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02.28.2009 11:45 am

Yadier Molina to be featured player for Rawlings

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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JUPITER, Fla. — They’re calling it a campaign that focuses on a few “rising stars”, and representatives from Rawlings have made several surgical strikes into the Grapefruit League to film the four players selected to appear in docu-commercials. This morning, they visited Camp Cardinals.

Catcher Yadier Molina is one of the four. Have Gold Glove, will shine.

“His reaction upon receiving his first Gold Glove was really something that stood out,” said Lindsey Naber, a brand manager with Rawlings in town to shoot the spots. “We wanted to profile some young guyns of our (advisor) staff, talk with them how they got into baseball and make something a little more than (a commercial).”

The St. Louis-based Rawlings company has been the sponsor of the Gold Glove for more than 50 years and the hometown St. Louis Cardinals has won more of them than any other club in the majors. (Naber was part of the group of kind folks at Rawlings and Fleishman-Hilliard who helped with the research that confirmed the Cardinals as the all-time leaders.) The Cardinals also have a handful of players who use Rawlings gloves — almost the starting rotation, with Kyle Lohse and Chris Carpenter, and Albert Pujols, Khalil Green, and also Colby Rasmus. Rick Ankiel uses Rawlings bats. The Rawlings crew snapped some promotional photos for catalogs and the like while in Jupiter, but the big setup — lights, camera, action, and all that — was for Molina.

Rawlings identified four players they want to feature prominently in documentary-style webisodes on their home page. The four are:

  • New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain
  • New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes
  • Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer
  • and, Molina

In Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Friday, the Rawlings crew filmed Reyes and snapped some pics of him leading off first and breaking toward second. The plan for Molina — after talking to him about how he got his start in baseball and how he breaks in his glove each year — was to shoot him in the catcher’s crouch. The docu-mercials and photos will appear later this season on Rawlings.com.

***

A sure scene of spring: This morning, Felipe Alou arrived at camp — he’s part of Team Dominicana — and walked into the Cardinals clubhouse only to be happen on a conversation between Bob Gibson, Mike Shannon and Jim Kaat. At the same moment, Lou Brock’s car pulled up and dropped the Hall of Famer off for his first appearance of camp.

***

BASEBALL LEXICON: “The 6-4-6-3 Double Play” (noun)

Asked today if Jon Jay profiled a little like Skip Schumaker, in the sense that he could start his career as a fourth outfielder and handle all three outfield positions, manager Tony La Russa shook his head. His reason, said in jest: Jay throws lefthanded and therefore wouldn’t move to second base like Schumaker. Finally, something not even La Russa would try — a lefthanded-throwing second baseman! “Well, maybe in the 25th inning,” the manager corrected. “But then you’d have the 6-4-6-3 double play.” His point: A lefty couldn’t turn two without flipping it back to the shortstop at the base.

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2 comments

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Who says TLR doesn’t have a sense of humor? A 6-4-6-3 DP indeed!

— Jmodene
2:17 pm February 28th, 2009

Although, with the White Sox, TLR *did* have a lefty-throwing catcher and a lefty-throwing third baseman!

— Jmodene
2:18 pm February 28th, 2009