Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting (Fireside Sports Classics) [Paperback]

Kevin Kerrane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1989 | Series: Fireside Sports Classics

With a new epilogue covering the late 1990s, this book takes a look at the world of baseball scouting. Kevin Kerrane makes clear the point that baseball is big business.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The author spent a year with the Phillies'' scouts when they were arguably the best judges of raw talent in the major leagues. The often hard lives of baseball''s underpaid hunter-gatherers are rendered in lively detail."—Sports Illustrated

(Sports Illustrated )

"A fascinating look at the world of the baseball scout . . . some of the best baseball tall tales you’ll ever read."—Wall Street Journal

(Wall Street Journal )

"The scouts who seek out major league prospects are like explorers, wandering the country’s amateur diamonds in the hope of finding a treasure—or a raw talent that can be turned into a treasure. A lot of what romance remains in baseball centers on this perennial quest, and Kerrane . . . captures it in this wonderfully affectionate book."—People

(People )

"This study [is] mesmerizing, for it deals with getting the most, pound-per-dollar, for the goods: young baseball flesh. . . . That baseball is a business has never been made so clear. Both narrative and characters are engaging, and Kerrane . . . writes with passionate clarity."—Library Journal

(Library Journal )

"One of the best baseball books to hit the shelves in recent memory . . . the story of the men behind the muscle mart . . . Kerrane scrutinizes this sometimes frantic, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes inspiring world. . . . For those in the stands, Dollar Sign offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at America’s national pastime."—Philadelphia Inquirer

(Philadelphia Inquirer )

"One of baseball literature’s most noble and enjoyable works."—Diamond Classics

(Diamond Classics ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

In a new epilogue Kevin Kerrane explores the world of baseball scouting in the late 1990s. Kerrane is a professor of English at the University of Delaware.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671666495
• ISBN-13: 978-0671666491
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very enjoyable, November 28, 1999

By 

tbjkickers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting (Paperback)

An excellent book for any baseball-fan. Extremely funny and entertaining. Everybody will learn more about scouting und the new edition lets you know how the career of the players scouted turned out.I fully agree with the assessment of Rob Neyer of espn.com, who included the book as honorable mention amongst the best baseball books of all time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, November 18, 2007

By 

Kyle Minor "reader" (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting (Fireside Sports Classics) (Paperback)

Dollar Sign on the Muscle was the first work of serious literary journalism I ever read. I bought in the sixth grade, in the gift shop at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., which I was visiting for the first time with my parents. I read most of it in the airport and on the flight home to Florida.

The book had a more significant impact on me than the trip to Washington did. It was astonishing to me that books like this existed in the world. When we returned, I raided all the narrative nonfiction books about sports from the Palm Beach County library. Most of them weren't so great, but I did, by way of this search, find my way to George Plimpton, Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, etc., which set me on a lifetime course of better and more fulfilling reading.

I recently reread Dollar Sign on the Muscle, and it's better, actually, than I remembered. It's a historical document, now. The scouts and the world of old-time baseball men belong largely to the past. The era of Theo Epstein and Billy Beane, with its emphasis on all things quantifiable, is probably good for baseball, but it's not terribly romantic.

But that's not what makes the book so good. It's the knack Kerrane has for rendering his characters whole. You feel like you know these guys, you know what makes them tick, you know what it's like to spend an afternoon with them, you know what they want, need, desire, what makes their hearts beat hard. Many of Kerrane's old scouts are likely dead now, but in the pages of Dollar Sign on the Muscle, they live and breathe like they did then.

Perhaps with time, this book will find its way into print again. I hope so. Meantime, see if you can find a used copy somewhere. It'll be worth whatever it costs you, I promise.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hat's Off, March 27, 2008

By 

Kurt (Bethesda, MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting (Paperback)

This is a great book. It covers virtually the whole history of the "modern" game, from the early teens to (almost) the present day, and does so from the perspective of the baseball scout -- the keenest evaluators of talent in the game. Here are a series of larger-than-life characters, each with a silver tongue it seems, and an endless reservoir of anecdotes - often amusing, sometimes tragic. It is one of those books that is a pure pleasure to read and sink oneself into, filled with earthy but incisive baseball talk and analysis.

This book reflects a huge amount of research, but comes across with an easygoing quality, wearing its scholarship lightly.

It's unfortunate that it's out of print, and that used copies are so expensive. But if you can find one for a reasonable price you wouldn't be disappointed.