Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting

This book is so well written, so enjoyable, so entertaining that I couldn't put it down. Kerrane's writing and reporting are exceptional, but the stars of the book are the scouts he interviews. The scouts that catch his eye are those who began prior to the creation of the amateur draft in 1965 and were still active in 1981 when he wrote the book. The common denominator with these select few is that each seems capable of tracing his baseball lineage in one way or another back to Branch Rickey, the godfather of scouting and the man behind the scouting motto, "the dollar sign on the muscle." Rickey seemingly had an innate ability to recognize a player ("never sign an overstrider")and then to put a price tag on the player's worth. He also had the callousness to bury players in the minors and renege on their contracts. Aside from its great narrative and readability, the hidden story here is the educating in Baseball 101. The scouts reveal how to play the game and why. They also expose faults and flaws that can and cannot be overcome. I loved every page. Why this book isn't in print any longer is a total mystery to me. The prices attached to it by used book sellers tell you how much it is valued by those who have read it and spread its reputation to others.

This is a great book. It covers virtually the whole history of the "modern" game, from the early teens to (almost) the present day, and does so from the perspective of the baseball scout -- the keenest evaluators of talent in the game. Here are a series of larger-than-life characters, each with a silver tongue it seems, and an endless reservoir of anecdotes - often amusing, sometimes tragic. It is one of those books that is a pure pleasure to read and sink oneself into, filled with earthy but incisive baseball talk and analysis. This book reflects a huge amount of research, but comes across with an easygoing quality, wearing its scholarship lightly. It's unfortunate that it's out of print, and the used copies are so expensive. But if you can find one for a reasonable price you wouldn't be disappointed.

Dollar Sign on the Muscle belongs on any short list of the best baseball books ever written. It has the ability to change the way you look at baseball by taking you inside the fascinating world of baseball scouts and their never-ending search for the "arm behind the barn," the "good face" and the many other phrases that you'll never forget after reading this book. Kerrane is a marvelous prose stylist but one who never draws attention to his own felicity for words -- instead, he uses that gift to effortlessly draw the reader into the scout's world (especially the bygone era of scouting before the advent of the amateur draft). I can't recommend it highly enough.

If this is the same book I remember from many years ago...it is worth reading again, as it about the kind of people that are a part of "Money Ball"...

An excellent book for any baseball-fan. Extremely funny and entertaining. Everybody will learn more about scouting und the new edition lets you know how the career of the players scouted turned out.I fully agree with the assessment of Rob Neyer of espn.com, who included the book as honorable mention amongst the best baseball books of all time.