Has anyone seen the promo FOX is running for the All Star game? Cartoon drawings of many of the stars with bold, colorful graphics like a comic book. The guys are all drawn like steroid pumping Incredible Hulks. Kind of funny given the current climate in baseball.

Mystified by the choice of players to promote though. The voice over, in serious deep-voiced mode, announces BONDS....SOSA....AROD....PIAZZA....ICHIRO....JETER....SEXSON.

Umm, Sexson???? Don't get me wrong, as I know Richie is a fine ball player, but when did he join this elite group of "superstars". Is anyone outside of Milwaukee tuning in to the All Star game because Richie Sexson is playing. I mean the guy only finished fourth in the balloting for NL first basemen. Or is this just the ad guys sucking up to Selig by promoting one of "his" Brewers?

G-V: Strictly a guess: It might be a "package" by a marketing agent firm (IMG maybe) - let's say the same firm reprsentts Jeter and Sexson - they essentiallly tell Fox "you need to take Richie to get Derek" and Fox (and its parent News Corp), anxious to have a Yankee included in a campaign which will play big in a market where they also own a prime publishing asset, agrees to the package deal.....

A similar commercial is running for the Home Run Derby, which is on ESPN. It's presumably MLB advertising, not from Fox or ESPN or an agent's marketing firm.

I think whoever came up with the All-Star game promo "lineup" just wanted to hear an announcer say "SEXSON" in a deep manly voice.

Just an FYI about those illustrations. They were crafted way in advance by Joe Quesada, the editor in chief, over at Marvel Comics. It's part of a marketing blitz they were going to use throughout the season, but after the events of Sept. 11, both MLB and Marvel chose to shelve the superheroics. It's nice to see them back, sort of.

That from guy a who works the comics field (as well as the sports newspaper field).

Scottmladd, have they drawn chatacters for many players or just the ones we have seen? Of course, wondering how they would draw Javy Lopez. Now is the full campaign going forward as planned? Hope so.

I'm not sure if they plan on rolling out the rest of the campaign. I'm 95 percent sure they do have illustrations for most of the bigger names — like fan favorite Javy Lopez — but depending on MLB's situation, they might hold them out.
BTW — You can just call me Scott, I'm cool like that.

The campaign was developed by McCann-Erickson advertising, a miserable company I used to work for.

There won't be any more caricatures developed, the production costs just get too high and it's a one shot game!

Thanks Bill. I knew there had to be a advertising company involved.
Sorry to dredge up ill feelings about the ad company. Hopefully you've found something better.