The Big Chair: The Smooth Hops and Bad Bounces from the Inside World of the Acclaimed Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager

A while back, a general manager of a National Hockey League team was asked an unusual question: Is your job much fun?He smiled, and then talked about one time he saw a group of general managers from other teams gathered together, looking glum."I said to them, 'You guys don't look like you're having a lot of fun right now,'" the GM said. "One of them answered, 'If you take this job to have fun, you're in the wrong business.'"If there's a message behind "The Big Chair" by Nick Colletti, that last quote might be it.The Big Chair refers to the one for the general manager, the principal architect of a sports team's present and future. That person is the one who comes out and announces the latest trade or free-agent signing, causing thousands these days to take to their computer to praise or rip the GM on social media.The job wouldn't be so tough if such moves were the only responsibility of its occupant. Every sports fans, naturally, thinks he or she could go a better job in those areas. That's why fantasy leagues are so popular. But there's more to the general manager's job, a lot more. This is the best book I've read so far about what goes into the position. No wonder it takes more than 400 pages to explain it.,Colletti had a nice nine-year run with the Dodgers, going from the end of 2005 to the end of the 2014 season. Los Angeles won a lot of games and made some playoff appearances, but fell short of the ultimate goal of reaching (and winning a World Series). Even so, Colletti had no reason to apologize for his time in the Big Chair.His story actually begins in Chicago, where he grew up. Colletti was one of those kids who used to hang out in the Wrigley Field bleachers. Imagine his delight then, when he landed a job with the Cubs as a young adult - first in the public relations department (he had been a sportswriter in Philadelphia before that) and then in the baseball department. And imagine his dismay when he was fired by GM Larry Hines, one of the mediocrities as a GM that the Cubs had running the baseball department during their long, long drought between championships.Luckily, Colletti landed on his feet as the assistant general manager of the San Francisco Giants. He was part of the organization that reached the World Series in 2002, and one that eventually won three titles in five years in the next decade. But Colletti had to watch those from a distance, as he had jumped to the Los Angeles Dodgers.While there are some good stories about a couple of famous Cubs - one that was coming (Andre Dawson) and one that was going (Greg Maddux) - the book kicks in nicely once Colletti gets to Los Angeles. That's because a general manager is on the go constantly, literally and figuratively. Colletti estimated that he spent about half of each year in a hotel somewhere, whether it be watching the Dodgers play or it is a case of looking at minor leaguers, meeting with agents, etc. The burnout rate must be high; Brian Cashman must be a special individual to have the GM job for so long with the New York Yankees (1998).Even the easy days are complicated. Colletti writes about how an injury to someone on the major league roster caused him to work well into the night, and then early the next morning, on finding a replacement and getting him to Cincinnati for that night's game. You wouldn't believe how many moving parts there are.And that's just part of it. "A Day in the Life" chapter also discusses a player who essentially had given up on his career in midseason, and an intern who put confidential scouting reports on his blog on the Internet. Plus, there are the usual day-to-day activities that rarely left him time to eat, let alone think. Plus, there are no off-days in the job. The offseason has become just as busy than the season these days.A general manager has to juggle personalities too, and the Dodgers had some big ones. Manny Ramirez. Yasiel Puig. Tommy Lasorda. David Wells. That's just for starters, of course. There are stories about all of them as well as negotiations for trades, signing free agents and dealing lesser-known players who end up in, um, difficult circumstances.But the biggest personality in the story might be Frank McCourt, the Dodgers' owner for part of Colletti's tenure on the job. McCourt is best remembered as the man who more or less robbed the Dodgers' piggy-bank during his tenure, leaving the team in financial difficulty by the time he left. Colletti admits that point, but says McCourt was a brilliant individual who made him a better thinker on the job with his constant questioning of all things Dodgers.Still, Colletti was enough of a baseball fan to realize that he should take a little of his time along the way to enjoy the company. Meals and travel time with Vin Scully, the legendary Los Angeles broadcaster certainly qualifies, and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax qualifies. He even has some good words to say about Barry Bonds, whom he got to know in San Francisco.Colletti was fired when the Dodgers had the chance to hire Andrew Friedman from Tampa Bay. Colletti's two biggest regrets are that he didn't have the chance to establish stability in the Dodgers' organization during his time there, and that he didn't smell the roses enough along the way. It's difficult to do either.This book came out a while ago, so some of the names might be not be familiar to non-Dodgers fans. Still, the story breezes along so nicely that you'll finish it in a jiffy. You might not want to sit in "The Big Chair" when you are done with it, but you'll understand baseball better.

Mr. Colletti's Big Chair is a inspiring story that starts from humble beginnings in Franklin Park, IL to the GM job of the Los Angeles Dodgers. His story truly represents persistence and passion. An example of this is when Mr. Colletti was just starting out working for the Cubs and described how he got to and from work."Every morning , I would fill two plastic containers with water and drive the five miles to the end of the Addison Street bus line at Cumberland Avenue. The car would be overheating as I locked it up - I still couldn't afford to have it stolen - before boarding the bus. At the end of the workday, I would ride the bus back to the end of the line and by then the radiator was safe to open. I would fill it up with water from the plastic container and head back to Franklin Park or Schiller Park, arriving just as the hissing would begin. I did that every day for six weeks. It was cheaper than a new radiator, or a new car, which I couldn't afford."This story struck a cord with me because this was just the beginning of his baseball journey when there was nothing but uncertainty in the air and he had the fortitude to continue forward. Additionally, it was cool stories about people such as Andre Dawson, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Giradi, Yasiel Puig, Greg Maddux, and Frank McCourt. Most people think that the Dodgers have always been a financially stable franchise simply looking at the past few years. However, that could not be farther from the truth. Mr. Colletti was dealt a bad hand during his time with the Dodgers because even though he was in a major market, he had to work with a small market payroll due to the way Frank McCourt conducted business and his lifestyle. All he did was have 783 wins (the most among all GMs from 2006 to 2014), make the playoffs 5 times, and draft or acquire Clayton Kershaw, Corey Seager, Kenley Jansen, Zack Greinke, Manny Ramirez, Hanley Ramirez, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig.A truly enjoyable story illustrating the possibility of living out your wildest dreams. Thank you sharing these stories, the world is a better place!

A fine story of Coletti's personal story growing up in Chicago, being a Cubs fan, going to work for the Cubs, working for the SF Giants, and realizing a dream becoming GM of the Dodgers. There's a lot of good stuff here.But to say this book DDDDDRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGSSSS would be the understatement of the decade. This would be a fine book at a third to half the length. His basic story is good and a handful of anecdotes to flesh it out would be great, but if there's a detail of his time with the Dodgers that's been left out, it's evidently only because he can't remember a few. EVERY signing, every discipline issue, every friendship, every lesson learned, every every EVERYthing. I thought the book would be winding down after he got canned and the rest of it would be appendices or photos or something, but NOOOOO, he was just getting started. I kept waiting for it to end but it just wouldn't. So I fired him again and just stopped reading. I'd seen enough. I'd heard his story. I've heard him on the radio and he seems like a fine guy, but he should have found a ghostwriter or at the very least a good editor who knows how to stand up to an author who wants every hangnail described in great detail.If you're a Dodger junkie who wants EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of his time with the club, you might like this book. Otherwise, be prepared to skim, because there's a lot in here that'll just flat wear you out from trying to stay with it...

Excellent item, as described