For a review of the new book on the Rays, The Extra 2%, we turn to our correspondent Jordi Scrubbings…
There is no doubt some of the best sports books ever have been about baseball. Every baseball fan has their favorites. Personally, I am fan of The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, Boys of Summer, and Ball Four.
But whereas the amount of literature is staggering and certain stories have been told, re-told, and told once again, no one had yet written about the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays – unless you count Vince Namoli’s Baseball, Business, and Beyond. But if a book is written, and no one reads it, does it count?
Esteemed baseball and business writer Jonah Keri attempts to rectify this lack of Rays literature with his new book, The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First. Keri, who has written for Baseball Prospectus, ESPN.com, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other places, tells the tale of the rise of the Rays, from the early days of expansion to the present era.
The Extra 2% is not a typical baseball book, however. Focusing primarily on the new Rays ownership, Keri looks at the Rays history from a business perspective, using terms such as “leveraging”, “opportunity cost”, and “arbitrage”. Having been years removed from my college business course, I was a bit intimidated, but Keri’s writing style speaks to the average fan and carefully explains the business terms and makes them easily digestible. Even for an English major.
Written in chronological order, the first few chapters of the book detail the excruciatingly poor business operations of Vince Namoli. Although Namoli is given credit for battling MLB to get a team in St. Petersburg, he is vilified for each of the boneheaded blunders he makes when the Devil Rays actually start play. There are stories of failed fan interaction, mangled marketing, poor public relations, and awkward organizational management. Keri doesn’t mention what Namoli is up to currently, but given his detailed mistakes, it’s hard to see him positively contributing to any company these days.
In the early chapters, Read the rest of this entry »
Back in 2008, the Rays catered to the delicate sensibilities of a few retirees in the St. Pete area, and kicked the Devil to the curb with a new name. Team president Matt Silverman said of the change, “We’re no longer the bottom feeding fish…We’re much more about the energy of the sun.”
One of the first things we thought about when we heard the Rays would be giving away 20,000 tickets to Wednesday’s home finale, was how the season-ticket holders would react. After all, there was no reward for the fans that dig deeper than most to support the team.
