From Major League Baseball's inception in the 1880s through World War II, team owners enjoyed monopolistic control of the industry. Despite the players' desire to form a viable union, every attempt to do so failed. The labor consciousness of baseball players lagged behind that of workers in other industries, and the public was largely in the dark about labor practices in baseball. In the mid-1960s, star players Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout for multiyear contracts and much higher salaries. Their holdout quickly drew support from the public; for the first time, owners realized they could ill afford to alienate fans, their primary source of revenue. Baseball's Power Shift chronicles the growth and development of the union movement in Major League Baseball and the key role of the press and public opinion in the players' successes and failures in labor-management relations. Swanson focuses on the most turbulent years, 1966 to 1981, which saw the birth of the Major League Baseball Players Association as well as three strikes, two lockouts, Curt Flood's challenge to the reserve clause in the Supreme Court, and the emergence of full free agency. To defeat the owners, the players' union needed support from the press, and perhaps more importantly, the public. With the public on their side, the players ushered in a new era in professional sports when salaries skyrocketed and fans began to care as much about the business dealings of their favorite team as they do about wins and losses. Swanson shows how fans and the media became key players in baseball's labor wars and paved the way for the explosive growth in the American sports economy.

"Chronicles the media and public's prominent role in baseball's union movements between 1885 and 1981"--

With its three-hour-long contests, 162-game seasons, and countless measurable variables, baseball is a sport which lends itself to self-reflection and obsessive analysis. It's a thinking game. It's also a shifting game. Nowhere is this more evident than in the statistical revolution which has swept through the pastime in recent years, bringing metrics like WAR, OPS, and BABIP into front offices and living rooms alike. So what's on the horizon for a game that is constantly evolving? Positioned at the crossroads of sabermetrics and cognitive science, The Shift alters the trajectory of both traditional and analytics-based baseball thought. With a background in clinical psychology as well as experience in major league front offices, Baseball Prospectus' Russell Carleton illuminates advanced statistics and challenges cultural assumptions, demonstrating along the way that data and logic need not be at odds with the human elements of baseball—in fact, they're inextricably intertwined. Covering topics ranging from infield shifts to paradigm shifts, Carleton writes with verve, honesty, and an engaging style, inviting all those who love the game to examine it deeply and maybe a little differently. Data becomes digestible; intangibles are rendered not only accessible, but quantifiable. Casual fans and statheads alike will not want to miss this compelling meditation on what makes baseball tick.

This book depicts the challenges associated with the emergence of a new global order in which patterns of conflict and the role of traditional military power are in the process of radical flux. Our ideas about global order have yet to catch up with these new behavioral trends, including the rise of non-state transnational political actors in the context of neoliberal globalization. In this historical setting the modern territorial sovereign state is confronted by multiple challenges ranging from climate change to mass migration to transnational political extremism. The existing global order seems currently overwhelmed by these challenges, resulting in widespread stress and chaos that is transforming global security in ways that endanger democratic governance. The future will be determined by whether the peoples of the world make their weight felt in support of sustainable global justice and overcome the impact of oppressive and exploitative patterns of corporate and state behavior. It is this problematic set of circumstances that Power Shift addresses.

Hairs vs. Squares is an ode to an unforgettable season that began with the first major players’ strike in the history of North American sports and ended with a record-setting World Series played by two of the game’s greatest and most colorful dynasties. In a sign of the times it was Hippies vs. Hardhats, a clash of cultures with the hirsute, mod Mustache Gang colliding with the clean-cut, conservative Big Red Machine on the game’s grandest stage. When the Oakland A’s met the Cincinnati Reds in the 1972 Fall Classic, more than a championship was at stake. The more than two dozen interviews bring to life a time when controversy was commonplace, both inside and outside the national pastime. In baseball, Willie Mays was traded, Hank Aaron was chasing down Babe Ruth’s home run record, and Dick Allen was helping to save the Chicago White Sox franchise while winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. Outside the American pastime the war in Vietnam was raging, campus protests spread throughout the country, and Watergate and the Munich Olympics headlined the tumultuous year. The 1972 Major League Baseball season was marked by the rapid rise of rookies and young stars, the fall of established teams and veterans, courageous comebacks, and personal redemptions. Along with the many unforgettable and outrageous characters inside baseball, Hairs vs. Squares emphasizes the dramatic changes that took place on and off the field in the 1970s. Owners’ lockouts, on-field fights, maverick managers, controversial trades, artificial fields, the first full five-game League Championship Series, and the closest, most competitive World Series ever, combined to make the 1972 season as complex as the social and political unrest that marked the era.

The bestselling author and star of ABC’s Shark Tank reveals how to master the three prongs of influence: reputation, negotiation, and relationships. Have you ever wanted to make a big change in your life but weren’t sure where to start? In Powershift, Daymond John shares the answer. To take control of your destiny and drive the change you want to see, you need to lay the groundwork so you’re prepared to seize every opportunity that comes your way. And that means mastering • Influence—make an impression: Develop a reputation that highlights what you stand for. • Negotiation—make a deal: Hone a win-win negotiating style. • Relationships—make a connection last: Nurture those connections you make along the way. Through never-before-told stories from his life and career, Daymond shares the lessons that got him to where he is today: from how he remade his public image as he transitioned from clothing mogul to television personality, to how he mastered the negotiation strategies that determine whether deals are won or lost “in the tank,” to his secrets for building long-lasting—and profitable—relationships with founders and brands. Throughout the book, some of the world’s most successful personalities reveal how they shifted their power in meaningful ways: Kris Jenner on determining your value: “You don’t have to go ask somebody else for permission. You have the power to be able to stick to your guns and demand your worth.” Mark Cuban on finding and understanding your why: “Time is the one asset we don’t own, we can’t buy, and we can never get back.” Pitbull on tapping into your inner power: “A lot of people feel that to be powerful is to exude strength. I think it’s the total opposite. To be powerful is to be powerless. It’s when you give everybody what you got.” Whether you’re an innovator working to turn your big idea into a reality, a professional looking to land a major promotion, or a busy parent trying to find more time to focus on what’s really important to you, Daymond shows you how to shift your power and energy towards positive change.

Traces the single-generation transformation of sports from a cottage industry to a global business, reflecting on how elite athletes, agents, TV executives, coaches, owners, and athletes who once had to take second jobs worked together to create the dominating, big-ticket industry of today.