The Ball: Mark McGwire's Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream [Hardcover]

Daniel Paisner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

When Mark McGwire sent the first pitch from Montreal Expos rookie pitcher Carl Pavano rocketing into the left field stands at Busch Stadium on September 27, 1998, it was baseball's latest "shot heard round the world." A 26-year-old research scientist named Phil Ozersky happened to be sitting in those left field stands that fateful afternoon, and when he dove on the ball and hugged it close, his world was remade.

The Ball offers readers an inside account of what happened next --and what happened first. Author Daniel Paisner retraces the arc of this one ball, from the moment it was stitched by factory workers in a Rawlings plant in Turrialba, Costa Rica; to the moment it was finally sold at auction for a staggering $3.005 million to comic-book publisher Todd McFarlane.

This is a tale of fortune and legend, honor and greed, substance and style, based in large part on Paisner's unique access to Ozersky and his advisers, including St. Louis sports agent Michael D. Barnes. The Ball is the only in-depth account of the remarkable aftermath to this remarkable baseball season, shot through with compelling personalities, backroom dealings and unearthed legends from our national game. It is itself a gem of a collector's item, sure to find a place on the bookshelves of baseball fans and observers of the American scene.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The Ball" begins innocently enough in a Costa Rican factory as a Rawlings baseball, like thousands of others each year, is wound and sewn for use in the major leagues. The story ends months later at auction, when that very ball is sold for more than $3 million. Between those two events, Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire has hit it--and, up in the stands, a young research scientist named Phil Ozersky has retrieved what turned out to be a shot for history, the Mighty Mac's 70th home run of the season. Now, a hunk of horsehide is suddenly baseball's ultimate object of desire, an instrument of potential wealth and thus ineffable greed.

The story of this ball and its movements--and what it tells us about who we are as a society--makes for an odd and riveting cautionary tale, almost totemic in quality. McGwire made it clear during his hunt for Roger Maris's legendary record of 61 home runs in a season that he'd never pay for any of the record-breaking homers he hit and that their rightful place was on display in Cooperstown. Still, the smart money knows that everything today has a price, and someone is always willing to pay it. "We live in a time," Paisner reminds us, "when dollar bills change hands as carelessly as if they'd been printed by Milton Bradley ... when money burns the kinds of holes in our deep pockets that can't keep us from our impulses." On cue, Ozersky sleeps with the ball the first night and then puts it in his girlfriend's parents' safe the next day before securing it in a safe deposit box the day after. Then the marketers, agents, and auctioneers take center stage. Interestingly, the only person who exits the tale with hands completely clean is the star himself, Mark McGwire, happy to do his part and leave it at that. --Jeff Silverman

From Publishers Weekly

Paisner (The Imperfect Mirror, etc.) believes that Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball just might hold part of the secret to what it means to be American today. From the moment it was stitched in a Rawlings plant in Costa Rica to the moment it sold for just over $3 million to comic book publisher Tod McFarlane, this one particular baseball provides a kind of cultural looking glass. (The idea that a home run ball could carry America's cultural DNA will be familiar to readers of Don DeLillo's Underworld, the prologue to which follows the trajectory of Bobby Thomson's 1951 pennant-winning blast). The ball, as Paisner traces it, infects its possessor and those who wish to possess it with a particularly American kind of greed. Everybody, of course, wants it, but Paisner sees America as having passed a new threshhold in the transmutation of emotional value into market value. McGwire's home run ball is a good example of the phenomenon, but it's an awfully small object to carry all the implications of the cultural criticism with which Paisner tries to stamp it. Paisner is most interesting when he digs behind the scenes with his reporter's pad in clear viewAfor example, when he talks to regular people who thought they hated baseball but were nonetheless swept up by the 1998 season, or to Major League Baseball officials who were in charge of organizing security details for McGwire and Sammy Sosa. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670887765
• ISBN-13: 978-0670887767
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Paisner is one of the busiest collaborators in publishing. He's written over fifty books, on topics ranging from business and sports, to politics and popular culture, including eleven New York Times best-sellers.

He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams; MSNBC News personality Mika Brzezinski; real estate developer and co-star of "Celebrity Apprentice" Ivanka Trump; Ohio governor John Kasich; former New York City mayor Ed Koch; and, Academy Award-winning actors Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Quinn, among others. He is currently completing projects with former world champion longboard surfer Izzy Paskowitz and legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley.

Over the years, Paisner has worked with dozens of "ordinary" individuals with extraordinary stories to tell, including Krystyna Chiger, whose chronicle of her family's horrific ordeal in a Polish sewer during the German occupation, "The Girl in the Green Sweater," makes an important contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. The story is the basis for the forthcoming film, "In Darkness," from Academy Award-nominated director Agnieszka Holland.

Perhaps his most notable collaboration has been the best-selling account of a New York City firefighter's epic tour of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Last Man Down," written with FDNY Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto. The book was #1 on the London Times best-seller list, and remained a top ten seller in the U.K. for over six months; it reached the #1 spot on the Amazon.com.uk "Hot 100" list.

Paisner has also written several books of his own, including "The Ball: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream," which was hailed by Amazon editors as one of the best sports books of the year. If you want to really make him happy, consider reading one of his novels, "Obit" and "Mourning Wood."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEAD-ON ACCURATE, May 8, 2000

By 

James B. Kohler - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ball: Mark McGwire's Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream (Hardcover)

Daniel Paisner has hit another home run. The absurdity that has entered into the sports memorabilia market is clearly exposed here. He accuarately illuminates just how hard it is for the average fan to collect that "special piece." Unfortunately, sports memorabilia collecting can no longer be just for the love of the game. The book was a great read and highly recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, Pleasurable Read, December 25, 1999

By 

C.W. Marinac (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ball: Mark McGwire's Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream (Hardcover)

You'll be amazed how quickly 200 pages turn with this well-written, fast-paced dialogue of Mark McGuire's 70th baseball and the hoopla that endured for a lucky scientist in St. Louis. Even if you're not a huge baseball fan, this story is likely to keep your attention. Thanks to Barron's newspaper for the recommendation!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll never look at a baseball the same way again!, September 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ball: Mark McGwire's Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream (Hardcover)

Round and round and round she goes... Someone, maybe you, could strike it rich at the ballpark and bring home #62 or #63 or, heaven forbid, #70. Here it is, the great lottery of the magical 1998 baseball season. The buzz about Sammy and McGwire was matched by an undercurrent of instant fame and wealth, the American pastime promising to bestow the American dream. THE BALL captures it all. And it is truly a fascinating and highly entertaining read. I recommend this book not only to baseball fans (for whom it is a must) but also for anyone interested at a look behind the scenes of one of the great fairy tales of our times.