VIDA BLUE ON THE AIR WITH THE TODD MCFARLANE SHOW ON MLB.COM - LISTEN FOR THE LATEST LABOR UPDATE FROM SETH, TODD AND VIDA

Today's show, at 4 PM Eastern, promises to be jam-packed with the latest on the new labor agreement, along with a great look at baseball from the perspective of six-time All-Star Vida Blue.

Vida played from 1969 to 1986 with Oakland, San Francisco and Kansas City. During his career, he was the AL Cy Young Award winner and MVP in 1971, and had three straight World Series appearances with Oakland from 1972 - 1974.

Todd's co-host, Seth Everett will be "fresh" off of an all-nighter at Major League Baseball Headquarters, following every step of the final labor negotiations.

To listen to the show each Friday, log on to http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/radio/mlb_radio_index.jsp and click the ON THE AIR LIVE link at the top of the page.

Additionally, fans can ask Todd questions in advance by sending e-mail to [email protected]. And, the questions do NOT have to be limited to sports issues. During the show itself, anyone can use AOL Instant Messenger to reach the show by sending a message to mlbradiolive.

MLB.com is the official Web site of Major League Baseball.

FOX'S THIS WEEK IN BASEBALL FEATURES TODD, BASEBALL FIGURES
WATCH FOR PLAYERS INTERVIEWS; A LOOK AT MCFARLANE DESIGN GROUP

What do baseball superstars like Shawn Green, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Ken Griffey, Jr. and others think about themselves in six-inch plastic form?

Tune in to Fox's This Week in Baseball Saturday, Aug. 31 at 12:30 ET/PT to find out. Todd and McFarlane's Sports Picks take center 'field' for the weekly show that will feature a behind-the-scenes look at how the figures are designed, and a candid interview with Todd � shot on location at the 2002 All-Star FanFest in Milwaukee.

Todd discusses his passion for the game and what inspired McFarlane Toy's baseball figure series, considered "the most superior ever created, unsurpassed in likeness, accurate detail and quality," according to Senior Managing Producer Steve Fortunato.

What makes this feature unique is that TWIB went directly to the players to critique their own figures. Additionally, the feature is introduced by the show's host for the week, St. Louis Cardinals slugging outfielder Albert Pujols, who himself, has a figure in Series 1. Viewers will also get a unique look at how the figures are created, players selected and the company's famous photo-realistic detail is achieved during a tour of the McFarlane Design Group in New Jersey.

This Week in Baseball, produced by Major League Baseball Productions, is the weekly national lead in to Fox's Saturday Game of the Week. This episode can be seen at 12:30 ET/PT on Fox and is repeated throughout the week on the YES Network.

Major League Baseball Productions is the Emmy Award winning in-house television and video production division of Major League Baseball. Created to promote the game worldwide, MLB Productions provides network specials, home videos, commercials and other specialty programming to growing global audiences. This Week in Baseball, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, making it the longest running sports anthology series in American television broadcast history. Hosted by a different superstar player or celebrity each week, TWIB gives audiences an all-access pass to the game, bringing fans closer to the players than ever before.

SPAWN.COM NEWS UPDATE
Here's an advance look at this week's headlines from spawn.com. As always, the weekly update will be live on http://www.spawn.com at approximately 4 PM Pacific Time, today. Full details on each of the stories below will be available in News Section.

NFL SERIES 4 KICKS OFF
NEW 8-PLAYER LINE HEADING TO STORES
In celebration of a coming season (hopefully) full of bone-crunching hit and wild touchdown tosses (not to mention Madden coming to Monday Night Football), McFarlane Toys is proud to present its newest sports line, McFarlane's Sports Picks: NFL Series 4.

SPAWN.COM GOING TO VERSION 3.0
NEW SITE TO OFFER REDESIGNED INTERFACE
Those of you that have been with spawn.com for some time likely remember the earliest incarnation of the site. And much like your own junior high school photographs, we spawn.com staffers often think back and cringe.

TBS'S 'MOVIES FOR GUYS WHO LIKE MOVIES' TO AIR 'SPAWN'
WATCH SEPT. 3 FOR THE MOVIE, BEHIND-THE-SCENES INTERVIEW WITH TODD
The original Spawn film debuted five years ago on Aug. 3, 1997. Fast-forward five years and one month to Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2002, and the cult classic live-action film has earned a spot on the TBS Superstation showcase Movies for Guys who Like Movies, airing at 10:30 PM Eastern/7:30 PM Pacific. Watch Tuesday for several short interviews with Todd on the Spawn character and the movie.

CURRENLTLY IN NEWS
Here's a quick list of stories and features currently on the spawn.com site.

MOVIE MANIACS 5 LIVE IN FEATURES
http://spawn.com/news/news020823d.html

BASEBALL SERIES 3 ON ITS WAY
http://spawn.com/news/news020823a.html

LATEST KISS FIGURES HITTING SHELVES
http://spawn.com/news/news020809b.html

McFARLANE/WB MATRIX COLLECTIBLES
http://spawn.com/news/news020802a.html

IMAGE PARTNERS SIGN POSTER FOR CBLDF
http://spawn.com/news/news020823e.html

TOP-SECRET HOCKEY FIGURE REVEALED
http://spawn.com/news/news020823b.html

The Todd McFarlane Update is reprinted with permission. To receive this newsletter in your email inbox, you can subscribe at http://www.onelist.com/community/ToddMcFarlaneUpdate.