A man on the make: the business of being Bradman

Abstract

Bradman loved numbers. He knew the value of big scores and how they could be used to leverage business and cricket opportunities. As this chapter shows, Bradman used his unprecedented ability to compile big scores to secure employment opportunities and promote his own business ventures. A boundless self-promoter in the early 1930s, he was unpopular with many members of the Australian team who tolerated him because of his run-scoring abilities. When his business interests were challenged by Australian cricket administrators, Bradman repeatedly threatened to take his bat to the lucrative northern English leagues. As the Australian Board of Control recognized his great value at the gate, it was loath to lose its major drawcard. As a consequence, in 1934 Bradman leveraged a deal with Board member, Harry Hodgetts and the South Australian Cricket Association. Under the deal, Bradman became a part-time stockbroker's clerk in provincial Adelaide and a full-time professional cricketer. By the mid-1930s, Bradman may have been promoted as the boy from Bowral but in reality he was a man on the make.