Pitching in a Pinch: Baseball from the Inside

by Christy Mathewson, Kyle Tait (Read by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094078601
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/19/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.50(h) x 5.00(d)

About the Author

Christy Mathewson (1880–1925) was the first national baseball superstar through his seventeen-year major league career, mostly with the New York Giants.

Chad Harbach is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed novel The Art of Fielding. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Red Smith (1905–1982) was one of the greatest sportswriters of all time. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1976.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Pitching in a Pinch:

"This book ... bears Matty's mark and the flavor of the age. It is still, after all these years, a good read."
—John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal

"Pitching in a Pinch is the real thing: baseball as it really was in the early years of the game, an on-the-spot record of how it was played and who played it that will be treasured by older and younger fans alike." —Jonathan Yardley, Sports Illustrated
Praise for Christy Mathewson:

"[Mathewson] gripped the imagination of a country that held a hundred million people and held this grip with a firmer hold than any man of his day or time."
—Grantland Rice

“Mathewson pitched against Cincinnati yesterday. Another way of putting it is that Cincinnati lost a game of baseball. The first statement means the same as the second”
—Damon Runyon

"Introducing a reader to Christy Mathewson seems like a superfluous piece of writing and a waste of white paper. Schoolboys of the last ten years have been acquainted with the exact figures which have made up Matty's pitching record before they had ever heard of George Washington, because George didn't play in the same League.
—John N. Wheeler, in his original introduction to Pitching in a Pitch
 

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Pitching in a Pinch:

"This book ... bears Matty's mark and the flavor of the age. It is still, after all these years, a good read."
—John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal

"Pitching in a Pinch is the real thing: baseball as it really was in the early years of the game, an on-the-spot record of how it was played and who played it that will be treasured by older and younger fans alike."—Jonathan Yardley, Sports Illustrated
Praise for Christy Mathewson:

"[Mathewson] gripped the imagination of a country that held a hundred million people and held this grip with a firmer hold than any man of his day or time."
—Grantland Rice

“Mathewson pitched against Cincinnati yesterday. Another way of putting it is that Cincinnati lost a game of baseball. The first statement means the same as the second”
—Damon Runyon

"Introducing a reader to Christy Mathewson seems like a superfluous piece of writing and a waste of white paper. Schoolboys of the last ten years have been acquainted with the exact figures which have made up Matty's pitching record before they had ever heard of George Washington, because George didn't play in the same League.
—John N. Wheeler, in his original introduction to Pitching in a Pitch
 

From the Publisher