For many baseball purists, the term "public relations" can be a dirty word. But for sports expert Marty Appel, the art of quality sports communications and public relations has consumed most of his adult life.
According to his autobiography, Now Pitching for the Yankees, Appel was the youngest public relations director ever selected to lead a major league baseball team and was George Steinbrenner’s first hire in that position with the New York Yankees. Appel went on to direct public relations for Tribune Broadcasting’s WPIX in New York and to serve as the Yankees Executive Producer concurrently. He later directed public relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the Topps Company before opening his own agency in 1998, Marty Appel Public Relations.
Beyond his own autobiography, Appel is also an established author in his own right having authored 15 other books including collaborations with Larry King, Bowie Kuhn, Tom Seaver, Lee MacPhail, umpire Eric Gregg and Thurman Munson.
A SABR member since 1977, this feature alone cannot capture the immeasurable contributions Appel has made to the greater baseball consciousness. Consider this edition of the SABR Nine a short look into the long career of Marty Appel, who has spent over forty years exploring the truths that baseball has to offer and revealing them to the public in the best possible light.
How did you get your start with the Yankees organization?
I wrote to Bob Fishel in the summer of ’67 asking for any sort of a summer job. My timing was perfect; he was besieged by cartons of unanswered mail to Mickey Mantle and wanted to get them answered. So it was a good letter, good timing, and I had a good background. Plus my interview went well.
What were some of the best and worst things about handling Mickey Mantle’s fan mail?
Best thing was saving up a few to go over with him personally. "Quality time" with Mick. Worst was that eventually, it did get a bit boring. The letters weren’t all that interesting: "Dear Mickey, You are my favorite player, can you please send me an autographed baseball."
You were working in the Yankees public relations department when "Ball Four" was published. What was your initial reaction and the mood in your office when the book became popular?
My initial reaction was of course influenced by the shock and outrage within the baseball community, but I came to see it as one of the most important books on baseball ever written, and many people today tell me it is the book that made them fall in love with baseball. The lasting impact doesn’t surprise me - it was a breakthrough book. It still reads well.
You directed public relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. From a communications perspective is there a difference in the way you approach amateur sports versus professional?
The Olympics had little to do with sports until the final days; the years leading up to the games are all about politics, zoning, construction, security, doping, transportation, housing, special interest groups, and so on. Amateur sports today so closely resembles pro sports that the day of the pure amateur elite athlete is gone. Little difference between pro and amateur.
Of all the baseball icons you have collaborated with on books, which one stands out in your mind as the most memorable experience?
It was fun to work with Thurman Munson on his book but my most memorable experience would have been collaborating with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn on his memoirs. It’s a very important book about his 17-year era when much of what we know about baseball changed. The personal profiles of the owners and MLB officials are fascinating. We did 100 hours on tape in compiling the book.
As a Thurman Munson biographer, how did the Cory Lidle tragedy affect you and did you see parallels between the two events?
Not only did the Lidle accident bring back sad memories, but that very morning I was watching video of 1979 newscasts about Thurman’s accident, in preparation for a new Munson project I’m embarking on. Not only that, the two days before, I had been on the set of a new ESPN movie, "The Bronx is Burning," with actor Erik Jensen, who plays Thurman and looks just like him.
The parallel I saw is that athletes, being athletes, generally are risk takers and see themselves as indestructible.
In your experience, how integral a component is public relations to the appeal of the professional baseball game?
There was a time when PR set the agenda for news coverage; what we gave to the media was the day’s news. Now, the media sets the pace and PR tries to keep up. But there are so many great things about baseball, that it’s sometimes necessary to remind people of them, and that’s where the PR role is so important. Craig Biggio is going to be a 3,000 hit guy next year, imagine that. PR is needed to let everyone outside of Houston know just who Craig Biggio is and why we ought to know him better!
What things have inspired you and how do you measure success as a sports public relations professional?
I was sitting in the upper deck above home plate for Game Six of the 1986 World Series. The Mets didn’t have a prayer but the fan on my left, there all by himself and obviously devoted to the Mets, wouldn’t quit. "We can do it, we can do it," he kept repeating out loud, almost in tears. And hey, they did it. We’ve seen the replays 1000 times. And it brought him such joy, that I never forget him when I think about delivering this form of entertainment to the masses.
What advice do you have for anyone trying to break in to sports communication today?
Bring the skills of a journalist with you. Talk the same language, understand their world.
