St. Louis Cardinals: If there is buy in, mic’ing up players is a slam dunk

Mic’ing up players is becoming more and more common. Moving forward, it’d be a fantastic way to easily market St. Louis Cardinals players.

To my knowledge, the legend of the on-field interview began in 2018 when the ESPN Baseball crew mic’d up Mookie Betts in right field during a spring training game. This led to a genuine and funny moment where Betts had to chase down a ball in the right field corner. This short interview was a starting point, and we have much more to explore.

After that first interview went so well, putting a microphone on players has started to permeate its way more and more into games. More spring training microphones, we had stars mic’d up at the All-Star Game in 2019, and it has been talked about a lot as something that will become more normal.

I, for one, am here for it. Letting players go out into the field (if they are willing) and letting them talk right with the play-by-play announcer would do wonders for the game.

One of the biggest faults with baseball is that people feel that the stars of the game aren’t marketed enough. What better way to market them than to get an eye inside their head while they are on the clock?

Not only could it result in more funny moments like the first one with Betts, but it could also give players a better platform to speak on to show fans their personalities. Most players have at least some sort of social media, but giving them 15 minutes to just talk about anything would get fans a much greater glimpse into what they are like as humans, rather than just the numbers in box scores.

Players do postgame interviews, sure, but I would venture to guess that the postgame shows get much less viewership than the actual game. Even then, the more marketing and exposure that the Cardinals and other teams can do for their own stars the better.

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Mic’ing players like catchers or pitchers wouldn’t work because of the focus that they have to have each pitch, but potentially every other position could be up for a microphone.

The players must, of course, buy-in. If there isn’t a willingness for players to want to do this, it could backfire and make the players look worse if the interviews feel forced. Personally, though, I know Dan McLaughlin and the rest of the Fox Sports Midwest crew do their leg work to build a relationship with players. If they were to have a conversation for an inning during the game, I’m sure they would be able to dig in and give the player plenty of thinks to speak on.

Regular interviews with players would also do wonders for familiarizing fans with young players. Have you ever seen an interview with Lane Thomas? Have you ever seen one with Tyler O’Neill? They are out there, but I’d guess that most fans haven’t gotten the chance to see what these players and others are like conversationally. When Dylan Carlson comes up, wouldn’t you love to hear how he thinks about the game while he’s roaming the outfield?

Some players could have trouble from an English-speaking standpoint, but there are ways around that.

To me, it just makes too much sense to not do. The players just have to be okay with doing it during games that actually matter rather than spring or the All-Star game.

There’s a difference between interviewing Kolten Wong with a runner on first and interviewing Adam Wainwright on the 3rd day between starts. Nothing against hearing from a major leaguer during any broadcast at any point, but the spice and unpredictability of in-game interviews are so compelling that I think the sport is missing the mark if they don’t explore it more in 2020.