Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting

by Kevin Goldstein, Kevin Kerrane, Dave Pease (Editor)

MEET THE MEN WHO SHAPE THE GAME OF BASEBALL the men who can make--or break--careers, the men who, more than any others, were responsible for getting Mike Schmidt, Al Kaline, Darryl Strawberry, Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, and Brooks Robinson--to name just a few--into their major league positions. Here is all the inside information--trade secrets, player development, original scouting reports; the history and economics of this pivotal side of baseball, and how the scouting system is changing--from the baseball scouts themselves. This edition includes an all-new chapter updating the original with thoughts on the state of scouting in 2013. DAVID SIMON ON DOLLAR SIGN ON THE MUSCLE "The story of a quest is one of the most basic and essential narratives in human existence. Kevin Kerrane strains the Homeric through the voices of American baseball scouts, those journeymen who search the sandlots for raw athletic potential. Dollar Sign on The Muscle was essential reading when it first arrived nearly three decades ago. And now, as big money has arrived to magnify the entire dynamic, Kerrane has returned to update his classic. "They use 'inside baseball' as a term to suggest esoteric knowledge. That's ridiculous. The inside is where anything worth knowing actually begins to matter." -- David Simon, creator, The Wire and Treme THE CRITICS AGREE, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE GAME "An entertaining, in-depth look at a fascinating part of baseball invisible to most. I loved this book." -- Tim Kurkjian, ESPN "Dollar Sign on the Muscle is the scouting bible for the baseball executive as well as the baseball enthusiast." -- Kevin Towers, General Manager, Arizona Diamondbacks "Updating a classic is always risky, but given the dramatic changes in baseball since Dollar Sign 's original publication, the time had certainly come for a modernized examination of the game... and who better to give it to us than Kevin Kerrane and Baseball Prospectus." -- Dan O'Dowd, General Manager, Colorado Rockies "The last word on a profession even baseball fans may find they knew little about." -- Sports Illustrated "One of baseball literature's most noble and enjoyable works." -- Diamond Classics "A must read for anyone who wants the inside stories on baseball scouts and the happenings on their daily quest for the next MLB all-star." -- Don Welke, Senior Special Assistant to the GM & Scouting, Texas Rangers

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction

372 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

Reviews

[Tom Stamper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dollar Sign on the Muscle is a collection of conversations and stories about the origins and evolution of baseball scouting. By the 1980s when the book was written, scouts were more or less in the third generation of the profession with the earliest ones coming in the 1920s. Much of the book focuses on the changes that came from the amateur draft in the mid 1960s. Before the draft a scout had to be a salesman and a psychologist to land the top talent. After the draft, scouts lost the advantage of being aggressive and had to settle ranking talent, something the old scouts lamented even 15 years later. And if you wonder why the game has become more Latin it's because signing free agents outside of the U.S. and Canada is still open season.

If you've read Moneyball or the Bill James books about the analytics of baseball this is the other side. It's the intuitive approach to finding and acquiring talent. Here is where scouts will say the kid has a good face and uses his size and mechanics to project future growth. Scouts will say things like, he's a good prospect despite the horse sh-- tatoo or he pushes the ball instead of throwing it. They will tell you how a small lefthander projects better than a small righthander because lefthanders almost never throw over the top and their angle is tough on lefty hitters who have seen very few southpaws before pro sports.

If there is a team that gets the most ink it's the Phillies. At the beginning of the book they are still family-owned and have the biggest scouting budget in the majors, while many other clubs have reduced their own scouts and now subscribe to the MLB scouting bureau. We go through the Phillies ranking system of players before draft and they like Kevin McReynolds as the best all-around player because consensus says Ron Darling is not going to leave college to play. That these are two guys that have above average careers says the scouts aren't blind although a number of these players are total busts.

All in all the book is an interesting time capsule and maybe one of the few ways to learn how the old timers did it.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never realized how much wisdom goes into baseball scouting that is more broadly applicable outside of it. I also never realized how much my work as a college enrollment counselor resembles what baseball scouts do, trying to project the adolescence into adulthood, trying to assess temperament realistically, and trying, even if briefly, to sneak a little coaching or teaching into the most brief encounter.

This is a great companion to Moneyball. It shows the state of mind in scouting just before sabermetrics came on the scene, and, as usually happens upon closer examination of a starkly drawn line, shows more of a continuum. That is, many of the concepts and "modern" scouting had precursors with the same old-school scouts that are so easily dismissed. The author, and of course the scouts, are good at drawing out these principles in a specific place and time in baseball's history.

[John Weiler · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poorly written, and even more poorly edited, hodgepodge of anecdotes. Many of these tales are feeble or have little or no connection to scouting or even baseball. Some are tediously repeated multiple times.

Very strong focus on the early '80s with little relevance today. No update of the original text just a weird chapter and a few stats tacked on. Precious little on the technical and philosophical changes which characterize baseball scouting today.

[Matt Ely · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very much a snapshot of a point in time, and should be read as such. To get a better sense of modern scouting, I would try Future Value: The Battle for Baseball's Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar.

It's not the book's fault that it's forty years old, of course. And that's not really the issue. The issue is that the snapshot is also quite scattershot. Most chapters focus on a single scout, but often blend together in terms of tone and perspective. The author includes block quotes that extend across multiple pages and have perhaps more fluff than is requisite. My guess is that he wanted to show the character of his characters, but the effect is an inclination to skim the meandering reflections.

What I liked best about the book is how it shows the contradictions of an industry in transition. We can see the beginnings of data-centric scouting, but it remains at the margins. It's also interesting to see the push-pull between maximally efficient and maximally effective scouting staffs being one that didn't start in the 2010's.

The book could have used fifty less pages and a more concentrated throughline, but I'm glad that I read it anyway. It's a personal picture of the kind of people that the game has left behind. Even if their approach wasn't optimal, it was romantic. The romance might have been deceptive and counter-productive, but it can be a fun place to visit.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bad:

This was written between 1981-84 so many of the subjects (baseball scouts) are 60-80 years old and most, if not all, are bigots. Some seem to be frank about it. Other tend to assign athletic talents based on a player's race or will offhandedly mention race. I don't have an issue of these gentlemen being racist. I have an issue with the author not addressing it or confronting it.

Large chunks of the narrative are long verbatim dialogues of the subjects. I would've had no problem with the author going in editing and crafting a more coherent narrative.

The good:

A fan of "Moneyball" or the modern game of player development and analytics should find this enjoyable to see exactly Billy Beane was trying to fight. You see the paradoxes and biases of the scouts in real time. Some rejecting something as basic as a stop watch or radar gun.

Perhaps unintentionally the author, seemingly, accurately sets these old grumpy men as old grumpy men. I think the author's intentions were to showcase these underpaid geniuses, the backbone of America's pasttime, who work in the shadows to find these athletes in backfields and semi-pro diamonds in Delaware, who are aching to be recognized by the establishment (put into the Hall of Fame). Meanwhile, at least one scout openly complains about Negro League stars being inducted because they never played in the Major Leagues. Unsure if those guys need any more recognition beyond being chronicled in this book.

[Aaron Sinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

1984 CASEY Award nominee (1st ed.)
#52 Sports Illustrated Top 100 Sports Books of All Time (2002)
Briefly: Nostalgia-focused

Dollar Sign on the Muscle presents a series of interviews with scouts and scouting directors across baseball, lifting up an often unsung yet essential line of work within the game. The book is at its best in illustrating the colorful personalities of scouts past, regaling vivid stories, and painting a picture of the special insights scouts bring to player analysis through years of experience.

Somewhat appropriately, the drawback of the book is that its overview of scouting isn’t systematic. It reads more as a series of vignettes than it does a comprehensive history of scouting or overview of the principles scouts bring to their work. In a book on individuals who pine for the glory days of yore and often argue that their evaluations can’t be quantified, such an approach is fitting, even if it ultimately means the book is a collection of enjoyable anecdotes rather than something truly insightful.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's known as a classic in baseball writing, and I can sort of see why. Kerrane nicely uncovers an element of the game that truly was hidden at the time of its early 80's publication. Seeing the game through the eyes of scouts is certainly interesting for a baseball-obsessive like myself.

All that said, there are many flaws here. The structure is wonky. The scouts' voices are privileged in some places and not in others. The early 80's of it all has not aged particularly well.

All in all, this is a book worth reading for baseball fanatics, but if you're just a regular old fan or (gasp!) if you don't care about baseball, you should skip it.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very interesting and educational to get a glimpse into the world of professional baseball scouting. This book shows the opposite point of view to Money Ball. It also gave an account to the origins of baseball scouting and revealed less savory aspects of Branch Rickey's professional behavior.

[Matt Bernhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in a funk due to the baseball lockout and just looked up 'best baseball books' and this one about scouting came up. It was entertaining, it wasn't clinical or anything more just talking old-timey baseball. It was originally written in 1981 so the old stories are like in the 40s and shit. But it was republished in 2013 so at the end there is a little blurb about the players mentioned. As you'd expect, very few actually make it to the big leagues.

[Michael J. O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! The very definition of "inside baseball".

[Jeffrey Granat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on the insight of baseball scouting.

[Matt Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The organization is haphazard, but the anecdotes are incredible. A baseball classic.

[David Finer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t hate it because it was time capsule looking into a side of baseball not deeply discussed, but I hated its racist, sexist, and homophobic language

[Brandon Warne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even despite it being 40 years old, what a tremendous resource for seeing how players have been evaluated and valued over the earlier years of the game. Highly recommended and so glad I finally knocked it off my to-read list.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's nice to see a book like this brought back to a new generation of readers. Originally written in the early 1980s, Dollar Sign highlights a cast of old scouts who are long gone. Their tales of scouting from back before the advent of the draft in the 1960s are great. The business of the game and the way players are signed has changed so much, but the tools that make a great ball player and what scouts look for are still pretty much the same. I learned a lot about how scouts look at players, the things they like and the red flags.

Kerrane added a couple of chapters at the end to update the book, and they highlight some of the ways the game has changed over the past three decades. The money involved is the #1 difference. The price tags on the players from the '80s seem comically low in today's money. As if they only knew what was coming they wouldn't have thought twice about some kid asking for $100,000.

Kerrane does a great job of capturing the character of the old scouts, sharing the anecdotes of men who loved the game more than it loved them back in many cases. This is a fun and educational look at an important part of the game most fans don't think much about.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, it feels like it only scratches the surface of a much deeper world. Part of the problem in describing it is that it's so clearly intuitive, which is always hard to relate.

But there are some super-big questions that this book elicits.

For instance, virtually every player discussed is a tremendous bust. Why? Is that in the nature of things?

The author at one point suggests that if a player makes it to AAA the scout has been successful. Is such a player actually useful to the organization? Is that really a success?

How do you set up a system that rewards the players but forces the teams to make the investments to find them?

The new epilogue is super interesting, although I wish the book had divided the parts more cleanly because the jump is pretty sudden.

Finally, worth noting how racist/racialized all of the scouting was -- by black and white scouts -- in the 1980's. I would imagine there's less of that today, but also a lot more focus on Latin American players (regardless of race). Also, would be interesting to know how the new media affects the scouting.

[Joel Haas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The romantic life of the solitary scout on the road is not explored in Dollar Sign on the Muscle. Rather, this is an interesting look at the life-cycle of scouting in baseball on the tail end of one of the biggest changes to the conventions of baseball history (the Draft).

Kerrane spent time predominantly with the 1981 Phillies scouts, pulling stories and characters from walking baseball history.

What comes around to make this book hit home more is the post-script. In 2013 Kerrane went back to the well to see what had happened. The stories of hope, inspiration, and dreaming that is the 17-20 year old ball player all have the same ending. But the Scout is there for all of it. The parable and pride of the scout who found the guy who found the guy and how (to borrow from Ernie Harwell's Hall of Fame speech) "that's baseball" makes the people in this book more than just people. They are baseball in a very almost uncomfortable sense.

The stories contained here are often quick vignettes, being retold for the umpteenth time for the same crowd, but they get to be new one more time.

This is a good read for baseball fans jonesing for spring training, where hope springs eternal.

[Syd Polk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reprint of a classic rare baseball book about scouting. It follows the author as he scounts with 1981 Philadelphia Phillies. Interesting inflection point in history. The Phillies had just won the World Series, but the strike happened during the 1981 season.

Kerrane interviews old and new scouts all during the season, learns quite a bit about scouting himself, and has interesting commentary on the state of baseball at the time. It is quite fun to read about the prospects of the time. Some of them (Strawberry, Schmidt, Gooden, McReynolds, Gubicza, etc.) had good to great major league careers. Many of them did not.

The author added a chapter written in 2013 about the current state of the game. This chapter is actually really good; he touches on many themes from 1981 and comments on them. He also comments on the stathead revolution and Moneyball.

The original is quite rare and expensive; Baseball Prospectus published the new version.

Outstanding book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift from a departing friend from Alice Springs, before he flew off to South America. The book is a reprint of a classic baseball book covering the arcane subject of baseball scouts. This is old school baseball at its finest. The book is definitely only for a hard core baseball fan. I found it a fascinating insight into how men (and it was almost exclusively men) who loved the game so much they travelled hundreds of miles in a day to watch a promising prospect play for very little reward. It also captures the mood of baseball in it's 'golden' age. I enjoyed this, but it won't be for everyone

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally published in 1984. An updated edition has been reissued by the folks at the Baseball Prospectus web site. The book resulted from the time in the summer of 1981 that the author spent traveling with baseball scouts. It is full of the history of scouting as well as portraits of some of the game's best practitioners at the time. I rated it as five stars, a rating that I rarely give, not because it is great literature, but because it is a book that the baseball fan will want to read and enjoy.

[Apsalz08 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Older book that was recently reprinted. For baseball fans, it's a great read to learn the history of scouting. While baseball prospect coverage has exploded over the last few years thanks to the internet and an increasing number of dynasty fantasy leagues, there's not much reading material on the life of scouts, and how they found/find players. Their path follows the evolution of baseball. Even if you don't care about scouting, there are a ton of funny anecdotes regarding competition to sign players, travel mishaps, and general chicanery.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great baseball stories. Written in '84, there's some fun scouting reports on Daryl Strawberry, Julio Franco, and Chris Sabo, amongst many other failed and successful prospects. The lore of old-timey baseball and the "good face" and other baseball anachronisms makes this a wonderful read for any baseball fan who is interested in where guys come from, and how the game has progressed in the last hundred years. Cursory knowledge of how scouting occurs now only enhances the book. Really enjoyable.

[Thicks1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores the historical changes that have overtaking the scouting profession in baseball through its history. In addition it posses some fundamental questions of what makes a good prospect, how do you find one, how does money effect the choice etc... Do we really need a draft or shall we allow an allotted set of dollars to sign players and have the teams compete for top talent? This book has "good face" and "good voice". Read the Diamond appraised then this book.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of good stories, fairly informative, but a bit dated. (I expect the people he talks about have died in the last 30 years, and there is no use of sabermetrics of any sort.) Still, it covers a lot of stuff I haven't seen in any other baseball book, which is always interesting. The chapter on the open tryout is especially good.

[Gabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5 or more if you really enjoy baseball scouting talk. I like it and enjoyed reading the book but I don't know how much it contributed to my knowledge, it was more just fun anecdotes about things I feel I already know. It is a fun read if you like baseball though, easy to pick up and put down and read in chunks.

[Robin Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is simply the greatest baseball book ever written. An inside baseball look at the world of scouting. Kerrane follows the trail of baseball's treasure finders and learns the lingo like "the kid's got the good face." It's a book that, everytime I read it, I don't want it to end.

[Jacob M. Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Book on Scouting...ever

Glad baseball prospectus brought this book back. Has insights on how scouting players started and how it has evolved through the years.

[Nick Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old scouts telling stories.

[Joe Loncarich · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you really like baseball, you'll like this book. If you don't really like baseball, you should not read this book, as it is very "inside baseball" and would likely be boring to the layperson.

[Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was one of Ernie Harwell's favorite books. Need I say more? He told me about it at a Rotary luncheon in Detroit years ago. A must read for every baseball junkie in the world.