It hurts the game because these guys have zero marketability when they refuse to speak the language even though as mentioned, they ALL can to some degree (if not fully). Doing the stupid interviews is part of the job, as is showing some level of interest in communicating with the fans that are ultimately the reason why they are paid. Name me one other sport wherein an athlete can spend 10+ years in a foreign country and NOT be expected to communicate to some degree in the native tongue after that many years? It doesn't exist anywhere else. In fact, in soccer you will often see players who pick up MULTIPLE languages due to the nature of countries having their own leagues.
The MLB babies these guys far too much and god forbid you bring it up without the SJW journalist idiots like Keith Law crying "racism".
1) he does the interviews, just prefers an interpreter to avoid any conflict.
2) he can speak English so do we know for sure he avoids talking with fans?
3) Malkin is still pretty terrible with English. I’m unsure of how much he does with interviews and fan interaction.
4) what’s the % of pro soccer players being European? It’s pretty common for Europeans to speak multiple languages.
5) as far as marketing goes. The MLB themselves fail big time with that. I’n Sure if they approached Vlad to do some commercials or whatever he could speak the lines he needs to in English.
But by all means go ahead and shit on the 20 year old kid for not being fluent in English(Which is btw one of the most confusing language to learn, North Americans speak it every day and suck at English) by now.