Major League Baseball has traditionally been against players using social media during games, with Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval even getting benched last year for liking Instagram photos during a game, but that’s changing for one day this month. As part of the partnership MLB signed with Snapchat last May and expanded this week, players will be allowed to use smartphones during spring training games on March 11 for Snapchat purposes. From Chris Cwik at Big League Stew:
For the first time ever, players will be permitted to use smartphones during games in order to send pictures and video to Snapchat. If Bryce Harper wants to take a selfie in the dugout seconds before stepping into the on deck circle, or Craig Kimbrel wants to shoot video of his fellow relievers warming up before they enter a game, they can.
If you’re going to take a selfie on a baseball field as a live game is going on, you might as well use a SnapBat.
Yes, the SnapBat, which was introduced during the 2015 Home Run Derby, will be making another appearance on Snapchat Day. MLB is rolling out a new design for the Snapbat this year, which they will debut during the event. Each team will have access to its own SnapBat, and players will be allowed to utilize the device as if it were their own smartphone.
If you already have the Snapchat app on your smartphone, it won’t be difficult to find the various photos and videos sent in by players that day. The Snapchat landing page will feature a day-long Live Story documenting the events. On top of that, different snaps will be available on MLB, individual team and player accounts.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman teased this idea at Re/code’s Code/Media conference last month, and it sounds like it’s only part of what’s to come between baseball and Snapchat under this newly-expanded multi-year partnership, which will also include Snapchat coverage of the regular season, the All-Star Game and the playoffs. While that coverage won’t have snaps from the dugouts, it will include behind-the-scenes content from teams and players. Also, Snapchat just pulled in another $175 million in funding and is valued at $16 billion, and they’ve been working on content partnerships. So, expect to see more from them in sports as time goes on.
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