The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time.
The fastball is to baseball what high cheekbones are to fashion modeling: you've either got 'em or you don't. Pitchers can refine a fastball, learn to control it or supplement it with a curve or changeup, but they either have the ability to throw it 95 miles an hour or they don¿t. Wendel, the author of six books and a founding editor of Baseball Weekly, sets out on a quest to understand the history and mystery of the fastball, beginning with long-forgotten names from baseball history and quickly moving to recognizable greats such as Walter "Big Train" Johnson and Bob Feller. Feller, the first of the modern-era legends and a notorious curmudgeon, sits down with Wendel and recounts the elaborate experiment (before radar guns) in which a speeding motorcycle was used to help calculate the speed of Feller¿s heater. Wendel interviewed dozens of players, coaches, and team officials "past and present" including Jeff Torborg, who had the unique experience of catching both Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan in their primes. This is a really engrossing volume for baseball fans, filled with anecdotes, behind-the-scenes tales, and subjective thoughts on the mysterious activity of throwing a ball more than 90 miles per hour. --Wes Lukowsky
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HH-01
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