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"A savvy analysis of the game's financial problems" (Los Angeles Times), now updated throughout and featuring a new chapter on recent controversies and upheavals in the game. Selected as one of the best books of the year by Business Week.
As the season draws to a close and postseason play begins, this book offers a fascinating look at the ledgers that prop up America's favorite sport. Zimbalist chronicles the evolution of the baseball business from the Civil War through today in this eye-opening account of greed, abuse of the public trust, and poor management that threatens the future of the game. Index.
Recent polls have placed football ahead of baseball in popularity. Does this reflect football's rise or baseball's decline? Why has the national pastime--a title perhaps becoming inaccurate--fallen behind other major sports? Is the trend reversible? This book identifies the most substantial and persistent issues that have impaired Major League Baseball's development. Chapters cover inflationary player, team and game costs; changes in baseball's fan base; congestion in urban areas that host big league ballclubs; the negligent and irrational actions (some of it criminal) of players, owners, league officials, and the players' union; and the maldistribution of power among the major league franchises. Six major reforms needed to boost the popularity of baseball are identified.
"The season's best book so far gets right to the heart of the game's survival at the organizational level." —The Boston Globe "A compelling examination of the national pastime as seen through the prism of the commissioner's office." —The Wall Street Journal "A thoughtful and objective analysis of baseball's labor and economic policy evolution. Interesting, relevant, and a good read." — Randy Levine, President of the New York Yankees and former chief labor negotiator for MLB "A tour de force. It's an incredibly interesting read that ends with a vision for the sport that is squarely on target and a clarion call to our industry." — John Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and member of the MLB Executive Committee "Those who are determined to have Selig's head on a stick will be disappointed; rational baseball fans will rejoice in this tough but fair view of a decent man in a thankless job." — John Thorn, coauthor of Total Baseball "This thoroughly researched book by one of the foremost authorities on sports business is an oral history of the game through the Office of the Commissioner. Zimbalist provides a fascinating look at the game's history and those who have helped shape it." —mlb.com, April 3, 2006 "The best baseball book I've read in forty years." —Mike Murphy, 670 The Score, Chicago
To most Americans, baseball is just a sport; but to those who own baseball teams--and those who play on them--our national pastime is much more than a game. In this book, Robert Burk traces the turbulent labor history of American baseball since 1921. His comprehensive, readable account details the many battles between owners and players that irrevocably altered the business of baseball. During what Burk calls baseball's "paternalistic era," from 1921 to the early 1960s, the sport's management rigidly maintained a system of racial segregation, established a network of southern-based farm teams that served as a captive source of cheap replacement labor, and crushed any attempts by players to create collective bargaining institutions. In the 1960s, however, the paternal order crumbled, eroded in part by the civil rights movement and the competition of television. As a consequence, in the "inflationary era" that followed, both players and umpires established effective unions that successfully pressed for higher pay, pensions, and greater occupational mobility--and then fought increasingly bitter struggles to hold on to these hard-won gains.
Contains essays in which Andrew Zimbalist examines the challenges facing the sports industry in the second decade of the twenty-first century, discussing the financial crisis in college sports, labor relations in professional leagues, the economic impact of the Olympics, and other topics.
The business of baseball stands in sharp contrast to the game’s wholesome image as America’s favorite pastime. Major league baseball is a deeply troubled industry, facing chronic problems that threaten its future: persistent labor tensions, competitive dominance by high-revenue teams, migration of game telecasts to cable, and escalating ticket prices. Amid the threat of contraction, existing franchises are demanding public subsidies for new stadiums, while viable host cities are begging for teams. The game’s core base of fans is aging, and MLB is doing precious little to attract a younger audience. According to Andrew Zimbalist, these problems have a common cause: monopoly. Since 1922 MLB has benefited from a presumed exemption from the nation’s antitrust laws. It is the only top-level professional baseball league in the country, and each of its teams is assigned an exclusive territory. Monopolies have market power, which they use to derive higher returns, misallocate resources, and take advantage of consumers. Major league baseball is no exception. In May the Best Team Win, Zimbalist provides a critical analysis of the baseball industry, focusing on the abuses and inefficiencies that have plagued the game since the 1990s, when franchise owners appointed their colleague Bud Selig as MLB’s “independent” commissioner.
Advance Praise for Did Babe Ruth Call His Shot? "Aron has found the Rosetta stone to all of baseball's enduring mysteries, and he skips it along the pond with utter disregard for the ducks. His fortunate readers will have so much fun they may not even notice that they are becoming, page by page, real experts. Here is surefire water-cooler ammo." --JOHN THORN, editor of Total Baseball "Paul Aron puts a distant replay on the most famous controversies in baseball history. This is more fun than if he'd been there with a camcorder." --ALLEN BARRA, author of Clearing the Bases and Brushbacks and Knockdowns "Paul Aron has hit a home run for baseball fans. He dissects the evidence on baseball's 28 most charming mysteries. The result is a well-written, enjoyable, enlightening tour of the last hundred years of baseball history." --ANDREW ZIMBALIST, author of Baseball and Billions "Paul Aron's book on elements of baseball is both wise and fun, illuminating and entertaining." --ROBERT ADAIR, author of The Physics of Baseball "The essential last word for every fan who loves to debate baseball fact and fiction." --MICHAEL SHAPIRO, author of The Last Good Season
Presenting views from a variety of sport and history experts, Baseball in America and America in Baseball captures the breadth and unsuspected variety of our national fascination and identification with America's Game. Chapters cover such well-known figures as Ty Cobb and lesser-known topics like the "invisible" baseball played by Japanese Americans during the 1930s and 1940s. A study of baseball in rural California from the Gold Rush to the turn of the twentieth century provides an interesting glimpse at how the game evolved from its earliest beginnings to something most modern observers would find familiar. Chapters on the Negro League's Baltimore Black Sox, financial profits of major league teams from 1900 to 1956, and American aspirations to a baseball-led cultural hegemony during the first half of the twentieth century round out this superb collection of sport history scholarship. Baseball in America and America in Baseball belongs on the bookshelf of any avid student of the game and its history. It also provides interesting glimpses into the sociology of sport in America.