Baseball Swinging For The Fences Again - Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa home run race spurring licensed-merchandise sales

Discount Store News, Sept 21, 1998

It is certainly a championship season for Major League Baseball. As sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa capture the hearts and minds of sports fans across the country with their home run fest, they are also gaining entry to another sacred portion of the consumer psyche-their wallets. At press time, the New Hampshire-based manufacturer Pro Player Inc.

has already approached $500,000 in sales of apparel with the image of McGwire. And if, as expected, the St. Louis long baller breaks Roger Mans' 1961 record of 61 home runs in a single season, Pro Player is set with an immediate distribution plan that officials say could garner $2 million-that's only one company, and that's wholesale. The players' union, which licenses some products, is feeling the business impact of the historic on-field performances. "We are going to have 12 companies licensed to sell official home run record products, everything from apparel to souvenir collectibles," says Richard White, general manager of licensing and marketing for the Major League Players Association. "There really hasn't been anything like this since Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record-and this is probably going to be bigger than that." Much bigger. After the incredible fall that MLB took in 1995, the year after the strike, this baseball season is nothing short of a grand slam rebound that puts the league right back in the game with the NFL and NBA.