Power
Like all (non-soccer-playing) professional American athletes, baseball players have a lot of power in the country's social life. The biggest and the best appear on millions of TV screens, and not just during the nine-plus innings of a baseball game and the occasional post-game interview.
They get interviewed on networks and cable news shows. They show up at the White House. They sell you things like shoes and hamburgers and bath soap.
Baseball players who reach those celebrity heights can put their names to more than just awkward product endorsements. David Ortiz, or "Big Papi," as he's known to the city of Boston, is a Red Sox player and humanitarian.
Wait, what? Since 2005 the baseball legend has been a leading sponsor of the David Ortiz Children's Fund, which supports exactly what you think it supports—kids in need of pediatric care. And he's just one of dozens of sportslebrities that do these kinds of awesome things.