Smart Ball: Marketing the Myth and Managing the Reality of Major League Baseball (review)

In Smart Ball, Robert F. Lewis II examines the ways that Major League Baseball exercises soft and hard power to further its business interests, and how the nature and use of that power changes over time as MLB seeks a more global reach.

In the opening chapter, Lewis introduces the term power; following Joseph S. Nye Jr., Lewis defines power as "the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes one wants" (4). Power is subdivided into hard power, involving the use of threats and inducements, and soft power, which relies upon attraction. The coordinated use of hard power and soft power to achieve one's aims is referred to as smart power, and this concept is the foundation of Lewis's thesis that "smart power appears to be an improved means for both preserving MLB's challenged position as the national pastime in a diverse United States and enhancing the country's role in a global market" (8).

Lewis's argument is developed in four chapters, each devoted to the uses of power that defined specific eras in MLB history. "Baseball as a Sport: Creating Power" follows the development of the early game, as well as the process of creating baseball's mythical origins, and the use of that mythos in establishing the game as the national pastime. "Baseball as a Domestic Monopoly: Developing Power" details MLB owners' early reliance on hard power to build and control their businesses, and the subsequent shift that took place as the players increased their power in the business relationship. Lewis also discusses the shared challenges faced by owners and players in the wake of the recent steroid scandal. In "Baseball as a Neocolonialist: Abusing Power," MLB's history of race relations is examined, both domestically and internationally. Players represent a combination of labor and material resources in the baseball business, while MLB operates as a neocolonial power attempting to develop and, more importantly, control these resources. "Baseball as a Global Business: Balancing Power" details the shift, currently in progress, of baseball changing from a neocolonial power to a global business, one that seeks to partner with its peers in other countries for the mutual benefit of all.

Lewis brings everything full circle in the final chapter, integrating his concepts and outlining nine strategies for MLB to employ in its quest to establish baseball as a global sport and the league as a truly global business. Lewis's nine strategies reflect both his understanding of global business principles and how MLB can apply these principles to benefit domestic and international perceptions of baseball.

A few factual errors were identified, though these appear limited to a handful of paragraphs about baseball cards. Black Jack gum did not introduce the baseball card in 1870 (43), and, in fact, the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards contains no nineteenth-century references to Black Jack gum. The famous T206 Honus Wagner card is described as being issued in the 1890s (44), when it in fact dates from 1909-11, and Lewis states that the highest price ever paid for a football card is $10,000 (44), though at least two dozen individual cards have sold in excess of that price in recent years, with at least one selling for more than $200,000. Further fact-checking did not reveal any other errors, however, and those identified did not detract from or contradict Lewis's assertions.

Overall, Lewis successfully integrates baseball history and MLB's business practices into a geopolitical economic model. While the first decades of MLB as a business were owner-dominated and stable, the overreliance on hard power actually caused the league to stagnate and hindered development. Racial integration and the slowly growing power of the players forced owners to be take a more global view, but it took time for them to move past the traditional hard power approach to a...