They were baseball’s dissidents, outcasts whispering their heretical theories in secret meetings in far-flung basements and warehouses. Now, they’re the sport’s royalty. Swing Kings is, above all, an exhilarating story of innovation; of how an alchemy of talent, technology, faith, and desperation upended seemingly inviolable truths, and expanded the limits of human performance. With Swing Kings, Jared Diamond has blasted an uppercut drive out of the ballpark.” — Ben Reiter, New York Times bestselling author of Astroball
"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Jared Diamond has ripped the cover off an untold chapter in modern baseball history: how a stubborn group of castoffs and outsiders revived the art of power hitting by challenging 100 years of baseball orthodoxy. Swing Kings is a love letter to small people with big ideas." — Sam Walker, author of The Captain Class
“A rollicking account of the recent shift in that most joyous and elemental moment in sports: the home run. … This breezy and engaging history will be a hit with baseball aficionados and casual fans alike.” — Publishers Weekly
"Jared Diamond has written a fantastic book. It takes us beneath the surface of a fast-changing sport, grabs ahold of a hazy concept like “launch angle” and turns it into a super-entertaining tale of real human beings – people who went searching for the hidden secrets to a better swing and a better future…and found exactly what they were looking for." — JAYSON STARK, senior baseball writer, The Athletic
"With Swing Kings, Jared Diamond offers a remarkable primer on the innovators and innovations that upended modern baseball offensive philosophies and reshaped the game in recent years. Yet the characters who are illuminated by this tremendously reported book also speak to something more far-reaching, namely why and how outsiders typically lead direction-changing breakthroughs in sports and industries." — ALEX SPEIER, author of Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up
"Introduces a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. ... Baseball fans who enjoyed Michael Lewis's Moneyball will embrace Diamond's account." — Library Journal
“Swing Kings is a fantastic read, a wonderful look at the colorful and outright strange characters whose work on the fringes helped redefine the mainstream. ... It captures beautifully the foundational divide within the sport – inertia versus innovation. ... Smart and narratively compelling with just the right amount of wonkiness, Swing Kings is – apologies for the cliché – an absolute home run." — The Maine Edge
"Goes deep into the finer details of hitting. ... Like the intricacies of the swings, it is custom-made for a certain type of baseball reader." — New York Post
"Tells the fascinating story of [the] struggle between the establishment and the innovators. A great way for fans to kick off the new decade." — Booklist
"Swing Kings is a compelling read, shedding light on today's home run craze through the eyes of rebel coaches and curious ballplayers turned converts." — Cardinals Magazine
"You will become a smarter baseball fan after reading Swing Kings." — Utica Observer-Dispatch
"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Jared Diamond has ripped the cover off an untold chapter in modern baseball history: how a stubborn group of castoffs and outsiders revived the art of power hitting by challenging 100 years of baseball orthodoxy. Swing Kings is a love letter to small people with big ideas."
"Jared Diamond has written a fantastic book. It takes us beneath the surface of a fast-changing sport, grabs ahold of a hazy concept like “launch angle” and turns it into a super-entertaining tale of real human beings – people who went searching for the hidden secrets to a better swing and a better future…and found exactly what they were looking for."
"Swing Kings is a compelling read, shedding light on today's home run craze through the eyes of rebel coaches and curious ballplayers turned converts."
Swing Kings is a fantastic read, a wonderful look at the colorful and outright strange characters whose work on the fringes helped redefine the mainstream. ... It captures beautifully the foundational divide within the sport – inertia versus innovation. ... Smart and narratively compelling with just the right amount of wonkiness, Swing Kings is – apologies for the cliché – an absolute home run."
"With Swing Kings, Jared Diamond offers a remarkable primer on the innovators and innovations that upended modern baseball offensive philosophies and reshaped the game in recent years. Yet the characters who are illuminated by this tremendously reported book also speak to something more far-reaching, namely why and how outsiders typically lead direction-changing breakthroughs in sports and industries."
"Goes deep into the finer details of hitting. ... Like the intricacies of the swings, it is custom-made for a certain type of baseball reader."
"Tells the fascinating story of [the] struggle between the establishment and the innovators. A great way for fans to kick off the new decade."
They were baseball’s dissidents, outcasts whispering their heretical theories in secret meetings in far-flung basements and warehouses. Now, they’re the sport’s royalty. Swing Kings is, above all, an exhilarating story of innovation; of how an alchemy of talent, technology, faith, and desperation upended seemingly inviolable truths, and expanded the limits of human performance. With Swing Kings, Jared Diamond has blasted an uppercut drive out of the ballpark.
"You will become a smarter baseball fan after reading Swing Kings."
"Tells the fascinating story of [the] struggle between the establishment and the innovators. A great way for fans to kick off the new decade."
"This is the best baseball book I’ve read in years. Jared Diamond has ripped the cover off an untold chapter in modern baseball history: how a stubborn group of castoffs and outsiders revived the art of power hitting by challenging 100 years of baseball orthodoxy. Swing Kings is a love letter to small people with big ideas."
They were baseball’s dissidents, outcasts whispering their heretical theories in secret meetings in far-flung basements and warehouses. Now, they’re the sport’s royalty. Swing Kings is, above all, an exhilarating story of innovation; of how an alchemy of talent, technology, faith, and desperation upended seemingly inviolable truths, and expanded the limits of human performance. With Swing Kings, Jared Diamond has blasted an uppercut drive out of the ballpark.
02/01/2020
Baseball is often perceived as the sport most resistant to change but in truth, it's steadily evolving, as Diamond, national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal, explains. The science and art of hitting are in the midst of a rebirth, in the wake of the steroid era that devalued home runs and finally subsided in the early 2000s. Diamond's authorial debut describes revolutionary new theories about putting the bat on the ball, and introduces a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. He even tries the new training methods himself, to see if he can improve his hitting techniques. Written with self-effacing humor and a healthy respect for the national pastime, even the most traditionally-minded baseball fans will find this a refreshing look at the game as it is passed along to the next generation of players and fans. VERDICT A timely reminder that most limits are self-imposed, and most records are made to be broken. Baseball fans who enjoyed Michael Lewis's Moneyball will embrace Diamond's account of new methods of hitting and strategies that are both true to the sport's history and promising for its future.—Janet Davis, Darien P.L., CT
Baseball, perhaps more than any other team sport, is mired in tradition and slow to embrace change. This audiobook tells the story of a group of maverick coaches who are transforming the game with radical ideas about how batters should swing for the fences. The gruff-voiced Joe Farinacci channels the energy and verve of a sportscaster into his narration, though occasionally he sounds unnecessarily intense. Diamond, a baseball writer for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, is a storyteller, not a stats geek, and he engages listeners with plenty of anecdotes from history, as well as from his own detailed interviews with current players and their mentors. This is an entertaining listen that will appeal to fans who are mourning the loss of the 2020 baseball season. D.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Baseball, perhaps more than any other team sport, is mired in tradition and slow to embrace change. This audiobook tells the story of a group of maverick coaches who are transforming the game with radical ideas about how batters should swing for the fences. The gruff-voiced Joe Farinacci channels the energy and verve of a sportscaster into his narration, though occasionally he sounds unnecessarily intense. Diamond, a baseball writer for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, is a storyteller, not a stats geek, and he engages listeners with plenty of anecdotes from history, as well as from his own detailed interviews with current players and their mentors. This is an entertaining listen that will appeal to fans who are mourning the loss of the 2020 baseball season. D.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
