What About Mannywood?

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball suspended Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez for 50 games for a violation of the drug policy. Missing Manny’s bat will certainly hurt the Dodgers on the field, but it’s even more than that.

Just a week ago, the Dodgers began promoting “Mannywood” as part of a marketing campaign centered around Ramirez.

Image: Newscom

“It’s everybody’s nightmare,” said Robert Leffler, owner of sports advertising firm The Leffler Agency, in a phone interview with Bloomberg News. “You can’t market someone who is suspended.”

“Mannywood” is the two sections in the stadium located behind Ramirez’s position in left field. For a pair of tickets in Mannywood, you pay $99 and get a pair of T-shirts that match Manny’s jersey. “Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night” was also scheduled for July 22 as a fan giveaway promotion.

Though the drug in question was not steroids, Manny Ramirez’s name will unfortunately now be associated with the ongoing baseball steroid scandal. The drug, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is generally used as a female fertility drug, but it can also be used by steroid users to enhance the production of testosterone. It’s forbidden by baseball (without a legitimate reason from a doctor for using the drug), as well as banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Perhaps this incident will have more pro teams marketing their teams as a whole, rather than one individual player.