Off Speed: Baseball, Pitching, and the Art of Deception

Off Speed: Baseball, Pitching, and the Art of Deception

Longlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing

The lively and fascinating story of baseballâ€™s 150-year hunt for the perfect pitch

In August 2012, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in what Terry McDermott calls â€œone of the greatest exhibitions of off-speed pitches ever put on.â€ For McDermott, a lifelong fan and student of baseball, the extraordinary events of that afternoon inspired this incisive meditation on the art of pitching.

Within the framework of Hernandezâ€™s historic achievement, Off Speed provides a vibrant narrative of the history and evolution of pitching, combining baseball's rich tradition of folklore with the wealth of new metrics from a growing legion of statisticians who are transforming the way we think about the game. Off Speed is also the personal story of a fanâ€™s steadfast devotion, first kindled in McDermott by his father at the local diamond in small-town Iowa and now carried forward with the same passion by his own daughters.

Approaching his subject with the love every fan brings to the park and the expertise of a probing journalist, McDermott explores with irrepressible curiosity the science and the romance of baseball.
Country USA
Manufacturer Vintage
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2017-05-16
Format Kindle eBook

You might also like...