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Rating: 
Summary: High-quality monograph on a narrow topic
Review: Complaints that large-market baseball teams were signing all the best players didn't begin during the free agent era. From 1953 to 1957, MLB tried to solve this problem by requiring any team which paid a player a bonus of more than $4,000 to keep him on the major league roster for at least two years before he could be sent to the minors. Some of these "bonus babies," such as future Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Sandy Koufax, overcame the disadvantage of rotting on the end of the bench, while many other equally touted prospects saw their skills wither due to the forced inactivity. Brent Kelley's book contains everything you'd ever want to know about the bonus rule. The text describes its rise and fall, featuring numerous interviews with former bonus babies, while detailed appendices sort the bonus babies by year; by bonus; by performance; and in many other ways. This small-press book is quite pricey and quite narrowly focused, but does an excellent job of covering its material.
Rating:
Summary: High-quality monograph on a narrow topic
Review: Complaints that large-market baseball teams were signing all the best players didn't begin during the free agent era. From 1953 to 1957, MLB tried to solve this problem by requiring any team which paid a player a bonus of more than $4,000 to keep him on the major league roster for at least two years before he could be sent to the minors. Some of these "bonus babies," such as future Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Sandy Koufax, overcame the disadvantage of rotting on the end of the bench, while many other equally touted prospects saw their skills wither due to the forced inactivity. Brent Kelley's book contains everything you'd ever want to know about the bonus rule. The text describes its rise and fall, featuring numerous interviews with former bonus babies, while detailed appendices sort the bonus babies by year; by bonus; by performance; and in many other ways. This small-press book is quite pricey and quite narrowly focused, but does an excellent job of covering its material.
Rating: 
Summary: The rule that hurt my brothers chances in the big leagues
Review: I have yet to read the book about the blunder that helped to thawart my older brothers career. Salvador Herrera was 18 years old and was sent to the Milwaukee Braves. Yes, he should have been groomed in the minor leagues and brought up slowly. But, the bonus rule was in effect and had to sit the bench with the big club and that was the worst thing for Salvador. He was paid a small sum by todays standards, but he said, " is all I did was pick up splinters with the big club." He did trade off with Bruton and with Aaron, but he was eager to play the full nine innings. The rule did him in and was the worst thing for baseball. I will purchase the book and get the details and talk to my brother. Signed, Manuel A. Herrera
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