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Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball

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Overview

From his perspective as a journalist and a true fan, Bob Costas, NBC's award-winning broadcaster, shares his views on the forces that are diminishing the appeal of Major League Baseball and proposes realistic changes that can be made to protect and promote the game's best interests. In this cogent--and provocative--book, Costas examines the growing financial disparities that have resulted in nearly two-thirds of the teams in Major League Baseball having virtually no chance of contending for the World Series. He argues that those who run baseball have missed the crucial difference between mere change and real progress. And he presents a withering critique of the positions of both the owners and players while providing insights on the wild-card system, the designated-hitter rule, and interleague play. Costas answers each problem he cites with an achievable strategy for restoring genuine competition and rescuing fans from the forces that have diluted the sheer joy of the game. Balanced by Costas's unbridled appreciation for what he calls the "moments of authenticity" that can still make baseball inspiring, Fair Ball offers a vision of our national pastime as it can be, a game that retains its traditional appeal while initiating meaningful changes that will allow it to thrive into the next century.

Editorial Reviews

Emmy Award-winning sports announcer Costas is a natural for audio; his confident, animated voice is enjoyable to listen to (though the rapid-fire speed of his delivery takes a little while to get used to), and he's comfortable behind the microphone. His passion for baseball comes through in every line. This audio is a soapbox for Costas, allowing him to present his strong opinions about exactly what's wrong with baseball today. Like a lawyer presenting his final summation, he intelligently argues his case. He believes 1993 was the turning point: the year that Major League Baseball made radical (and in Costas's opinion, misguided) changes, including the realignment of the divisions, that allow weaker teams to enter the playoffs and potentially end up as World Series contenders. Costas also argues strongly for salary caps and revenue sharing to lessen the unfair advantage currently enjoyed by wealthy, large-market teams. This audio's conversational pace and clear production make it a sure bet for baseball fans interested in the future of the game. Based on the Broadway hardcover (Forecasts, Mar. 27). (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Bob Costas

Bob Costas has won the Emmy Award as Outstanding Sports Broadcaster eight times & has been named National Sportscaster of the Year by his peers seven times. He has also received Emmy Awards for his writing, interviewing, & reporting. In addition to his sports broadcasting, Costas hosted the Emmy Award-winning interview show "Later ...with Bob Costas" on NBC, & will be hosting a new sports journalism program on HBO beginning in February 2001. A native New Yorker, Costas now lives in Saint Louis, Missouri.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Random House

Filesize

1.12 MB

Number of Pages

224

eBook ISBN

9780767909549

Awards

  • Friends of Libraries U. S. A. Readers' Choice Award

Excerpt from: Fair Ball by Bob Costas

Let's say it's late October, and you're in what should be baseball heaven, sitting on the couch watching the fourth game of the World Series, Yanks vs. Braves.

Suppose for a moment that you're a Minnesota Twins fan. You've been a baseball fan all your life, grew up playing the game, once got Rod Carew's autograph at a Little League clinic, spent your eighth birthday at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, and your fifteenth at the Humpdome in downtown Minneapolis. You played baseball in high school, took a summer vacation in college to Cooperstown, and once joked that you wouldn't leave the country between September 1 and the end of October, because you couldn't stand to miss the end of a pennant race or the playoffs.

But tonight you find yourself watching the Series not because you're passionately rooting for either the Atlanta Braves or the New York Yankees. Instead you're watching mostly because, well, watching the Series is what you've done every October for as long as you can remember (save for that lost fall of 1994).

So you sit there and contemplate the Atlanta Braves, a team the Twins vanquished eight years earlier in perhaps the greatest Series ever. And you wonder about the fortunes and forces that, since then, have sent your club into a decade-long financial and competitive tailspin, while the Braves have been in the playoffs every full season since. The two cities are roughly the same size, and, competitive factors being equal, Minnesota has supported the Twins at least as well as Atlanta has supported its team. Yet in the weird logic of late-'9Os baseball, Atlanta is a big market and Minneapolis-St. Paul is a small one. While your team still plays in the depressing dome, Atlanta has a new state-of-the-art facility with natural grass, good sight lines, a cozy retro feel, and all the modern amenities.