Major league pitchers will soon have added incentive to strike out batters.
Drugmaker Bayer AG will donate US$10 to prostate cancer research for every strikeout during the regular season this year.
Major League Baseball estimates the four-year partnership could add up to a little more than $300,000 per year—there were 32,189 strikeouts during the regular season in 2007.
Bayer, based in Leverkusen, Germany, will give an additional $1 million to the Prostate Cancer Foundation if a pitcher sets a new record by striking out 21 batters in a game.
Bayer’s One-A-Day vitamins for men are marketed as a way to maintain prostate health. The deal marks the brand’s first partnership with a sports organization and is “a great way to reach men for the One-A-Day products,” said Jay Kolpon, vice-president of marketing for Bayer Healthcare Consumer Health.
The One-A-Day brand is among Bayer’s top-selling consumer health products, with sales growing an average of 15% annually for the past several years, Kolpon said.
Bayer spends about $40 million a year on media advertising for One-A-Day products.
The partnership will be featured in MLB-produced TV vignettes during each national broadcast of a game, Kolpon said.
