Make me commissioner I know what's wrong with baseball and how to fix it

Sports reporter Leavy (The Big Fella) provides a fervent critique of the current state of baseball, arguing the sport's obsession with analytics has removed the spontaneity and unpredictability that gave the game its appeal. Today, Major League Baseball teams gather and use data to scout players, make in-game decisions, and optimize player performance; as a result, she says, "the zeal for finding fractional advantages has compromised originality, precluding the forever plays that run on a loop in baseball's collective memory." To find solutions, she observes innovations happening around the country, including an exhibition team in Georgia called the Savannah Bananas whose funny and fast-paced games have shaken up a sport often criticized for being slow and boring. Her educational odyssey yields many recommendations for improving the game, like implementing a salary floor for players and discouraging pitches thrown over 95 mph to prevent arm injuries. The narrative is laced with Leavy's humor and lifelong passion for the sport (she wrote her first baseball story at 10 years old) and informed by conversations with star players and managers, such as Jim Palmer and Dave Roberts. This is a must-read for anyone who loves the game and hopes for better days. (Sept.)

Overhauling the national pastime. Leavy captures the frustrations of fans everywhere in this charming, resourceful plea to reinvigorate a sport that "forgot how to be fun." Current Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he'll leave his post in 2029, prompting the accomplished baseball biographer to launch this arch campaign for the job. Her diagnosis of the sport's plight, sharpened by reporting trips to spring-training complexes, amateur tournaments, data-in-sports confabs, and numerous games, is boldly stated: "Analytics fucked baseball." The game has been transformed by high-tech data collection systems in ballparks, MLB front offices run by quants, and specialized player-development centers. Today's pitchers are instructed to put "max effort" into each delivery. Hitters are increasingly aware that teams "don't pay for singles," as a player tells Leavy. It's no coincidence that strikeouts and injuries to young pitchers have spiked. The open-minded, comically profane ex--Baltimore Orioles beat writer is an ideal guide to this exasperating era, one that some of her sources trace to Rotisserie baseball, a fantasy sports forerunner invented by Daniel Okrent, an accomplished writer and Leavy's friend. She travels the country, bouncing ideas off historians, managers, players, and executives. Her many common-sense proposals include higher outfield walls, which would reduce homers and increase basepath action, and "designated signer[s]" at MLB games--players who'd fulfill postgame autograph requests. Unlike fusty defenders of the sport's traditions, she's willing to reassess all aspects of the sport, from roster sizes to rules discouraging fastballs over 95 mph. Though some of her reporting is fruitless--she accomplishes little with a chapter about an independent pro team known for mediocre baseball and wacky promotions--Leavy's blend of enthusiasm, knowledge, and iconoclasm prevails. Irreverent analysis and fresh ideas from a baseball writer dismayed by the state of the modern game. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.