Product Description
Go behind closed doors in the Cleveland Indians' front office as award-winning sportswriter Terry Pluto analyzes the team's controversial recent moves to scrap a roster of popular stars and rebuild a new kind of contender.
Granted unprecedented access to the team's top management and financial data, Pluto delivers an up-close account of how decisions were made to radically reshape the franchise.
Indians fans grew accustomed to winning in the mid-1990s. They had an owner with deep pockets, a brand-new ballpark, and a team of high-priced all stars who delivered a division championship nearly every year.
But that glorious ride ended with a jolt of reality after savvy owner Richard Jacobs sold the franchise at the top of the market in 2000. New owners Larry and Paul Dolan and new general manager Mark Shapiro faced a challenge: an aging team, a mounting payroll, and a shrinking budget. First they made mistakes. Then they made bold changes. Stars such as Manny Ramirez, Roberto Alomar, and Jim Thome were gone, replaced with roster of unproven youngsters and veteran rehab projects. Fans were alarmed and dismayed. Then, in 2002, Shapiro boldly predicted that the Indians would return to contend for the playoffs after just three years of rebuilding. Critics scoffed.
Yet at the end of the 2005 season, the Indians were indeed back in contention, one tantalizing game away from a return to the playoffs. The core of an exciting young team was beginning to take shape, and Shapiro was voted American League Executive of the Year as his team won an impressive 93 games despite a payroll ranked in baseball's bottom five.
How was it done? In his familiar clear writing style, Pluto carefully explains the many risky moves made by management and tells which ones have paid off, which ones haven't, and why.
This rare behind-the-scenes look at a modern front office will intrigue fantasy leaguers and fans fascinated by baseball dealmaking. It will be an eye-opener for Indians fans who may still be wondering, What happened to my team?
Customer Reviews:
good insight.......2007-04-03
a great look at how mark shapiro learned on the job and, with a pittance of a budget as compared to the likes of the red sox and the yankees, has created a truly competitive team for years to come.
The thinking behind the scenes........2007-01-18
Terry Pluto has a wealth of inside information about the professional sports scene in the Cleveland area. In this book he shows us what goes on in the front office and what goes into some of the decisions about players. If your are even a casual follower of the Indians, or MLB in general, you will be interested in reading this book. You'll get a whole new look at why a team has some of the players it does, and why it doesn't have some of the players it or you may have wanted.
A very, interesting read.
a peek inside the front office -- .......2006-07-17
This new century's baseball team has different players than those in the good old days:
Moneyball
Fantasy
Reality
Business
Agents
Cable
Free Agency
Arbitration
Revenue Sharing
and of course, that good ol' reliable utility player
Hindsight
You can shuffle your lineup any way you want to, but at the end of the day, the deck is still stacked against the owner(s). Cleveland fans feel so deprived as none of their professional sports teams have won a championship for so many years, most people can't remember the last time it happened! And they're not the only ones.
In the last few years, the rules have changed--drastically. It's hardly fair to blame the new owners (the Dolan family) for not being the previous one--Dick Jacobs. After all, Jacobs did just what he'd done all his lifetime--bought low, sold high. Sold extra-high, actually. That doesn't mean that Jacobs should be blamed for having bought the baseball team in the first place--or selling it twelve years later. Had he not bought it when he did in 1987, the Cleveland Indians might well be some other city's team. Even so, it took the Jacobs family several years to get to the high-flying mid-90s, when the playoffs were the standard by which all other accomplishments were measured. Back then, the Browns were a bunch of nobodies, and so were the Cavs. Things are vastly different now--at least for the Cavs.
Terry Pluto uses his extensive knowledge and the openness of the Dolan family, along with Mark Shapiro, to explain the last few years of baseball in Cleveland. Actually, Paul Dolan, president of the team, should almost qualify for co-author status, he appears so often and so openly, explaining the actions of himself and his family. The Dolans appear to be out-going, straight-forward owners, explaining matters to the fans. (Sometimes they explain too much, to be sure.)
Reading this book, you'll feel like part of the team in this plain-speaking look at the inner workings of a Major League baseball team's front office, and how the entire team--front office and the one on the field--combine to make things happen.
Perhaps the Dolans biggest mistake was that, although they had been shrewd businessmen for many years, they approached the purchase of the team as fans rather than owners. For no other reason, perhaps, you have to like these guys. They play with their hearts--with tons of dollars thrown in for good measure. Seems to me they should be given a bit more time to make good on their intentions. After all, the world--and Northeast Ohio--changed drastically in the four years since they overpaid for the team.
There was the aftermath of 9/11, which will continue for a good many more years. The economic scene in Cleveland has gone through major changes in the last four years. Loss of jobs equates to many less dollars available for this not-so-inexpensive-anymore entertainment. Baseball, itself, has experienced the same sort of trauma, with new, long-term very pricey free-agent contracts. (Also, it's not only the Indians who sometimes have to pay another team to take a player they can't support any longer.) Then, too, the very novelty of the shiny new Jacobs Field began to wear off a bit. And don't forget the players. It takes much more time for a player to reach his prime than it does for him to pass on by it. Aging athletes can't always keep up, and it's a wise manager who realizes that fact, while still working around it. Not to mention, it's all too easy to ruin a player who's too young to handle the constant every day stress of competitive sports.
Pluto goes into great detail about how--knowing they weren't baseball strategists--the Dolans wisely found a solid core of young, knowledgeable men with varying skills and put them in charge of the team. General Manager Mark Shapiro (MLB's Executive of the Year for 2005); his assistants: Chris Antonetti, (the wizard of the computer); Neal Huntington, director of player development; scounting director John Mirabelli, and minor league director John Farrell. Between them, they selected Eric Wedge as manager of the team. (Locals complain about Wedge, but his peers have chosen him as one of the coaches for the 2006 All-Star game!) There's a lot to be said for putting someone in charge and letting them have the actual means and power to do their best without fear of the axe falling. That's not to say they can take forever, but it takes time to find the best young prospects and nurture them to major league capability.
Next time you want to complain about the penny-pinching Dolans, stop and think about this for a moment. In 2000, they purchased the Indians for 320 million dollars. The entire team, the front office, the farm teams, the whole magilla. Then, (from page175) "Along with having the three highest payrolls in team history (2000-2002), the Dolans also paid $40 million during all of their ownership in revenue sharing, mostly because of the success of the Jacobs era." Today, even though they've cut back some, they've also greatly increased the scounting program in an effort to re-build the team.
Cleveland is a small market, with three major-league teams. (New York City has more teams, of course, but even with all the dollars spent there, NY teams don't win every game, all the time.) Even though the New York Yankees spend 200 million dollars PER YEAR on their team payroll! Anyone here have that kind of money to spend? Didn't think so. Folks here want the Dolans to sell. Not so easily done. No one says the Dolans want to sell, but just suppose they did. Who'd buy? Until that happens, maybe we ought to cut them some slack, and give the Dolans a chance to finish what they started.
Take a look into the real moneyball.......2006-06-01
Terry Pluto is as close to a homegrown sports reporter as a region can have. Living in the Cleveland (OH) area, Pluto has aced major sports writing posts for The Plain Dealer and Akron Beacon Journal, along with writing numerous books on sports and other issues.
While he has returned to his roots as it were for recent books on the financial sheets of the new Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians, Pluto may be best known for an outstanding oral history on the ABA, Loose Balls.
When you mention the Dolan family to sports fans in NE Ohio, you may be greeted with words that drove Howard Stern to satellite radio. In the late 1990s the Dolan family purchased the then thriving Cleveland Indians from Richard Jacobs, and have been considered cheap, incompetent and having little clue in long-term planning to bring the club back into a contender's slot for the World Series.
Pluto does an excellent job in describing how that myth does not equal the reality of new franchise owners who admittedly got in over their heads in trying to be like cash-cow franchise like the Red Sox and Yankees & have poised the team to make solid division runs in 2006 and beyond with a nucleus of players who will be with the franchise for several years.
As I write this review, though, the Tribe is mired behind the Tigers and White Sox in the AL Central & has been victim to some disturbingly erratic play. With the Cavs recent playoff run and the Browns ready to start soon, the interest level in baseball remains tepid at best. These issues may lead to a new dynamic in the club blueprint outlined in the book.
Where Pluto has had utter disdain with the way the NFL and Al Lerner brought football back to Cleveland - which severely hampered the writing in that book - he has a more objective pen in attempting to present facts through team financial documents, scouting analysis and interviews.
I strongly feel Pluto learned a valuable lesson from his Browns book to limit quoting himself from ABJ colmuns. He limits his writings, which is a major plus. Recent interviews with past participants in the glory run along with material culled from past media reports is a nice mix.
The book may not be for a reader who has little background in the history of the team over the past decade or so. For as popular the club has been in the sales of hats and jerseys nationally, fandom remains regional. That could be why it was published by a NE Ohio-based company.
I hope Pluto considers writing a book on the rebirth of the Cavaliers through the eyes of management. In my view he's batting .500 in his exploration of the financial side of pro sports in Cleveland and has his own emerging blueprint to make a basketball book a real winner.
Book Description
The building of a vintage Indian Chief motorcycle is more than the restoration of a bike—it’s the resurrection of a dream. Rebuilding the Indian chronicles one man’s journey through the fearful expanse of midlife in a quest for peace, parts, and a happy second fatherhood. Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn’t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father for the first time in over twenty years. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts not so euphemistically referred to as a “basket case” and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a colorful cast of local experts, Haefele takes us down the rocky road of restoration to the headlong, heart-thrilling rush of open highway on his gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer.
Customer Reviews:
Wish I had found it sooner........2007-09-17
I found "Rebuilding the Indian" on the clearance shelf of a bookstore in Napa, California; for just $9.99. Being a motorcyclist, I figured I'd pick it up. If it turned out to be an awful book, well, only ten dollars wasted.
But what a pleasure it turned out to be. Not just a book about restoring an Indian, it's more about the Author's journey through life, his failed first marriage, his blissful second marriage, and the birth of his third child. Putting the bike back together seems to be a metaphor for his life, as he attempts to resurrect his writing and teaching careers. The restoration itself is an exercise in frustration and hilarity, and an experience I can entirely relate to; doing whatever it takes to get the bike running at the very end, when you need that last nut or bolt, it's midnight, and nearest bike shop is closed. It's no Hemingway novel, to be sure, but it's easy to read, entertaining, and touching to the soul.
If you're into motorcycles at all, or have ever contemplated buying a basketcase of your own, this is a must read. Highly recommended.
Thumbs up for Rebuilding the Indian.......2007-08-17
'Rebuilding the Indian' is not a step by step "how to" book on motorcycle restoration. It is the personal journey of a man finally beginning his dream. He had to do it with limited finances but with the support of a great family. Having taken similar journeys I found it a great read. It was fun to learn the same characters can be found in Montana collecting and saving rare motorcycles and parts as in the more densly populated areas of the country.
The author was not only a motorcycle enthusiast but writer that was able to become published.
The Indian Motorcycle as Simile.......2007-06-20
I picked this book up at a garage sale or some such and had it for a while before reading it. What a delightful surprise it was. Author Haefele, whose life is in a bit of a mess (divorce, career problems, kid problems), sets about restoring an Indian Chief. The Chiefs were the premier line of the once-great Indian motorcycle company and highly valued now by collectors.
Along the way he encounters an eccentric cast of Indian motorcycle enthusiasts. Skilled artisans of sheet metal and engine restoration populate this book's pages, some in dingy, crowded shops, others in clean, professional places. Haefele records the trips tracking down Indian parts and the real characters he encounters along the way. His partner (Chaz, I believe) packs a pistol on one exploratory trip.
As the restoration goes along Haefele finds his life mending too. A new wonderful woman in his life, along with a beautiful baby girl, and his professional life reviving too. Whatever the reason, the gradually resurrecting Indian seems to pace his life coming together too.
He paints it Midnight Blue, definitely not a factory color, but one that works. His description of the first ride on the Indian is vivid--I had no idea how difficult it would be for modern motorcyclists to use a foot clutch, hand shift, left-hand throttle motorcycle. A satisfying book to read, and it's nice to know that another Indian motorcycle was rescued from the dumps.
Beyond the Bildungsroman...growing up when your already grown.......2007-01-03
I really enjoyed Fred Haefele's Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir. This book is a delight. I liked it on several levels...there is real wrench-turning and parts hunting tales...there are colorful characters...there is a man undergoing a self-actualization and maturity coming to realize just what it means to be a man. He figures out where he fits in between his dad, his grown kids and his first and second wife and new baby all the while building a big motorcycle and running a arborist business. And it is fun while he is doing it.
I gave it to my wife (a high school English teacher) and she gave it to some of her 11th grade reluctant readers who are more at home turning wrenches than they are writing essays. It appealed to these kids tremendously.
I don't have a motorcycle and I am not going to build one but I do love reading about it. I found this to be a great book. If you like this one you may also like A Cliff Walk by Don Snyder.
Dad's Bike!.......2006-11-27
If you look at my profile here on Amazon you'll see a photo of my father on his 1940's era Indian. He and his brother raced Indians and Harleys in the 1930s and 1940s. Once I was born in 1948, my mother made him stop racing but he kept riding - along with my mother - until his death - in bed, not a bike crash!
My brother, 12 years younger than me, got the bike bug and has at least one Harley and is a certified motorcycle riding safety instructor. Never the reader - neither was our father - this is the first book I ever saw my brother pick up and read cover to cover.
Fred Haefele has written a fascinating book. You know a lot of the characters if you ever bought anything at a flea market or had to get your vehicle repaired in some little passed through town any where in the west or mid west. This is a story about an obsession. You may not understand it but you and experience the thrills and remorse of tapping out your credit card, yet again, for a barely functional set of forks and a cherry front skirt.
This book has to get five stars - my brother read it!
Book Description
Since 1975, when the U.S. government adopted a policy of self-determination for American Indian nations, a large number of the 562 federally recognized nations have seized the opportunity to govern themselves and determine their own economic, political, and cultural futures. As a first and crucial step in this process, many nations are revising constitutions originally developed by the U.S. government to create governmental structures more attuned to native people's unique cultural and political values. These new constitutions and the governing institutions they create are fostering greater governmental stability and accountability, increasing citizen support of government, and providing a firmer foundation for economic and political development.
This book brings together for the first time the writings of tribal reform leaders, academics, and legal practitioners to offer a comprehensive overview of American Indian nations' constitutional reform processes and the rebuilding of native nations. The book is organized in three sections. The first part investigates the historical, cultural, economic, and political motivations behind American Indian nations' recent reform efforts. The second part examines the most significant areas of reform, including criteria for tribal membership/citizenship and the reform of governmental institutions. The book concludes with a discussion of how American Indian nations are navigating the process of reform, including overcoming the politics of reform, maximizing citizen participation, and developing short-term and long-term programs of civic education.
Customer Reviews:
A top pick for college-level collections strong in Native history and culture and American politics and law.......2006-09-09
Since 1975 when the US government fostered a policy of self-determination for Native nations, many of the 500+ federally recognized nations have governed themselves, with some revision constitutions originally developed by the US government to hone them to Native interests. In turn these new constitutions are creating greater stability and accountability within the Native nations. The writings of tribal reform leaders, academics and lawyers come together for the first time under one cover in American Indian Constitutional Reform And The Rebuilding Of Native Nations, a top pick for college-level collections strong in Native history and culture and American politics and law.
Product Description
A revolutionary and eye opening look at the indigenous cultural heritage of chicano - Mexicans.
Customer Reviews:
illegal?!.......2006-05-31
Whatever opinions you may have on Xikano-Mexikano people, the truth is that we're not illegals on this land. Tlapoyawa gives it to you straight and tells it like it is. Citing acclaimed and reknowned scholars and authors, he takes you step by step through the different chapters of historical Mexican culture and identity. After reading this compelling and thought provoking book, there will be no doubt in your mind of the ties and right Mexikah people have on the land now known as the Southwest. Aztlan is not a myth; it is a documented historical ancestral homeland of the Nawatl speaking people, and we, the descendants of the original people of this continent, have the right to migrate freely back and forth as we please, following in the tradition of our ancestors. This book is a must read for truth and culture seekers, myth de-bunkers, and students in Indigenous/Native American and Chicano Studies.
Book offers not only history, but a framework for liberation.......2002-12-03
"We Will Rise" is based on the belief that Mexicano/Chicanos must begin our liberation from the correct point of reference. The book
begins not with the Chicano Movement of the 1970s, or the Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848, or even the Spanish invasion of Mexiko in
1519. It begins with our origins in the present-day Southwest U.S. thousands of years ago. It brings the reader full-circle to our current situation as an occupied nation in the Southwest. It offers a system for lifting ourselves to our former greatness and unity as a people, not through violence, but through Mexikayotl, in solidarity with our northern native brothers and sisters. It does all this in a very easy-to-read style, with clarity as well as beautiful original artwork. It is perfect for students of all ages. A truly uplifting book.
Average customer rating:
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Rebuilding Native Nations: Strategies for Governance and Development
Manufacturer: University of Arizona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
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General
| Freedom & Security
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General
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| Social Sciences
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Native American Studies
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ASIN: 0816524238 |
Book Description
A revolution is underway among the Indigenous nations of North America. It is a quiet revolution, largely unnoticed in society at large. But it is profoundly important. From High Plains states and Prairie Provinces to southwestern deserts, from Mississippi and Oklahoma to the northwest coast of the continent, Native peoples are reclaiming their right to govern themselves and to shape their future in their own ways. Challenging more than a century of colonial controls, they are addressing severe social problems, building sustainable economies, and reinvigorating Indigenous cultures. In effect, they are rebuilding their nations according to their own diverse and often innovative designs.Produced by the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at the University of Arizona and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, this book traces the contours of that revolution as Native nations turn the dream of self-determination into a practical reality. Part report, part analysis, part how-to manual for Native leaders, it discusses strategies for governance and community and economic development being employed by American Indian nations and First Nations in Canada as they move to assert greater control over their own affairs. Rebuilding Native Nations provides guidelines for creating new governance structures, rewriting constitutions, building justice systems, launching nation-owned enterprises, encouraging citizen entrepreneurs, developing new relationships with non-Native governments, and confronting the crippling legacies of colonialism. For nations that wish to join that revolution or for those who simply want to understand the transformation now underway across Indigenous North America, this book is a critical resource.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Financial Management (UK), published by Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 549 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: CIMA's worldwide community can come together and work as one to help the tsunami victims.(In Business)(rebuilding of schools)(Chartered Institute of Management Accountants)
Author: Roland Kaye
Publication:
Financial Management (UK) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2005
Publisher: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
Page: 1(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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