Launch of La Vida Baseball Brings Cooperstown to Latino Baseball Fans Everywhere

Multi-Channel Digital Media Platform Tells the Story of Latinos’ Passion for the Game

(COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.) – The National Pastime is beloved throughout the U.S. and the world with Latino fans’ connection to the sport going back 150 years. Beginning today, those fans will have an online community that speaks to their passion through a groundbreaking digital media property.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced today the launch of La Vida Baseball – www.lavidabaseball.com – a new digital media platform that celebrates the passion of Latino baseball’s past, present and future. La Vida Baseball will bring the Hall of Fame’s sights, sounds and stories to an audience well beyond Cooperstown through short- and long-form storytelling, providing an important perspective on what makes baseball an integral part of the Latino experience.

“The enthusiasm and love of baseball among American Latinos manifests itself every day in the big leagues and on diamonds throughout the world,” said Jeff Idelson, President, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “The Hall of Fame’s new partnership with La Vida Baseball will connect U.S. Latino baseball fans to Cooperstown while bringing the stories of the heroes of the game to new audiences around the world.”

La Vida Baseball was founded with the goal of celebrating Latino baseball, from the streets of Latin America to the major leagues. The platform will bring stories from the past to life and provide a new outlet for today’s athletes and fans to discuss the game through written stories as well as video and social content.

La Vida Baseball’s expert staff and contributors, led by noted baseball historian Dr. Adrian Burgos, Jr., will combine storytelling and historical perspective, while socially-driven videos and cultural commentary will bring these stories to a broader Latino audience.

“The purpose of La Vida Baseball is to create a platform to showcase the passion, purpose, and spirit that drive the stories of Latinos and baseball,” said Burgos, Jr. “Doing so through a culturally-informed perspective that reveals what it is like being a Latino in baseball, from the playing field to the stands, and from the front offices and press boxes to their homes is equally important. Latino voices, Latino passion, and Latino perspectives.”

La Vida Baseball gives fans behind-the-scenes access to the collections at the Hall of Fame, not only bringing to life incredible stories from the past, but also speaking to today’s narratives. Through a multi-channel content approach, La Vida Baseball will engage another generation of fans with the stars of today and tomorrow as well.

La Vida Baseball launches in advance of both the 2017 World Baseball Classic and the induction of Puerto Rico native Iván Rodríguez to the Hall of Fame this summer. The content will publish in English, reaching the estimated 96 percent of U.S. Latinos under 18 who are either bilingual or English dominant.

For the new venture, the Hall of Fame is partnering with Chicago-based TeamWorks Media, a content marketing firm known for emotionally engaging storytelling that inspires social impact through sports.

About the National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an independent nonprofit educational institution, dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime. Opening its doors for the first time on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame has stood as the definitive repository of the game’s treasures and as a symbol of the most profound individual honor bestowed on an athlete. It is every fan’s "Field of Dreams," with its stories, legends and magic shared from generation to generation.

About La Vida Baseball
La Vida Baseball is a new digital media company that will tell authentic Latino stories about baseball through original video, written and social content, in a partnership between the National Baseball Hall of Fame and TeamWorks Media.
For more information, visit www.lavidabaseball.com.