Spring training was underway in late-March 1990, if a bit late due to that year's lockout, and The Palm Beach Post responded by focusing on tourism.
Among the sources The Post spoke with was a copywriter for Media Arts Group in Vero Beach, a company that handled tourism advertising for St. Lucie County.
"We don't have the kind of budget to target international trade, that's why we concentrate on the state," the copywriter told The Post. "But I'm getting more and more requests for information from overseas tour operators."
Soon Media Arts Group itself would be doing the advertising and in baseball as the sponsor for local team's card set that year, the Vero Beach Beach Dodgers.
The sponsor card included references to apparent related companies, "Wilson & Associates," "Commercial Art & Type" "Emerson/Wilson" and "Quality Printers."
The card includes no other information on the company, but the Media Arts Group logo is on the back of each player card.
Florida Today described Media Arts Group that August as an "advertising and direct-mail and printing firm in Vero Beach." The occasion of the description was in the firm president Charles "Charlie" Wilson's bid for a state House seat.
As for the other businesses listed, Wilson & Associates was described in 1988 by The St. Lucie News Tribune as an advertising firm. That June, it announced the purchase of Quality Printers and Letter Service, described as a printing and direct mail facility.
The companies, along with Commercial Art & Type and Emerson & Wilson Advertising were then combined under the Media Arts Group name, The News Tribune wrote.
With all four under the same name, Media Arts Group then sponsored the Vero Beach set in 1990. The cards, 500 sets, were then given out at the Aug. 18 game against Dunedin, according to an ad in The Indian River Press Journal.
The giveaway was accompanied by the Media Arts Group Baseball Card Show at the stadium and an appearance by former Dodgers outfielder Reggie Smith, the ad read.
- St. Lucie News Tribune, June 19, 1988: Wilson reports growth
- Palm Beach Post, March 26, 1990: Foreign visitors give slow tourist trade a lift
- Florida Today, Aug. 13, 1990: Nine candidates enter race for vacant seat in state House
Made the Majors:1,292-33.6%
Never Made Majors:2,555-66.4%
5+ Seasons in the Majors:528
10+ Seasons in the Minors:322
Good job on doing the research. Nice post!
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