Phil Hughes (Yankees right-hander) is 21 and single, a Californian living in Tampa. It was a month or so before the start of spring training, and he needed some advice on his weekend plans. On January 16th, seeking help, Hughes created a blog (philhughes.wordpress.com) to see what peoples reaction would be to his questions and also because it is a great way for him to connect to his fans. The site had attracted more than 340,000 visitors from six continents.
On January 18th, Phil asked readers of his new blog, “So tomorrow I have nothing going on and have the option of either a monster truck event at Raymond James Stadium, or a George Strait concert at the St. Pete Times Forum. I’m not really a fan of either, but I wanna get out of the house and am going more for the experience than anything. So what will it be? The Gravedigger crushing a few 1990 Ford Tempo’s or ‘All my Ex’s live in Texas?’” Hughes had just joined the online community that week; yet 61 fans posted comments with suggestions. Hughes Yankees went to the concert and said he had fun.
This blog has made Hughes more approachable than any other player. He stated, “The fans are very important to me. Without them, I wouldn’t have a job, basically. I try to give back as much as I can. It’s almost a no-brainer.” With this blog, Hughes is trying to prove that baseball players are not larger than life. He is trying to get across that they are just guys, who are not better than anybody else. The main idea is for them to feel that they have a connection with him. This blog gives insight to a young player’s life.
On January 31st, Hughes admitted, “I can’t get enough Food Network!” After the Super Bowl, he wrote, “That catch by Tyree in the 4th quarter had my house shaking.” On Feb. 17, he let a teammate post something: “Jeff Marquez says hi. He wanted me to post that.” Hughes has posted entries on 27 of the first 41 days, offering contests, chats, song lists, etc. One example is when Hughes posted a contest for fans to guess a favorite quote from “The Office. More than 300 people replied before a reader guessed correctly. Hughes sent a game-used, autographed ball from his victory in Game 3 of the division series to the contest winner. He did not mind giving up a memento worth hundreds of dollars because he had two other balls from the game.
Other Major League Baseball players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Chien-Ming Wang have official websites. Their websites are maintained through MLB.com and are heavy on graphics. In 2007, Derek Jeter updated his journal four times and Alex Rodriguez once.
General Manager Brian Cashman had some concerns about players maintaining Web sites that could embarrass the team. He would rather not have players breaking news. The only news Hughes broke was his change in uniform number (from 65 to 34). Hughes’s ability has made him all but untouchable. On December 4th, when the Yankees offered him to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana, the Twins were never sure the Yankees would actually move him. On December 4th, Manger Joe Girardi was pleased to announce Hughes was officially off-limits.
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