Harvey Kuenn, Jr. seen in a 1990 Milwaukee Journal article about his new role as a pro scout.
Milwaukee Brewers area scout Harvey Kuenn, Jr. was inducted into the Midwest Scouts Association Hall of Fame this past weekend. A banquet was held on Saturday evening at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Harvey is very deserving of this honor and we congratulate him on his induction into the Midwest Scouts Association Hall of Fame,” said Brewers Director of Amateur Scouting Bruce Seid. “He works tirelessly in this profession and is a valuable asset to the Brewers organization. He is a Brewer through and through.”
Kuenn, Jr. has worked as an area scout with the Brewers since 1990. He is responsible for scouting in the following states: Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.
Kuenn, Jr., the son of former Brewers manager Harvey Kuenn, was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 20th round of the 1977 June Draft. He spent two seasons as an outfielder in the Minor Leagues with Montreal (1977) and Milwaukee (1978).
Harvey resides in New Berlin, Wisconsin with his wife, Jane.
Braun Finishes 2nd in NL MVP Voting, Ramirez Finishes in Top 10
Okay. I’m calm.
I ranted hard in this space not that long ago about how I’d feel if Ryan Braun were somehow voted outside of the Top 3 by anyone entrusted with submitting a ballot. (Four out of the 32 writers who voted on the award this year did position Braun fourth, but more on that later.)
In the end, logic and reason appear to have won the day over vengeance and retribution…at least on the surface they did.
Full voting and point total breakdown.
The final and official results of the voting for the Most Valuable Player in the National League for the 2012 season found 27 first-place votes for the winner, San Francisco’s Buster Posey. Braun received three first-place votes, 15 second-place votes, 10 third-place votes and four fourth-place votes. That quick math adds up to 32 votes which means Braun did appear on all ballots cast. That’s a good thing for my sanity.
Unfortunately, the writers had a perfect foil to Braun’s candidacy.
Buster Posey led the San Francisco Giants to a NL West Division championship. He performed incredibly well down the stretch in pressure-filled games. He soldiered on after his teammate quite unceremoniously dropped the mantle of “best hitter” on the team when Melky Cabrera was suspended halfway through the season. Posey plays a defensive position which is normally considered more valuable than left field. 2010: Healthy Buster Posey, Giants win World Series. 2011: Injured Buster Posey, Giants miss playoffs. 2012: Healthy Buster Posey, Giants win division (by the time the ballots were due), Posey “wins” batting title.
When the Brewers fell short in their crusade to reach the postseason, it truly was a perfect storm against Braun.
But, like I’ve said many times throughout this off-season, I can understand a vote for Posey. It would have really tanned my hide had Braun not finished at least second. I’m quite pleased, though hardly happy or satisfied, that the majority of voters showed integrity in the ballots.
Do I think that some voters who supported Posey would have voted for Braun instead had these exact same seasons happened two years ago? I do. It would have been a much closer race without everything that happened last off-season. There is no question.
But again, other than trying to understand how you can vote Andrew McCutchen second and Ryan Braun fourth (as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review did) as an example, I can’t muster the vitriol nor do I feel it necessary to organize an angry mob based on these results.
Ryan Braun has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. His was a fantastic season, one which should have earned him the Hank Aaron Award, but also one which can be argued he finished appropriately in the vote measuring the subjective description of “value”.
Congratulations to Buster Posey. Congratulations to AL MVP Miguel Cabrera.
That said, 2013 is an entirely new campaign, one which will hopefully see Ryan Braun get even better.
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I would also be remiss if I didn’t make mention of the face that Aramis Ramirez received enough votes to finish 9th overall in total points. Ramirez got one fifth-place vote, one sixth-place vote, four seventh-place, six eighths, and one ninth.
Congrats to Aramis Ramirez!
Of note, the Brewers were the only team to have two players finish in the Top 10 of voting.
Brian Kenney Supports Ryan Braun as NL MVP
If you follow me on Twitter this isn’t exactly breaking news. You’ll know that a few days ago, when Brian Kenney analyzed the “finalists” for the Most Valuable Player award in the National League, I tweeted that Kenney stated the metrics support Ryan Braun’s candidacy to repeat as NL MVP.
(Brian Kenney, of course, is the well-respected host of the fantastic show Clubhouse Confidential on MLB Network.)
He does that that he can see voting for Buster Posey or Yadier Molina for MVP, and could even understand a vote for Andrew McCutchen.
But if he actually had to vote, he would go with the guy who was the best power hitter, a plus base-runner, and a plus-defender.
Here are Kenney’s full comments and breakdown:
All that said, I still don’t expect Ryan Braun to be named as MVP tomorrow evening. Humans love narrative, they hate being embarrassed, and they love revenge. In this way, many baseball writers over the years have proven to be about as human as you can get.
Did Aoki, Fiers Place in NL Rookie of the Year Results?
The Baseball Writers Association of America revealed their first two awards today. Mike Trout was the deservedly unanimous Rookie of the Year in the American League, but the NL MVP had a bit more intrigue with multiple worthy candidates.
Bryce Harper won it, but this isn’t a blog about the Washington Nationals. This is a blog for the Milwaukee Brewers so I want to discuss where the top rookies on the Milwaukee Brewers finished in the voting.
First of all, as I expected, Mike Fiers did not receive any consideration for the award. Look, there are only three slots on each ballot and while Fiers had a phenomenal first part to his year (and a solid campaign overall), there were more than three rookies better than he was in 2012 in my opinion.
Obviously the BBWAA members in NL chapters agreed with that assessment.
The assessment that we disagree on is Norichika Aoki.
Aoki came to MLB without much fanfare, significantly less than one might think given his accolades in NPB in Japan. All he did after being put into the daily lineup was produce, leading to several hitting streaks of at least 10 games. His defense was just fine in right field too.
His final numbers, mostly out of the lead off spot, were:
151 G, .288/.355/.433, 588 PA, 520 AB, 81 R, 150 H, 37 2B, 4 3B, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 30 SB, 43 BB, 55 K, 110 OPS+
Ultimately, Aoki finished in fifth place receiving two second-place votes and five third-place votes for a total of 11 points in the scoring system. In all, eight different players received votes for the award. Harper was first with 112 points, Wade Miley finished second with 105 points, Todd Frazier was third with 45 points, and Wilin Rosario of the Rockies finished with 12 points because of (in part) one first-place vote he somehow received.
Regardless of his final position, Aoki becomes just the 20th Milwaukee Brewers player in history to garner votes for Rookie of the Year and that is to be commended and applauded on its own merit.
Congratulations Nori!
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For the record, Dennis Semrau of the Wisconsin State Journal (MIL Chapter) and Paul White of USA Today (WAS Chapter) gave Aoki his second-place votes. The third-place votes were cast for Aoki by Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (NY Chapter), Keith Law of ESPN.com (AZ Chapter), Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle (HOU Chapter), Hideki Okuda of the Sports Nippon Newspaper (LA Chapter), and El Nuevo Herald’s Luis E. Rangel.
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