Wins, losses, and empty seats : how baseball outlasted the Great Depression

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Wins, losses, and empty seats : how baseball outlasted the Great Depression

David George Surdam

University of Nebraska Press, c2011

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注記

Includes bibliographical references (p. [399]-403) and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

Organized baseball has survived its share of difficult times, and never was the state of the game more imperiled than during the Great Depression. Or was it? Remarkably, during the economic upheavals of the Depression none of the sixteen Major League Baseball teams folded or moved. In this economist's look at the sport as a business between 1929 and 1941, David George Surdam argues that although it was a very tough decade for baseball, the downturn didn't happen immediately. The 1930 season, after the stock market crash, had record attendance. But by 1931 attendance began to fall rapidly, plummeting 40 percent by 1933. To adjust, teams reduced expenses by cutting coaches and hiring player-managers. While even the best players, such as Babe Ruth, were forced to take pay cuts, most players continued to earn the same pay in terms of purchasing power. Off the field, owners devised innovative solutions to keep the game afloat, including the development of the Minor League farm system, night baseball, and the first radio broadcasts to diversify teams' income sources. Using research from primary documents, Surdam analyzes how the economic structure and operations side of Major League Baseball during the Depression took a beating but managed to endure, albeit changed by the societal forces of its time.

目次

List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction Prologue: Clash of Titans Part 1: The Financial Side of the Game 1. The American Economy and the State of Baseball Profits 2. Why Did Profits Collapse? The Revenue Side 3. Why Did Profits Collapse? Player Salaries and Other Expenses 4. Farm Systems Conclusion of Economic Side Part 2: The Game on the Field 5. Competitive Balance 6. Player Movement Part 3: Using League Rules to Aid in the Recovery 7. Helping the Indigent 8. Manipulating the Schedule to Increase Revenue Part 4: Innovations to Boost Attendance and Profits 9. Radio and Baseball 10. Baseball Under the Lights 11. Other Innovations 12. How Effective Were the Innovations? 13. The Inept and the Restless: Franchise Relocation Epilogue: The End of an Era Appendix 1: Radio and Sunday Ball's Effect on Attendance Appendix 2: Dramatis Personae Appendix of Tables Notes Bibliography Index

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