Paul Konerko won many honors during his baseball career, but he probably never thought about winning a Sports Emmy.
Konerko’s “PK Thanks Chicago” farewell video is nominated for a Sports Emmy in the category of Outstanding New Approaches-Sports Programming Short Format. The Sports Emmys are Tuesday in New York.
The video, produced by 312 Media and aired on MLB.com, mixes images of Konerko packing up balls in the indoor batting cage at U.S. Cellular Field along with highlights of his career.
Tad Hathaway of 312 Media said Konerko wanted to do a video as a way to thank Sox fans for their support.
“We wanted to show all the hours he spent in the batting cage,” Hathaway said.
Hathaway said Konerko was actively involving in planning the video. The former Sox star even assisted on the production side. After seeing the edited version of the video, he suggested that the images of him picking up the ball in the cage should run in black-and-white. It helped give the piece a different feel.
“Paul has a good eye for concepts,” Hathaway said. “It was a good suggestion.”
Konerko’s video will be up against some strong competition at the Sports Emmys. The other nominees are Fox Sports for “Captain’s Curtain Call” on Derek Jeter; “NFL Up!” by NFL Digital Media; and “Putt Putt Perfection” by Grantland.
Given the awards are in New York and given that Paul played mostly for the White Sox and given that a piece on Derek Jeter is also in the running, Konerko’s chances are slim and none…and slim just left.
And to think the Dodgers traded him away to Cincy…bad deal then and everyday during PK’s career….