The Baseball Business: Pursuing Pennants and Profits in Baltimore

by James Edward Miller

Major league baseball is more than pitching, defense, and three-run homers. It is a big business. In recent years at least as much fan interest has focused on the off-the-field activities of players and owners as on the games themselves. James Miller's The Baseball Business identifies the issues that have come to the fore during the commercialization of baseball since the 1950
*the changing relationship between the major and minor leagues;
*the evolution of one club's management from community to single ownership;
*increasingly complex and costly labor relations, especially free agency;
*the peculiar relationship of for-profit sports teams with local governments, especially the construction of public stadiums with tax dollars;
*racial discrimination.

St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck's 1953 decision to move his franchise to Baltimore was one of the first significant responses by major league baseball to the difficulties it faced in the years after World War II, and the move ushered in an era of franchise shifts and expansion. The new Orioles franchise went on to build a highly successful farm system at a time when minor league baseball was undergoing a series of fundamental changes and to caputre the American League pennant four times between 1966 and 1971. In the 1970s the club lost key players as a result of the introduction of "free agency." Later, the Orioles made large and disastrous investments in free agent players in an effort to remain competitive.

The ties between the Orioles and Baltimore's political and business elites have always been close, and the effort to attract and maintain major league baseball has been a critical part of the city's effort to refurbish its image and attract new industries. The nearly twenty-year debate over replacing Memorial Stadium with a more modern facility is a case study in the thorny relationship between sports businesses and state and local governments.

The Baseball Business is a history of the Baltimore franchise, not just the team. While Miller amply recounts the on-the-field exploits and achievements that have made the Orioles one of baseball's premier clubs, his focus is what happened in the farm system and the front office to make those achievements possible. Armed with a rich historical perspective gained from extensive research in Orioles records and the sporting press, Miller provides an invaluable analysis of the issues facing the sport of baseball. The Baseball Business will be essential reading for all fans who want to understand the business of pursuing not only pennants but also profits.

Genres: Sports, Baseball

394 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our story begins in 1953, when baseball impresario Bill Veeck sold his St. Louis Browns (which had begun life in 1901 as the Milwaukee Brewers, one of eight original American League teams) to a group of Baltimore investors; the new Baltimore owners stole the Orioles name from a local AAA team which then moved to Richmond, VA as the Virginians. Miller covers the team through about 1989, when owner Edward Bennett Williams died, his widow sold the team to investor Eli Jacobs, and the Camden Yards ballpark was just a gleam in all of our greedy, baseball-lusting eyes. He writes about the team's ups and downs on the field, as well as the management-labor conflicts across the majors, changes in labor agreements and salaries, the conversion of the minor leagues to a major league farm system, and racial issues, over this time period. It's a bit of a dry read.

[Tim Basuino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly in-depth discussion of baseball history, focusing on finances, socioeconomic factors and fan interest from the 1950's to the late 1980's, with the spotlight obviously on Baltimore and its Orioles.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read, especially for a longtime Orioles fan. This disabused me of my long-held notion that Eli Jacobs was the source of the Orioles' farm system woes. The problems clearly started way back at the end of the Hoffberger era for a variety of complicated reasons. Makes me wish EBW had survived longer, as I think he would have been good for rebuilding the O's in the early 1990's during a period when there was a lot of stagnation for the team. Also wish that Miller, or someone, would pen a study of the post 1990 era that is as thorough and illuminating as this volume was for the 1954-1989 era.

[Craig McGraw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great detailed history of the Orioles from 1954 to 1990 on the operation of the team. Wish there was a second volume up to present day.