Synopses & Reviews
Now in paperback, Michael Coffey's wonderful book about baseball's holy grail, the perfect game: “The best baseball book of the...season” (
Booklist).
There have been only fifteen perfect games pitched in the modern era of baseball: The great Cy Young fittingly hurled the first one, in 1904, and Randy Johnson pitched the last one, in May 2004. In between, some great and famous pitchers—Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter, Jim Bunning, and Don Larsen—performed the feat, as did those lesser-known, like Charlie Robertson and Len Barker. Fifteen in 160,000 games: The odds are staggering.
In 27 Men Out, popular historian Michael Coffey offers an expansive look at these unsurpassable pitching performances. Here you'll find play-by-play accounts of each of the fifteen perfect games and expert assessments of those who pitched them. Along the way, Coffey goes beyond the box scores to provide fascinating details about how these games unfolded, as well as compelling anecdotes about all of the key players—from Koufax's controversial holdout with Don Drysdale to Mike Witt's victimization by the baseball commissioner to Dennis Martinez's struggle up from an impoverished Nicaraguan childhood.
A must-have for baseball fans, historians, and statisticians alike, 27 Men Out is an exciting new benchmark in sports literature.
About the Author
Bill James made his mark in the 1970s and 1980s with his Baseball Abstracts. He has been tearing down preconceived notions about America's national pastime ever since. He is currently the Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox. James lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife, Susan McCarthy, and three children.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword by Bill James Introduction
CHAPTER ONE
The Cyclone: Denton True "Cy" Young
CHAPTER TWO
The Twirlologist: Addie Joss
CHAPTER THREE
The Mystery Guest: Charlie Robertson
CHAPTER FOUR
Gooney Bird: Don Larsen
CHAPTER FIVE
The Senator: Jim Bunning
CHAPTER SIX
The Great One: Sandy Koufax
CHAPTER SEVEN
Name of Jimmy: Catfish Hunter
CHAPTER EIGHT
Big Lennie: Len Barker
CHAPTER NINE
A Sharp Witt: Mike Witt
CHAPTER TEN
A Good Bet: Tom Browning
CHAPTER ELEVEN
El Presidente: Dennis Martinez
CHAPTER TWELVE
Strawberries: Kenny Rogers
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
New York, New York: Davids Wells and Cone
Appendix I: Perfect-Game Curios Appendix II: Perfect-Game Box Scores
Bibliographical Notes
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
Index