SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: FANS PERCEPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS IN TWO LARGE MEDIA MARKETS

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an immense and ever changing topic specific to each individual business. Academics are continually trying to study the various mechanics, impacts, and effects of CSR initiatives set forth by firms. Major league baseball (MLB), also known as the ‗America‘s past time‘, is working to become more socially responsible and to do more within the respective communities housing teams. Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming a central theme within major league baseball and sport itself. CSR involves activities that focus on multiple stakeholders, including customers, employees, and community in which the credibility of CSR policies will play a pivotal role in the efficient implementation of CSR initiatives (Torres et. al., 2012). Just as society and its structures have developed over centuries, so too has the notion of social responsibility. The definitional paradigm and its implementation have morphed over the last fifty years to mean something diff