NEW YORK, Nov. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) today announced the launch of Infield Chatter (www.InfieldChatter.com), a first-of-its-kind, online social community, to connect Major League baseball players and fans in a unique and fun environment. Infield Chatter was born out of a desire to create an online environment that would increase the opportunity to tie closer bonds between players and fans.

By launching this new social community, Major League baseball players will engage with fans, and each other, on trending topics and shared interests - on and off the field - enabling fans to discover more about the person beneath the baseball cap.

Among the more than 60 Major Leaguers already using Infield Chatter to engage with their fans are All-Stars such as David Ortiz, Josh Donaldson, Dee Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Adam Jones and Jake Arrieta. Over the past couple of weeks, social media followers of many of these players received invitations to join them inside the Infield Chatter community. Beginning today, Infield Chatter is open to all fans, 13 years-old and older.

Each player has a personal page on Infield Chatter where fans can learn more about that player's interests away from the ballpark. By joining Infield Chatter, fans can see behind the statistics, and find things in common with players. It's a casual environment where all participants are free to share their passions, thoughts and ideas on trending topics – and meet people who share them.

"It's exciting to be one of the first players to join Infield Chatter. I plan to check in with fans and talk about my passions outside baseball, including the David Ortiz Children's Fund and cooking with Big Papi's Kitchen," said David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox.

"Infield Chatter is awesome. They made it more than just a place to post pictures. I can go on there and talk to fans about the latest music and my favorite artists. It's been fun to find out who everyone is listening to!" adds Dee Gordon of the Miami Marlins.

"My personal Infield Chatter page has all this inside information beyond what's on the back of my baseball-card. It's a cool way to connect with fans on a personal level," adds Toronto Blue Jays All-Star and American League MVP, Josh Donaldson.

Infield Chatter is hosted on the popular Place (www.Place.xyz) platform, and is available via Web browser and Place's mobile app. Place is a community platform that hosted LittleMonsters.com—the official social community for Lady Gaga—and has expanded to include more than 12,000 communities today.

"Players are excited to get the opportunity to work with a platform that makes it easy to have real, unfiltered conversations between celebrities and fans," said Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles. "These are real fans in there who are talking about what matters to them. I like being a part of that by talking about what's important to me."

Kansas City Royals Gold Glover Eric Hosmer sums it up best: "The fans are a big reason we do what we do. Having opportunity to uniquely interact with fans is a home run!"

"As a former player, I understand how important it is to reinforce and strengthen the connection between the players and fans," said Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director, Tony Clark. "Infield Chatter takes full advantage of today's emerging technology to allow the players and fans to interact in a space that they're familiar with and about topics they have in common. We're excited about the potential Infield Chatter has to help bolster the popularity of the players and the game itself."

About the MLBPA

The Major League Baseball Players Association (www.MLBPLAYERS.com) is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the thirty Major League baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and Players Choice Awards, as well as the Major League Baseball Players Trust (www.PlayersTrust.org ), a charitable foundation benefitting the needy that was established and is run entirely by Major League baseball players. Follow: @MLB_Players; @MLBPlayersTrust; @MLBPAClubhouse.

About Place

Place is a platform that lets you organize and interact with others around your shared passions. Unlike typical social networks where content is based on who you know, Place connects you to content you actually care about. When you join an existing Place, or create one of your own, conversations are directly relevant to your interests, and you meet other like-minded new friends along the way. In short, Place puts social media in the context of you. Place is based in San Francisco and works with notable partners including Lady Gaga and Guns & Roses, as well as major brands including Nike, Coca Cola, and Cirque du Soleil.

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SOURCE Major League Baseball Players Association

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http://www.MLBPLAYERS.com

