Jim Abbott describes throwing a no-hitter with only one hand in “Imperfect.” (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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PINSTRIPES
ON THE PAGE
Imperfect
An Improbable Life
by Jim Abbott and Tim Brown (Ballantine, April 3)
Talk about determination and triumph over adversity! Born without a right hand, Abbott went on to baseball stardom in college, the Olympics (he beat the Cuban team in 1988) and the big leagues. In 1993, he hurled a no-hitter for the Yankees. Abbott tells how his brother listened to the game in his mother’s Honda, sitting in his parent’s Michigan driveway — the only way to follow what was happening. Abbott’s wife, Dana, was in the stands with other Yankee wives. But as the tense innings wore on, the others left their seats, leaving Dana behind, no wife wanting to accidentally jinx things. In the clubhouse, the team raised plastic cups of Champagne. The next day, crowded by reporters at his locker, Abbotts laments, “The Advil was all the way across the clubhouse.”
Driving Mr. Yogi
Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest Gift
by Harvey Araton (Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, April 3)
One is a short WWII veteran and beloved Hall of Fame catcher known for unique turn of phrase. The other is a quiet, lanky ex-pitcher from the bayous of Louisiana and young enough to be his son. Berra and Guidry first met in 1976. Now, like clockwork, the two meet every year at spring training, with Guidry picking Berra up at the airport in Tampa, playing driver and valet to the 86-year-old man who improbably has become his best friend. (He even got Berra to try alligator sausage once.) Guidry, we learn, is not immune to Yogi-isms. One spring, Berra complains he’s got to fly to LA for “an affliction commercial . . . you know, with the goddam duck.” He meant insurance firm Aflac. And when Berra tells Guidry he should be in the Hall of Fame, he adds to his pal, “Make a short speech. They don’t like it when you go on and on.”
Lefty
An American Odyssey
by Vernona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone (Ballantine, May 15)
Hall of Famer Gomez, who pitched for the Yankees from 1930 to 1942, was a contemporary and confidant of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and other legends. Marrying Broadway star June O’Dea introduced him to a another world, boldface names such as George M. Cohan and Flo Ziegfeld. He even met Fidel Castro and Japan’s Emperor Hirohito. Known for his wit as much as his pitching prowess, he was nicknamed by teams “El Goofy.” At one time, James Michener wanted to write Gomez’s life story. But it isn’t until now that the fascinating tale of an earlier era is told — by Gomez’s daughter.
BASEBALL
TIME MACHINE
Summer of ’68
The Season that Changed Baseball — and America — Forever
by Tim Wendel (Da Capo, April 1)
There’s no disputing that 1968 was tumultuous — assassinations, riots at Chicago’s Democratic Convention in Chicago, a nation divided by Vietnam. The national pastime went on, but it, too was affected by off-field events. Detroit — rocked by riots the year before that saw outfielder Willie Horton go downtown in uniform to beg fellow Detroiters to go home and pitcher Mickey Lolich in his National Guard uniform on patrol — saw its Tigers win the pennant. They battled the Cardinals, whose star pitcher, Bob Gibson, channeled his anger over the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy into an unparalleled season. After Kennedy’s June assassination, some players — and teams, including the Mets — refused to play on the national day of mourning. Wendel shows that baseball really is part of the fabric of America.
When the Game Changed
An Oral History of Baseball’s True Golden Age: 1969-1979
by George Castle (Lyons Press)
From the Miracle Mets to the Big Red Machine, the tragic death of Roberto Clemente on a mission of mercy to the introduction of the designated hitter and Tommy John surgery — baseball experienced a lot of change in this period. And Castle, who covered the Cubs and White Sox for various papers and magazines, captures the era with voices from the likes of Tom Seaver, Ferguson Jenkins, Tony Perez, Jim Rice, Lou Piniella and many other players, coaches and even sportswriters.
MAJOR LEAGUE
BIOGRAPHIES
Starting and Closing
Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year
by John Smoltz with Don Yaeger (William Morrow, May 8)
Ballclubs are often faced with the question of whether to use a fireballing young pitcher as a starter or try to turn him into the next Mariano Rivera. Longtime Brave hurler Smoltz has seen both sides. After a season of relieving following arm surgery, Smoltz wanted to return to the rotation in 2002. But the Braves wanted him as a closer. To complicate matters, Smoltz writes, the Yankees offered him a five-year deal as a starter. “I was literally moments away from signing with the Yankees” (and $23 million more than the Braves offered), he says, until a last-minute change of heart.
Sparky and Me
My Friendship with Sparky Anderson and the Lessons He Shared About Baseball and Life
by Daniel Ewald (Thomas Dunne Books, May 8)
The author first met the Hall of Fame manager when he was pr director for the Detroit Tigers. Ewald went on the become Anderson’s manager and lifelong pal. For three days before Anderson died in November 2010, the BFFs shared stories at Anderson’s home. Sparky, Ewald reveals, wasn’t George Anderson’s only nickname. He’d call him “Half-Cup,” for the coffee he’d drink with hands that shook due to a physical condition that mimicked Parkinson’s symptom.
The Last Natural
Bryce Harper’s Big Gamble in Sin City and the Greatest Amateur Season Ever
by Rob Miech (Thomas Dunne Books, June 5)
Considering that 19-year-old Harper didn’t make the Washington Nationals opening-day roster, it may be premature to write a book about him. But if the phenom fulfills his potential, sportswriter Miech can say he was there first. He followed the College of Southern Nevada team on which Harper — a Sports Illustrated cover boy in high school — played as a 17-year-old.
NEW YORK’S
OTHER TEAM
Turning Two
My Journey to the Top of the World and Back with the New York Mets
by Bud Harrelson with Phil Pepe (Thomas Dunne Books, April 11)
It would be hard to imagine two ballplayers more different physically than Bud Harrelson and Darryl Strawberry. But Strawberry’s admiration for the shortstop of the 1969 Miracle Mets, and later his manager for a year, is apparent in his glowing foreword. There are no great reveals here, although we learn that Tom Seaver liked mai tais. When Harrelson was first brought up from the minors, in 1965, the minimum player salary was $6,500. And that fight with Pete Rose in the 1973 playoffs? For the record, Harrelson calls Rose’s actions “a cheap shot” — and he later wound up managing Pete Rose Jr. on the independent Long Island Ducks (Harrelson’s now a part-owner).
Calico Joe
by John Grisham
(Doubleday, April 10)
Grisham has written a couple of football-themed books, but he’s mostly known for his hero lawyers. There are, however, Mets in his newest novel, a fictionalized version of the Mets and Cubs in the 1973 season which mixes real and made-up players. When Cubs first baseman Jim Hickman (real) is injured, as well as the top first-base farmhand, Double A player “Calico” Joe Castle (fake) is called up — and becomes the best rookie, ever, wowing fans everywhere. Then a vicious beanball sets off a series of events to change the season on and off the field.
FROM THE FANS
Baseball
Fantography
A Celebration in Snapshots and Stories From the Fans
by Andy Strasberg (Abrams)
There are iconic baseball photos fans are all familiar with: Jackie Robinson sliding into Yogi Berra to steal home in the 1955 World Series; Willie Mays, his back to the camera, catching Vic Wertz’s long fly in the 1954 Series. Strasberg’s splendid book collects photos iconic only to the photographers and their families. But the never-before-published shots are cool, offering a new look at the familiar.
The Juju Rules
Or, How To Win Ballgames from Your Couch
by Hart Seely (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 17)
A lifelong Yankees fan, Syracuse newspaperman Seely is one of those fans who think that what they do while watching on TV at home impacts the game. “If I’m in the kitchen, as long as Yankee hits keep coming, I’ll stay planted,” he writes of the juju. And when the Yankees lose, he says, “I blame myself.” Although Seely sprinkles 27 juju rules through the book, he uses them and his super-fandom as a lens to look at his life (his father hated the Yanks).
Trading Manny
How a Father & Son Learned to Love Baseball Again
by Jim Gullo (Da Capo, March 13)
How do you explain the steroid era to a 7-year-old boy who divides his baseball cards into cheaters and non-cheaters? If you’re writer Gullo, you try to get answers from players, coaches, announcers and other baseball insiders. Over the course of two seasons, Gullo and his son Joe follow a baseball odyssey through spring training, big-league parks and historical spots looking for answers and how to put baseball’s scourge into perspective for a young fan.
MINOR
LEAGUERS
Just As Good
How Larry Doby Changed America’s Game
by Chris Crowe,
illustrated by Mike Benny (Candlewick)
As the second African-American ballplayer to break baseball’s color barrier — right behind Jackie Robinson — Larry Doby sometimes gets overlooked. Crowe and Benny look at Doby’s feat through the eyes of a young black Cleveland Indians fan who not only sees Doby and the Indians win the 1948 World Series, but sees a photo in the next day’s newspaper of Doby and white teammate Steve Gromek celebrating with a hug.
Randy Riley’s Really Big Hit
by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick)
When young Randy Riley is up at the plate, he’s thinking about gravity not the pitch. The kid loves baseball, but he’s also a science geek. So when he discovers a giant fireball from space was headed right for his town, he builds a giant robot, arms him with a bat and at the right moment, Randy’s creation slugs the fireball back into space for an intergalactic home run!