Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Washington Post's Strasburg First Pitch Poster


The Stephen Strasburg First Pitch Poster included in today's retail editions of The Sunday Washington Post is a disappointment because the picture fails to capture the anticipation of the moment. At 7:06 PM on June 8th, 2010-- a packed Nationals Park crowd was standing on their feet. The Pittsburgh Pirates Andrew McCutchen was dug in at the plate. Pudge Rodriguez was crouched behind it. And Home Plate Umpire Tom Hallion was about to make the call.

Even the players in both dugouts were watching.

The essence of that first pitch missing in The Washington Post's Poster today. The excitement which The Post did photograph in their two previous 1st Pitch special edition Nationals Posters--from April 14, 2005 (Opening Night at RFK Stadium) and March 30th, 2008 (Opening Night at Nationals Park).

A wider shot of Strasburg's 1st Pitch from the same angle would have captured the standing crowd all with their cameras at the ready, Our Washington Nationals all leaning forward at the front of the 1st base dugout, McCutcheon standing in the batters box with Rodriguez & Hallion behind him. Instead, the closeup shot of Stephen Strasburg's First Pitch Poster produced by The Washington Post looks more like a blown up baseball card--nothing special.

7 comments:

MikeHarris said...

You are absolutely right.

I still have to have one!

Screech's Best Friend said...

MIke: Yes, we also still had to have one. It's also not that large: Around 12" X 10"--like a leaflet, instead of a full size poster as the previous two were.

Barden Consulting LLC said...

No poster in my retail copy of the sunday washington post. Looked through every page 3 times. What section was it in?

Screech's Best Friend said...

The poster was inserted inside the paper between the folds of the various sections--loose. It was not inside the circular section. At least in the papers at Giant Food in Alexandria.

Screech's Best Friend said...

But we also found out that people were opening the papers and taking out the posters and just inserting the extras in the copy they actually bought. What a surprise--folks hoarding.

jw said...

I've sent an email to request my print. If the Post wanted to impress, they should have reprinted the photo they ran on the front of the Wednesday sports section.

Laurie said...

A total disappointment..the Wash Post usually does better than that!
I was wondering where the rest of the poster was...this is it??