Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting

I 'came back to' baseball as a fan last year (2024 as of this small review) and, true to my own peculiar form, have been devouring baseball books ever since. This is one of the best I've read. Like Ritter's The Glory of Their Times, Kerrane's wonderful book has all the saltiness and force you could ever want.

I'm serious. I have no idea whether baseball scouting today bears any resemblance to the thing described here ... but hot damn, what a description this is! The 'baseball men' in this book, whom Kerrane is wise enough to let speak for themselves at length, leap off the pages, pour you a scotch, and regale you with story after story.

There's also a lot of thought herein: is baseball scouting an art or a science? Should it be more one show more than the other? What makes a great player? Can you see it in a kid who isn't great, or even very good, yet? And how does that work?

Sterling stuff. show less

I loved this book, especially the reporting of the 1981 Phillies draft - and the new afterwards with a listing of all the players discussed. The old-time scouts racial profiling was disappointing if not unexpected. Highly recommended for any baseball fan.

Kerrane's book remains among the very finest of all books about baseball.