Go back now through an old Life magazine (ask your grandparents) and you'll see ball players pushing carcinogenic cigarettes as cures for sore throats, or bragging about their $4.99 Timex, or noting that they'd rather drink Yoo-Hoo than champagne.
The heyday of these ads was the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, local manufacturers (ask your grandparents) clamored for Phillies stars.
Richie Ashburn appeared in commercials for Phillies cigars, Tastykakes and Frank's sodas, even though he was a pipe smoker and a diabetic.
Teammate Robin Roberts must have had as many area endorsements as victories. I can recall his smiling face shilling for virtually everything - Gem razors, Philco TVs, car dealers, swim clubs.
It couldn't have been easy for those guys. Curt Schilling aside, baseball players avoid the spotlight the way vampires duck sunlight. But Roberts, Ashburn, and countless other ball players swallowed their pride and feigned a fondness for mattresses, sauerkraut, or bologna.
Since neither likely earned more than $50,000 a year playing ball, they did it to pay the bills, to keep Black Cherry Wishniak and Krimpets on the kitchen table.
That's what's changed. These current Phillies stars are looking for tax breaks, not salary supplements. Ryan Howard, for example, makes more in one year than the entire American League did in not just one but several 1950s seasons.
As a result, in Philadelphia baseball, pinstriped pitchmen have become as rare as empty seats.
Cole Hamels, whose voice is better-suited for the role of Mimi in La Boheme, has done a few spots. Cliff Lee has a deal with a local auto dealership.
The most active Phillie on the local-commercial front seems to be Shane Victorino. The Complyin' Hawaiian, in fact, has by default become the unlikely public face of the franchise.
