Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Ozzie Smith has nothing on University of Illinois shortstop Josh Parr. Parr exhibits his own pre-game acrobatics last week before the Illini game against Butler by doing a full back flip.
The confidence must have been contagious. Illinois went on to defeat the Butler Bulldogs 19-0 that night.
This book review is written by guest author CLuke who despite being a White Sox AND a Northwestern Wildcat fan, is a pretty cool guy.
In his new book High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time (2010) author Tim Wendel has gone on a quest for speed. His speed obsession is very specific and as a matter of fact coincides with one of my favorite obsessions- baseball. Tim has traveled on an enjoyable literary journey to find one or in this case the fastest pitcher of all time.
The true baseball fan will recognize the paths that Mr. Wendel will take you down must include such names as Walter Johnson, Bob Feller and of course the Express- Nolan Ryan. What many fans may not expect are hearing names such as Rusie, Dalkowski and yes even Wagner and Zumaya contained in this elite group.
Newer pitchers such as Steven Strasburg and David Price are mentioned as well as sometimes overlooked pitchers like J.R. Richard, Sam McDowell and Pud Galvin (an often forgotten Hall of Famer).
Wendel interviews great fastball pitchers, batters who’ve faced them and other baseball intelligentsia in what is a pleasant celebration and quest for one of the most dangerous elements in the sport of baseball- a horsehide flung at speeds up to and over 100 mph!
One of the more fascinating aspects to Wendel’s book is his comparison of how the speed of a fastball has been measured down through the years.
In the closing days of the 1912 season Baseball magazine convinced the two fastest pitchers at the time Washington’s Walter Johnson and Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker to travel to Bridgeport Connecticut and there at the Remington Arms Company bullet-testing range measure the speed of a fastball for the first time. A tunnel that was intended to be used for testing the speed of bullets was used in an attempt to measure the fastballs of each of the two hurlers. After considerable effort and a consequent loss of speed (per the book quoting Baseball Magazine) Johnson clocked in at 86.6 mph and Rucker only 76 mph. The test probably had some significant flaws however.
Later Bob Feller had to fling a baseball past a speeding motorcycle in attempt to measure the speed of his pitch. Even today with the apparent sophistication of measuring devices Wendel notes that there are discrepancies between radar guns in different stadiums.
All in all an enjoyable book that took me to a few places that I’ve never been before. I particularly enjoyed hearing once again the story of Steve Dalkowski a Baltimore farmhand in the 1960’s who never made it to the big time but may have had the fastest fastball of all. Wendel depicts a fascinating story about Dalkowski and HOF manager Earl Weaver. “In 1962 with Weaver instructing him to throw only his fastball and his slider Dalkowski went on to have his best year ever. In the final 57 innings pitching for Weaver at Elmira, the left hander gave up only one earned run and struck out 110 batters and walked only 21”. He would go to spring training the next year with the Orioles but I’ll leave it for the author to tell the rest of this tale.
I would recommend High Heat as a pleasantly readable and enjoyable romp through the history of the fastball and many of the men who threw it. With this meaty of a topic however, I was a little bit disappointed that the book was only a little over 200 pages and it did seem to be lacking on serious stats for all of the sabermeticians out there.
Still in all this, is a worthwhile read and a nice addition to the library of the true baseball fan.
I’m giving it 3 and a half bats.
You can pick up High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time at any fine book store near you or order it from Amazon. You can also check out the book’s blog site.
As an aside, I was intrigued to learn that Mr. Wendel has written a book on the long forgotten Buffalo Braves of the NBA. This one may also be worth checking out if I can find a copy.
CLuke
Man, this 5-year old kid can really hit the ball. Apparently, he can field, too.
I almost feel for him. He’s doomed to a life of pressure, over-bearing adults, hype and over-expectations and he’s not even in first grade yet.
Deadspin pretty much sums it up:
You’ll have to watch the video to see Ortiz salivating at the idea and the dollar signs in his eye.
Go have a life, kid.
The University of Illinois baseball team is now in the throes of the Big Ten play and this weekend, they’ll be playing the University of Michigan. Any time Illinois plays Michigan in any sport, it’s a big deal. I can vouch that baseball is certainly no exception.
In anticipation of this weekend’s upcoming series, Michigan sports website, MGoBlog did a Q&A interview of me. I did the same, interviewing their baseball expert and posting the results on Illinois Baseball Report.
Illinois is a quite improved team. After losing six of their first seven games, they have an overall record of 15-13.
Go Illinois!!
Last night I went down to St Louis to see the University of Illinois baseball team play at Busch Stadium. They were playing the University of Missouri Tigers. The game was billed as “The Battle at Busch”.
Despite a quick 4-1 lead after two innings, Illinois ended up losing 7-4. The experience was fun though. And I got to see an excellent example of a delayed double steal by the Illini. Woo!
I posted a quick summary and a few photos at the Illinois Baseball Report.
Chicago Breaking Sports (an oddly chosen, yet perhaps appropriate name for WGN/Chicago Tribune’s Sports site) has posted an interview of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts where he “discusses life as Cubs’ owner”.
On Lou Piniella’s future
Ricketts said general manager Jim Hendry ultimately will make that decision. "If you insert yourself into that discussion, you’re not adding value, for one thing, and you want accountability," he said. "It’s Jim’s responsibility, and he knows it."
Passing the buck..
Seriously, good to hear that one fat cat owner isn’t going to micromanage his team.
The New York Times just sold some of its stake of the Boston Red Sox.
The deal with Henry McCance for 50 of the media company’s 750 units in New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which owns the Major League Baseball team, reduces the Times’s stake to 16.6 percent from 17.75 percent.
Before we get all sentimental thinking it was a move to be more loyal to the Yankees, my bet is that it was a purely economic move based on the Times financial situation.
The University of Illinois baseball season is underway. All right, the season is over a month old but the Illini just had their home opener last night so I’m very excited.
Illinois crushed Chicago State 18-2 for their first game at Illinois Field. I have a wrap-up and photos of game over at Illinois Baseball Report. Matt Milroy, who was chosen by the Red Sox in the 2009 MLB draft, got his first win for the Illini.
Interesting note: Chicago State came in with a 13.57 ERA. Illinois still managed to increase it significantly.
The one thing more fun than a home opener is the first Big Ten series at home. Penn State comes to visit this weekend. At IBR, I did an interview with Larry Fall who blogs about Penn State baseball at Happy Valley Hardball in anticipation of the big series.
Go Illini!
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com has a rather interesting article regarding Stephen Strasburg and former MLB first round picks. His point is simple… we’ve gotten some real goodies with the #1 pick (Griffey, Arod, Chipper, Mauer) but at the same time, there have been some duds, too.
Crasnick trots out some examples to make his point. Players like Brien Taylor (who never even made to the majors), Matt Anderson, Paul Wilson to name just a few. When I take a cursory look at Baseball Reference’s list of first round picks, I come away with the opinion that position players seem to have better luck than pitchers. Hence the concern about Strasburg.
Don’t get me wrong… this isn’t an indictment by me on Stephen Strasburg’s talent or the possibility he may develop into a first-rate pitcher. Rather it’s a concern that the media, baseball pundits and fans may expect too much too soon from someone who has yet to pitch in a regular season baseball game.
This pre-season, the media and other baseball are falling over themselves trying to cover this guy. I get the feeling they’re also falling in love with him too (sometimes in the weirdest way). The day of his first start in spring training, everyone was all abuzz (and a-twitter) about it. I pretty much got an over-excited pitch-by-pitch account of his appearance. If he scratched his nose, I heard about it.
Now that it’s been decided that Strasburg will make his debut later this year (some have said “delay”), I’m sure the media will no doubt keep an eye on his minor league development.
I really would like to see this guy succeed. So let’s give the guy some room and maybe not so much pressure. I’d hate to have another Mark Prior on our hands.
Shonda Schilling, the wife of former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling, has come out with a book. And unlike most books penned by former athletes or their wives, this one has peaked my interest. It’s called The Best Kind of Different: Our Family’s Journey’s with Asperger’s Syndrome.
One of the Shillings’ sons has Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of high-functioning autism. The book is written mostly by Shonda with help from Curt (he also wrote the foreword). There’s a lot I could tell you personally about AS but if you’re interested, read the book. I had the chance to listen to an interview with both Schillings on March 26th’s episode of ESPN’s Baseball Today where they spoke about their challenges and joys of raising an AS kid.
The Baseball Today interview did around to baseball, by the way. Curt Schilling does NOT miss baseball though he did take part in a fantasy league for the first time (he says he won the league “against some media types”.
Bet that made him feel good.