Long Balls, No Strikes
What Baseball Must Do to Keep the Good Times Rolling
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Nobody loves baseball more than Joe Morgan. He's proved it with his hall-of-fame performance on the field and his brilliant color commentary in the broadcast booth. Bob Costas says, "There may not be anyone alive who knows more about baseball than Joe Morgan.
In his playing days, Morgan was a key cog in the Big Red Machine, and he saw the game at its zenith. From his perch in the broadcast booth he watched as baseball self-destructed, culminating in the devastating strike of 1994. And in 1998, he saw the game come back with baseball's electrifying resurgence in the season of McGwire, Sosa, and the Yankees.
But as great as '98 was, Joe knows that baseball still has a lot of problems. And while baseball may be back, Joe wants the fans, the players, and the owners to know that some serious changes still need to be made. In Long Balls, No Strikes, Morgan draws on three decades' experience and passion as he dissects what has gone wrong and right for baseball. Some of his insights may seem unorthodox, some will be controversial, but that's never stopped Joe Morgan before.
How do we improve the game on the field?
Raise the mound
Abolish the designated hitter forever
Make the umpires learn the strike zone
And that's only the beginning. . . .
How do we improve the game off the field?
Erase the invisible color line that keeps African-Americans from holding management positions
Expand the talent pool by sending more scouts to the inner cities
Have all teams share equally from the same profit pool
And that's not all. . . .
Joe Morgan doesn't believe in "the good old days." Tomorrow's game can be even better than yesterday's. But at the end of the century, the game stands at a crossroads. One path leads right back to the troubles that nearly destroyed the game forever in 1994. The other leads to a new Golden Age. If baseball wants to continue to thrive, some changes must be made. But before there are changes, we need to ask the right questions. And if Joe Morgan doesn't know the answers, then no one does.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Baseball is back, but it's not all the way back," writes Morgan. Having proved himself one of baseball's shrewdest television analysts for both ESPN and NBC, the Hall of Fame second-baseman brings his intelligence and knowledge to this savvy state-of-the-game evaluation of where baseball is and where it should go. With the help of Lally, Morgan convincingly argues that baseball's magical 1998 campaign was an aberration and that the game needs to revamp itself if it is to retain the popularity thrust upon it last year by Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and the remarkable success of the New York Yankees. Baseball junkies will appreciate his host of suggested improvements, ranging from raising the pitcher's mound (which was lowered after pitchers dominated the 1968 season) and standardizing the strike zone (which the league is trying to do this season) to a plea for more aggressive baserunning. They'll also find compelling his list of players who should be in the Hall of Fame (including two of his Big Red Machine teammates, Tony Perez and Davy Concepcion) and his criticisms of certain managerial chestnuts. Morgan intelligently discusses the game's labor issues, explaining the history that produced the players' union, while simultaneously arguing for a revenue-sharing plan that would give small-market teams a chance to compete. A provocative chapter notes the insidious ways in which race--and racism--still affect the game, both on and off the field. Tart and thoughtful, Morgan's opinions will be relished by anyone who knows and loves the game. Author tour.