I found the premise of this book very interesting -- a sportswriter who has loved the game of baseball discusses what she thinks has kept the game from being as popular as NFL or NBA and what she'd do to fix it. She takes us with her to minor league games, major league games, training facilities, analytics companies as she explores how the game has changed over the past 20 years. I know a bit about baseball - I have a son who plays in little league on on his school team - but I wish I had a deeper knowledge to truly understand all of Leavy's references, complaints, and recommendations. This one might be best for true baseball aficionados, but I still enjoyed it and like that it gave me something to discuss with my teenage son.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Baseball is too slow.” “Analytics are ruining the game.” “Kids don’t want to play the game.” “Television ratings for baseball are terrible.” These and other complaints about the current state of Major League Baseball have been spoken, printed, shouted and communicated in nearly every manner for several years now. Jane Leavy, an accomplished baseball writer and fan, decided to use her experience and interview many people to come up with ways to fix the game. She tells readers about this experience and her ideas in this very good book.

Something that makes the book very interesting is that Leavy talks with many people with various viewpoints on many different issues. Leaving out names because 1) there are so many in the book that it would make this review longer than an 18-inning marathon game and 2) it would not be right to put labels on people such as “traditionalist” or “stat geek” so this review will not do so. It is just worth noting that the conclusions Leavy makes come after weighing all opinions.

Just about every aspect of the current game is covered and either addressed or left alone by Leavy in her final suggestions (which will not be revealed in this review). I thought her best work was on the lack of Black players from the United States as her interviews were very interesting. I will note that there is a triggering sentence in that section that she at least acknowledges that was very unprofessional on a possible solution to this problem. But the overall topic is covered well.

As is the other example I will note her, her writing on the current state of traveling baseball and how it not only will exclude kids from playing the game but also limits the opportunities for players to advance to either college baseball or possibly being drafted by MLB teams. I also enjoyed her stories of the Cape Cod league that are interspersed in the book between writing about these issues. They tie in nicely with the topics being discussed. One excellent example is near the end when kids can interact with the actual play on the field using some of the advanced analytical statistics. If that sounds improbable, it did happen and the story is great.

Improbable is the most likely outcome for either Leavy to become the actual commissioner or for many of her ideas to become reality. But even if they don’t, this book is a very good look at the current state of the game and some possible ways of addressing them without altering the beauty of the game itself.

I wish to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

As lifelong lover of the game of baseball, i was excited to get my hands on an advanced copy of this book. so thank you to netgalley and the publisher for that. This book delves into so many different areas in the game of baseball as a whole that by the time you're finished reading it, you feel like you not only have a grasp on the issues, but you begin to see the vantage point of Leavy and wish for the fixes discussed.

Not every chapter of the book is as riveting as others, but overall it is a tremendously well-written book where you can see her love for the game show through. I am very happy i took the time to sit down and read this book, and maybe one day in the future, some of what is discussed in this book will come to fruition in the game.

"How are you supposed to fall in love with baseball when the object of desire becomes fungible, disappearing overnight, to be replaced by someone else who may look like him and throw like him but isn't him?"

This is a thoughtful and in-depth exploration of the current state of Major League Baseball—and what author Jane believes needs fixing. She travels to games across different leagues, including the MLB, the Cape Cod League, and even the Savannah Bananas, offering a wide lens on the sport’s evolving culture.

Jane shares conversations with current GMs and coaches, highlighting what they believe is working in baseball and what’s gone off track. One of her central critiques is how the game has become overly dominated by statistics, losing some of the soul and spontaneity that once defined it.

She also visits professional training centers to show how today’s players are being built—engineered, really—to pitch and hit with precision. But as the quote above suggests, it’s hard to form lasting attachments to players when they’re so easily replaced by the next hot prospect. The game has shifted from long-term development to short-term performance.

You can feel Jane’s love for baseball from the very first page. Her desire to understand the modern game and advocate for its future is compelling. As a huge baseball fan, I highly recommend this book.

Snarky, passionate, and informative. A must-read for anyone who loves baseball, sure to spark debate.

The author presents a number of ideas to improve the game in her opinion, but I doubt that the current owners or the players union will go for them. At times the author seems to get lost in the current state of affairs and metrics being used that drifts from the focus of the book. It’s an okay read, but if she were to become commissioner I doubt that any of her ideas will take hold.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.

Are you a baseball fan? Do you want greater insight into the sport? Do you have questions on why the sport is played the way it is today? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you need to read this book. You will gain insight into various issues facing baseball in the current environment with input and interviews with those addressing these issues currently. This was an enjoyable read.

Jane Leavy's love of baseball comes through on every page of this book. She has been a fan for decades, back when the game was more nuanced than it is now when the emphasis seems to be only on homeruns and power pitching. As baseball is using statistics to try to make the game 'more perfect' the effect has been to make it more boring and therefore unengaging to youth, the baseball fans of the future. Jane interviews numerous famous baseball people, and some unknowns, most of whom lament what has been lost, and offer ideas for reclaiming the game for the next generation.

Though I mostly enjoyed the book, it was a somewhat slow, reading mostly like a memoir. Some of the stories and interviews didn't offer a lot in terms of making the game better. Jane, and her baseball insiders, have a lot of great ideas, but baseball executives and/or the players' union will never go for most of them, unfortunately. As a long-time baseball fan myself, I especially liked their ideas on how to divide revenues as a means of leveling the playing field for teams in smaller markets.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

If you haven't noticed lately, the sport of baseball is in a bit of trouble.

Yes, people are still coming out to the ballpark in most cases, franchises continue to grow in value (this is important mostly to owners, I guess), and some breathtaking athletic talent is still on display on a regular basis.

Yet television ratings have dropped, even in the playoffs. There's a perception that the games have turned dull in many cases, due to the fact that there are too many walks, strikeouts and home runs during the game (more doubles and triples, please). The hospitals are full of pitchers having Tommy John surgery, as the push toward velocity has carried a price tag. The analytics used in determining how best to win games may be an effective tool, but it's hard to call them welcoming to the overall audience.

Major league baseball has tried to respond to some of the issues surrounding the game with action, and some of the steps have worked nicely. The pitch clock has done wonders for picking up the pace of the game, giving everyone involved an extra half-hour of their lives back for every game they watch. MLB also has installed the use of a "ghost" runner at second base at the start of extra innings, which follows the example of other leagues. Some purists don't like it, but they should know that hardly anyone (and that includes players, coaches, umpires, and fans) wants to watch a regular-season game that goes into the 14th inning. Or even the 12th. And maybe the 10th.

Jane Leavy wants to help. If the name is familiar, at least to regular readers of this space, it's because she's written three acclaimed biographies of all-time greats of the game: Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth. But she supposedly wasn't anxious to dive back into the sport and its troubles at this particular time.

Suitably inspired, Leavy has written a much different book than she's written before when it comes to baseball. The title is "Make Me Commissioner," which shows we're in entertaining territory here. After all, the job of sports commissioner is about one-quarter fun and three-quarter drudgery. Leavy concentrates on the part that does not include labor negotiations and television revenues (although the latter might be boosted if they'd make some changes to the sport's incomprehensible blackout policies). She's loosened from the restrictions of serious historical work, throwing in a variety of personal material along the way that works rather well. Leavy was one of the pioneering women to break the glass ceiling when it came to covering baseball. That's not surprising, since her grandmother brought her to Saks Fifth Avenue when Jane was a child and bought her ... a baseball glove. Who knew it had them for sale, even then?

Opening the book sends us off on a journey of variety of places. We look at everything from performance analysis centers for youngsters to the play of the Savannah Bananas. We hear from Bill Lee, Rich Hill, Joe Torre, Alex Bregman and Dusty Baker. Eventually, we get to the last chapter that contains something of an informal list of what might improve baseball's future. It's fair to say there are a few spots along the way that aren't engrossing, but that's probably going to happen in any book that takes a task like this fairly seriously.

Overall, the ideas are interesting. There are those who follow baseball who are so tied to tradition that they would like to see the starting batteries announced by megaphone before the game once again. But that's no way for the business to keep up to date. Is there a way to cut down on all of the walks, strikeouts and home runs? Perhaps the fences should be higher, and the ball should be bigger and heavier. That might lead to more balls in play and more action (plus fewer arm injuries). If robotic umpiring on balls and strikes is coming (and it is, in some form), will that help the product? Would a firm salary cap make the sport more competitive? I liked the idea of dedicated some of the money earned by MLB from gambling interests to be immediately turned around and invested in youth development of the game - particularly in inner cities. And how about free admission for kids under 10 in MLB games, at least in designated sections?

It's also fun to see Leavy draw on some of her own experiences, which means conversations with some of the friends made along the way. It's good to hear some stories about a woman who was a big baseball fan before that was accepted. She obviously learned a few things about the use of profanity in baseball along the way, a reflection of a more loose writing approach than usual to the subject.

Maybe all of Leavy's concepts for improvement aren't workable, but "Make Me Commissioner" at least starts a discussion of how to improve things by exchanging ideas. We need to do more of this, not less.

Really interesting book in which Jane Leavy devotes a chapter to a variety of issues affecting baseball. In each of these chapters, she tries to spend time with the people addressing the issue. For instance, there's a chapter following Black former MLB players who are trying to help MLB reach the new generation of Black athletes. Another chapter follows the coaches at Oklahoma St as they deal with the younger generation wanting to showboat in a way that old timers hates. I especially liked the chapter exploring the world of travel teams, in which wealthy parents send their sons (who are mostly just slightly above average) to these expensive camps, because they're sure they're kid is gonna be a big leaguer. The money and stress brought on these kids just because these parents have an out-of-control ego. Yikes.

I have not really Levy's bios, but I know people love her Sandy Koufax book. She is a true fan and baseball could do worse than making her Commish. Can she start tomorrow?

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free e-galley of the book in return for this review.