A bounty of insights into the life of a modern baseball manager and the evolution of the role over time. Definitely worth reading for any serious baseball fan.

The reflections of retired managers on their own careers and how they see the game when watching today is a valuable lens to understand the story. Likewise, managers’ experiences where the integration with the front office failed illustrate that the changes are rarely seamless and straightforward and furthers understanding of why it works when it does.

The sections that touch on the career of Terry Francona need a bit of rework as he’s come out of retirement to manage the Reds, replacing David Bell. I’m sure the author is aware and such developments are a hazard whenever the landscape changes between writing and publication.

A correction is needed to Chapter 1 where it references “the inception of the sport as a professional league in 1903.” That year marks the start of the World Series era, but the NL dates to 1876 and the AL to 1901.

A later section references “Moneyball” as the end of a run of 1980s and 1990s baseball movies, but the idea doesn’t really work. Its 2011 release date is considerably later than the other names films and new films continued to appear after it, such as “42”.

There are a few other assorted typos, date references off by a year, and similar minor corrections needed elsewhere.

Overall, a worthwhile read and informative about the modern game and where it may go next. Thank you for the opportunity to read it and I’ll be sharing it soon on Instagram; @reading.baseball.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is a great book for baseball fans - with a variety of sections focusing on different managers and different parts of what being a manager means. I really enjoyed how each section focused on an important part of managing and how it's changed over time. The managers interviewed seemed pretty open and there was an acknowledgement of how unusual and rare it is to have that job.

One of the best baseball books I've read lately!

This was a wonderful book. I enjoyed reading it immensely. I never knew that managers were there for anything other than to get mad at.