Mitch Albom: What exactly is wrong with Mike Trout's brand?

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who hear “brand” and think marketing, and those who hear “brand” and think a hot poker stuck into a cow.

I admit to being one of the latter. I’m slow to the whole “brand” dialogue. I get it for soda, cars and computers. But when I hear “brand” referred to human beings, it gets weird. I keep thinking about what happens when those people die; will the name on their tombstones have one of those copyright signs next to it?

The issue arose last week when the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, was mildly criticized by his commissioner for not being enough of a brand player.

The commissioner, Rob Manfred, a Harvard law grad, was being asked by the…