An inside baseball memoir from the game's first superstar
Christy Mathewson was one of the most dominant pitchers ever to play baseball. Posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the "Five Immortals," he was an unstoppable force on the mound, winning at least twenty-two games for twelve straight seasons and pitching three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series. Pitching in a Pinch, his witty and digestible book of baseball insights, stories, and wisdom, was first published over a hundred years ago and presents readers with Mathewson's plainspoken perspective on the diamond of yore-on the players, the chances they took, the jinxes they believed in, and, most of all, their love of the game. Baseball fans will love to read first-hand accounts of the infamous Merkle's Boner incident, Giants manager John McGraw, and the unstoppable Johnny Evers and to learn how much-and just how little-has really changed in a hundred years.
Pitching in a Pinch, originally published in 1912, is an insider's account of the world of baseball, blending anecdote, biography, instruction, and social history. It celebrates baseball as it was played in the first decade of the twentieth century by famous contemporaries like Honus Wagner and Rube Marquand, managers like John McGraw and Connie Mack, and many others.
Always sensitive to psychology as well as technique, Mathewson describes the "dangerous batters" he faced; the "peculiarities" of big-league pitchers; the "good and bad" of coaching, umpiring, sign-stealing, base-running, and spring training; and the importance of superstition to athletes. "Matty", as he was called, makes the listener feel that tense moment when a player in a pinch must use his head.
"One of baseball's more enduring classics and earliest memoirs....The book's continuing delight and value rests in Mathewson's facility for capturing-from the inside-the game's ethos in the early 20th century, and the generous combination of anecdote and insight with which he shares it."-Amazon.com
Christy 'Matty' Mathewson was one of the most dominant pitchers ever to play baseball. Posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the 'Five Immortals,' he was an unstoppable force on the mound, winning at least twenty-two games for twelve straight seasons and pitching three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series.
Pitching in a Pinch, originally published in 1912, is an insider's account of the world of baseball, blending anecdote, biography, instruction, and social history. Always sensitive to psychology as well as technique, Mathewson describes the game as it was played in the first decade of the twentieth century: the 'dangerous batters'; the 'peculiarities' of big-league pitchers; the 'good and bad' of coaching, umpiring, sign-stealing, base-running, and spring training; and the importance of superstition to athletes. Baseball fans will enjoy first-hand accounts of Mathewson's famous contemporaries, including players Honus Wagner and Rube Marquand, managers like John McGraw and Connie Mack, and many others, and will learn how much—and just how little—has really changed in one hundred years.
