Welcome to The Extra 2% Blog
A New York Times National Bestseller, 
“The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First,” was published on March 8, 2011 and has become a National Bestseller. The hardcover is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, or your local independent bookstore. E-book is available via Kindle, Nook, or iBook. The audiobook is available on Audible or iTunes.
Learn more about the author, Jonah Keri, and follow him on Twitter @jonahkeri.
Stay tuned to this website for bonus material from the book, links to reviews and excerpts, and updates on the book tour and media appearances.
WSJ and Baseball America
The Wall Street Journal asked 50 guest-pickers to choose their favorite books of 2011, any genre. Sam Fuld was one of the guest-pickers, and he chose The Extra 2%.
Meanwhile, Baseball America revealed its Top 10 baseball books of 2011. Picks include The Art of Fielding, Flip Flop Fly Ball…and The Extra 2%.
Marketwatch’s “Smart Summer Reading”
The Extra 2% was one of three books recommended by Marketwatch under the banner, “Smart Summer Reading”.
SI’s Peter King Reviews The Extra 2%
…in his Monday Morning Quarterback column:
Jonah Keri’s The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League baseball Team from Worst to First (ESPN) was fascinating to me as a follower of the Red Sox. I’d wondered about Tampa Bay’s strategy of spending a fifth of the Red Sox and Yankees, yet competing with them evenly … and this book was revelatory in explaining it.
The Rays valued defense more than most teams. They began talking with Evan Longoria about a half-a-lifetime contract when he was still in the minor leagues, and what resulted was a nine-year deal worth up to $48 million, which today looks like an incredible bargain. Could it have backfired? Certainly, if Longoria stunk the place up. But if the Rays did nothing, Longoria surely would be gone when he could first test free agency.
Very smart book, and well set up with history about how incompetent the franchise was for years. I’m not smart enough to see how it translates to other businesses, but there have to be some allegories about how Alamo competes with Hertz, etc.
Chamber Four Review
Sean Clark of ChamberFour.com reviews The Extra 2%.
Ted Leonsis Reviews The Extra 2%
The owner of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards takes to his blog to review The Extra 2%.
Extra 2% Signing Tomorrow Night, Portsmouth NH
Reminder that I’ll be signing copies and discussing The Extra 2% tomorrow night, Tuesday May 24 7 pm, at the library in Portsmouth, NH. Copies will be available for sale, courtesy of the great indie bookstore, River Run.
Details here
Bill Nygren on The Extra 2%
Bill Nygren, a well-known and very accomplished investor and portfolio manager for The Oakmark Funds, chose The Extra 2% as the topic for his latest Oakmark Commentary. Check it out.
Talking Extra 2% on MLB Network
Did a segment on MLB Network’s “The Rundown”, talking Rays, undervalued players, and The Extra 2%.
2 NYC Events This Week
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 5:30 PM, FOLEY’S NY:
Come join Michael Axisa and Benjamin Kabak of River Avenue Blues, and me, for an informal discussion on American League East baseball. We’ll host a talk at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Foley’s. Unfortunately, we have to limit that part of the evening to 30 attendees so only ticket-holders will be able to attend. After the talk, we’ll stick around to watch the Yanks take on the Tigers. Everyone is welcome to join us at Foley’s for the game.
Foley’s is located at 18 W 33rd St (between 5th and 6th Aves), across the street from the Empire State Building.
To get your ticket, head here. (Edited to Add: Tickets sold out)
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 7:30 PM (doors open at 7), BERGINO BASEBALL CLUBHOUSE:
I’ll be reading from The Extra 2% at Gelf’s Varsity Letters event, along with authors Harvey Frommer and Lang Whitaker. Doors open at 7, readings start at 7:30.
The event is located at Bergino Baseball Clubhouse, 67 E. 11th St. (between Broadway and University Pl.) — a few blocks from L/N/Q/R/4/5/6 trains. For more details, head here.
Here’s the interview I did with Gelf in advance of the event.
BS Report on The Extra 2%
I guested on Bill Simmons’ podcast The BS Report today, talking NHL playoffs, NBA playoffs, small-market teams, and of course, The Extra 2%.
