There Are Pitchers, and Then Pitchmen

No matter which team wins the World Series--the Toronto Blue Jays or the Atlanta Braves--an ad agency says several members of each team will never bat above .200 as product pitchmen.

Among them: Bobby Cox, manager of the Atlanta Braves, who, despite back-to-back World Series appearances, “is destined to spend his career doing local Atlanta Pontiac dealer spots,” says the 1992 World Series Advertisers’ Professional Scouting Report, prepared by the San Francisco office of the ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding.

Braves relief ace Jeff Reardon would have been a perfect endorser for a solvent S&L;, says the report, “but he blew his chance when he gave up the winning homer” in Game 2.

Then there’s Toronto center fielder Devon White, who has a Blue Jay logo sculpted into his hair. “If he’s smart,” said the report, “he’ll rent the space out to different companies on a weekly basis next season.”