Winning Fixes Everything
How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $31.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mike Chamberlain
-
Written by:
-
Evan Drellich
About this listen
The reporter who broke the Houston Astros' cheating scandal reveals how a baseball team could so dramatically descend into corruption, with never-before-told details of a broken management culture, the once-revered leaders who enabled it and the scandal itself.
Baseball, that old romantic game, has been defaced and consumed by corporate America. As Moneyball-thinking and Ivy League graduates grabbed hold of the sport, the Astros set out to build a cost-efficient winning machine on the principles of the outside business world, squeezing every dollar out of every transaction, player and employee.
In less than a decade, ex-Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow helped revolutionize the game. He created an environment that led to one of the worst cheating scandals in baseball history, a Shakespearean tragedy of innovation and failed change management. Through years of extensive interviews, former Houston Chronicle beat writer Evan Drellich, now a national writer for The Athletic, delivers the definitive account of baseball’s most controversial franchise and how a modern baseball team truly works—without the usual myth-spinning.
Drellich reveals the rise and fall of the Astros to be a collision of subcultures. The team’s top boss was a former McKinsey consultant who lived on the bleeding edge with no guardrails. He hired outsider after outsider to change the organization as quickly and cheaply as possible. The wins piled up, and so did the cash for the billionaire owner with a checkered business past. But not even a World Series title could cover up the rot.
All of it came at a cost to fans, employees, and the sport on a whole. But as Winning Fixes Everything makes clear, “The Astros Way” isn’t going anywhere. Drellich uses the saga of the Astros’ scandal to detail the evolution of baseball itself.
©2021 Evan Drellich (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersYou may also enjoy...
-
Gibby
- Tales of a Baseball Lifer
- Written by: John Gibbons, Greg Oliver, Josh Donaldson - foreword
- Narrated by: John Gibbons
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over eleven years and two separate managerial stints with the Toronto Blue Jays, John Gibbons endeared himself to fans with his folksy manner and his frequent battles with umpires: "Here comes Gibby!" Winning helped too. Under Gibbons's management, the Jays made the American League Championship Series in 2015, ending a twenty-two-year playoff drought; then they did it again in 2016. Along the way the team defied odds, won over a nation, and with one flip of a bat produced one of the most iconic moments in MLB history.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Anonymous User on 2023-09-01
Written by: John Gibbons, and others
-
The Formula
- How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest Growing Sport
- Written by: Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades in America, car racing meant NASCAR, and to a lesser extent IndyCar, with Formula 1—the wealthiest racing league in the world—a distant third. Fast forward to 2023, and F1 has emerged at the front of the pack powered by a passionate yet nascent American fanbase. The F1 juggernaut has arrived, but this checkered flag was far from inevitable.
-
-
Excellent glimpse into F1 history
- By Bruce B on 2024-11-14
Written by: Joshua Robinson, and others
-
The Cubs Way
- The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse
- Written by: Tom Verducci
- Narrated by: Tom Verducci
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.
-
-
Takes you out to the ball game, Cub's way.
- By Peter MacLeod on 2019-12-21
Written by: Tom Verducci
-
Why We Love Baseball
- A History in 50 Moments
- Written by: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Joe Posnanski, Ellen Adair
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
Written by: Joe Posnanski
-
Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- Written by: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
-
-
An amazing novel just on its own
- By steven on 2024-01-31
Written by: Jim Bouton
-
The Arm
- Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Thing in Sports
- Written by: Jeff Passan
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yahoo's lead baseball columnist offers an in-depth look at the most valuable commodity in sports - the pitching arm - and how its vulnerability to injury is hurting players and the game, from Little League to the majors.
Written by: Jeff Passan
-
Gibby
- Tales of a Baseball Lifer
- Written by: John Gibbons, Greg Oliver, Josh Donaldson - foreword
- Narrated by: John Gibbons
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over eleven years and two separate managerial stints with the Toronto Blue Jays, John Gibbons endeared himself to fans with his folksy manner and his frequent battles with umpires: "Here comes Gibby!" Winning helped too. Under Gibbons's management, the Jays made the American League Championship Series in 2015, ending a twenty-two-year playoff drought; then they did it again in 2016. Along the way the team defied odds, won over a nation, and with one flip of a bat produced one of the most iconic moments in MLB history.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Anonymous User on 2023-09-01
Written by: John Gibbons, and others
-
The Formula
- How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest Growing Sport
- Written by: Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades in America, car racing meant NASCAR, and to a lesser extent IndyCar, with Formula 1—the wealthiest racing league in the world—a distant third. Fast forward to 2023, and F1 has emerged at the front of the pack powered by a passionate yet nascent American fanbase. The F1 juggernaut has arrived, but this checkered flag was far from inevitable.
-
-
Excellent glimpse into F1 history
- By Bruce B on 2024-11-14
Written by: Joshua Robinson, and others
-
The Cubs Way
- The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse
- Written by: Tom Verducci
- Narrated by: Tom Verducci
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With inside access and reporting, Sports Illustrated senior baseball writer and FOX Sports analyst Tom Verducci reveals how Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon built, led, and inspired the Chicago Cubs team that broke the longest championship drought in sports, chronicling their epic journey to become World Series champions.
-
-
Takes you out to the ball game, Cub's way.
- By Peter MacLeod on 2019-12-21
Written by: Tom Verducci
-
Why We Love Baseball
- A History in 50 Moments
- Written by: Joe Posnanski
- Narrated by: Joe Posnanski, Ellen Adair
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times bestselling author Joe Posnanski is back with a masterful ode to the game: a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball’s history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays’s catch, Babe Ruth’s called shot, and Kirk Gibson’s limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters.
Written by: Joe Posnanski
-
Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- Written by: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
-
-
An amazing novel just on its own
- By steven on 2024-01-31
Written by: Jim Bouton
-
The Arm
- Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Thing in Sports
- Written by: Jeff Passan
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yahoo's lead baseball columnist offers an in-depth look at the most valuable commodity in sports - the pitching arm - and how its vulnerability to injury is hurting players and the game, from Little League to the majors.
Written by: Jeff Passan
What listeners say about Winning Fixes Everything
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-03-24
A must-listen for any baseball fan
In some ways this reads like an espionage novel, with the added bonus of it being entirely true. Drellich has done some incredible research, and it reads smoothly; there's no confusion about who's who in this whole mess. It's also enlightening as to what other teams were up to at the same time the Astros were perfecting their methods. Well narrated and very compelling. I'd recommend it alongside Andy Martino's CHEATED, which obviously covers a lot of the same ground but focuses on certain aspects a bit differently.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- NormP
- 2023-10-28
The seedy underbelly of baseball, exposed.
Evan Drellich does deep and extensive work. I appreciate that he includes differing perspectives, that the Houston Astros story isn’t as simple as black hats against the world.
Still, there is a fair bit of speculation in here that could have been left out and only would have made the book stronger.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-28
Enjoyed the book
He really breaks the business side of MLB down. He tells the Astros story very honestly. Recommended for all baseball fans.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!