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The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First
What happens when three financial industry whiz kids and certified baseball nuts take over an ailing major league franchise and implement the same strategies that fueled their success on Wall Street? In the case of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, an American League championship happens—the culmination of one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history.
In The Extra 2% , financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team’s Cinderella journey from divisional doormat to World Series contender. When former Goldman Sachs colleagues Stuart Sternberg and Matthew Silverman assumed control of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005, it looked as if they were buying the baseball equivalent of a penny stock. But the incoming regime came armed with a master to leverage their skill at trading, valuation, and management to build a model twenty-first-century franchise that could compete with their bigger, stronger, richer rivals—and prevail.
Together with “boy genius” general manager Andrew Friedman, the new Rays owners jettisoned the old ways of doing things, substituting their own innovative ideas about employee development, marketing and public relations, and personnel management. They exorcized the “devil” from the team’s nickname, developed metrics that let them take advantage of undervalued aspects of the game, like defense, and hired a forward-thinking field manager as dedicated to unconventional strategy as they were. By quantifying the game’s intangibles—that extra 2% that separates a winning organization from a losing one—they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay something that Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” had never brought to an American League pennant.
A book about what happens when you apply your business skills to your life’s passion, The Extra 2% is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.
In The Extra 2% , financial journalist and sportswriter Jonah Keri chronicles the remarkable story of one team’s Cinderella journey from divisional doormat to World Series contender. When former Goldman Sachs colleagues Stuart Sternberg and Matthew Silverman assumed control of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005, it looked as if they were buying the baseball equivalent of a penny stock. But the incoming regime came armed with a master to leverage their skill at trading, valuation, and management to build a model twenty-first-century franchise that could compete with their bigger, stronger, richer rivals—and prevail.
Together with “boy genius” general manager Andrew Friedman, the new Rays owners jettisoned the old ways of doing things, substituting their own innovative ideas about employee development, marketing and public relations, and personnel management. They exorcized the “devil” from the team’s nickname, developed metrics that let them take advantage of undervalued aspects of the game, like defense, and hired a forward-thinking field manager as dedicated to unconventional strategy as they were. By quantifying the game’s intangibles—that extra 2% that separates a winning organization from a losing one—they were able to deliver to Tampa Bay something that Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” had never brought to an American League pennant.
A book about what happens when you apply your business skills to your life’s passion, The Extra 2% is an informative and entertaining case study for any organization that wants to go from worst to first.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
December 6, 2011
“The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First” is the tale of a few smart guys bringing their business acumen to Tropicana Field, home of baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, and turning a perennial loser into a team capable of toppling the mighty Yankees and Red Sox.
Exploring a topic this mundane is no easy task, but Jonah Keri consistently swings and misses throughout the book. Most notably, the book fails to explain Wall Street strategies. The strategy the reader should take away from this book is to replace mean, cheap owners with friendly, less cheap owners, bad managers with good ones, and over-priced, aged players with bargain-priced, home-grown talent. Those principles aren't unique to Wall Street, and Keri never delves into the alleged genius of the Wall Streeters before they wind up in Tampa.
Here’s an example of a passage (p.95) describing why Andrew Friedman as a young private equity manager (in New Jersey, by the way), soon to be Rays’ general manager, excelled at closing deals:
"“I can wrap it up if you like, “Friedman told his boss, “or even do better if you like.” The young associate believed in his negotiation skills and had a handle on all the numbers. “It’s your baby, full speed ahead,” Clevinger said, eager to see what Friedman could do. Friedman closed the deal as promised. He also materially improved its terms, as promised."
Wait, what? How did he close the deal? How did he improve the deal? What are the strategies?? TELL ME!!!
When you turn the final page, you’re left wondering why you just did that to yourself. Skip this book, and instead Wikipedia the word “arbitrage.”
Exploring a topic this mundane is no easy task, but Jonah Keri consistently swings and misses throughout the book. Most notably, the book fails to explain Wall Street strategies. The strategy the reader should take away from this book is to replace mean, cheap owners with friendly, less cheap owners, bad managers with good ones, and over-priced, aged players with bargain-priced, home-grown talent. Those principles aren't unique to Wall Street, and Keri never delves into the alleged genius of the Wall Streeters before they wind up in Tampa.
Here’s an example of a passage (p.95) describing why Andrew Friedman as a young private equity manager (in New Jersey, by the way), soon to be Rays’ general manager, excelled at closing deals:
"“I can wrap it up if you like, “Friedman told his boss, “or even do better if you like.” The young associate believed in his negotiation skills and had a handle on all the numbers. “It’s your baby, full speed ahead,” Clevinger said, eager to see what Friedman could do. Friedman closed the deal as promised. He also materially improved its terms, as promised."
Wait, what? How did he close the deal? How did he improve the deal? What are the strategies?? TELL ME!!!
When you turn the final page, you’re left wondering why you just did that to yourself. Skip this book, and instead Wikipedia the word “arbitrage.”
August 6, 2020
2.5 stars. I am nearly done with a project where I am reading a book on each of the Major League teams. This was my choice for the Tampa Bay Rays. There just aren’t many bestselling books on recent expansion teams or teams that aren’t in big money markets.
I guess this was an attempt at a Money Ball type book. But the approach was flawed because few people can write as well as Michael Lewis. Now it is true that the Rays have one of the best records over the past dozen years and that analytics did turn around the club’s fortunes in the late 00’s.
But in the end it’s a really dull book with very little focus on any of the players. My job is in high tech as an A.I. expert and I didn’t learn or recognize anything in this book in the the way of deep analytics either. Maybe it would appeal to someone with more of a business background.
I guess this was an attempt at a Money Ball type book. But the approach was flawed because few people can write as well as Michael Lewis. Now it is true that the Rays have one of the best records over the past dozen years and that analytics did turn around the club’s fortunes in the late 00’s.
But in the end it’s a really dull book with very little focus on any of the players. My job is in high tech as an A.I. expert and I didn’t learn or recognize anything in this book in the the way of deep analytics either. Maybe it would appeal to someone with more of a business background.
March 12, 2011
Its natural comparison is "Moneyball" and that's not really fair because the Athletics and Rays stories are so vastly different and there's very few people on the planet that can write like Michael Lewis. The focus here in Keri's book is the Rays, the Wall Street geniuses who bought them and how they turned a moribund franchise into a superpower in the toughest division in baseball (basically a miracle). The book's strength lies in the detail presented about how the Wall Street guys use their business savvy in how they analyze players and the sport in general. Keri does a great job showing how their strategies are applied, particularly viewing baseball players as investments and how they utilize baseball's free agency/draft/trade markets as if they are stock, looking for trends. Several other parts of the book are very well done, especially the Joe Maddon chapter - which I found fascinating - as well as the early dreadful days of TB. The negatives are few but glaring. The book is poorly structured and could use a better editor. Keri commits several redundancies, especially when it comes to Tropicana Field (saying that it's a "dump" repetitiously does not enhance the narrative), as well as the difficulty of playing in the American League East. But it's still a good book telling a great story. A little editing and it could've been great. But why dwell on that?
February 1, 2017
One of the best accomplishments a sports team can achieve is to jump from last place one season to first place the next. In 2008, the Tampa Bay major league baseball club not only changed its name from Devil Rays to Rays, they jumped from fifth place to first in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, and then went on to capture the American League pennant. This book by Jonah Keri attempts to describe the strategies that the front office team of Stuart Sternberg, Matt Silverman and Andrew Friedman employed to take the team from worst to first.
The strategy of trying harder by that extra 2% in the title is not clear while reading or listening to this book. There is an exhaustive description of all the poor practices of the previous ownership team led by Vince Naimoli – everything from overpaying for aging sluggers to harassing fans who brought their own food into the ballpark. When the trio of former Wall Street businessmen take over, it is almost like the cavalry came in to rescue the Devil Rays. While their record speaks for itself – improving by 31 wins from 2007 to 2008 – the way this was done did not seem to use Wall Street strategies.
Because of this, the book fell a little flat in that aspect as I expected it to have more groundbreaking strategies for building a winning baseball team. Instead, Keri discusses the problems that Tampa has in generating revenue with a poorly located stadium, limited media revenue and poor luck in being in the same division as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, two teams with huge revenue streams. There is some “Moneyball” aspects, some wise drafting and investments and recognition that spending a lot of money on a bad team to gain a few more wins won’t improve long-range success. While all of those were key reasons why Tampa Bay became a better team, none of it seemed like a breakthrough discovery that was expected.
There is one other topic that Keri discusses in depth, not only about Tampa Bay but other locations as well, and that is how baseball teams will extort cities and states to finance new ballparks with the threat to move. While this was very interesting material, what seemed a little off to me was that other teams such as the Florida/Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins were discussed when this topic was covered instead of the Rays and what they are doing to try to get a new stadium.
Overall, this book was okay because the material is interesting and it is always good to hear success stories. However, what was expected from the title and book description and what was actually presented were two different things which left me feeling a little disappointed when I completed the book. This book is recommended for fans of the Rays, but if one wants to learn more about building a winning team, this isn’t the best source.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
The strategy of trying harder by that extra 2% in the title is not clear while reading or listening to this book. There is an exhaustive description of all the poor practices of the previous ownership team led by Vince Naimoli – everything from overpaying for aging sluggers to harassing fans who brought their own food into the ballpark. When the trio of former Wall Street businessmen take over, it is almost like the cavalry came in to rescue the Devil Rays. While their record speaks for itself – improving by 31 wins from 2007 to 2008 – the way this was done did not seem to use Wall Street strategies.
Because of this, the book fell a little flat in that aspect as I expected it to have more groundbreaking strategies for building a winning baseball team. Instead, Keri discusses the problems that Tampa has in generating revenue with a poorly located stadium, limited media revenue and poor luck in being in the same division as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, two teams with huge revenue streams. There is some “Moneyball” aspects, some wise drafting and investments and recognition that spending a lot of money on a bad team to gain a few more wins won’t improve long-range success. While all of those were key reasons why Tampa Bay became a better team, none of it seemed like a breakthrough discovery that was expected.
There is one other topic that Keri discusses in depth, not only about Tampa Bay but other locations as well, and that is how baseball teams will extort cities and states to finance new ballparks with the threat to move. While this was very interesting material, what seemed a little off to me was that other teams such as the Florida/Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins were discussed when this topic was covered instead of the Rays and what they are doing to try to get a new stadium.
Overall, this book was okay because the material is interesting and it is always good to hear success stories. However, what was expected from the title and book description and what was actually presented were two different things which left me feeling a little disappointed when I completed the book. This book is recommended for fans of the Rays, but if one wants to learn more about building a winning team, this isn’t the best source.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
January 29, 2018
This is not one of those baseball books where you get the joy of playing ball, the thrill of the grass, the blue sky, white ball and windblown dirt of the infield. Nothing poetic about this one. Don’t expect that going in. This is more of what I’d call a business biography of a baseball team. Success in this book isn’t a well hit ball, it’s a well negotiated contract. It feels a bit like the business side of “Moneyball”, but without the charm of the identifiable characters. If they made a movie of “The Extra 2%”, everyone would be played by Jonah Hill – there aren’t any Brad Pitt roles here.
This is the story of the first years of the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, the Devil part of the name excised near the end of the book. The first quarter of the book is a review of the efforts involved in bringing the team to Tampa and a description of the first head of the owner’s group, Vince Naimoli. Naimoli is heavily criticized throughout the book. The illustrations of how he operated are sadly comic at times. The rest of the book describes the offices of the team after Vince’s departure. The new team brings in Joe Madden to coach, and his story fills about a tenth of the book. Frankly, I found this most interesting, in that Madden was, and is, willing to try things out. The rest of the book focuses on what the new Wall Street owners brought to the team. I saw three things: 1) a friendlier way to treat employees, 2) hiring analytics experts, using them, and not bragging about what they were doing, and 3) thinking up novel ways to negotiate contracts that hadn’t been tried in baseball. The moneyed Yankees are the bad-guys in this book, and much of the effort described is how Tampa reduced the benefits the Yankees derived from their deep pockets.
I found the description of arbitrage a bit tilted here. They describe arbitrage in baseball as buying the contract of a player who is undervalued, and later flipping the player to another team at a higher price. Arbitrage by definition is a riskless set of exchanges that occur simultaneously, and what they describe here is not simultaneous nor is it riskless. The author reached a bit too far to get a Wall Street term in the book. I was also a bit disappointed in that the analytics weren’t more heavily discussed.
The business take-aways are to treat your employees well, and to think differently than your competitors about the things you have control over. These are pretty obvious, but the description is well written, especially if you enjoy stories about the business that is baseball. If you like stories about businesses pivoting to success based on research and on doing things different than the competition, this is a good book.
This is the story of the first years of the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays, the Devil part of the name excised near the end of the book. The first quarter of the book is a review of the efforts involved in bringing the team to Tampa and a description of the first head of the owner’s group, Vince Naimoli. Naimoli is heavily criticized throughout the book. The illustrations of how he operated are sadly comic at times. The rest of the book describes the offices of the team after Vince’s departure. The new team brings in Joe Madden to coach, and his story fills about a tenth of the book. Frankly, I found this most interesting, in that Madden was, and is, willing to try things out. The rest of the book focuses on what the new Wall Street owners brought to the team. I saw three things: 1) a friendlier way to treat employees, 2) hiring analytics experts, using them, and not bragging about what they were doing, and 3) thinking up novel ways to negotiate contracts that hadn’t been tried in baseball. The moneyed Yankees are the bad-guys in this book, and much of the effort described is how Tampa reduced the benefits the Yankees derived from their deep pockets.
I found the description of arbitrage a bit tilted here. They describe arbitrage in baseball as buying the contract of a player who is undervalued, and later flipping the player to another team at a higher price. Arbitrage by definition is a riskless set of exchanges that occur simultaneously, and what they describe here is not simultaneous nor is it riskless. The author reached a bit too far to get a Wall Street term in the book. I was also a bit disappointed in that the analytics weren’t more heavily discussed.
The business take-aways are to treat your employees well, and to think differently than your competitors about the things you have control over. These are pretty obvious, but the description is well written, especially if you enjoy stories about the business that is baseball. If you like stories about businesses pivoting to success based on research and on doing things different than the competition, this is a good book.
September 7, 2011
Took me way too long to read this but the main things I learned:
-- The former Devil Rays owner was a cheap miser who had no business owning a professional team
-- The revenue streams of the Yankees and Red Sox are so ridiculous, it's incredible that any other team can win a World Series.
-- I dislike Pat Burrell even more now because of how his contract hamstrung the team from making other moves.
-- They probably won't be moving into a new stadium for the next 10+ years despite the fact that they have the lowest percentage of fans within a 30-mile radius.
-- The former Devil Rays owner was a cheap miser who had no business owning a professional team
-- The revenue streams of the Yankees and Red Sox are so ridiculous, it's incredible that any other team can win a World Series.
-- I dislike Pat Burrell even more now because of how his contract hamstrung the team from making other moves.
-- They probably won't be moving into a new stadium for the next 10+ years despite the fact that they have the lowest percentage of fans within a 30-mile radius.
April 28, 2022
[EDITED IN APRIL 2022 TO ADD: I originally gave this book 4 stars. I enjoyed the book, and I stand by my original review and will let it remain here unedited. HOWEVER, it is important to note that I have changed the star rating from 4 to 1 to demonstrate solidarity with abuse and DV victims everywhere. I did enjoy this book. But Jonah Keri is a disturbed and violent criminal who does not deserve praise or accolade.]
This book was recommended to me by a brand-new friend who is now batting 1.000 (get it?) on reading recommendations. This includes a baseball article by Jason Parks he emailed me a few days ago too. He's 2 for 2. I can't wait to hear what he recommends next. He DOES say that Moneyball - which I'm starting today - is really good. But everyone says that, so he doesn't get credit for it.
ANYWAY, seriously. The Extra 2% is about the baseball management philosophy of the Tampa Bay Rays, why it works, and how new ownership and leadership literally changed the course of this team and propelled it toward greatness. Jonah Keri is a respected sportswriter and did a superb job with this book. There's a lot of technical baseball terminology that he explains and makes accessible to the non-baseball reader, but he does it without angering/annoying the baseball reader.
I also liked this book because it makes passing mentions of my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, and actually manages to comment on their below-average yearly performance without being sarcastic or snarky about it, which I deeply appreciated. The book also discusses James Shields, who is basically Kansas City's 2013 MVP after something we in the Royals community refer to simply as "The Trade." It was the off-season move that brought Shields to our club. So it was fun to read about how he contributed significantly to Tampa Bay's success just a few years ago.
The book has a slow pace and LOTS of in-depth information, especially about the history of the Tampa Bay organization and the politics surrounding its birth and continued existence. At no time was the book NOT interesting, but there were times that the pages turned more slowly than others. It took me longer than I would've liked to finish the book, but overall it was still a great read.
This book was recommended to me by a brand-new friend who is now batting 1.000 (get it?) on reading recommendations. This includes a baseball article by Jason Parks he emailed me a few days ago too. He's 2 for 2. I can't wait to hear what he recommends next. He DOES say that Moneyball - which I'm starting today - is really good. But everyone says that, so he doesn't get credit for it.
ANYWAY, seriously. The Extra 2% is about the baseball management philosophy of the Tampa Bay Rays, why it works, and how new ownership and leadership literally changed the course of this team and propelled it toward greatness. Jonah Keri is a respected sportswriter and did a superb job with this book. There's a lot of technical baseball terminology that he explains and makes accessible to the non-baseball reader, but he does it without angering/annoying the baseball reader.
I also liked this book because it makes passing mentions of my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, and actually manages to comment on their below-average yearly performance without being sarcastic or snarky about it, which I deeply appreciated. The book also discusses James Shields, who is basically Kansas City's 2013 MVP after something we in the Royals community refer to simply as "The Trade." It was the off-season move that brought Shields to our club. So it was fun to read about how he contributed significantly to Tampa Bay's success just a few years ago.
The book has a slow pace and LOTS of in-depth information, especially about the history of the Tampa Bay organization and the politics surrounding its birth and continued existence. At no time was the book NOT interesting, but there were times that the pages turned more slowly than others. It took me longer than I would've liked to finish the book, but overall it was still a great read.
June 1, 2014
After so thoroughly enjoying 'Up Up and Away', Keri's new book on the Expos, I went after his first book, all about the Tampa Bay Rays. This book wasn't the same history as the Expos book, but also a bit more examination of the forward thinking used by the Owner, GM, and other members of Tampa's braintrust. These men all left Wall Street careers for their true love of baseball, and took their bright ideas with them. This can be seen as a sort of companion book to Michael Lewis' 'Moneyball' which is far more famous (the Brad Pitt movie didn't hurt either). I suppose Moneyball will be next on my baseball reading list.
Jonah Keri loves baseball, all the simple little things about the game, the stats, the joy of everything from Spring Training to Game 7 of the World Series. Reading his work makes me remember just how much I used to love baseball, and how I'm getting close to where I used to be in loving it. I profoundly thank an author who makes me remember how much I love something, and who's writing makes me want to go devour more about that subject.
I look forward to the next book Mr. Keri writes, but for now, I'll have to settle for his columns, podcast, and the occasional Twitter response he gives to my questions/opinions.
A very enjoyable read for baseball fans, even if you're not a Rays fan or a Wall Street type. Highly recommended.
Jonah Keri loves baseball, all the simple little things about the game, the stats, the joy of everything from Spring Training to Game 7 of the World Series. Reading his work makes me remember just how much I used to love baseball, and how I'm getting close to where I used to be in loving it. I profoundly thank an author who makes me remember how much I love something, and who's writing makes me want to go devour more about that subject.
I look forward to the next book Mr. Keri writes, but for now, I'll have to settle for his columns, podcast, and the occasional Twitter response he gives to my questions/opinions.
A very enjoyable read for baseball fans, even if you're not a Rays fan or a Wall Street type. Highly recommended.
October 27, 2015
Could have been a 1000 word article instead.
February 28, 2011
This is what you get when combining the math awesomeness that is statistical analysis with insider baseball – a great look into what it takes to put a winning baseball team on the field. Now if you got tons of cash you can just skip all of this nonsense and just buy the best talent at the top prices and have at it. At least that is what the Yankees do and even though that alone is pretty much a great reason to hate them, it is a winning formula.
Now if you don’t have the cash (i.e. just about the rest of MLB), but do have time; well there is plan B. Plan B is when you build a strong and loyal fan base and find local home grown product to put on the field. That is what my team, the Twinkies, does. Not as successful as the Yankees but they are competitive most years. Plus there is no shame in cheering for them.
If those first two aren’t available for you, then the old school method was to gamble using your gut. That means you put out the dollars based on instinct and hope for the best. Normally that would mean gambling on a plan, but our heroes, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, never did formulate a plan; at least one they would follow for more than a season or two. Consequently they were the bottom dwellers of MLB and a perennial punch line.
To make his point, the author details just how bad things were for the Rays, laying just about all of the blame at the founding owner’s feet. While this gossipy evisceration of Vince Naimoli is a very entertaining demonstration of clueless brand management, it struck me as the weakest part of the book. It was mainly he said/she said, and clearly shows a man completely out of touch with the need for managing his public image, but at the same time it bordered on nasty for nastiness sake. It seemed like the author didn’t believe you the reader would get the point of the rest of the book without tearing down owner number one.
I would say the author didn’t have faith in the original concept of the book and added all this shallow stuff to suck in the readers. Unfortunately the people who read the book for this material are going to quit reading by chapter three. That said it is fun to read in a back-biting way. It is always good to remember that a alienating your fan base is never helpful when all your profits are based on said fan base. A good example is getting the local high school band to perform, but then not allowing them into the stadium unless they bought tickets.
The real strength of this book is the math. Taking something that seems as arbitrary as MLB and applying solid business analysis to it can show up a lot of flaws in the current business model. The title suggests that gaining that 2% edge over your competition will lead to substantial profits down the road. Think if you could guarantee winning at roulette 52% of the time. Played right you would soon be a millionaire. Could the same be true for winning baseball games? Three finance guys who had done extremely well on Wall Street and had a love of baseball picked up the Rays relatively cheap. Using their finance knowledge they began managing the team with a long term strategy of gaining that 2% edge.
This meant looking at the numbers to find underappreciated talent at under market value. Just as Warren Buffet scans to country for undervalued companies to add to Berkshire Hathaway, these guys scanned the minor leagues and the free agents trying to fill the holes they had in their roster. How do you find that information out – the numbers? For example there is a guy who can breakdown a pitches style down to when he releases the ball and from that give you a very accurate prediction of how far away they are from injury. Really cool stuff.
Also on a strictly business level, the lengths the new owners go to repair their brand is great. As anyone can tell you brand is everything, especially in a consumer driven business model. Some of the counter-intuitive arguments reminded me of Chris Anderson’s book “Free.” For example, allowing fans to bring in their own food actually leads to increased sales at the concessions. Coupling the games with concerts is another strategy while not original to the Rays, it is used to great effect.
Of course you can’t lead strictly lead by the numbers, you just have to respect them. Two problems are evident in this system though the Rays have been very successful following them. First is mentioned in the book and that is the big miss on Albert Pujols. The Rays has him in their sights since high school (they were “first” to see him) and no matter how they added the numbers up it kept showing a loss. Time and again they (and to be fair, almost everyone else too) passed on him. The second thing, and this I didn’t see mentioned, it is possible to be profitable financially as a team without winning. I would guess that is what would get you through the bad years but the model doesn’t require winning as part of the equation. Rather winning is seems to be the icing on the cake, and while that is good; it won’t keep your fans around forever. “We may not play well, but at least were profitable” is not brand tagline for the long run.
While I like insider baseball and cool analysis used in new and creative ways, I realize I might be in the minority. Plus the early negativity was done a little too much with an excessive zeal. But I do recommend this book for anyone interested in baseball and business. If you like both then you are sitting on a homerun right here.
Now if you don’t have the cash (i.e. just about the rest of MLB), but do have time; well there is plan B. Plan B is when you build a strong and loyal fan base and find local home grown product to put on the field. That is what my team, the Twinkies, does. Not as successful as the Yankees but they are competitive most years. Plus there is no shame in cheering for them.
If those first two aren’t available for you, then the old school method was to gamble using your gut. That means you put out the dollars based on instinct and hope for the best. Normally that would mean gambling on a plan, but our heroes, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, never did formulate a plan; at least one they would follow for more than a season or two. Consequently they were the bottom dwellers of MLB and a perennial punch line.
To make his point, the author details just how bad things were for the Rays, laying just about all of the blame at the founding owner’s feet. While this gossipy evisceration of Vince Naimoli is a very entertaining demonstration of clueless brand management, it struck me as the weakest part of the book. It was mainly he said/she said, and clearly shows a man completely out of touch with the need for managing his public image, but at the same time it bordered on nasty for nastiness sake. It seemed like the author didn’t believe you the reader would get the point of the rest of the book without tearing down owner number one.
I would say the author didn’t have faith in the original concept of the book and added all this shallow stuff to suck in the readers. Unfortunately the people who read the book for this material are going to quit reading by chapter three. That said it is fun to read in a back-biting way. It is always good to remember that a alienating your fan base is never helpful when all your profits are based on said fan base. A good example is getting the local high school band to perform, but then not allowing them into the stadium unless they bought tickets.
The real strength of this book is the math. Taking something that seems as arbitrary as MLB and applying solid business analysis to it can show up a lot of flaws in the current business model. The title suggests that gaining that 2% edge over your competition will lead to substantial profits down the road. Think if you could guarantee winning at roulette 52% of the time. Played right you would soon be a millionaire. Could the same be true for winning baseball games? Three finance guys who had done extremely well on Wall Street and had a love of baseball picked up the Rays relatively cheap. Using their finance knowledge they began managing the team with a long term strategy of gaining that 2% edge.
This meant looking at the numbers to find underappreciated talent at under market value. Just as Warren Buffet scans to country for undervalued companies to add to Berkshire Hathaway, these guys scanned the minor leagues and the free agents trying to fill the holes they had in their roster. How do you find that information out – the numbers? For example there is a guy who can breakdown a pitches style down to when he releases the ball and from that give you a very accurate prediction of how far away they are from injury. Really cool stuff.
Also on a strictly business level, the lengths the new owners go to repair their brand is great. As anyone can tell you brand is everything, especially in a consumer driven business model. Some of the counter-intuitive arguments reminded me of Chris Anderson’s book “Free.” For example, allowing fans to bring in their own food actually leads to increased sales at the concessions. Coupling the games with concerts is another strategy while not original to the Rays, it is used to great effect.
Of course you can’t lead strictly lead by the numbers, you just have to respect them. Two problems are evident in this system though the Rays have been very successful following them. First is mentioned in the book and that is the big miss on Albert Pujols. The Rays has him in their sights since high school (they were “first” to see him) and no matter how they added the numbers up it kept showing a loss. Time and again they (and to be fair, almost everyone else too) passed on him. The second thing, and this I didn’t see mentioned, it is possible to be profitable financially as a team without winning. I would guess that is what would get you through the bad years but the model doesn’t require winning as part of the equation. Rather winning is seems to be the icing on the cake, and while that is good; it won’t keep your fans around forever. “We may not play well, but at least were profitable” is not brand tagline for the long run.
While I like insider baseball and cool analysis used in new and creative ways, I realize I might be in the minority. Plus the early negativity was done a little too much with an excessive zeal. But I do recommend this book for anyone interested in baseball and business. If you like both then you are sitting on a homerun right here.
November 4, 2011
The Extra 2%
This novel, The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri is about the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that made a historic turnaround from perennial loser to consistent contender. The Rays went from so bad to so good that B.J Upton best describes their team by saying, “I used to tell people that I played for the Devil Rays and they’d ask, ‘Who are the Devil Rays?’ Now, I think they know who we are.” (Keri 3). The dramatic change in the teams productivity comes from the change in ownership. When Stuart Sternberg took over ownership for the Rays, he brought his knowledge from his Wall Street career into baseball. He took into consideration every little detail and spent every dollar wisely. There was no lacking of evaluations of players, money, and more. Who would have thought that Wall Street strategies would work in the game of baseball, where people have been trying to figure out the best ways to win for over a century. And it only took 5 years for Stuart Sternberg to lead his team from worst to first and ahead of the huge market teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees.
I really enjoyed this book because it helped me understand the hard work that is put into every franchise, to keep it successful and running, not just in baseball, but in every business. It is a lesson that can be used for the rest of your life. Knowing that if you put in hard work and determination into something, then something good will come in return. In this case, the Rays spent several long hours scouting players and building up their team on a low payroll, and in return they won the AL pennant in 2008. Therefore, I recommend everybody to read this!!! Stuart Sternberg, in talking about what it takes financially to run a franchise is quoted as saying, “With the prices of franchises, you’ve got to have someone who understands the pocketbook, the brand, and what it takes to grow it. Given all the needs, I need someone with a broader set of skills.”
(Keri 85). This quote really speaks to me because it shows that there is more to a baseball team then what is just shown on the field. It is the behind the scenes work that can make or break a ball club.
I rate this novel The Extra 2% a 5 out of 5 because I will talk about this book for years to come. This true story about a major league franchise going from worst to first taught me a life lesson that you put something in you will get something in return. In this case, the Rays got a winning season and an AL pennant. Hence, in life if you study hard and do well in school, you will receive a good job and make a good living. But if you are lazy and don’t have any motivation, then you can never excel in life. This is better explained when John Wayne said, and I quote, “Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.” The similarities between a baseball team or even a business and the struggles of life have come out in this book and that is why this is a five star caliber book.
This novel, The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri is about the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that made a historic turnaround from perennial loser to consistent contender. The Rays went from so bad to so good that B.J Upton best describes their team by saying, “I used to tell people that I played for the Devil Rays and they’d ask, ‘Who are the Devil Rays?’ Now, I think they know who we are.” (Keri 3). The dramatic change in the teams productivity comes from the change in ownership. When Stuart Sternberg took over ownership for the Rays, he brought his knowledge from his Wall Street career into baseball. He took into consideration every little detail and spent every dollar wisely. There was no lacking of evaluations of players, money, and more. Who would have thought that Wall Street strategies would work in the game of baseball, where people have been trying to figure out the best ways to win for over a century. And it only took 5 years for Stuart Sternberg to lead his team from worst to first and ahead of the huge market teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees.
I really enjoyed this book because it helped me understand the hard work that is put into every franchise, to keep it successful and running, not just in baseball, but in every business. It is a lesson that can be used for the rest of your life. Knowing that if you put in hard work and determination into something, then something good will come in return. In this case, the Rays spent several long hours scouting players and building up their team on a low payroll, and in return they won the AL pennant in 2008. Therefore, I recommend everybody to read this!!! Stuart Sternberg, in talking about what it takes financially to run a franchise is quoted as saying, “With the prices of franchises, you’ve got to have someone who understands the pocketbook, the brand, and what it takes to grow it. Given all the needs, I need someone with a broader set of skills.”
(Keri 85). This quote really speaks to me because it shows that there is more to a baseball team then what is just shown on the field. It is the behind the scenes work that can make or break a ball club.
I rate this novel The Extra 2% a 5 out of 5 because I will talk about this book for years to come. This true story about a major league franchise going from worst to first taught me a life lesson that you put something in you will get something in return. In this case, the Rays got a winning season and an AL pennant. Hence, in life if you study hard and do well in school, you will receive a good job and make a good living. But if you are lazy and don’t have any motivation, then you can never excel in life. This is better explained when John Wayne said, and I quote, “Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.” The similarities between a baseball team or even a business and the struggles of life have come out in this book and that is why this is a five star caliber book.
January 26, 2013
As someone who dedicates, well, every night of the baseball season to watching baseball games, I don't think that I was the target audience for The Extra 2%. Jonah Keri has certainly watched more baseball than me and has talked to and interviewed way more baseball people than me, even before writing this book. But I don't think that it's aimed at a serious baseball fan. So I'm not going to hold it against the book for mostly glossing over the 2008 turnaround season, which I actually thought were the slowest and least interesting parts of the book.
Far more interesting to me was the winding saga of how baseball ultimately came to Tampa Bay - well, St. Petersberg. I did not know this before, or even that Tropicana Field has been built for several years before the baseball team even came into existence. No wonder the place doesn't seem so modern. As well, the problems with the previous owner and his failure on just about every level were interesting to me. The Devil Rays organization being so cheap that not every employee even had a company e-mail address until like 2003 was probably the biggest eye-opening fact here. I mean, wow.
There's a fair bit of inside baseball here. That's what else is interesting to me, of course. Names like Sternberg and Silverman are ones that I hear but don't really know a lot. Keri interviewed a wide variety of people to get perspective on all of these events, including the failed GM from the Naimoli days, and it was also refreshing to kind of get a candid post-mortem from a guy who was in a job that was over his head for several years and maybe he wasn't cut out for it after all. On the other hand, you have to wonder if he might have done better if he didn't have the problem with ownership wanting to win immediately, leading to the bad contracts, and so on. There's always food for thought with what-ifs in baseball, which is part of the fun, too.
I would have liked if there was a bit more meat to the day in and day out of that 2008 turnaround season. That's not the point of the book, though. It's more about the behind the scenes. Though it's not too old, the 2012 baseball season has kind of rendered some of the points moot; neo-Moneyball in Oakland and whatever-the-heck Dan Duquetteball in Baltimore were the dominant stories from 2012, and these are even more interesting (to me, especially, being an Orioles fan) because they're more complicated. The Extra 2% boils down to, the Rays were being run incompetently and now they are being run hyper-competently. So, duh, of course they are doing better now. How did the Athletics and Orioles manage to win in 2012? Well, that's another book for someone else to write. Maybe me, but probably not.
Far more interesting to me was the winding saga of how baseball ultimately came to Tampa Bay - well, St. Petersberg. I did not know this before, or even that Tropicana Field has been built for several years before the baseball team even came into existence. No wonder the place doesn't seem so modern. As well, the problems with the previous owner and his failure on just about every level were interesting to me. The Devil Rays organization being so cheap that not every employee even had a company e-mail address until like 2003 was probably the biggest eye-opening fact here. I mean, wow.
There's a fair bit of inside baseball here. That's what else is interesting to me, of course. Names like Sternberg and Silverman are ones that I hear but don't really know a lot. Keri interviewed a wide variety of people to get perspective on all of these events, including the failed GM from the Naimoli days, and it was also refreshing to kind of get a candid post-mortem from a guy who was in a job that was over his head for several years and maybe he wasn't cut out for it after all. On the other hand, you have to wonder if he might have done better if he didn't have the problem with ownership wanting to win immediately, leading to the bad contracts, and so on. There's always food for thought with what-ifs in baseball, which is part of the fun, too.
I would have liked if there was a bit more meat to the day in and day out of that 2008 turnaround season. That's not the point of the book, though. It's more about the behind the scenes. Though it's not too old, the 2012 baseball season has kind of rendered some of the points moot; neo-Moneyball in Oakland and whatever-the-heck Dan Duquetteball in Baltimore were the dominant stories from 2012, and these are even more interesting (to me, especially, being an Orioles fan) because they're more complicated. The Extra 2% boils down to, the Rays were being run incompetently and now they are being run hyper-competently. So, duh, of course they are doing better now. How did the Athletics and Orioles manage to win in 2012? Well, that's another book for someone else to write. Maybe me, but probably not.
September 9, 2014
As a Rays fan, and as someone who loved Michael Lewis' Moneyball, I came to Jonah Keri's "The Extra 2%" with high expectations.
2% is largely a disappointment. If you are a Rays fan, or simply a baseball fan who wants to relive the incredible worst-to-first run that the Rays put together in 2008, you will find some enjoyable moments here. The most interesting material, ironically, is often the stories of ineptitude from the Naomoli era, which held the then-Devil Rays down for a decade.
The idea here is that the Rays go 2% beyond everyone else when it comes to effort, research, idea generation, player evaluation, etc. Hence the title, The Extra 2%. Don't expect any more information than this. The Rays guard their internal operations very closely, and honestly, I feel they are wise to do so.
So if you wondering HOW the Rays turned the ship around, you'll just have to settle for the hyperbole that they tried about 2% harder than everyone else. Don't expect to learn anything about how they value defense, how they evaluate pitchers and teach the change up, or anything else. They don't want you to know.
Which brings up an interesting question: If there isn't any information to be had, why was this book written at all? Surely the Oakland Athletics didn't reveal all internal operations when Michael Lewis wrote Moneyball, but at least we learned that they valued OBP highly, that they were one of the first teams to look at Fielding Independent Pitching, and that they could prove statistically that RBI's are more a function of who your teammates are than who you are. Lewis took us into the draft room, where we witnessed Billy Beane throw a chair through a wall at the height of his conflict with the old guard scouting system. Moneyball gave us wonderful insights and made us feel like a part of the Athletics, even if the most important secrets were kept from us.
What did I learn in The Extra 2%? That the Rays have to try really hard to beat the financial juggernauts from Boston and New York. But I already knew that, and so did you. Unless you are a die hard Rays fan who wants to relive 2008, you might want to pass.
2% is largely a disappointment. If you are a Rays fan, or simply a baseball fan who wants to relive the incredible worst-to-first run that the Rays put together in 2008, you will find some enjoyable moments here. The most interesting material, ironically, is often the stories of ineptitude from the Naomoli era, which held the then-Devil Rays down for a decade.
The idea here is that the Rays go 2% beyond everyone else when it comes to effort, research, idea generation, player evaluation, etc. Hence the title, The Extra 2%. Don't expect any more information than this. The Rays guard their internal operations very closely, and honestly, I feel they are wise to do so.
So if you wondering HOW the Rays turned the ship around, you'll just have to settle for the hyperbole that they tried about 2% harder than everyone else. Don't expect to learn anything about how they value defense, how they evaluate pitchers and teach the change up, or anything else. They don't want you to know.
Which brings up an interesting question: If there isn't any information to be had, why was this book written at all? Surely the Oakland Athletics didn't reveal all internal operations when Michael Lewis wrote Moneyball, but at least we learned that they valued OBP highly, that they were one of the first teams to look at Fielding Independent Pitching, and that they could prove statistically that RBI's are more a function of who your teammates are than who you are. Lewis took us into the draft room, where we witnessed Billy Beane throw a chair through a wall at the height of his conflict with the old guard scouting system. Moneyball gave us wonderful insights and made us feel like a part of the Athletics, even if the most important secrets were kept from us.
What did I learn in The Extra 2%? That the Rays have to try really hard to beat the financial juggernauts from Boston and New York. But I already knew that, and so did you. Unless you are a die hard Rays fan who wants to relive 2008, you might want to pass.
May 16, 2011
Robbie Sheets pages 245
The reason why i choose this book: because it talk about my favorite team the Tampa Bay Rays an how they went from worst team in baseball to the number one team in baseball with help from three wall street ownership people name Stuart Sternberg,Matt Silverman,and Andrew Friedman.
Genre: non-fiction.
Setting: St peterburg,FL home of the Tampa bay Rays.
main charcter:Stuart Sternberg owner of team,Matt Silverman presdent of the team, Andrew Friedman General Manager of the team and Vince Naimoli their first owner in their 13 year history.
Plot: talks about how they had the worst owner ever for a sports team his name was Vince Naimoli and here are the reasons why. That he did not allow the fans to bring their own food to the game. If he saw that going on he would kick you out of the stadium did not trade people and would get old players not young guys. but in 2005 the team got a new person to run and that was Stuart Sternberg a job in wall street and allow fans to bring food to the game even talking to fan's to and a new manger for the team new young players,and even made it to the playoffs for first time and world series.
Conflict: How to bring a team from the worst to first.
Resolved: By buying and tradeing good players.
My Opinion: Is that it talks about my favorite team and how they became the laughing stock in MLB to a team that people talking about who's going to make the playoffs and even win the world series and i feel good about that.
The reason why i choose this book: because it talk about my favorite team the Tampa Bay Rays an how they went from worst team in baseball to the number one team in baseball with help from three wall street ownership people name Stuart Sternberg,Matt Silverman,and Andrew Friedman.
Genre: non-fiction.
Setting: St peterburg,FL home of the Tampa bay Rays.
main charcter:Stuart Sternberg owner of team,Matt Silverman presdent of the team, Andrew Friedman General Manager of the team and Vince Naimoli their first owner in their 13 year history.
Plot: talks about how they had the worst owner ever for a sports team his name was Vince Naimoli and here are the reasons why. That he did not allow the fans to bring their own food to the game. If he saw that going on he would kick you out of the stadium did not trade people and would get old players not young guys. but in 2005 the team got a new person to run and that was Stuart Sternberg a job in wall street and allow fans to bring food to the game even talking to fan's to and a new manger for the team new young players,and even made it to the playoffs for first time and world series.
Conflict: How to bring a team from the worst to first.
Resolved: By buying and tradeing good players.
My Opinion: Is that it talks about my favorite team and how they became the laughing stock in MLB to a team that people talking about who's going to make the playoffs and even win the world series and i feel good about that.
August 14, 2011
Rather disappointing. The book is probably 75% saying, 25% showing. Retreads ground multiple times, there's no coherent narrative arc. When, in the second half of the book, we get to things that made the Rays better, they seem like a random collection of improvements, and don't clearly connect to the "extra 2%" theme, nor does the theme connect to the banking background of the Wall Street owners that it was supposed to connect to.
Still, the second half of the book is interesting. But this is no Moneyball. And I was hoping it would be.
Still, the second half of the book is interesting. But this is no Moneyball. And I was hoping it would be.
October 26, 2015
As with all baseball stories, it cab always be spun on two different ways. I wonder if the Rays story told here would be told very differently if the outcome had been different. Say, if the Rays had come up just short of the playoffs (still a marked improvement from the LaMar days) the process would have been the same but the storyline wouldn't be as compelling. Having said that, overcoming the traditional AL East powerhouses is a major achievement and this book does a good job of connecting the threads that took the Rays there in an entertaining manner.
April 16, 2017
Rating - 7.8
A bit thin on insider content but a satisfying read nonetheless, particularly since I did not know much of Friedman & the Tampa Bay turnaround; Ending makes the 2011 outcomes even more fan rewarding
Not as much Wall Street applicability as the title would suggest & the repetition is evident; Overall, Keri has a smooth writing style, knows his shit & has efficiently targeted the knowledgeable baseball fan
A bit thin on insider content but a satisfying read nonetheless, particularly since I did not know much of Friedman & the Tampa Bay turnaround; Ending makes the 2011 outcomes even more fan rewarding
Not as much Wall Street applicability as the title would suggest & the repetition is evident; Overall, Keri has a smooth writing style, knows his shit & has efficiently targeted the knowledgeable baseball fan
May 19, 2012
Predictably written and not nearly detailed enough. I know what the damn team did, tell me how they did it when other teams couldn't!
August 2, 2025
This supposedly a book about how a group that made their money on Wall Street used their arbitrage mindset to turn around a woeful baseball team, one that could not win, could not draft of sign well and had an owner who alienated the entire community.
Stuart Sternberg and his team brought business sense to the club. They were creative in reforming the club's reputation in the neighborhood, such as offering free parking for the first two years they owned the team. They improved scouting and player development, hired Joe Maddon as manager, changed the team's name from the Devil Rays to the more positive Rays and had the club in the World Series in a three-year period.
I find it interesting that, twenty years after buying the team (and 14 years after this books was published), Sternberg had also alienated the community (over ballpark demands) and MLB forced a sale.
This book is very dry. I am not convinced Keri understands how arbitrage works, in spite of his having been a stock market reporter for Investor's Business Daily. He certainly does not understand revenue as he more than once reference's increased franchise value as a source of revenue. (It is when you sell, but not while you hold the asset.)
There are some interesting insights, and the book really comes to life in the last forty or fifty pages but getting there is a slog.
Stuart Sternberg and his team brought business sense to the club. They were creative in reforming the club's reputation in the neighborhood, such as offering free parking for the first two years they owned the team. They improved scouting and player development, hired Joe Maddon as manager, changed the team's name from the Devil Rays to the more positive Rays and had the club in the World Series in a three-year period.
I find it interesting that, twenty years after buying the team (and 14 years after this books was published), Sternberg had also alienated the community (over ballpark demands) and MLB forced a sale.
This book is very dry. I am not convinced Keri understands how arbitrage works, in spite of his having been a stock market reporter for Investor's Business Daily. He certainly does not understand revenue as he more than once reference's increased franchise value as a source of revenue. (It is when you sell, but not while you hold the asset.)
There are some interesting insights, and the book really comes to life in the last forty or fifty pages but getting there is a slog.
July 7, 2025
Have you heard of Moneyball. Well this is moneyballing the moneyball.
In 1998, Tampa Bay received an expansion baseball team. This is about the time I started becoming invested in baseball. However, Tampa Bay's owner proved to be inept at all facets of owning a baseball franchise.
In comes the new owners in 2005 to a horribly run, low morale, no talent, overpaid baseball team that had never had a winning record. Their expansion counterpart had already won a World Series in 2001.
By 2008, the rebranded Rays were competing for a World Series title and regularly (2010, 2011) fighting the mighty New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for division wins.
This is moneyball while competing against large market teams and the moneyball team while in the strongest division in baseball.
I loved this book so much and learned so much. Albert Puljos on the Rays??? What could have been?
In 1998, Tampa Bay received an expansion baseball team. This is about the time I started becoming invested in baseball. However, Tampa Bay's owner proved to be inept at all facets of owning a baseball franchise.
In comes the new owners in 2005 to a horribly run, low morale, no talent, overpaid baseball team that had never had a winning record. Their expansion counterpart had already won a World Series in 2001.
By 2008, the rebranded Rays were competing for a World Series title and regularly (2010, 2011) fighting the mighty New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for division wins.
This is moneyball while competing against large market teams and the moneyball team while in the strongest division in baseball.
I loved this book so much and learned so much. Albert Puljos on the Rays??? What could have been?
November 27, 2024
A solid entry into the "sports/management" genre that I really enjoy. This book is well written and documents the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays from baseball's laughingstocks into participants in the World Series in 2008 besting the well-heeled Yankees and Red Sox. The book was written in 2011 and gives readers the inside scoop on the transformation of the Rays both on the field and on the business management side. The management side of sports teams is fascinating to me and this book was no exception. The Rays, continuing to today, are truly remarkable in squeezing the extra 2% of every facet of their operation. Sadly, the author is currently serving a prison term in Canada (rightfully so) stemming from multiple Domestic Violence arrests.
March 16, 2018
Good book that details the Tampa Bay Rays franchise concentrating on their upswing into relevance in the last decade. It was real interesting to learn about their struggles to get a MLB franchise, and how cheap their first owner was. It was also interesting how they tried to take sabermetrics a step further than Billy Beane and Moneyball did. They kept looking for new ways to change the game and gain that extra 2%. These baseball outsiders found success, and their success continued to change the game of baseball. If you are interested in how a MLB franchise works, I think you will enjoy this book.
November 8, 2017
Content-wise, sort of a spiritual sequel to Moneyball, perhaps slightly less interesting because it's not as fresh and new (well, it is, but the baseball side, such as fielding analytics and things are not as fleshed out). The book reads fluidly and is an easy read, but tends to confusingly jump between time periods and characters in a way that might confuse people not familiar with baseball's more recent timeline of events. Oddly written in a more general-interest angle, but not as interesting or accessible, despite the explanations of all the stats stuff.
January 25, 2020
Another book on how a small market team made their mark in highly imbalanced baseball league - this time its the Tampa bay rays against the Goliath’s (Yankees and Red Sox). Even though the books title talks about the Wall Street strategies the author only briefly talks about them . A significant number of chapters were lost on the previous owners with little to describe on the new management’s strategies. I would rate this lower than moneyball and the big data baseball that talks in detail about A’sand pirates strategies to win after a significant losing seasons
June 22, 2021
I use a calculated, pragmatic approach to solve problems.
Layed the flattery on thick.
Exhausted all possible scenarios.
Built a streak of successful turnaround stories.
All had one thing in common: too much fat.
The antithesis of my philosophy.
The hero that can’t get out of his own way.
We’re not looking for all sorts of ways to squeeze an extra dollar.
Layed the flattery on thick.
Exhausted all possible scenarios.
Built a streak of successful turnaround stories.
All had one thing in common: too much fat.
The antithesis of my philosophy.
The hero that can’t get out of his own way.
We’re not looking for all sorts of ways to squeeze an extra dollar.
July 11, 2017
A great study of one of the most unconventional sports franchises of the past few decades, and the strategies its ownership and management utilized to compete against much wealthier opponents with larger payrolls.
June 11, 2021
This is a great book about the business side of baseball. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000 are the worst run franchise, and the laughingstock of baseball. They are bought by Wall Street executives and remade into the best franchise in baseball.
May 9, 2024
An excellent book on the business of baseball in the small market. The writing is basically fact telling and nothing creative or enticing. It was merely a book of interesting facts and strategies the Rays used to become winners. A story that wrote itself despite the author.
June 2, 2025
As a Rays fan, the story of how the team became what it is was fun, but I would much prefer a narrative style than this. The overwhelming facts and stats show me that I am, clearly, not the target audience. Nonetheless, it was still a good read.
May 16, 2017
i read this theee years too late for any of the ideas it explores about building a ballclub to be new, but still loved it
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