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Dealing
The Cleveland Indians' New Ballgame: How a Small-Market Team Reinvented Itself as a Major League Contender
by Terry Pluto
- Format: Softcover, 248 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches
- Illustrations: 25 color photographs
- ISBN: 978-1-59851-049-2
- Price: $14.95
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Description
Now updated through the exciting 2007 season—with a new section of color photos.
For Indians fans who want to know what's going on inside the front office, this book tells all. It's an in-depth look at how the team was taken apart and rebuilt as a contender again in spite of Major League Baseball's current competitive imbalance.
Tribe fans grew accustomed to winning in the late 1990s. They had an owner with deep pockets, a brand-new ballpark, and a team of All-Stars who delivered a division championship nearly every year.
Then, in 2002, the team's new owners began a controversial plan to unload their popular but expensive stars and replace them with a steady stream of young prospects and veteran rehab projects. Critics scoffed, and fans stayed away. But by 2005 the plan showed promise with a 95-win season. And in 2007 it paid off, as the Indians beat the top-dollar Yankees in the playoffs and came within one game of the World Series—with a payroll less than half that of their competition.
How did they do it? Veteran sportswriter Terry Pluto (who was granted extensive access to top management, scouting reports, and financial data for this book) carefully analyzes each big decision and tells which ones worked, which ones didn't, and why. This rare behind-the-scenes look at a modern front office will intrigue any fan fascinated by baseball deal-making.
Reviews
[Pluto's] account isn't overly fawning in praise of the organization's procedures--nor is it needlessly critical. His writing is fair, honest and insightful throughout . . . The book is a compelling look at the Indians' organizational thought process in what has become a challenging baseball market. — MLB.com
Pluto's surprisingly frank interviews with Shapiro, former manager Mike Hargrove, Indians president Paul Dolan and current manager Eric Wedge provide a fascinating glimpse into the gritty business of running a competitive big league club. — Cleveland Magazine
Pluto uses his extensive knowledge and the openness of the Dolan family, along with Mark Shapiro, to explain the last few years of baseball in Cleveland. . . You'll be part of the team in this plain-speaking look at the inner workings of a Major League baseball team's front office, and how the entire team--front office and the one on the field--combine to make things happen. — coolcleveland.com
There's enough new stuff in “Dealing” that even diehard fans will learn something. The days of the sellout streak are over, and it's often painful to read why . . . Rebuilding a baseball team is no easy task, and the Indians and Shapiro did it quicker than most. This is the story of how, and it's a pretty good one. — News-Journal
Dealing isn't all gloom and doom. In fact, it's mostly an optimistic and supportive glance at the front office's restructuring and rebuilding. — Scene Magazine
For Tribe fans and serious baseball fans who are intrigued by the business side of the game, the book is a joy. Indians' officials reveal their reasons for all the significant trades, free-agent signings and other baseball decisions of the past five years. — Smart Business Network
An interesting walkthrough of the Dolans' ownership of the Indians time they bought the franchise from Dick Jacobs through the Coco Crisp trade (just before the 2006 season). — Baseball Digest Daily
It goes to a few places where "Moneyball" and Bob Costas have gone, but really, it's almost the bookend for "Weaver on Strategy." With Weaver [Pluto] covered the "on the field" stuff, and here it's behind the scenes. It teaches responsibility in a game where I don't even want to think about the absurdity of the salaries. — WCRF FM Radio
About Terry Pluto
Terry Pluto is a sports columnist for the Plain Dealer. He has twice been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the nation's top sports columnist for medium-sized newspapers. He is a nine-time winner of the Ohio Sports Writer of the Year award and has received more than 50 state and local writing awards. In 2005 he was inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame. He is the author of 23 books, including The Curse of Rocky Colavito (selected by the New York Times as one of the five notable sports books of 1989), and Loose Balls, which was ranked number 13 on Sports Illustrated's list of the top 100 sports books of all time. He was called “Perhaps the best American writer of sports books,” by the Chicago Tribune in 1997. He lives with his wife, Roberta, in Akron, Ohio. More About Terry Pluto