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Diamond Dollars
The Economics of Winning in Baseball |
| by: VINCE GENNARO |
| PRICE: $24.95 |
| ISSN/ISBN: 978-0-9777-436-3-6 |
| TRIM SIZE: 6 x 9 |
| PUB DATE: February 2007 |
| PAGES: 256 | |
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"Diamond Dollars offers up exciting and stimulating new ideas abut the business of baseball. It provides a set of metrics for decisions that have typically been a "gut feeling" for many organizations. I think teams should make this required reading for everyone in their organizations."
--Jim Beattie, former General Manager Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos
"Vince Gennaro has written the best book I've read on the business of baseball. It serves as both a "how-to manual" for baseball owners and a tour guide for fans who scratch their heads at the things their teams do. It should find plenty of readers in both camps."
--Dave Studenmund, Editor, The Hardball Times Annual
"Diamond Dollars provides an insightful look at the business of baseball--at the free agent market, teams' scouting and player development systems, and how clubs market their brands. The book mixes Vince's business acumen as a top executive at a Fortune 50 company with his passion for the national pastime."
--Mark Attanasio, Chairman and Principal Owner, Milwaukee Brewers
"Vince Gennaro shows a profound understanding of the economics of a team's baseball decisions. His analyses of a team's win-revenue relationship, the player development system and player valuation, make for a remarkably innovative examination of the baseball front office model that's just as informative for a baseball executive as for a fan."
--Chris Antonetti, Assistant General Manager, Cleveland Indians
Diamond Dollars is a fresh, provocative, insightful and analytical look at the business of baseball by author Vince Gennaro, a consultant to MLB teams. It delves deeply into a team's win-revenue relationship and how a team's competitiveness affects the "value" of its players. Gennaro also quantifies a team's cost of player development, explores how farm system productivity contributes to a team's economic value, and discusses the dramatic impact of team-owned regional sports networks on a team's economics.
In doing so, Gennaro addresses some key questions that affect how teams make decisions, how they assemble their roster, and ultimately, their bottom line:
- How does winning affect revenues for each team?
- How much value does a berth in the postseason generate?
- What is a team's marginal revenue vs. marginal cost of winning?
- What is the economic value of a productive farm system?
- Why is a player's value "situational", depending on the competitiveness of his team and the market in which he plays?
- How can we quantify a player's "marquee value"
his ability to draw fans?
- What is the relative cost of developing talent vs. buying it in the free agent market?
- How can we quantify a player's injury risk and its impact on his dollar value?
- What is the dollar value of fan loyalty to their favorite team?
- How have the Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs built their team as a brand?
Gennaro even takes a retrospective look at how much Babe Ruth was worth to his Yankee teams of the 1920s and 1930s. The charm of Diamond Dollars is its provocative way of putting numbers to ethereal concepts that have been talked about by baseball insiders for years, such as the payoff from winning, the dollar value of players, and the true cost of developing players. Many perceived the book Moneyball to be a breakthrough for baseball because it unveiled inefficiencies in the way talent was evaluated. In a similar fashion Diamond Dollars addresses the inefficiencies in the way players are valued and delivers an unparalleled look at the economics of baseball today. Gennaro combines his three decades of business experience, including successfully leading billion dollar businesses, with his in-depth knowledge of baseball, and even a two-year stint as a pro sports owner, to write a truly unique book. This is a must-read for true fans and baseball executives alike.
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