In the Best Interests of Baseball?: The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig

by Andrew S. Zimbalist

Book Overview

"Once again, Andy Zimbalist proves that no one understands the mysterious inner workings of the best game on earth better than he does. With energy, thoughtfulness, and passion, he has parsed the complicated world of baseball and shown how important its business side is to its soul--and its survival." --Ken Burns "By looking at baseball from the perspective of the commissioner's office and its many challenges, Professor Zimbalist has been able to...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471735337
• ISBN13: 9780471735335
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A fascinating look at the baseball industry and its leaders through the years

Dr. Zimbalist is an accomplished writer and has a wealth of experience examining the business side of major league baseball. This book, which is an excellent companion to "May the Best Team Win," looks at the history of the business side of baseball through the commissioners that have served from Landis (actually, even earlier, as he discusses the National Commission which ruled baseball until 1921) to Selig. Along the way, Dr. Zimbalist reviews what the commissioner's role involved and how that role evolved, the manner in which each commissioner made his mark (or in the case of William Eckert, left NO mark), and concludes on how effectively each served, given the context in which that service took place. The book proceeds from a couple of important premises, one being that major league baseball alone has been blessed with an antitrust exemption, sometimes a mixed blessing to be sure; and, the second being that because baseball existed in a competitive vacuum for decades, the enterprise and its leaders never had to attend to basic business practices like marketing the industry. Plus, the reserve clause, in effect until the Seitz decision of December 1975, protected owners from dealing with labor and labor costs, all of which led to an arrogance on the part of owners that all but brought MLB to its knees post-free agency. All of this is captured in a most compelling manner, and there is some really great insight provided about Landis, Chandler, Frick, Kuhn, Ueberroth, the much-beloved Bart Giamatti and Fay Vincent, much of which is unknown to all but real baseball zealots. But the real focus of the book is Bud Selig and Dr. Zimbalist weaves a very interesting story about the reign of Mr. Selig and what it has meant to MLB. There is a great deal of information about what Mr. Selig has had to do which helps to explain how MLB has changed so dramatically since the days of Bart Giamatti and Fay Vincent. All in all, this is a terrific book and one which has enhanced my knowledge of the ecomonics and business aspects of the game, and heightened my appreciation of the accomplishments of a guy whose major strong point is working the phones and building concensus among a group of highly successful individuals who have very, very different perspectives. Kind of like herding cats, but Selig has done it well, and baseball is prospering as a result.

Giving the Devil His Due

Andrew Zimbalist appreciates better than anyone writing today that baseball is too much of a game to be a business and too much of a business to be a game. Bud Selig understands this dilemma too, and has walked the tightrope that is his lot better than anyone (except Zimbalist, in this fine book) has given him credit for. Symbolically an ombudsman for the game and the fans, Selig is nonetheless the employee of the owners and ignores that fact at his peril, as several of his predecessors found. After years of faulting the commissioner's decisions and indecisions, the author now gives him the high marks he deserves for restoring the game to vitality and prosperity, despite owner handwringing that would lead one to think otherwise. Zimbalist is a consummate and impeccably credentialed outsider, and this splendid book is the real deal. 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. As to the historical overview of the commissionership, far from being warmed-over coals, much of this comes as news even to one expected to know a thing or two about baseball, and all of it is extended with fresh perspective. There is no one I'd rather read on the double helix of baseball and business.

Why you should read this book

Bud Selig has effectively been baseball's commissioner for fifteen controversy packed years (think: strike, revenue sharing, blue ribbon panel on competitive balance, luxury tax, contraction plan, steroids, eclipse by football as the national pastime...). During this period the most incisive writer on baseball's organisational and economic woes has been Andy Zimbalist. Zimbalist has also been one of Selig's harshest critics (read any of his work and you will never find the word "mis-step" far from Selig's name). So don't you want to know what happened when Selig called in Zimbalist for fireside chat? This book not only gives us a profound insight into both sides of this story, it also does the useful job of setting it in context. There can be few positions in the world of sport where a figure is burdened with such high expectations but has so little "wiggle room", as Zimbalist puts it. The book details the historical evolution of the commissioner and ends up crediting Selig with the re-invention of the position as conciliator-in-chief. How sports leagues manage themselves is a vital issue for the fans and for the future of the game. Reading this will get you bang up-to-date with what is going on right now.