Introducing FanGraphs MVP
Whenever I write a State of FanGraphs post, I see some version of this comment: “I’m already a FanGraphs Member, but I’d like to give FanGraphs more money. How can I do that?”
We deeply appreciate that some of you want to offer us more support than our standard annual Membership, and now there’s a way, with the FanGraphs MVP Membership. The price is $500 a year and you get the following:
- All the usual FanGraphs Membership benefits
- A gift exclusive to FanGraphs MVP Members
- An annual call for MVPs with me and other FanGraphs leadership on the state and direction of the site
- An optional tag on your comments indicating that you’re an MVP Member
Assuming that you’re already a site Member, this Membership will replace your current Membership, with your prorated remaining time credited to the initial $500 price. This way, if your $80 Membership just renewed, you don’t have to pay $580 to become an MVP Member.
Philosophically, we’re positioning FanGraphs MVP Membership as a way to further support our work, and receive some special recognition in the process. FanGraphs will become better with your additional support, but your individual FanGraphs experience won’t be better than any other Member’s. We feel this is an important distinction to make, and also an important distinction to be up-front about.
This year’s exclusive gift is a 14-ounce FanGraphs-branded Yeti mug with a ceramic interior:
When I showed the prototype to folks at a recent FanGraphs staff gathering, it was deemed “quite nice.” It will be laser etched with the FanGraphs logo, the year you became an MVP Member, and your MVP Member number, which is assigned in the order you sign up for an MVP Membership. In future years, we may have different gifts. We’ll think more about that this offseason, solicit feedback from MVP Members, and make an announcement as to what’s next before the first anniversary of FanGraphs MVP Membership.
Regardless, we won’t sell these FanGraphs Yeti mugs outside of MVP Membership. They are exclusive to FanGraphs MVP Members.
That said, we know that many existing Members who want to further support the site would prefer to buy more FanGraphs-branded merchandise to do so. We’re actively working on some new merch that isn’t tied to FanGraphs MVP Membership, as well as restocking some of our existing items, and should have more information soon!
If you have the means and love FanGraphs, an MVP Membership is a great way to support the site you’ve come to rely on while getting a nice mug you can brag about. And whether it’s as an annual or monthly Member or an MVP, we’re extremely grateful for all of our Members. You are the reason we’re able to continue to grow and improve the unique combination of data and editorial content that is FanGraphs.
David Appelman is the creator of FanGraphs.
(Clapping hands emojis)
This is a great idea. I’ve been pretty lucky in life. Not so lucky that $500 a year is just something I don’t really care about. However, if Fangraphs ever went away or the quality suffered, I’d kick myself for not chipping in money, that while again not nothing to me, I can definitely afford to part with.
I also really like the aspect of not changing the site for members. I think anyone doing this just wants to support the site. I think this strikes a good balance.
Did you get MVP No. 1?
Haha, I guess I just missed #1.
Thanks so much for your support, we really appreciate it!
You can check your Membership # under My Account -> Dashboard : https://plus.fangraphs.com/my-account/
Bravo sir!
I think some readers would be more apt to pay for something like this if we actually knew what the financial state of Fangraphs was/is. In the article “The State of Fangraphs 2026” we were told that costs were up, certain revenues were down, etc, but no hard numbers were actually given to the members and readers.
What were the total revenues of Fangraphs in 2025? What were the total expenses?
Not sure why this was getting downvoted. Of course, Fangraphs has no obligation to share, but there could be a lot of upside in doing so!
Yep.
If you came out and said ‘Fangraphs in in big trouble”, I would run to my credit card.
Not going to lie: This seems like desperation. which sucks.
I agree that honesty is the best policy here. $500 is A LOT. Even compared to other news site. If Fangraphs is in trouble, I’ll run to my credit card, but if it is somewhat stable, I’ll need to wait.
I personally think the site needs to lock a lot of the fantasy stuff behind the paywall. It drives A LOT of traffic and A LOT of it is gambling related,
Yes, $500 is a lot, but please keep in mind that this is not the new price of FanGraphs. It comes with zero site features, which is how it’s designed.
It’s not meant to price people out of FanGraphs Membership.
As my most recent State of FanGraphs outlined, we face a number of headwinds, some of which affect all of digital media, some of which are specific to baseball.
We are not in the dire straights we were in 2020, but we’re mindful of the difficulties a changing media landscape and the impending lockout will bring. This is a way for folks who have the means and have expressed a desire to provide greater financial support to the site to do so as we navigate those challenges.
Thoughts about selling sponsorships on specific player pages? One-time buy-in cost, determined relative to click rate on player page? I’m sure Ruth, Bonds, Trout get more clicks than say, …. Hosken Powell.
Second this – I miss being able to sponsor player pages on Baseball Reference, would like to see it back there and also here!
Daric Barton, here I come!
For $500 bucks they should add this to the MVP. Does this cost anything more than time?
Its a good suggestion because right now it looks like paying $500 for a Yeti
I do like this idea, though we’ll need to figure out some way to implement it properly, which includes the messages being moderated and a set of rules for what’s allowed / not allowed.
We wouldn’t want a gambling entity to buy up a bunch of MVP subs and put advertising on a bunch of popular player pages.
I also like the idea of being being able to choose some number of players you’d want a message on, without it being a first come first serve basis. Like, if multiple people wanted a message on a certain page that’s fine, there would just be more messages.
We’d also need to consider whether Members see these messages by default, or if there’s a show/hide button. It’s not strictly advertising, but it might be seen as tangential.
With that said, I think we’ll seriously consider doing something like this, but no promises. 🙂
You’re playing on people’s narcissism to be an “elite commenter” on a baseball website and probably making an extra $80k/yr. Great psychology.
tell us you know nothing about market forces without telling us you know nothing about market forces.
There are a lot of reasons to not disclose finances to we the public. However, I don’t know of any other site that does such good things, and has such a good following, that doesn’t seem to have been taken over by vulture capitalists. To me that’s easily worth an extra $40/mth. And if this site goes away, I will definitely want to remember it with an MVP mug. Also, I absolutely want to be part of the site direction calls.
It’s one thing to not disclose your finances to the public. It’s another to have articles basically every week discussing how the owners of the businesses of the industry you cover are evil because they won’t open their books.
I know it’s sometimes difficult to figure out the actual size of an online publication, but there’s a huge difference between an MLB team and FanGraphs.
I don’t remember any MLB teams closing up shop because they can’t afford it. I wish I could say the same in the online publication space.
I truly wish this was an exercise in padding our pockets, when in reality, we just want to maintain the same level of product and potentially add to our staff and keep our current staff compensated at a level that’s commensurate with their talent and expertise.
Honestly, this should be obvious to everyone, but for some reason it isn’t.
Yep, I agree. If there’s any risk of them not being able to continue, I will buy MVP because this is my favorite site on the internet, but unless it’s needed, $500 is a lot
Don’t worry, they’ve got Banknotes Harper in the back room, doing deals, turning their millions into billions.
FanGraphs trucker caps please! I will buy them! (Not all of them, but multiple)
I’d buy a polo/golf shirt in a minute.
Also, in addition to the FG logo, it’d be cool if the sleeve had “In Play, Run(s)” on it.
i’d buy at least 3. 1 for me, 1 for me at work, and 1 for me after i lose one of the first 2.
I would probably buy at least 3 as well. I typically like to wear a cap that matches the color of the home team’s uniforms when I go to a stadium, and since I wind up going to at least two stadiums a summer I would buy the ones I know I want right away. But I would inevitably lose some, and I usually try to fit a new stadium in every summer so eventually I would be buying hats in a bunch of different colors.
I’d think hard about $200 but $500 is a lot for not much more value. The elite FG staff all left for front office positions (Cistulli, Cameron, Sullivan). A call with who is left and a yeti mug not worth it IMHO.
ok
what a weird $300 hill to stick your “i know what writers are elite and what writers aren’t” flag on.
Baseball front offices know. They came at the 3 I mentioned and bought them away from FG.
This implies that the writers who are here now have not been offered jobs with teams, or money for exclusive access to their models (Hello Dan and ZIPS). I bet more than 1 current writer has, but of course I don’t know they for sure, much less details of hypothetical offers.
I’d argue those folks *became* elite in part because of working at Fangraphs!
The reason it doesn’t meet your stringent ROI requirements is because it’s not intended to do that. It’s a way to give the site more support by those with the means to do so, and the perks are a thank you. A lot of charities do similar things in fundraisers.
Is Fangraphs a charity. Dave are you a 501c3
You could have stopped at the first sentence. The implication that all the elite staff have left is way over the top, however. A good number of the writers I look forward to reading daily. Your criticism seems very unfair in reference to the writers.
Dan Z is basically the best baseball writer on the planet right now, and much of the rest of the crew is must-read as well. Losing Sullivan and Cameron and Cistulli hurts but it’s not like they’re writing elsewhere.
I’d second Eastman’s comment above – we don’t know what current Fangraphs authors (and statisticians, developers, editors) have or hadn’t had offers because they’re still here creating awesome stuff. Although there is way too much talent here at Fangraphs to single everyone out, I’d also second sadtrombone’s vote for Dan Sz., and i would add Jay Jaffe (one of the top of Hall of Fame writers and analysts anywhere) and Kiri Oler for WPBL coverage.
woot
The thing I’m most upset about is I got MVP #6, rather than lucky #5. Any chance a huge Stan Musial fan wants to trade back?
Happy to support a site I use all the time and I feel is getting better when everything else feels like it’s service is getting worse.
#5 was retired for Jayden Daniels
I hope aspiring MLB GMs will be putting their membership/MVP status on their resumes.
$80/12 = $6.67 per month
$500/12 = $41.67 per month
I pay about $35 per month for another notable publication, though I don’t necessarily read that one every day. I do read this one every day during baseball season and return to it often enough that, though the cost looks prohibitive, it seems worth the support given how often I read articles and access RosterResource on this site. It’s something for me to think about!
I noticed the difference between regular membership and MVP membership is 420, which as a Mets fan I could really use after this horrendous season!
Amazing! Thank you so much for finding ways for us to contribute to a site that brings so much joy. A little extra $$ annually is a small price to pay to ensure this community stays afloat.
I request a boardgame night hosted by Ben Clemens!
I’m in. Given how often I seek information from Fangraphs, I consider it to be one of my professional organizations. Hence, this is simply the annual membership fee. (And far less than some other organizations that I’m expected to join, but don’t provide me with nearly the same amount of value.) Even if I don’t consider it a professional organization, I am happy to contribute. At $42 per month, I can view it as one fewer restaurant meal per month.
That said, if I could find at least seven people who would benefit from a full membership to Fangraphs, I would rather pay for their membership than have an MVP attached to my name.
I just noticed that one does not need to show the MVP badge. I assume you would prefer that we show the badge to hype your campaign.
Now for the complaint. Normally, I would be happy to accept the insulated mug. It looks useful. And having the MVP on it looks particularly cool. However, the word YETI on it is so distracting that I don’t see myself using it to promote Fangraphs. Instead of discussing the wonderfulness of Fangraphs, I’m sure people who see it will ask me about YETI. (Sad face emoji.)
My first was reaction was ‘damn, that’s a lot of bank.”
LaBellaVita talked me into it. I read this site more than I read the Economist and the NYT, so the value seemed right compared to other subs I have. Hopefully the order processes in time so that I don’t look like a liar when there’s no MVP logo on this post.
The Economist can generally be purchased for $200/year.
Just so I can feel snobby, I too am an Economist subscriber.
The economics of media is you either have to be a lowest common denominator attention merchant (click bait, dumb stuff, sell the attention span if the masses to companies) or be genuinely thoughtful but you have to charge for it (because it’s “boring” to most people).
True in political media or sports media.
That said I wonder how much Fangraphs could make on merch? A huge benefit I like from supporting my local NPR station are the awesome shirts I get 2x a year.
If I wasn’t having to spend so much time on job search websites I’d likely dive in. Separately, I have that size Yeti mug & am a big fan… it’s broader than most, so is not easily tipped over by cats!
Something for people to note – this is *not* David saying ‘hey everyone, you should now pay FanGraphs $500.’
This is David saying ‘hey everyone, some of you have said you WANT to help fund FanGraphs above and beyond the price of a regular membership. Well here’s how you can do that, if you want!’
This is not a new baseline expectation for folks who support the site.
I see MVP next to your response, I thumbs up.
Whoever suggested in chat a few months ago that there should be a high-end tier that gets you an autographed photo of one of my cats, if you do get the MVP subscription, let me know and I’ll do that.
Honestly I wasn’t really thinking of getting the MVP membership until I saw this but now it’s pretty hard to turn down
Wait how do you get the cat’s autograph?
The signing is easy enough, but the penmanship could really use some work
Stonecutter rules? Like if I’m #25 do I have to pick up #17’s dry cleaning?
I’m going to say yes.
Remember, you can outsource it to #31.
And now the final ordeal: the paddling of the swollen ass…with paddles!
Mike Piazza picking up the dry cleaning for the first 30 Fangraphs MVP members is reality TV that I would absolutely watch
Sweet! Do we also get the real emergency number?
Keep up the good work.
Perhaps there could be a smaller version. Like a ROY for $250. Throw in a T-shirt instead of the mug and a postcard instead of the call. Or a monthly email to ROYs.
While I don’t actually *know* specifically, I would *imagine* that we’ll tinker with the offerings we have in the long term. Some of it is the right stuff, some of it is figuring out what you guys are interested in, and so on.
Please call it the “Hall of Very Good” tier.
That would be great.
$1,000 – inner circle HOF – you get assigned (or can choose) one of the top 20-25 HOFers ever – a Ruth, Mays, or Cy Young-type
$500 – HOF – you get assigned (or can choose) a standard HOFer – a Tony Gwynn, Barry Larkin, or Gary Carter
$250 – marginal HOF – you get assigned (or can choose) one of the more questionable inductees – a Chick Hafey, Harold Baines, or Rabbit Maranville.
$100 – hall of very good – you get assigned (or can choose) a guy who perhaps should be in or is at least worthy of further consideration – a Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, or Kenny Lofton
How about instead of those labels, they stick to grades:
$500 – 80 grade
$300 – 70 grade
$200 – 60 grade
Basic sub – 50 grade
All would still make the Top 100 on The Board.
I think this is a good idea. With people on this site in various places in their lives, allowing them the option to contribute something more at some level would be a positive solution for everyone willing to be a little more generous.
Thoughts about selling sponsorships on specific player pages? One-time buy-in cost, determined relative to click rate on player page? I’m sure Ruth, Bonds, Trout get more clicks than say, …. Hosken Powell.
I want to add that I bought MVP because I will do absolutely everything in my power to not have Fangraphs fall into Online Sports Gambling like every other sports media website has.
Apples!
I did not wake up thinking I’d give 428 additional dollars to Fangraphs today, but here I am, and it was a surprisingly easy choice. Thanks so much, FG staff past and present, for all your work to enhance our understanding and enjoyment of our great game.
Done.
This place literally helps keep me alive, as I am in deep healing from childhood trauma, and the baseball stats & discussions and everything here is a breath of fresh air from the deceptive practices of seemingly everything else we see on the Internet.
Bravo. Please keep us posted (I’m assuming that will be part of what MVP’s receive).
Thank you, again. Love you guys.
How do we add the MVP tag to comments? I dug into setting et al but didn’t see how. Thanks!
EDIT: I see how–it’s after you post a comment–but I can’t see what the badge looks like (at least on Brave). I see “Show MVP badge”, but clicking it doesn’t seem to do anything (again on Brave).
EDIT2: I got it to work after the first edit. Odd.
There are a lot of reasons to not disclose finances to we the public. However, I don’t know of any other site that does such good things, and has such a good following, that doesn’t seem to have been taken over by vulture capitalists. To me that’s easily worth an extra $40/mth. And if this site goes away, I will definitely want to remember it with an MVP mug. Also, I absolutely want to be part of the site direction calls.
You already made almost the exact same comment above…
FG has been having some issue where there’s a delay in posting and I don’t know if I just missed the button or something. Also, I have been having short-term memory problems…
Seems like it might make sense to set up a charitable avenue to contribute rather than only characterize it as a higher tier membership, since for many people with means, the tax deduction offsets a good chunk of the cost.
They can’t set it up as a charitable giving because they aren’t a charity.
Happy to purchase $500 Membership. I’m retired and enjoy the in-depth articles and especially the irrelevant ones.
“Especially the irrelevant ones” is a nice way to put it. FanGraphs has such a great blend of substance and whimsy.
It’s hard to pull off, and FanGraphs does. Gonna have to monitor budget, but I’ll get my MVP eventually. To me, at least, one of the core struggles of the late-2020s is going to be building and sustaining healthy physical and digital communities. FanGraphs has that, and it matters.
Just upgraded, but please don’t send me the mug. Although I’m sure it’s a great item, I have enough baseball-related crap around the house and my wife will have yet another reason to murder me in my sleep. We’re supposed to be downsizing!
Thanks so much Thomas! I’ll make a note about your mug, but you are welcome to change your mind at anytime.
Thank you, and thanks to your entire staff.
The first batch of MVP mugs have arrived. We’ll start shipping them out next week!