The diamond revolution

Baseball fans were either shocked or numbed when Ryne Sandberg and Bobby Bonilla signed contracts that would pay them millions more than any player in history. But these deals were only the symptoms of a war that has been going on for decades. While baseball is played much the same as it was in the past, behind the scenes a revolution has transformed the sport. Once an all-white game performed before local audiences in cities of the north and midwest and controlled by an. Old guard of owners who held players in feudal bondage, baseball today is an international affair, fueled by beer and television revenues, where players enjoy free agency's lucrative bounty. In The Diamond Revolution, Neil Sullivan examines the fall of baseball's ruling class and the rise of its new order. With a scholar's expertise and a fan's passion, Sullivan illuminates the key areas of change and what they mean for the future of baseball. Along the way he raises. Provocative issues, such as: how baseball's racist policies helped maintain the famous team dynasties; the El Dorado option: how owners use the threat of franchise movement to win huge taxpayer-funded concessions; free agency and arbitration: the twin demons the owners brought upon themselves; and beer and baseball: the game's golden goose and the movement that might kill it. These and dozens of other topics reveal the side of baseball that most fans never see--a field. Of play where the stakes are not just games but the future of the sport itself.