Stee-Rike Four!: What's Wrong with the Business of Baseball? [Hardcover]

Daniel R. Marburger (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0275957063 | ISBN-13: 978-0275957063

When major league baseball cancelled its 1994 season following a player strike, fans were shocked that the national pastime could be brought to a standstill by a collective bargaining dispute. The strike was largely responsible for bringing the economics of the game into sports discussions and raising questions about the business of baseball. Will players' rising salaries destroy baseball? How will revenue-sharing and luxury taxes affect competitive balance? Should taxpayers subsidize their local team? This volume answers the basic questions about the economics of the sport, from salary arbitration to baseball's antitrust exemption, in a clear style geared for readers with no formal background in economics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[An] informative layman's guide to the issues which have come to dominate the Hot Stove League over the past quarter century. Stee-rike Four! should be required reading for the economic illiterates who dominate the newspaper, radio, and TV discussion of the business of baseball....As the first layman's guide to baseball economics written after the 1994-95 cataclysm, Stee-rike Four! deserves a larger audience.”–Outside the Lines

“These days a baseball fan would also do well to have a fairly strong background in economics, as luxury taxes, salary arbitration and revenue-sharing have become the new buzzwords of the bleachers. In keeping with that spirit, today's fans should consider Stee-rike Four! required reading. Subtitled What's Wrong with the Business of Baseball? this collection of essays by well-respected economists discusses topics such as free agency, baseball's antitrust exemption and the issue of rising salaries.”–Dispute Resolution Journal

“Writing about what he terms the "good ol' days", Marburger presents an excellent and comprehensive historical summary of the evolution of the business of baseball....The book contains fascinating sections dealing with expansion, pensions, salaries, revenue sharing, and an in-depth analysis of baseball's anti-trust exemption....[T]his book contains a wealth of information for anyone interested in baseball or labor relations. If you happen to be interested in both topics, then this book is a "home run."”–Labor Studies Journal

“[E]xcellent economic analyses of aspects of America's favorite professional sporting pastime...written in language that makes them understandable even to readers without formal training in economics. They exhibit, in this context, the power of the discipline of economics as a predictor of behavior. Regular and persistent readers of newspaper sports pages will find their understanding enlarged by the reading of this book.”–Simon Rottenberg Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

About the Author

DANIEL R. MARBURGER is Associate Professor of Economics at Arkansas State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (June 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275957063
• ISBN-13: 978-0275957063
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,982,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best available layman's guide to baseball economics, May 16, 2000

By 

Doug Pappas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stee-Rike Four!: What's Wrong with the Business of Baseball? (Hardcover)

In the wake of the 1994-95 labor dispute, a number of economists prepared this informative layman's guide to the issues which have come to dominate the Hot Stove League over the past quarter century. Bob Costas, among others, could learn a lot here.

For the frustrated fan who wonders why every round of labor negotiations ends up threatening the season, Dan Marburger explains that neither side has a reason to modify its negotiating position unless it believes the other will soon inflict harm through a strike or lockout. James Richard Hill points out that "skyrocketing" salaries actually demonstrate MLB's overall economic health, while John L. Fizel shows that free agency has had little or no effect on competitive balance. Sometimes the authors disagree: James Whitney endorses greater revenue sharing, while Lawrence Hadley and Elizabeth Gustafson say that small-market owners are unlikely to spend the added money on veteran players. Rodney Fort and Andrew Zimbalist discuss a consequence of baseball's antitrust exemption: the owners' ability to leverage their control over the number and location of franchises to extract enormous public subsidies for new stadia.

As the first layman's guide to baseball economics written after the 1994-95 cataclysm, Stee-rike Four! deserves a larger audience than this expensive, hard-to-find hardcover edition received. An updated paperback would be most welcome.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely a Must For All Sports Fans!, March 18, 2007

By 

Lynn Weiner (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stee-Rike Four!: What's Wrong with the Business of Baseball? (Hardcover)

Stee-rike Four sets new standards in the economics of sports. Everyone should buy this book, and I do mean, EVERYONE. Marburger's playful prose makes for a true joy in reading; I simply couldn't put it down. I've read hundreds of economics books over the years, from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes to Milton Friedman, and I can say without hesitation that Marburger's insights are worthy of the Nobel Prize in economics.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provides excellent viewpoints on the economics of baseball., July 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Stee-Rike Four!: What's Wrong with the Business of Baseball? (Hardcover)

This book eliminates the emotionality of the high priced players, and gets down to the basic economics of the game. It discussess all the issues that are relavant in today's game, such as revenue sharing, salary caps & collective bargaining.