Los Angeles, CA: On Wednesday I was in San Diego, California presenting the last of our LatinoMVP awards to the 2021 National League LatinoMVP winner, Juan Soto. Thanks to MLB, this is the first time in the history of the awards that they were all presented in the home stadium of the winning baseball player, well except for one, Vladimir Guerrero. For whatever reason the Toronto Blue Jays asked us to give Vladimir his award when the team travelled to the Bronx to play the Yankees (I guess they don’t recognize Hispanic Heritage Month is Canada, anyway that’s a story for another day). However, we were invited by all the other teams who had a winner to come to their stadiums during Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15th) and give the award to the player in an on-field ceremony.
We are grateful to all the teams that worked with us to present the awards on their home turf. They all did what they could to make the player have his day of recognition. However, I must “shout out” the San Diego Padres who absolutely get it! Our awards are not just the oldest and most prestigious awards given to Latino baseball players. Our awards are also a vehicle to help MLB increase their fan base something that has been a major concern to all who love baseball.
Though MLB might not yet see it in their profit – loss statements due to the ancillary revenue streams that are shared by the teams, the fact is that the demographics show a different scenario. Baseball is no longer the most popular sport in the nation. In fact, it’s now third, behind the NFL and NBA. Currently it’s very close to the newest sports franchise, Soccer and that might change after this year’s World Soccer Cup.
I state all this because it’s obvious that any business that wants to expand its brand must pay attention to the demographics in this country. If they do, they might understand that they need to pay more attention to the largest and fastest growing sector, the Latino community. If Bad Bunny proved anything in his world record breaking concert tours, it’s that corporate America needs to pay more attention to the “browning of America.”
Enter the LatinoMVP awards that have been quietly awarded to Latino baseball players for thirty-two years. The awards went from quiet ceremonies whenever the players came to New York to play one of the New York teams, to now where MLB recognized the value of sponsoring the awards to be given during Hispanic Heritage month in the players home stadium.
Latino Sports
Wednesdays award presentation in San Diego to Juan Soto, a player who was receiving his award for the 2021 season when he was with the Washington Nationals made no difference as the Padres went all out on promoting Juan’s award presentation. The event was going viral on several social media platforms. One major push came from the games TV broadcasters who highlighted the award presentation during the game. MLB then promoted that clip on their social media FILMROOM platform and there it became one of the most popular videos.
Image Credit: Latino Sports
The response to Soto’s award ceremony was special as anyone present in the stadium could see how excited Soto was when he was presented with a James Fiorentino (nationally recognized artist) art piece. Our awards are truly pieces of art, not a trophy, or plaque. Soto’s smile and the coverage given by the Padres and MLB have made this last award the presentation the best. This is good for all of baseball as witnessed by the incredible, loving and supporting comments we have been receiving from everywhere. Thus, those few seconds of TV film coverage thanks to the San Diego Padres has helped to fortify what many are already saying, that the LatinoMVP awards are the “Latin Grammys” of baseball.
Click the link below to watch Juan Soto presented with the 2021 National League LatinoMVP Award on MLB FILMROOM:
https://www.mlb.com/video/juan-soto-named-latino-sports-mvp
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