Customer Reviews

National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Soccer and baseball enjoy fervent followings and generate wads of cash, so this study of the two games' economics and culture is as welcome as a towering home run (or a nifty goal). Economists Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist compare and contrast the two sports' business models in a way that will fascinate anyone who is interested in athletics or international business. The authors offer a fascinating history of these sports, complete with plenty of telling anecdotes that are sure to enlighten even devoted fans. The only gripe is that the writers sometimes bog down in scholarly phrasing when the reader might prefer more active prose. Still, we recommend this intriguing study to anyone who specializes in sports business - or even just buys a ticket to a game now and then.

excellent for those interested in the Sociology/history of sport.
intelligently written but not light reading.

I loved this book. It covers what may seem like some fairly obscure history on the origins of soccer and baseball, but it is fascinating to look at the various social forces that have led to these dominant athletic events.
It addresses a lot of material, including class distinctions, labour rights, unbridled capitalism that adopts regulations to save itself, and national pride.
It is very clever for the authors to make such a readable and indeed entertaining book while still presenting the very serious issues that influenced these "games."

This book was absolutely amazing. I loved it, an easy read through and through. Szymanski and Zimbalist as economists explain wonderfully why soccer is so much more popular than baseball, and you can understand everything, there was not a weak point. I would strongly reccommend this book to anyone, an amazing read

The book is a thoroughly written book about baseball and soccer. It provides a lot of background and details to the extent that I sometimes thought that this is too much. You can't possibly memorize all those names and details.
However, the book is a very interesting reading, and if you are not interested in every single detail, some sections can be skipped.
In essence, the book is very interesting and many things can be learned. It is certainly not a light reading just for entertainment but more on the serious side.

Where to begin? First of all, this book is a century out of date. Americans do not play baseball in great numbers anymore hence the low TV ratings for the World Series (actually lowest ever in 2006). Also, look at the "international" aspect of MLB now--Japanese, Koreans, Chinese (via Taiwan) as well as the usual Latin Americans who are now greater in number.

A more relevant comparison would be football (as in the NFL and college) and soccer. Anyway, more Americans play soccer than, say, the nation of Britain, if we are talking sheer numbers. It's just it's a recreational sport and always will be because soccer is flat-out too slow, low scoring and has too much diving in it.

Personally, although the writing is there, the research isn't with this book. A far superior book that understands soccer and North American sports is: Offside by Markovitz and Hellerman. Buy that off amazon here not this misguided piece of junk.