Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM [Hardcover]

John Schuerholz (Author), Larry Guest (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2006

In 2004, the Atlanta Braves won their 13th straight National League East division title, an unprecedented level of consistency in the current days of free agency. Behind this success has been the architectural genius of John Schuerholz, who not only built one of the strongest teams in baseball history in the early nineties, but kept them among the elite teams in baseball for over a decade. Now Schuerholz pulls back the front office's curtain in the most candid baseball book since Michael Lewis's Moneyball, discussing everything from how the Braves actually traded for Barry Bonds in the early 90's, to dealing with John Rocker's hateful comments in 1999, to the loss of franchise leaders Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to free agency, to the recent acquisition of Tim Hudson, all the while keeping the Braves at the top of the baseball mountain. John Schuerholz's book will make baseball fans worldwide look at the game in a different way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

For For The Restless Sea 'Evokes the spirit of Cornwall in the early ninteenth century' OXFORD TIMES 'Arguably one of the best of its kind in the last quarter of a century' CORNISH WEEKLY

About the Author

John Schuerholz has been the general manager of the Atlanta Braves since 1990, and before that was the G.M. of the Kansas City Royals. He is the only General Manager in baseball to win a World Series championship in both leagues. Larry Guest is the author of Arnie: Inside the Legend, The Payne Stewart Story and many others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446578681
• ISBN-13: 978-0446578684
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Coaching > Baseball

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, December 1, 2007

By 

Scott C. Carmichael - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM (Hardcover)

I bought this book with the hope of some kind of insight, and some good stories.

It's a decent book, but I could care less about John Schuerholz the poet, I bought the book for baseball.

I was very disappointed, it seems like another book that is an attempt to destroy "Moneyball" in the book market, but fails miserably.

I love the Braves, but left this book feeling pretty disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Written by John's biggest fan, July 28, 2007

By 

Wilcy Moore - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM (Paperback)

First of all, I've been a Braves fan for 30 years, so I appreciate the success of the Schuerholz era. Having said that, this book is really terrible.

Schuerholz comes across as a pompous blowhard who wants us to know that he IS the best dressed man in baseball ("dapper" & "stylish apparel" are used in the book), and that he and Tom Glavine know more about wine than idiots like Stan Kasten. In fact, we get three pages on a Chateau La Fleur Petrus Pomerol, vintage 1961 - oh yeah, that's great reading!! Add some incessant name dropping and a pile of Management 101 anecdotes and you get this opus of self-love.

I really thought I'd enjoy this book. It's too bad the big guy didn't stick to baseball and leave the management cliches for someone as impressed with the author's insights as the author himself. It's almost as if Schuerholz is desperately seeking his share of the credit for the success of the team; so much so that he tries to convince the reader that his management expertise is more responsible for the team's success than the organization Bobby Cox had in place when the author arrived in Atlanta. I'm not buying it, John - even though I was dumb enough to buy this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll gain ideas you can use in almost any field of life!, August 30, 2006

By 

Blaine Greenfield "eclectic reader" (Belle Meade, NJ) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM (Hardcover)

Though the Atlanta Braves will probably not make the playoffs
this year after having done so the previous 14 seasons, I am
still amazed by the team's success . . . and wanted to find
out more about how it was made possible.

So when I saw that the Braves' GM, John Schuerholz, had a
book out--BUILT TO WIN, written with
Larry Guest--I obtained it with the hope of learning even some
of his secrets . . . after reading it, methinks I came across
with several ideas that I can apply not only in my teaching but
in life as well.

Schuerholz uses many baseball examples, which may turn
off some potential readers . . . however, what he says applies
to virtually any company or organization . . . in particular, I liked
his five principles for building a winning team in any endeavor:

1. Create a new vision.
2. Establish organizational goals.
3. Develop a roadmap, or game plan, if you prefer, for success.
4. Inspired the staff.
5. Provide the leadership.

I also liked his advice on how to tell a winner from a loser:
A winner says, "Let's find out." A loser says, "Nobody knows."

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong." When a loser
makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault."

A winner says, "I'm good, but not as good as I ought to be." A loser says,
"I'm not as bad as a lot of other people."

A winner tries to learn from those who are superior to him. A loser tries to
tear down those who are superior to him.

A winner says, "There ought to be a better way to do it." A loser says,
"That's the way it's always been done here."

Winners encourage innovations, creativity and passion for their work,
for their life.

Lastly, I'll value BUILT TO WIN for the following passage:
I left them with one of my favorite sayings, "Winners make commitments.
Losers make excuses." I reminded the people at that meeting there
had been enough excuses offered to the Atlanta area and our great
fans about why we haven't succeeded, why this team hasn't won,
why the seats were dirty, why the ballpark food wasn't very good,
why the ushers and parking attendants weren't more attentive or
pleasant. Why, why, why . . .

I pledged we were no longer going to offer excuses for those things.
Instead we were going to make commitments to fixing all of it. After all,
winners make commitments.

My feeling is that if you make the commitment to buy this book
for any baseball fan, he or she won't be disappointed!