The Game Audiobook By Jon Pessah cover art

The Game

Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball's Power Brokers

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The Game

By: Jon Pessah
Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
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The incredible inside story of power, money, and baseball's last 20 years.

In the fall of 1992, America's national pastime is in crisis and already on the path to the unthinkable: cancelling a World Series for the first time in history. The owners are at war with each other, their decades-long battle with the players has turned America against both sides, and the players' growing addictions to steroids will threaten the game's very foundation.

It is a tipping point for baseball, a crucial moment in the game's history that catalyzes a struggle for power by three strong-willed men: Commissioner Bud Selig, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and union leader Don Fehr. It's their uneasy alliance at the end of decades of struggle that pulls the game back from the brink and turns it into a moneymaking powerhouse that enriches them all.

This is the real story of baseball, played out against a tableau of stunning athletic feats, high-stakes public battles, and backroom political deals - with a supporting cast that includes Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, Joe Torre and Derek Jeter, George Bush and George Mitchell, and many more.

Drawing from hundreds of extensive, exclusive interviews throughout baseball, The Game is a stunning achievement: a rigorously reported audiobook and the must-listen, fly-on-the-wall, definitive account of how an enormous struggle for power turns disaster into baseball's golden age.

©2015 Jon Pessah (P)2015 Hachette Audio Baseball & Softball Coaching Sports History Game Sports War
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If you love Bud or hate him you'll understand him much better. What will be his true legacy?

A mist for Milwuakee Brewers fans

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely! I don't know anything about baseball, or particularly care about sports in general, but I was mesmerized by the story on many levels--self-indulged athletes, power brokers, and rich owners.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Steinbrenner--I had not known about him or his history of ownership of the Yankees. He used his money and power to cajole, manipulate and win.

What does Jeremy Arthur bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He helped engage me with a story I was not sure I could care about.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The unfolding of the drug use and how "baseball" reacted (slowly) to it. Power and money were part of this story, too

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this book even if you are not interested in baseball. It was one of the best books I listened to this year.

You don't have to like baseball to enjoy this book

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If you are a fan of the business of baseball - the way it works behind the scenes - this is the book you've been waiting for.

So great!

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I'm fully aware you can't have a baseball book about the last 20 or 30 years and night feature the New York Yankees prominently in the book. The book I'd listen to before this was the Yankee years by Joe Torre and at least of the fourth of a book was basically repeated from the Yankee years. I learned more than I knew going into it it's a good read or listen for any baseball fan. But it's basically about bud selig and George Steinbrenner. I did come away liking George Steinbrenner more than I used to which after listening to the Yankee years was really hard.

Should have been called Bud and George

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Would you listen to The Game again? Why?

I wouldn't listen again because Pessah's story is so intricately woven that I have a deep understanding of the issues and the timeline.

What other book might you compare The Game to and why?

This book reads to me as fluently and well researched as any Jeffrey Toobin book about the intricacies of the Supreme Court or Bob Woodward's forays into Washington politics.

What does Jeremy Arthur bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reader does a fine job of clearly conveying the flow of the narrative. His differentiation among speakers could be more nuanced, but that isn't really a problem.

Any additional comments?

To call this a "baseball" book is to do it an injustice. It is a deeply researched, clearly exposited story about the inner workings of the baseball business--a giant business at that. It is the story of greed, passionate beliefs, and conflicts among iron willed captains of an industry that represents itself as our National Passtime. Terrific!

A great job of reportage and storytelling

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Commissioner era. This book gives the back story of the wins and losses of the Bud Selig era as commissioner of baseball. An excellent read for those who want to know the movers and shakers during his term. Highly recommended

Excellent retelling of the Bud Selig

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I was captivated by the detail and lack of prejudice in the tone of the narration. Tastefully and unabashedly presented.

Bring pliant historical insight

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The book had some very interesting parts and very eye opening to some of the motives behind decisions that were made. Only drawback is the book focuses so much on the Yankees that it glances over some other things that took place during Seligs time as commissioner

Good not great

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Although I thought there would be a greater general history focus, I guess the power brokers part of the title should have been more of a hint that the Yankees would be a major part of the book. The two biggest names in the book are Bud Selig and George Steinbrenner. Donald Fehr is a distant third. Very informative and detailed... the discussions about meetings between owners and baseball executives makes you feel like you are in the room for all the bickering back and forth. I could have done with less Yankees specific details for the last 3 hours of the audio, but they are interesting. This is a good timeline and recap of events that took place leading up to Selig's reign as commissioner all the way through Rob Manfred taking his place. Would definitely listen to this book again.

Great Selig Era baseball history book

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What did you love best about The Game?

It got to be like a George Steinbrenner biography at times, but that's not to say it wasn't enjoyable. If my alternating liking and disliking of certain characters throughout the whole book is any indication, it was fairly balanced. I am a baseball nut ,and maybe better put- an MLB nut. So I think anyone who falls into that realm would very much enjoy this book. It gives you a better understanding of some of the owners/players (who you may have only known by name before), and the part they have played in the last 25 years or so- namely, the relations between owners and players and the consequences this brought to the fan. It also details some particular events; I really liked the inside info about various games I had seen. Anyway, enjoyable read overall.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hmmm...

Have you listened to any of Jeremy Arthur’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, first time.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

In a world... where money has a tendency to ruin everything else, why not the pristine game of base!

Heavy on the Steinbrenner.

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