Year of the Pitcher

July 31, 2017
This exciting work by New York Times columnist Pappu is a sophisticated look at the 1968 baseball season, which he dubs the year of the pitcher. That year, the L.A. Dodgers’ Don Drysdale threw 58 and two-thirds scoreless innings and there were 185 shutouts in the National League and 154 in the American League. “Hitters were lost, offense nonexistent,” Pappu writes, as he explains why Major League Baseball subsequently made rule changes to benefit batters, such as shrinking the strike zone and lowering the pitcher’s mound. Pappu gives a comprehensive look at the careers of the two superstars of that year, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers. As Pappu moves from their early years to the final legendary World Series battle between their two teams, he skillfully weaves the two players’ contrasting styles—McLain’s brazenness and “visions of grandeur” and Gibson’s steely gaze and “fierce persona”—into a larger story about the pitchers’ effect on baseball; changing attitudes about players’ rights; and the shadow of politics and race cast over the sport during the year of the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. With skillful writing, Pappu also illuminates the ongoing role of Jackie Robinson as he brings to life the events of this tumultuous year.

August 1, 2017
Capturing baseball and its relationship to society in the 1960s on and off the field through the experiences of two teams and their two star pitchers.The year 1968 represented the apex of a decade in which pitchers asserted dominance over hitters in Major League Baseball. In that epochal year, two men were ascendant in what was still America's pastime. Bob Gibson (b. 1935) was the taciturn, intimidating African-American ace for the St. Louis Cardinals. Denny McLain (b. 1944) was the swaggering, self-involved white No. 1 pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. The two led their teams to pennants and a clash in that year's World Series. The Cardinals were the defending champions, while the Tigers were desperate to reach a level that had recently eluded them. New York Times "Male Animal" columnist Pappu tells this story, but he explores so much more than the battle between two pitchers and their teams. The author is clearly building toward 1968 from the beginning, but in reality, that year was the culmination of longer trends, and Gibson, McLain, and the teams represent a lens through which to view baseball in the 1960s more broadly. Refreshingly, Pappu rejects cliches about baseball saving a struggling Detroit or baseball somehow bringing America together. Instead, the sport tended to follow society more than leading it. Furthermore, despite the subtitle, Pappu does not present a "golden age" narrative. If anything, he rejects such romantic thinking. While Detroit emerged as the winner of the 1968 World Series, it hardly brought a city together beyond the fleeting celebrations that any championship brings. Pappu is especially insightful in his discussions of issues of race that pervaded baseball and American society. While he follows a generally chronological narrative, many of the chapters address themes that require him to go backward and forward in time in ways that both muddle the narrative and occasionally lead him to repeat key facts and arguments. But those are minor quibbles in a solid book. A fine history of a vital period in the history of not only baseball, but America.

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September 15, 2017

The extraordinary 1968 baseball season is known as the year of the pitcher and included two of finest pitchers of all time: Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals. Gibson set a modern-era major league record, finishing with a 1.12 earned run average. Meanwhile, McLain was the last person to win more than 30 games (he finished with 33), a record that has yet to be broken. New York Times columnist Pappu offers an exciting look into that legendary season, beautifully capturing both pitchers' fascinating journeys throughout their careers. The author effectively interweaves the stories of McLain and Gibson in an engaging fashion, engrossing readers with the rivalry of Detroit and St. Louis. Enjoyable chapters describe the lead up to one of the most exciting World Series in baseball history, in which Detroit came back to win the championship from a 3-1 deficit. VERDICT Devoted baseball fans will appreciate this story from one of major league's best years.--Gus Palas, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

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