The Sports Stars Star

Jane Leavy released a new biography of Babe Ruth, and Jim Alexander uses that to discuss how Ruth created the modern sports celebrity:

But the Babe was, in all likelihood, also the first to make more from outside income than from his baseball salary. Much of that was thanks to Christy Walsh, who in effect became sports’ first superagent, not only negotiating outside deals but helping to create the Ruth persona (though he had no role in negotiating his baseball contracts).

…

But Walsh did so much more for Ruth, as a spokesman, financial consultant/manager, and, essentially, a fixer.

“He was doing spin and he was doing damage control” whenever the Babe ran into trouble, Leavy said. “He was doing every modern thing, just at a somewhat smaller scale. He was building a brand. He was creating a persona.

“… Christy Walsh was a visionary. I mean, he saw the future of athletes as entertainers who would be reimbursed like Hollywood stars. Ruth had an equally impressive take on what the role of athletes was and should be in terms of marketing.”

It’s probably tougher to do the damage control today, as the media is more decentralized, and more real-time. A story can spin out of control before one knows it is even happening.

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2JTNTkN