From the late 1950s to the 1980s, baseball's American League
mismanaged integration and expansion, allowing the National League
to forge ahead in attendance and prestige. While both leagues had
executive structures that presented few barriers to individual team
owners acting purely in their own interests, it was the American
League that succumbed to infighting-which ultimately led to its
disappearance into what we now call Major League Baseball.
Stumbling around the Bases is the story of how the American League
fell into such a disastrous state, struggling for decades to escape
its nadir and, when it finally righted itself, losing its
independence. The American League's trip to the bottom involved bad
decisions by both individual teams and their owners. The key
elements were a glacial approach to integration, the choice of
underfinanced or disruptive new owners, and a consistent inability
to choose the better markets among cities that were available for
expansion. The American League wound up with less-attractive teams
in the smaller markets compared to the National League-and thus
fewer consumers of tickets, parking, beer, hot dogs, scorecards,
and replica jerseys. The errors of the American League owners were
rooted in missed cultural and demographic shifts and exacerbated by
reactive decisions that hurt as much as helped their interests.
Though the owners were men who were notably successful in their
non-baseball business ventures, success in insurance, pizza, food
processing, and real estate development, didn't necessarily
translate into running a flourishing baseball league. In the end
the National League was simply better at recognizing its collective
interests, screening its owners, and recognizing the markets that
had long-term potential.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
