The Major League Baseball All Star game might be over, but the video of The Batting Stance Guy from a recent appearance on David Letterman is certainly worth a look.

The Batting Stance Guy is really Gar Ryness , a 36 year old wiffle ball junkie from Los Angeles who’s friend taped his antics and then posted it on YouTube, among other places.  The character has become such a hit that major leaguers ask him to show off different poses and like a few others, he has become an Internet sensation.

He has mastered the hitting stances of every current player in baseball and also throws out a few old timers for Letterman including Rod Carew, Willie Stargell, Joe Morgan and Cal Ripken,

Here he is on the David Letterman show during the all-star break showing off some of this talents.

Anyone who enjoys baseball probably grew up imitating players batting stances.  I did.  I remember playing a version of baseball in the Lent’s basement as a kid and we had to bat right or left handed based on the batting order of the team we chose for that game.

This proves a few things to me.

1) Follow your passion.  Gar has a passion for baseball, has a good delivery on camera and it comes through when he is interviewed.  His love and passion for the game landed him in places he probably never thought possible.

2) You Tube stars come in all sizes and shapes.  From Obama Girl to Susan Boyle to Charlie Bit my finger — post something unique for others to see and yes, it might take off.

3) In order for Gar Ryness to master the batting stances of every player from all 30 baseball teams, the guy has a lot of time on his hands!

Here is one more, called Red Sox Batting Stances, past and present.  It includes the following players

David Ortiz
Manny Ramirez
Jason Vartitek
Nomar Garciaparra
Mo Vaughn
Johnny Damon
Wade Boggs
Dwight Evans
Jim Rice
Dave Henderson
Fred Lynn
Ted Williams
Carlton Fisk
Carl Yastrzemski
Kevin Youkilis

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If you want more of Gar, The Batting Stance Guy has his own web site.

Susan Boyle was back in the news again this week.  The British singing sensation, “discovered” during a taping of Britain’s Got Talent, has been rumored to be coming to the U.S. The producers are debating if they will trot her out for the American version of the sister show “America’s Got Talent” new season.

Why?

Let’s begin with her impact across the ocean.  Boyle’s national TV debut proved that social media can impact public perception and revenues.  Links to her performance on YouTube spread like a brush fire in Southern California at the height of a Santa Ana wind storm. 

Back in April, I originally wrote about Boyle and her success.  Now with a record 173 million page views later the reluctant reality TV star could be jumping the ocean to help promote its sister program in America.

Piers Morgan, who serves as a judge on both the Americana and British shows of “Talent” was quoted in today’s LA Times that ”In terms of the potential effect she could have on ratings, the British show jumped nearly 50% because of Susan.  ”And I believe the American show could do the same.”

That would be a real revenue impact for NBC from a possible boost in advertising, all because of the power of word of mouth marketing,

Businesses that have not yet developed a game plan should see read about this success and begin engaging experts to develop a road map.  Social Media’s impact on business is real and can improve the bottom line with one compelling video like that from Susan Boyle

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If you have not seen the video or want to watch it again, here is a link to Susan Boyle in My You Tube Channel on Social Media

There is also a good beginner’s video to social media, which I have included a link below.

 For those that regularly read this blog, I try and file almost every day.  So I am sure you have been asking yourselves, where did he go?  What happened?  Did he fall into a pothole that KFC has not yet “refreshed” with its Kentucky Fried Chicken logo?  No to all of them.

Since taking a red eye to Orlando Florida on Saturday night, I have spent the better part of nearly a week in a JW Marriott hotel at a National Sales conference with 6 or 700 people and gave a speech entitles about how public relations is helping a business meet its company goals.  A PR 101 if you will in 60 minutes. In it, I discussed some of the traditional things public relations tries to accomplish — story telling, influencing people, external and internal communications, brand management and more. 

I spent the better part of the hour presentation however, educating the attendees about the winds of change and how PR and marketing are merging, the influence of social media, the need to be more transparent with the consumer, what they are currently saying out the company and how we re not there.  I brought out specific examples about how companies reacted in different situations, and what they could have done better.  

One of the last examples I spoke about was the speed at which the internet is changing things.  Let me use the example from my presentation.  

What is the name of the woman who stunned everyone on Britain’s Got Talent?

I am guessing most of you by now have seen the YouTube video of Susan Boyle, the singing sensation.  

Why do I say that?  She has been seen by millions of people.  No, not the three million people or so who have seen Tiger Woods “Walk on Water” in the EA Sports online video or the couple of million Kobe/Nike fans who have witnessed the Ankle insurance YouTube video.

I am talking about more than 100 million people that witnessed Boyle belt out the inspirational song from Les Miserables on stage across the pond to a local audience.  Think about this for a second.  Two of the most popular online videos of all time, rates by views, have been the History of Dance and Avril Lavigne’s girlfriend video.  Both of these productions have totaled some 118 million views.  But it took them more than two years to accomplish this impressive feat.

Susan Boyle’s video jumped

passed 100 million page views in 9 days.

Wake up people.  A good story, this one inspirational and one the internet has changed the way we do business.

That’s my story, and I am sticking to it.  Back with more sportsinfo tomorrow.