Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.