MLB released advertisements for the playoffs this year, including a clip from the Astro’s very own Geoff Blum. Normally, this would be something I would be excited about, always loving to see the Astros get some well deserved exposure, and Blum being an excellent representative of our team.

I decided against putting a link to it, as it’s going to be far too prevalent already. But a high level overview is an ad against the “unwritten rules” of baseball.

The advertisement is great in a lot of ways, I am a huge Ken Griffey fan, and the messaging is clearly designed to help bring younger fans in. So what’s wrong with it?

In the video, they cut up a statement and overlayed it over the video, adding a clip of Blum saying “it’s just something you do not do in baseball”, which was taken out of context. The comment made was in regards to Urena hitting Acuna Jr with a pitch.

This was obviously done without Blum’s permission, how do I know? Well here’s his twitter posts:

And some commentary taken way out of context. @MLB https://t.co/3uc01UpGnJ — Geoff Blum (@blummer27) October 3, 2018

The disappointing part is that all team announcers promote @mlb game & their teams. Then use our words that way. — Geoff Blum (@blummer27) October 2, 2018

Looking online, I found this exact quote from 2 years ago which argues directly against what they have him portrayed as being in this ad. “The outsiders will say they (Astros) are having too much fun, and they aren’t taking the game seriously, but why not let them have a good time”

I was disappointed in the whole scenario so I wanted to take a second and give some appreciation to Blummer, so let’s take a look at who he was ….. “You look at it!”

The last time Blummer’s words were so incorrectly used was when Chuck Knoblauch blasted “him” on a statement For those of you who don’t remember, Blum wasn’t announcing in that game, it was Stanton who Knoblauch believed was Blum.

Career:

From 1999-2012, Blum played for 5 teams, including two stints with the most important one, being a member of the Astros in 2002-2003 and 2008-2010 for a total of 580 games played with the good guys.

Even when he was the hero of a 2005 World Series game against the Astros, Blum kept his head down and did not celebrate as he jogged past his former teammates after hitting the game winning home run.

I also found him being recognized by TCB 6 years ago for some of the best facial hair in Astros history. I could not find a picture of the multi-color facial hair - if any reader has it let me know!

As an announcer:

I hope to broadcast for many more years but I’m not sure too many teams will make me smile as often as these ⁦@astros⁩ #NeverSettle #BaseballIsFUN pic.twitter.com/8jvq7Qq35E — Geoff Blum (@blummer27) August 23, 2018

The Astros have a lot of unique celebrations ranging from the Bregman stare to Hugs for Homers, and Blum has embraced it, loving to see the energy and enthusiasm from the team.

As many of you know, TCB recently did an article on Blum’s word of the day and his interaction with the fans. But it goes further than that, Blum cares about fans, often interacting and joking around with them on twitter, responding and keeping people engaged. He even hosted his own blogspot on www.Blummer27.com where he tells stories of his time in the majors, and provides insider looks into his experiences with trades and switch hitting etc.

You get a sense for the person Blum is, not just from the components that could be public relations forced, but hearing Jeff Bagwell in the booth with him, you just get this sense of him being an amazing supportive teammate. Bagwell was quoted as saying he texted Blum whenever he says an Astros player not hustling.

Just some other quick highlights of Blum’s contributions include his participation in the Astro’s legends home run derby, he represented the Astros at the Hall of Fame Classic Game where he had an RBI single.

On the community side, you can find great articles about Blum’s contributions such as when he went out with Tony Kemp and Tyler White to paint some life-long Astro’s fans home after it was damaged by Hurricane Harvey.

We could go on and on about Blum’s contributions, but it’s quickly evident how lucky the Astros are to have Blum associated with our organization.

We know what you truly believe Blummer, and a sincere thank you for being such a great addition to the Astros.