License to Deal: A Season on the Run with a Maverick Baseball Agent | 
 enlarge | Author: Jerry Crasnick
Publisher: Rodale Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 316078
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 328
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1594860246
Dewey Decimal Number: 921
EAN: 9781594860249
ASIN: 1594860246
Publication Date: May 25, 2005
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Product Description
The movie Jerry Maguire and HBO series Arli$$ barely skimmed the surface. Now the true inside story of the sports agent business is exposed as never before.
During baseball's evolution from national pastime to a $3.6 billion business, the game's agents have played a pivotal role in driving and (some might say) ruining the sport. In a world of unchecked egos and minimal regulation, client-stealing and financial inducements have become commonplace, leading many to label the field a cesspool, devoid of loyalties and filled with predators.
Matt Sosnick entered these shark-infested waters in 1997, leaving a job as CEO of a San Francisco high-tech company to represent ballplayers--and hoping to do so while keeping his romantic love of baseball and his integrity intact. License to Deal follows Sosnick as he deals with his up-and-coming clients (his most famous is the 2003 rookie-of-the-year pitching sensation Dontrelle Willis). We become privy to never-before-disclosed stories behind the rise of baseball's most powerful agent, Scott Boras. And we get a novel perspective on the art of the deal and the economics of baseball.
By one of baseball's most respected sportswriters, who is now ESPN.com's lead Insider baseball reporter, License to Deal, like Michael Lewis's bestselling Moneyball, will provide fuel for many a heated baseball discussion.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Great Look at a Little Known Aspect of Baseball February 23, 2008
In "License to Deal," author Jerry Crasnick presents the lives and times of sports agents Matt Sosnick and Paul Cobbe, two partners who represent minor league prospects that have a good chance of making it to the majors. With the exception of Dontrelle Willis, most of the players they represent are new draftees preparing to enter the minor leagues who may or may not eventually make it to the big leagues. Crasnick explains the ins and outs of the cutthroat world of representing professional athletes including services offered to clients, proper ethical conduct, underhanded tactics that agents use to steal each other's clients, and factors that lead young athletes to change agents. In the process, he addresses how agents influence the game itself, including how they can roil relationships between players and general managers while contributing to the escalating salaries that increasingly marginalize small market clubs.
Ultimately, Crasnick believes that there are two different types of agents in baseball. The first group includes big name agents like Scott Boras and Jeff Moorad who represent superstars and are primarily concerned with enabling players to obtain a greater slice of the pie from ownership. These agents believe that negotiating the best possible contracts for the game's stars will have a trickle-down effect, leading to better pay and working conditions for all players. Crasnick argues that MLB general managers collude informally to keep salaries from escalating during arbitration hearings, and that agents like Boras and Moorad do their best to combat this. The author notes that noted economist Andrew Zimbalist, consultant to the players' union and author of several books on the economics of baseball, has praised these agents for prodding the league to implement revenue sharing and the luxury tax to help small market teams. In the long run, Crasnick says that these agents combat the owners, who are essentially monopolists, and help the players, who are the real heroes of the game.
On the other side are small time agents like Sosnick and Cobbe who strive to give more individualized attention to prospects before they become famous. Crasnick says that Cobbe views running a small time agency as akin to starting a new insurance company. While selling auto insurance to single men in their 20s may not be the most lucrative business, those customers will eventually want to get married, buy a house, have kids, and plan for retirement. They will want help from someone whom they can trust in order to plan their future finances. As a result, Sosnick and Cobbe tend to look for common ground with the general managers that they negotiate with. They also work hard to develop long-term relationships with their clients, helping them with off-the-field matters that have nothing to do with baseball. Unlike Boras and Moorad, these agents are viewed as the good guys, helping to mold the next generation of stars into not just great players, but great people as well.
The stories that Crasnick tells about clashes between these two different groups of agents are great, but the ones that he tells involving conduct by small time agents that fall into grey areas are even better. As the sports agent world is extraordinarily competitive and cutthroat, Sosnick and Cobbe must be wary even of peers who have similar goals and philosophies that may stab them in the back at any moment. In spite of this, the two partners do a remarkable job of helping their clients and keeping the sport's, and the fans', best long term interests at heart.
"License to Deal" is an excellent read for any baseball fan who wants to learn more about how agents help the unsung heroes of the game. Readers will learn that the popular stereotype that agents are motivated solely to extract money from the game is flat out wrong, and that they do a great deal to help players focus more of their energies on the game. Crasnick should be commended for shining a spotlight on this little-known, and frequently misunderstood, aspect of the sports world.
Good book overall July 16, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is not really what the subtitle, "A season on the run with a maverick baseball agent", recommends. It is more of a description of the Sosnick-Cobbe sports agency, Matt Sosnick's biography, Sosnick's business approach, a history of baseball agents, a picture of the cutthroat business, Scott Boras' biography, and a basic how to of the agent business. All this information is randomly spewn about. It is like a picture you look at closely and think that it looks sloppy but when you take a look at the whole thing it is a masterpiece. Read the whole book before you make an opinion.
 For Hardcore Fans Only January 15, 2006
4 out of 13 found this review helpful
Not the most exciting book out there. But if you like minor league baseball, this book's worth a quick read.
Great topic, mediocre writing = a fascinating book October 27, 2005
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Despite the fact that the book seems quickly written and is organized rather poorly, Jerry Crasnick offers a fascinating study of the sports agent's life. "License to Deal" causes one to root for the up-and-coming agents and against the behemoths, like Scott Boras, that control so many of the top free agents in baseball.
After reading the book, I have a new understanding of the business behind baseball and the battle for new prospects still developing in the farm systems and high schools. In recent months, Sosnick was in the L.A. media surrounding the signing of Luke Hochevar, the Dodgers' top pick this year. Hochevar's negotiations with the Dodgers were strained when he switched from Matt Sosnick's agency to Scott Boras in mid stream. (See the excellent article in "Baseball America" by John Manuel and Kevin Goldstein on September 9, 2005.)
I highly recommend this book for its fascinating portrayal of Matt Sosnick and his agency.
Original and works October 25, 2005
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
When looking for good sports books, this is the kind of project that should stop you in your tracks. It is an orginal idea, well-written, and, most importantly, holds the reader's interest throughout the entire package. Well done.
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