Covering All the Online Bases

Newsweek, June, 2007 by Steven Levy

It's the final inning and the marlins, who have been ahead since early in the game, have seen their lead slip to a single run. Now, with one out to go, their opponents have two runners on. Bob Bowman, the most powerful man in baseball you've never heard of, paces the sideline anxiously. His pitcher, the Marlins' third that day, is not sharp. And he is only 9 years old. But as Bowman shouts encouragement, the Little Leaguer retires the last man on a ground ball to first. The chronically caffeinated coach Bowman breathes a sigh of relief. The victory keeps alive his winning streak for the Marlins, a suburban Connecticut squad that includes his son.

Nice work in the field of dreams. But in the Chelsea dot-com district of Manhattan (just across from Google's new outpost in...