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Starred review from April 1, 2019

Is baseball boring? Iconic announcer Red Barber famously stated, "Baseball is dull only to dull minds." It may not have the breakneck pace of basketball or big-play tension of football, but baseball has a lot of action beneath its measured surface. Pitching is one of those areas. New York Times sportswriter Kepner (The Phillies Experience) takes a deep look into this element of the game, dissecting the art of the pitch: slider, curve, sinker, fastball, and so on. He recounts the history and evolution of throws by pitcher, generation to generation. Laced through the narrative are interviews with famous pitchers and pitching coaches as well as enjoyable stories of pitchers who turn their careers completely around by simply learning one new pitch. A running theme is the tension between science and experience; players hope to see pitches accomplish things that are nearly impossible. This overlap of science and experience is a fascinating conversation to observe. VERDICT Baseball enthusiasts will devour this well-paced, journalistic read, it may even inspire them to go outside for a little catch.--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2018
Joe Maddon, manager of the Chicago Cubs, once suggested that his game might better be called not baseball but pitching because the pitcher controls everything. In this spirited romp through the history, folklore, and science of America's pastime, Kepner, the New York Times' national baseball writer since 2010, celebrates the 10 major pitches that hurlers have used to dominate the game. Readers learn exactly what skills a pitcher must master to unloose a blazing fastball, a nasty splitter, a maddening knuckleball, or a tumbling sinker. Kepner even initiates readers into the devious craft of those throwing the notorious spitball. Relived episodes capture the excitement of superb pitching: Sandy Koufax whiffing all-stars with his electric curve; Pedro Martinez frustrating sluggers with his deceptive changeup; Fernando Valenzuela baffling batters with his mystifying screwball. But readers also experience pitchers' humiliation when their pitches fail them?as Dennis Eckersley's backdoor slider does when Kirk Gibson launches it into baseball history in the 1988 World Series. And when a misguided pitch strikes a batter, the result can be the dark tragedy witnessed in 1920 when a Carl Mays fastball killed Cleveland batter Ray Chapman. From triumph to tragedy, readers trace the astonishingly diverse trajectories of the baseballs pitchers throw. Appreciative fans will keep this book zipping off library shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from February 1, 2019
A gripping tour through the most elemental component of baseball.Baseball is unique in the sense that the defense starts with the ball and provides the conditions under which the offense operates. The pitcher is at the center of at it, arguably the single most central figure in all of team sports. At one time, the pitcher simply served as a person providing offerings for batters to be able to hit. But as the game shifted to become the sport we know today, the goal of the pitcher became not to provide hittable balls but to try to ensure that batters could not hit the ball. In so doing, they created an arsenal of pitches based on speed and location, movement and trickery. In this top-notch sports book, Kepner, the national baseball writer for the New York Times, takes a tour of the history of baseball through 10 pitches: slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball, and cutter. He conducted more than 300 interviews with pitchers, coaches, and the batters tasked with trying to hit these offerings; among countless others, these include a long list of legends, including Bob Gibson, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson. He traces the development of each pitch, often as far back as the 19th century, and describes how pitchers take different approaches to the same fundamental pitch, creating myriad variations of each. Discussions of grips and arm angles become compelling aspects of a larger drama, and his interviewees provide useful insight into the psyche of players and the mindset that it takes to traverse the 60 feet, 6 inches between the pitcher's mound and home plate. Although less a "history of baseball" than "a history of pitching," with this book, Kepner has worked magic.This engaging exploration of the art and craft of pitching belongs in the first ranks of books on America's most written-about sport.

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