Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch for the Advanced Fan

From Library Journal
Gold Glove winner Hernandez talks baseball. A 40,000-copy first printing.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
If you've ever wondered what goes through the mind of a professional baseball player during a game, this tape is for you. Hernandez, retired fielder and batter, analyzes two of his old games. He offers insights into details that might escape the casual fan, including pitch selection, batter weaknesses and managerial strategies. Great stuff for "the advanced fan." Hernandez does a credible job reading his book. His voice is clear and firm, well suited for the subject. He maintains a conversational tone and pace. P.B.J. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Kirkus Reviews
An MVP of a guide to the national pastime from a savvy 17-year veteran of the major leagues who remains an ardent fan in retirement. Hernandez (If At First, 1986) or his muse came up with an angle that works to near perfection: tellingly detailed start-to- finish accounts of two games played midway through the 1993 baseball season. The former Met first followed a close encounter between Philadelphia and Atlanta from the stands in the City of Brotherly Love. One week later, he turned couch potato to take in the telecast of a Yankee Stadium contest pitting New York against Detroit. As it happened, the Phillies and Bronx Bombers both won; the final scores, however, are almost beside the points Hernandez wants to and does make. Drawing on pitch-by-pitch recaps and experience gained during a long career, the author (a slick fielder and slugger in his day) offers an insider's astute observations on the mini-matchups and workaday stratagems that cumulatively can determine outcomes or, if need be, give attentive onlookers something to watch for in the late innings of a laugher. Focusing on the primal battle of wills between pitcher and batter, for example, he digresses into ad-rem commentary on the importance of the ball/strike count, defensive placements, base-running tactics, hit-and-run opportunities, the role of the cutoff man, distinctions between American and National League umpires, how managers handle their bullpens, pickoff plays, and a host of allied topics. In particular, Hernandez prizes baseball's lack of secret moves and/or trick plays. ``It's cat-and-mouse out there...not hide-and-seek,'' he says. ``Chess, not poker.'' If his all-star handbook can't make casual fans masters of the game, it could at least enhance their credibility as second-guessers in season and out. (First printing of 40,000) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Former All Star Keith Hernandez teaches even the most learned fan a thing or two about baseball with his unparalleled insight into all aspects of the game, from the action in the bullpen to the positioning on the field to the plays at the plate.Praise for Pure Baseball: "We have never seen the game scrutinised with such care and detail.Hernandez provides commentary on two ball games in the 1993 season : a Philles-Braves match-up and an extra innings battle between the Tigers and the Yankees. [He] examines the overall strategies of the game and offers good analyses of fielding techniques, base stealing, lineups, umpiring etiquette, double-steal rundowns, hit-and-runs, signals, infield shifts and more. His most intense and incisive analysis, however, is saved for the psychology of the pitcher-hitter duels. No matter where you are watching, you will never again see the game in the same way."
-- Playboy"Keith Hernandez, it turns out, is even smarter than we thought he was in the Mets' glory years. All the subtleties of baseball are revealed as the two games unfold. Mr. Hernandez's opinions and pet-peeves--intentional walks, early-inning sacrifices, throwing fastballs to prevent stolen bases, large gaps in the outfield, pitchers who 'nibble. nibble, nibble,"--are well thought out and clearly articulated. [He] is particularly strong in analyzing the cat-and-mouse game played between pitchers and hitters as the count shifts the odds back and forth."
-- New York Times Book Review "An MVP of a guide to the national pastime from savvy 17-year veteran of the major leagues who remains an ardent fan in retirement. Hernandez came up with an angle that works to near perfection: tellingly detailed start-to-finish accounts of two games played midway through the 1993 baseball season."
-- Kirkus Reviews(starred)

From the Publisher
Former All Star Keith Hernandez teaches even the most learned fan a thing or two about baseball with his unparalleled insight into all aspects of the game, from the action in the bullpen to the positioning on the field to the plays at the plate.


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If you�ve ever wondered what goes through the mind of a professional baseball player during a game, this tape is for you. Hernandez, retired fielder and batter, analyzes two of his old games. He offers insights into details that might escape the casual fan, including pitch selection, batter weaknesses and managerial strategies. Great stuff for the advanced fan. Hernandez does a credible job reading his book. His voice is clear and firm, well suited for the subject. He maintains a conversational tone and pace. P.B.J. �AudioFile, Portland, Maine


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