Sports Forum Podcast (Episode #13): A Conversation With Long-Time MLB Exec Dan Evans About What’s Right With Baseball and What Could Be Better
League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast
This week we get to pick the innovative and progressive mind of Dan Evans, former general manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Evans has also served in leadership roles for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. Currently, he’s a consultant for a variety of baseball organizations, including Go the Distance Baseball, which owns the Field of Dreams movie site. Evans was a key figure in the development of the recent MLB game at the Field of Dreams, featuring the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. Dan serves on the board of directors of several organizations, including Athelytix Inc., a developer of a GRID-based sports analytics system that is used for player evaluation and athlete development. He’s also a national board director for the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR).
In this episode, we discuss Dan’s experience at the MLB game at Field of Dreams; his thoughts on the appeal of the Field of Dreams, and baseball in general; what can be done to make the baseball fan’s experience more enjoyable; and his thoughts on the experimental rules being studied in the minors and independent leagues. We also touch on what might be causing the epidemic of baseball injuries and discuss his role in the baseball career of Kim Ng, the Miami Marlins general manager and the first female GM in the major professional sports leagues in the United States. Finally, we talk about his time with Michael Jordan, when Jordan decided to pursue a baseball career with the Chicago White Sox organization.
The League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Anchor.
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— Editor

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
Follow on Facebook: @SportsForumPodcast
More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify; Google Podcasts; PocketCasts; & Anchor
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books