In the Best Interests of Baseball?
Governing the National Pastime
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
In the Best Interests of Baseball? is a thoughtful, balanced look at the impact of the ninth commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, on the sport as well as an examination of the commissioner’s position in a historical context. The more controversial topics Andrew Zimbalist probes include the conflicts of interest arising from Selig’s original role as owner/commissioner; Selig’s response to the persistent steroids scandal; the commissioner’s role in promoting and marketing the sport; player relations and the collective-bargaining agreement; managing explosive conflicts among the owners; the game’s economic challenges; major changes made on Selig’s watch; and Selig’s growing compensation.
Underlying this very public evaluation is a far more challenging question: given the legal, economic, and political architecture of Major League Baseball, can any commissioner act in the best interest of the game? Based on dozens of interviews with Selig, former president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball Bob DuPuy, and scores of baseball insiders and interested outsiders, as well as on mountains of historic baseball documents, In the Best Interests of Baseball? challenges everything you thought you knew about the game, the Major Leagues, the players, the owners, and, most of all, the man at the helm.
This edition includes a new preface and epilogue by the author discussing the developments in the baseball industry since 2005 and anticipating what lies ahead for the national pastime.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Since 1992, Major League Baseball's owners have adopted a revenue sharing program, realigned their leagues, restructured the playoffs and put aside some of the bitter conflicts that hampered efforts to build a fan base and deal with a well-organized players union. Credit (or blame, depending) for these changes largely belongs to baseball commissioner Bud Selig. As Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College and a leading sports-business authority, argues persuasively, Selig's consensus-building leadership style and status as (now former) owner of the Milwaukee Brewers made it possible for him to drag the most hidebound of sports into the modern era. Zimbalist applies his considerable knowledge to explanations of financial issues that go underreported by mainstream media: the benefits and flaws in baseball's revenue sharing plan, the machinations behind several franchise sales, the hidden tax implications of some of baseball's business practices and some intriguing solutions to the money gap between large- and small-city teams. Zimbalist's treatment of Selig is even-handed, though he takes a harder line when discussing Zelig's conflicts of interest (in his dual role as team owner and commissioner) and describing the ways Selig used his power to help cronies and punish owners who failed to toe the line. Readers expecting a successor to Helyar's Lords of the Realm will be disappointed-Zimbalist is an economist, not a storyteller. Still, this book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the way the game has been run during an era of considerable upheaval.
