- Paperback: 220 pages
- Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (April 3 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0767904664
- ISBN-13: 978-0767904667
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.5 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #572,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
This isn't a commentator's diatribe against the sport, but rather a fan's case for baseball. What do I want? I think the same thing that most baseball fans want: To see the game prove worthy of our devotion.
Bob Costas loves baseball. And he's worried about the state of the game--superstar players abandoning the teams that helped them rise to greatness, the awkward interleague play system, the pennant-race-weakening wild cards, and the payroll disparity that effectively eliminates two-thirds of the teams in the league from having any chance to win the World Series--even before opening day. Costas addresses these problems and offers provocative solutions in Fair Ball.
Costas makes it clear from the outset that he's not a romantic, baseball-should-be-played-in-flannel traditionalist; indeed, some of his ideas--comprehensive revenue sharing and salary caps and floors--will be seen as radical by many team owners and players. Others are more standard--no more wild card, and farewell to the DH--but all are thoughtful and cogently argued.
Throughout Fair Ball Costas's affection for the national pastime softens his occasionally strident tone. Ultimately, all baseball fans want the same thing; Costas's ideas, if adopted, would go a long way toward returning the game to full health. --Sunny Delaney --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Costas isn't the first announcer to write a manifesto on what's wrong with baseball, nor is he the only person to think the game's soul has been debased by hyper-escalating salaries, bonehead revisions to the league and shortsighted owners toeing the bottom line. But he is one of the more persuasive and eloquent. Costas firmly grasps the game's economics, and he marshals mounds of evidence and countless wise insights to show why the sport needs revenue sharing, a salary cap and a salary minimum to restore competitive balance. Next, he dissects other gimmicks of 1990s baseball, such as interleague play, the wild card, the oft-proposed radical realignment. Thankfully, Costas never sits back and says, "It was better when...." Instead, he carefully shows that these gimmicks have been implemented poorly, that they've achieved nothing they were supposed to and that they've instead made pennant races obsolete. In the last frame, Costas briefly pushes a few more hot buttons--umpire oversight, Pete Rose, the DH--and offers what may prove his most controversial opinion: he advocates using instant replay during the playoffs. Throughout, Costas remains evenhanded. If he blames most of the game's problems on the owners, he's no less critical of the superstars and their union lackeys, who, he argues, care more for a few huge paychecks than all the guys making minimum. Author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
It's easy to be lulled into thinking that everything's fine with baseball, because the moments that everyone remembers are still accumulating, as galvanizing as ever. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
It's easy to be lulled into thinking that everything's fine with baseball, because the moments that everyone remembers are still accumulating, as galvanizing as ever. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
COSTAS FOR COMMISSIONER!!,
By Randall "dba mlc3stooge" (Henderson, Nv USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fair Ball (Audio Cassette)
Bob Costas gives a clear and concise analysis of the state of major league baseball today and how it was just 15 years ago. Bob is not afraid to tell it like it is, and explains concrete reasons (not just "being a tradionalist") why gimmicks such as new ballparks, interleague play, wildcard play, etc., and why crippling events such as owners who know no limits to their spending or players who know no limits to their greed are destroying the grand old game.But it's not a book of complaining. Oh, no. Bob gives a very comprehensive plan of how to fix many of these failures. There is one problem with most of his solutions -- they make sense. With today's wishy washy commissioner, with one or two owners having their own way no matter what, and with players who follow any ridiculous notion that their ill advised union throws out, ideas this well thought out will be immediately dismissed. Why fix team salary inequities when you can put Spider-man on the bases? Why control players' salaries when you can pump your players up with illegal steriods and then move the fences 25 feet closer to the plate? No, Bob's ideas will not be accepted in today's baseball family because they are not gimmicks. Let's hope that when Selig steps down (or falls down), Costas is considered for his job. I actually think that Bob could push through some of these ideas.
5.0 out of 5 stars
some good ideas about fixing a great game,
By
This review is from: Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball (Paperback)
Bob Costas brings up so interesting facts about how to save baseball it can also be stated as a case to save all profesional sports like the NHL so this is a good book for even non baseball fans
5.0 out of 5 stars
For Every Problem, There Is a Solution,
This review is from: Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball (Paperback)
Though Major League Baseball is mired in a sea of problems, most dealing with economics, these are not problems that cannot be fixed. Bob Costas offers some cogent solutions to remedy most of these problems in order to restore the competitive integrity of the game. Costas' proposal to implement not only a salary cap but also a salary floor benefits not only the majority of the owners but also the players who make the minimum salary. He talks at length about the wild card and how he believes it should be abolished; I absolutely agree. Given the best-of-five first round, the team with the best record in each league should be rewarded, as the two best teams in each NFL conference are, with a bye (this is mentioned in the book, along with many more reasons for why there should be no wild card). Basically every major issue is brought up by Costas that needs to be rectified, and for many he answers questions many skeptics may pose. I would love to hear his evaluation of the most recent CBA, along with his take on the issue of steroids in baseball.
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