A Recut Diamond: Baseball's Transition Into The Free Agent Era (1965-1976)

How did major league baseball become a multibillion-dollar industry that barely resembles the game that people enjoyed in the 1960s and 1970s? The tense negotiations over the latest Basic Agreement showed how much money now influences baseball. Many historic developments of the 1960s and 1970s helped produce today's game, as described in A Recut Diamond: Baseball's Transition into the Free Agent Era (1965-1976).

This book shows how major league baseball changed from 1965, when the New York Yankees started declining after 40 years of dominance, to 1976, when the free agency era started. It discusses many important trends—both on and off the field.

A Recut Diamond focuses on such crucial events as:

-- The beginning of the amateur player draft in 1965.

-- The election of an experienced players' union leader in 1966.

-- Changes in the commissioner's office.

-- The transfer of franchises to new cities.

-- New sources of income (television, stadiums, and licensing).

-- The expansion and reorganization of the two leagues in 1969.

--Legal challenges in the 1970s to the control by owners over player contracts.

The book also covers sociological changes in the game during this period, along with highlights of the on-field competition.

Treat yourself to a trip back to this memorable era with A Recut Diamond.