Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday the coming arrival of "Statues on Parade." It is going to be the most amazing celebration of the Statue of Liberty since the 1986 centennial celebration in her New York harbor.The Red Sox one is going to be tagged in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
There will be 42 Statues of Liberty, each standing 8 1/2 feet tall, stationed around New York leading up to the July 15 All-Star Game there.
Each one will be uniquely designed with bold graphics and colors featuring each of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, the American League, the National League, four All-Star statues and statues commemorating the final season of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, an additional version for the host Yankees, and one to be determined to be painted by the artist as a surprise.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Great Moments in Patriotism
Major League Baseball is dressing up the Statue of Liberty:
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9 comments:
It would seem to me that some things are above cheap advertising for anything, to include baseball.
Like national monuments.
What's next. Replica Tombs of the Unknown Soldier at the next funeral of a player who dies during the season.
This is a cheap, tacky move, and is not celebrating baseball. Its making a mockery of important events in our countries history.
Cities all over do these promotions. Chicago did it with cows, Boston with cod. I even remember seeing statues of baseball gloves in Pittsfield, MA.
But to claim that this somehow denigrates the real Statue of Liberty is an overreaction. As anyone who has graced the streets and airport terminals of NYC can attest, this is hardly the first time that Lady Liberty has been miniaturized and put up for sale, nor is it the worst example.
Wow, equating the State of Liberty with cod and cows.
There's respect you just don't get every day.
I assume these will hit the auction block at some point, although an 8.5 foot DBacks dressed Statue of Liberty isn't the prettiest lawn gnome.
i want one of those!!! put it on my porch. like the old cigar store indians.
42, one of which is a surprise. Jackie Robinson?
Sorry -- it's Mo Vaughn.
Ron -- I don't think rob meant to compare the Statue of Liberty to cows and cod. I think he was just noting that this type of art project (i.e. an object with ties to the city painted and displayed on street corners) is common. Columbus did ears of corn a couple of years ago. Cleveland did guitars.
I'm not offended to my mortal core about this, but I see a difference between this one and the other civic art installations. For the most part, the cows and corn and stuff were either abstract art or depicted images of civic pride or history or something. Unlike those, the baseball example is a pretty blatant marketing thing in that it's slapping what are basically corporate logos on Lady Liberty. And if you don't think that they're not closely guarded commerical corporate logos, just try to use them on your blog and see how quickly you get a cease and desist letter from MLB's attorneys.
Yes, I realize that every other bagel shop and gypsy cab in Gotham has an image of the statue painted on it, but this rubs me the wrong way, if only mildly. I'm not going to form a protest group, but I am going to roll my eyes a bit.
Well, I might protest the Cleveland Indians one. A picture of the racist Chief Wahoo on the symbol for liberty and freedom bothers me more than a little.
I think New Yorkers see the Statue of Liberty less as the symbol of liberty and freedom than they see it as the symbol of tourism.
That said, with everything that NYC offers, and all the iconic symbols that baseball provides, you'd think that MLB might be able to come up with something a little less crass. You know, like maybe a tie-in with the next Spiderman movie.
The irony of course, is that while MLB is trying to appeal to the history of the game with 12 additional statues for teams like the Brooklyn Dodgers, they're celebrating the demolition of Yankee Stadium for the purpose of more luxury boxes.
Now that is crass.
I was going to say something controversial about the Statue of Liberty not being this sacred symbol, but something else just popped into my head.
What in the world is Anaheim going to do for the All Star game in 2010? I live in the area, so I'm going to have to look at this crap for months.
Disney characters with team logos? Will Arte play up the LA ties and suggest some sort of Hollywood theme? Since it seems like there are as many fans of other teams here as there are Angels fans, maybe we can find one fan for each team and pay him to stand on a street corner dressed in his team's gear.
Anaheim fans have a rep of being apathetic, but I guarantee the Red Sox guy would get some grief.
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