Full disclosure here: I got a review (electronic) copy of this book from Jane Leavy\u2019s publicist, but also contributed a little to the book, as Jane asked me a few questions and mentions me once in the text as well as in the acknowledgements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make Me Commissioner: I Know What\u2019s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It<\/a><\/em> doesn\u2019t exactly deliver on its title, and it isn\u2019t really about Jane Leavy asking to take Rob Manfred\u2019s job \u2013 although I have little doubt she\u2019d be an improvement, as she doesn\u2019t just like baseball, she loves<\/em> it. It\u2019s a series of interconnected stories, reminiscent of George Will\u2019s Men at Work<\/em>, that explain a lot about where baseball is right now as a sport and a pastime. I disagree with large portions of it, both Leavy\u2019s opinions and the opinions of many of the people she spoke with in researching the book, but I also tore through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leavy has been a sportswriter for \u2026 let\u2019s just say longer than I have, and prior to this she wrote three biographies of Hall of Famers, most notably her biography of Sandy Koufax called A Lefty\u2019s Legacy<\/em>. This is Leavy\u2019s first book where she\u2019s the main character, as we tag along with her to Cape Cod League games, spring training games, Savannah Bananas games, and a few big-league games as well, listening in on conversations with players, coaches, scouts, and executives about baseball in our era. There\u2019s a lot about analytics, of course, as well as baseball\u2019s attempts to capture the attention of younger fans, both by changing the game on the field and updating how the sport is presented when the players aren\u2019t actually playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stuff about the Bananas works the least, and the idea that baseball \u2013 Major League Baseball, specifically \u2013 has to be more like the Bananas is, well, bananas. (The book was published a week before Defector revealed that the Bananas\u2019 charity is maybe not very charitable<\/a>.) The Savannah Bananas are entertainment, not sport. They build on baseball to put on a show, the way that WWE builds on real wrestling to put on a show. You might like one, both, or neither. But turning MLB into something more like the Bananas, which Manfred floated when he brought up the idea of the \u201cGolden At Bat\u201d \u2013 never has it seemed more like the guy just doesn\u2019t understand baseball culture or tradition \u2013 risks alienating everyone: Current and longtime baseball fans will think it\u2019s a joke, while people who like the Bananas for what they bring aren\u2019t going to suddenly embrace \u2018real\u2019 baseball for putting the pitcher on stilts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lesson of the Bananas, if there is one, is that the fans do matter. Leavy does not suggest, or agree with the idea of, adopting Bananas ideas into pro ball; she does suggest making the sport more family-friendly, with earlier game times (good), cheaper tickets in family-only sections (good, but owners don\u2019t really like giving up money), and more in-stadium entertainment (not a long-term strategy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n What baseball really needs to do is improve the product on the field \u2013 without diluting it, or making it into something it fundamentally isn\u2019t. The pitch clock, of which I think Leavy approves, has been game-changing, literally. We get the same amount of baseball in about 10% less time. The baseball density has increased. The baseball per minute ratio is at its highest in decades. And the predicted rise in pitcher injuries doesn\u2019t seem to have happened, probably because every pitcher was already hurt anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n