Synopses & Reviews
Forget the perfect game. Forget the World Series rings. Forget the legendary carousing, the barroom brawling, the heavy-metal head-banging, and the endless supply of uncensored, often havoc-wreaking quotes. Forget the feuds with dumb-assed fans, wrong-headed managers and the entire city of Cleveland. Even if
Perfect, I'm Not was to blindly (and insanely) ignore all those amazing aspects of David Wells' life as a major leaguer, his story would still bounce off these pages as a wildly entertaining and jaw-droppingly honest look at the game of baseball. Nothing less would be possible. Wells simply isn't wired for spin-doctoring. He has no "delete" button. He pulls no punches. In a sport that's now largely populated by a bland collection of well-dressed, personality-free, cliché -- spouting Stepford jocks, Wells clearly holds the title of "baseball's most beloved bad-ass". From rookie ball amid the beer-soaked, frozen tundra of the Great White North, through Winter Ball amid the easy women and explosive diarrhea of Venezuela,
Perfect I'm Not explores Boomer's long, strange, often insane climb through the minors. And from the Siberia of the Blue Jays' bullpen, through intensive training with a brilliant little Yoda known as Sparky Anderson, the book also examines how Boomer grew from a mediocre reliever, into a solid, reliable, hugely successful starter. From there, after tortured dealings with Marge Schott in Cincinatti, and Pat Gillick in Baltimore, the book follows Boomer deep inside the New York Yankees' dugout, right through the teams' fairy-tale seasons of '97 and '98. It stands with David on the mound through his legendary perfect game.
It documents his high-profile love affair with the night-life of New York City, and then explores just how devastating it felt to be unceremoniously dumped for Roger Clemens. Perfect I'm Not also follows Boomer through his chronic back pain of 2001, then surgery, rehab, uncertainty, and one pinstriped Christmas miracle, courtesy of Boss Steinbrenner. And though the 2002 season may have enjoyed a less than perfect climax, it nonetheless rounds out the book with a Yankees reunion that kept Boomer smiling from February, right into October.
Perfect I'm Not gives readers an unprecedented, all-access pass to every major league stadium in the country, providing a first-person perspective of life on the diamond, as well as an uncensored, warts-and-all, insider's guide to life inside locker-rooms, hotel rooms, planes, dugouts, buses, bedrooms, restaurants, titty-bars, and more. It's great fun. It's real. It's as close as you're ever gonna get to making the show.
Review
"The book has some salty things to say about Wells's 16-odd years in the big leagues, but they are profane, for the most part, in a good-humored Ozzy Osbourne sort of way. For that matter, they are buried beneath reams (and reams) of often numbing detail about this pitcher's peregrinations through the major leagues....Wells spends a lot of time talking about the sort of stuff that baseball mythologists would rather ignore, like groupies, drug use and practical jokes....[But], he also chronicles the dedication, physical grit and camaraderie that help sustain players in their short careers." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Synopsis
On May 17, 1998, David "Boomer" Wells became the 14th man in major league baseball history to ever throw a perfect game. He stands as the only man to accomplish the feat half-drunk and severely hung-over after partying all night with the cast of
Saturday Night Live.
Blowing away the industry standard, his memoir throws baseball a hilariously nasty curve. There are no weepy/sleepy tales of substance abuse here, no pompous lectures on "playing hard" or "overcoming adversity," and under no circumstances will readers find even one Vaseline-smeared, gauze-softened tale of some long-lost, fairy-tale boys of summer.
Written with unfiltered "warts-and-all" authenticity, and truckloads of locker-room humor, Perfect I'm Not sets loose the single most outspoken and entertaining player in the game, allowing him to take both casual baseball fans and hardcore fanatics where they've never been allowed before: deep inside the Real world of life in the major leagues.
Synopsis
Baseball's most beloved bad-ass offers a smart, wildly entertaining, jaw-droppingly honest look at the game he knows, loves, and lived.
On May 17th 1998, David "Boomer" Wells became the 14th man in Major League Baseball History to ever throw a perfect game. He stands as the only man to accomplish the feat half-drunk and severely hung-over after partying all night with the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Blowing away the industry standard of sanitized memoirs and stifling retrospectives, his memoir throws baseball a hilariously nasty curve. There are no weepy/sleepy tales of substance abuse here, no pompous lectures on "playing hard" or "overcoming adversity," and under no circumstances will readers find even one Vaseline-smeared, gauze-softened tale of some long-lost, fairy-tale boys of summer.
Written with unfiltered authenticity, and truckloads of locker-room humor, Perfect I'm Not sets loose the single most outspoken and entertaining player in the game at the time, allowing him to take both casual baseball fans and hardcore fanatics where they've never been allowed before: deep inside the real world of life as a major leaguer.
Synopsis
With fresh (and sober) eyes, Dwight Gooden, who tallied a mountain of strikeouts while leading the 1986 bad-boy New York Mets to a World Series win, shares the most intimate moments of his successes and failures, from endless self-destructive drug binges to three World Series rings.
Synopsis
A brutally honest memoir of talent, addiction, and recovery from one of the greatest baseball pitchers of all time. As a shy nineteen-year-old, Dwight Gooden swept into New York, lifting a team of crazy characters to World Series greatness and giving a beleaguered city a reason to believe. Then he threw it all away.
Now, with fresh and sober eyes, the Mets beloved Dr. K shares the intimate details of his life and career, revealing all the extraordinary highs and lows: The hidden traumas in his close-knit Tampa family. The thrill and pressure of being a young baseball phenom in New York. The raucous days and nights with the Mets bad boys (and the real reason he missed the 1986 World Series Victory Parade). The self-destructive drug binges and the three World Series rings. His heartbreaking attempts at getting sober, the senseless damage to family and friends, and the unexpected way he finally saved his life—on VH1s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
In Doc, Gooden details his close friendships with many of baseballs greats: Pete Rose, George Streinbrenner, Joe Torre, and nephew Gary Sheffield. For the first time ever, he reveals the full story of his troubled relationship with fellow Mets superstar Darryl Strawberry. And he tells the moving story of the Yankees no-hitter he pitched for his dying father. Doc is a riveting baseball memoir by one of the games most fascinating figures, and an inspiring story for anyone who has faced tough challenges in life.
About the Author
At nineteen, DWIGHT "DOC" GOODEN became the youngest starting pitcher in MLB history. His 98-mph fastball earned him Rookie of the Year and Cy Young accolades, and led the Mets to victory in the 1986 World Series.
Table of Contents
Parade Rest vii
PART 1: DREAMING
Whose Dream 3
Dark Side 12
Young Phenom 21
Getting There 35
PART II: PLAYING
Rookie Season 47
Cy Season 60
Party Time 70
Series Season 78
Off-Season 91
PART III: HURTING
Dusting Off 109
Burning Out 115
Sliding Back 125
Suicide Squeeze 140
No-Hitter 151
Pushing It 159
Some Dad 172
Behind Bars 182
High Low 193
Room Service 203
PART IV: SAVING MY LIFE
Fame Game 213
Candid Camera 221
Cast-Offs 227
Show Time 236
Staying Strong 247
Judgment Day 253
Ready Steady 262
Why Now? 269
Forward March 276