2011 Greatness In Baseball Yearly Award Winners
The winners of the 2011 Greatness in Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) Awards were unveiled tonight on MLB Network and MLB.com during a show hosted by MLB Network’s Greg Amsinger and Mitch Williams.
David Freese of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals was the only multiple award winner, as he earned Postseason MVP and top Postseason Moment for his dramatic game-tying, ninth-inning triple in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
In addition to the Cardinals, four other Clubs claimed multiple GIBBY winners, including the Arizona Diamondbacks (Kirk Gibson, Manager of the Year; Ian Kennedy, Breakout Player of the Year); Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander, Starting Pitcher of the Year; Jose Valverde, Closer of the Year); New York Yankees (David Robertson, Setup Man of the Year; Robinson Cano, Wow Factor of the Year; Derek Jeter, Performance of the Year); and Tampa Bay Rays (Dan Johnson, Moment of the Year; Evan Longoria, Walk-Off of the Year). Read more
SiriusXM Offers Comprehensive Coverage of MLB All-Star Week
Play-by-play of the 82nd All-Star Game airs July 12 on XM channel 176
MLB Network Radio channel broadcasts live from Chase Field and MLB All-Star FanFest in Phoenix July 9-12
Cal Ripken Jr. and Bill Ripken to host “Ripken Baseball” live in front of fans at MLB All-Star FanFest on July 11
Sirius XM Radio announced that it will offer baseball fans comprehensive coverage of 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Week in Phoenix, AZ, July 9-12.
SiriusXM will carry the 82nd All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 12 (8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT), and the State Farm Home Run Derby on Monday, July 11 (8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT), live from Chase Field on XM channel 176. Read more
Baseball Legends Headed to Omaha for NCAA Men’s College World Series
Baseball Greats to be in Omaha to Sign Autographs; Mike Schmidt to Chat with AT&T Fans on Facebook; Jack Clark to Play Ball with a Soldier’s Child for 3rd Annual Father’s Day Toss
Professional baseball greats Robin Yount, Mike Schmidt, Rod Carew, Jack Clark and Jack Morris will enhance the fan experience at the NCAA Men’s College World Series this Father’s Day weekend, thanks to AT&T*. On Saturday, legendary third baseman and 1970 College World Series participant with Ohio University Mike Schmidt will Facebook chat live with AT&T fans from the College World Series® from 9 – 9:30 a.m. CT. Go to Facebook.com/ATT, “like” AT&T and post the questions you’d like Mike to answer! On Sunday, iconic slugger Jack Clark will play catch at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha with a child whose father is deployed for the 3rd Annual Father’s Day Toss.
“We are honored to provide this once-in-a-lifetime experience to the child of a local military family,” said Jason Simpson, AVP, AT&T Corporate Sponsorships. “AT&T has a long history of supporting our troops and the annual Father’s Day Toss is a fun way to show our appreciation to our military.” Read more
Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year: DYLAN BUNDY
Former All-Star Third Baseman and Current ESPN Analyst Aaron Boone Surprises Standout with Elite Honor
In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced Dylan Bundy of Owasso High (Owasso, Okla.) as its 2010-11 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year. Bundy was surprised with the news during a youth baseball clinic by former All-Star Third Baseman Aaron Boone.
“It felt great to surprise Dylan with the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award and welcome him into one of the most prestigious legacy programs in high school sports,” said Boone. ”Gatorade has been on the sidelines fueling athletic performance for years, so to be recognized by a brand that understands the game and truly helps athletes perform is a huge honor for these kids.”
As the recipient of the 231st Gatorade National Player of the Year trophy to be awarded since 1985, Bundy becomes only the second player from the state of Oklahoma to earn Gatorade National Player of the Year honors. The other was A.J. Hinch (Midwest City, Okla.) in 1991-92, a catcher who went on to play seven years in the MLB and now serves as Vice President of Professional Scouting for the San Diego Padres.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Bundy as the nation’s best high school baseball player. A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select Bundy from more than 472,644 baseball players nationwide. Bundy is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July. Read more
MLB.com Sets New Standards: Records Include 142 Million Page Views on April 20
MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, on April 20 drew the largest page view day in its history as fans visited 142.3 million pages. Overall during over the first 20 days of the season (March 31 – April 19), baseball fans have shattered traffic records at MLB.com and the 30 club sites, including daily averages of 7 million video streams delivered and 11.5 million visitors.
“We are gratified fans responded so favorably to the material changes we made this off-season across our web sites, mobile applications and live game products,” said Dinn Mann, Executive Vice President, Content, MLB.com. “As we do every season, we will continue to develop and deploy additional technology and content offerings to further daily fan engagement with the game.”
Among the traffic records established at MLB.com during the first days of the season (March 31 – April 19) include:
- Fans watched 7 million video streams per day during the season’s opening 20 days, including 1 million live video streams per day.
- MLB.com averaged 11.5 million visitors per day, representing an increase of 17 percent from 2010 (9.8 million), highlighted by its single-highest visited day ever in the month of April with 13 million visitors on Friday, April 8.
- MLB.com averaged 122 million page views per day, 48% higher than the comparable 2010 average, and reached 2 billion page views earlier than ever before.
- MLB.com’s mobile sites have totaled 992 million page views across all Internet-enabled devices, a 138% increase from the 2010 season’s first 20 days.
- At Bat 11, the #1 selling suite of mobile applications available on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android and BlackBerry, has been accessed 35 million times since Opening Day, a daily average of 1.75 million accesses and a 115 percent increase over the 2010 comparable time period.