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Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs
Most baseball fans know Tom Candiotti as a knuckleballer but he began his career as a conventional pitcher in 1983 - after becoming just the second player to appear in the major leagues following Tommy John surgery, at a time when only Tommy John himself had ever come back from the operation. Candiotti, whose arm recovered, threw fastballs and curveballs in his first two years in the majors before switching over to the knuckleball for the 1986 season. He would then go on to use primarily the knuckleball for the rest of his career, though he threw a good enough curveball to get hitters out. This biography is based on the recollections of Candiotti himself, his former teammates and managers, newspaper and periodical accounts, and archival resources.
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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About the author
K.P. Wee
27 books2 followersK.P. Wee is the author of several books, most recently
- "The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season" (baseball history),
- "The End of the Montreal Jinx" (hockey history),
- "Don't Blame the Knuckleballer!" (baseball research, Volumes 1 & 2),
- "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" (baseball biography),
- "Fess Up, Jessup!" (short fiction), and
- "Oh So Close, Canada!" (Canadian sports history).
A regular in-studio contributor on "Vancouver Canadians Game Day" on TSN1040 Radio Vancouver during the 2018 baseball season, K.P. was previously recognized as a Top Writer on Bleacher Report, a sports website creating and curating content about trending news topics. He currently writes about his daily thoughts and opinions on his own sites at kpwee.com, alifeofknuckleballs.com, and letseatoutonceaweek.wordpress.com (a food blog). He also has, in the past, provided commentary and advice on Quora.com, a Q&A site focused on sharing knowledge and practical solutions to everyday problems.
K.P. enjoys writing sports, psychological fiction with a twist of romance, and (some day) chick lit. He spent a decade working as a program developer and instructor for a private school, before joining the media relations department of the Vancouver Canadians baseball club. Though the experience was fun, K.P. found that he had very little time to do what he truly enjoys - writing - so he left to pursue a job in advertising. As of 2019, he is back to his old ways... working in both sports and education.
K.P. can be contacted at kp.wee.is@gmail.com. Follow him at @kpwee1 on Twitter & IG.
- "The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season" (baseball history),
- "The End of the Montreal Jinx" (hockey history),
- "Don't Blame the Knuckleballer!" (baseball research, Volumes 1 & 2),
- "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" (baseball biography),
- "Fess Up, Jessup!" (short fiction), and
- "Oh So Close, Canada!" (Canadian sports history).
A regular in-studio contributor on "Vancouver Canadians Game Day" on TSN1040 Radio Vancouver during the 2018 baseball season, K.P. was previously recognized as a Top Writer on Bleacher Report, a sports website creating and curating content about trending news topics. He currently writes about his daily thoughts and opinions on his own sites at kpwee.com, alifeofknuckleballs.com, and letseatoutonceaweek.wordpress.com (a food blog). He also has, in the past, provided commentary and advice on Quora.com, a Q&A site focused on sharing knowledge and practical solutions to everyday problems.
K.P. enjoys writing sports, psychological fiction with a twist of romance, and (some day) chick lit. He spent a decade working as a program developer and instructor for a private school, before joining the media relations department of the Vancouver Canadians baseball club. Though the experience was fun, K.P. found that he had very little time to do what he truly enjoys - writing - so he left to pursue a job in advertising. As of 2019, he is back to his old ways... working in both sports and education.
K.P. can be contacted at kp.wee.is@gmail.com. Follow him at @kpwee1 on Twitter & IG.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 25, 2018
I can't believe that I just read a biography of Tom Candiotti. As a huge baseball fan my entire life, and particularly of those bad late-80's Indians, I was stunned to see a reference to Candiotti's biography in some other recent publication and had to pick it up. Candiotti was solid, but he has his own biography!?
Candiotti's story is indeed interesting, especially given his unusual status as the second pitcher to return from Tommy John surgery (after....well, Tommy John!) and his long run as a grossly under-appreciated pitcher on some bad teams in Cleveland and then some good teams in Toronto and LA that never scored for him.
The problem I had with this book, and what made it so difficult to read, was that the editing was all over the place. The author repeated himself constantly as it's he never had an idea of where the book was going at any given time. It was exhausting to follow the thread and I think the book could have been half they length and more engaging without the shuffling around.
Case in point, the author finishes the '96 season recap with a few pages looking ahead into the '97 season, including Candiotti's initial banishment to the bullpen and then his resurgence which led to Pedro Astacio's trade to Colorado. It already felt out of place at the end of the '96 season chapter, but then the author repeats all of the same information in the next chapter as if it hadn't previously been covered. This happened constantly throughout the book and quickly became frustrating.
Also, the idea of Candiotti's won-loss record suffering compared to his stellar ERA is indeed interesting and an important part of the story of his career, but the author really beats you over the head with it with constant comparisons to every other pitcher who had a better record with a worse ERA. I get it - sabermetrics were invented for entirely this reason. He was better than his W-L record.
All told, I'm glad to have had some more insight into one of my favorite players of my youth. I guess I feel it would have been better served as a long essay in a collection of player profiles from that era.
Candiotti's story is indeed interesting, especially given his unusual status as the second pitcher to return from Tommy John surgery (after....well, Tommy John!) and his long run as a grossly under-appreciated pitcher on some bad teams in Cleveland and then some good teams in Toronto and LA that never scored for him.
The problem I had with this book, and what made it so difficult to read, was that the editing was all over the place. The author repeated himself constantly as it's he never had an idea of where the book was going at any given time. It was exhausting to follow the thread and I think the book could have been half they length and more engaging without the shuffling around.
Case in point, the author finishes the '96 season recap with a few pages looking ahead into the '97 season, including Candiotti's initial banishment to the bullpen and then his resurgence which led to Pedro Astacio's trade to Colorado. It already felt out of place at the end of the '96 season chapter, but then the author repeats all of the same information in the next chapter as if it hadn't previously been covered. This happened constantly throughout the book and quickly became frustrating.
Also, the idea of Candiotti's won-loss record suffering compared to his stellar ERA is indeed interesting and an important part of the story of his career, but the author really beats you over the head with it with constant comparisons to every other pitcher who had a better record with a worse ERA. I get it - sabermetrics were invented for entirely this reason. He was better than his W-L record.
All told, I'm glad to have had some more insight into one of my favorite players of my youth. I guess I feel it would have been better served as a long essay in a collection of player profiles from that era.
September 22, 2014
It was about time someone wrote about the charismatic Tom Candiotti
As a fan of Tom Candiotti, I always wondered why he is so grossly underrated that at times it seems almost criminal to me. After reading this ebook (an extremely essential text even from a historical point of view) I came to know why. Truth to be told, after I finished reading it I realized how little I knew about the man himself. Once you read this ebook: you will agree with me that it is a shame that Candiotti was never acknowledged as one of the best pitchers ever in the Dodger history, given his remarkable contributions. It is true indeed that you are only as good as your last game; people don't remember how great you fared in the past, if you lose one, yes, just ONE game, people will keep harping on that and hurling potshots at you.
How many pitchers are there who can boast of a 3.73 ERA after going through the Tommy John surgery (he was the second person to be in the majors post-surgery)? Not many. But Tom did it, and he could do it because he was disciplined and hardworking. He KNEW he could do it - he was a passionate and dedicated player who was determined to make a big comeback.
I think that Bill Bryk nails it in the head when he says of Tom, (I am quoting from the ebook itself) “Tom was smart enough to realize that he could get to the big leagues without a knuckleball but probably would’ve never stayed there and been as successful .That knuckleball prolonged his career. Once he developed that pitch, he became really successful for many years in the big leagues.” Just how much of a sensation Tom was back in the day can be conjectured from the way Candiotti talks of the ALCS loss “People loved me there...I always got a great response from the crowd...They’d follow me around when I left the SkyDome Hotel to grab a bite...They were mad because we didn’t win.”
Tom Candiotti has been through a lot of ups and downs in his life (lesser mortals like me would have probably balked at the kind of setbacks which Tom encountered) and if your heart doesn't cry out for him even once while you are reading this ebook, then something must be terribly wrong with you. I really envy the author - I hope I can meet my idol just once in my lifetime.
Although every detail of Tim's life: small and big - has been immaculately chronicled, I never for once found the book boring. All along I felt like Candiotti himself was telling me the story of his life. Considering the length of the ebook, that is a big plus and the author deserves credit for it. The way Tom convinces Dr. Jobe that he is 'worth it' as well as Tom's supposed 'psychic' powers (he is said to have been able to predict the scores of other games) is quite humorous in an odd way. In addition, I love the pictures included in the ebook: they are very rare and hard to come by.
I love reading ebooks which are thorough and well-written, such as this one. I eagerly look forward to reading more from this author.
As a fan of Tom Candiotti, I always wondered why he is so grossly underrated that at times it seems almost criminal to me. After reading this ebook (an extremely essential text even from a historical point of view) I came to know why. Truth to be told, after I finished reading it I realized how little I knew about the man himself. Once you read this ebook: you will agree with me that it is a shame that Candiotti was never acknowledged as one of the best pitchers ever in the Dodger history, given his remarkable contributions. It is true indeed that you are only as good as your last game; people don't remember how great you fared in the past, if you lose one, yes, just ONE game, people will keep harping on that and hurling potshots at you.
How many pitchers are there who can boast of a 3.73 ERA after going through the Tommy John surgery (he was the second person to be in the majors post-surgery)? Not many. But Tom did it, and he could do it because he was disciplined and hardworking. He KNEW he could do it - he was a passionate and dedicated player who was determined to make a big comeback.
I think that Bill Bryk nails it in the head when he says of Tom, (I am quoting from the ebook itself) “Tom was smart enough to realize that he could get to the big leagues without a knuckleball but probably would’ve never stayed there and been as successful .That knuckleball prolonged his career. Once he developed that pitch, he became really successful for many years in the big leagues.” Just how much of a sensation Tom was back in the day can be conjectured from the way Candiotti talks of the ALCS loss “People loved me there...I always got a great response from the crowd...They’d follow me around when I left the SkyDome Hotel to grab a bite...They were mad because we didn’t win.”
Tom Candiotti has been through a lot of ups and downs in his life (lesser mortals like me would have probably balked at the kind of setbacks which Tom encountered) and if your heart doesn't cry out for him even once while you are reading this ebook, then something must be terribly wrong with you. I really envy the author - I hope I can meet my idol just once in my lifetime.
Although every detail of Tim's life: small and big - has been immaculately chronicled, I never for once found the book boring. All along I felt like Candiotti himself was telling me the story of his life. Considering the length of the ebook, that is a big plus and the author deserves credit for it. The way Tom convinces Dr. Jobe that he is 'worth it' as well as Tom's supposed 'psychic' powers (he is said to have been able to predict the scores of other games) is quite humorous in an odd way. In addition, I love the pictures included in the ebook: they are very rare and hard to come by.
I love reading ebooks which are thorough and well-written, such as this one. I eagerly look forward to reading more from this author.
Read
August 31, 2016Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs, the biography of former major league pitcher Tom Candiotti, is a long overdue book about an underrated knuckleballer who pitched for Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Oakland from 1983 to 1999. He pitched very well over his 16-year big league career but was often overlooked by the media, who focused on his other more heralded teammates.
I have been looking forward to this book because I live in L.A. and I remember seeing Candiotti pitch because he spent six seasons with the Dodgers from 1992 to 1997. He was Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park's teammate and I always am appreciative that Candiotti took care of Park, a big hero in South Korea, even though Park essentially replaced him in the Dodgers' starting rotation. A very classy guy Candiotti was, so I looked forward to this biography.
In this book, we get some interesting insights about the knuckleball from Candiotti as well as former and current executives such as Fred Claire, Mark Shapiro, and Pat Gillick. The author, K.P. Wee, also includes a few anecdotes from Candiotti himself, ones that I have never read/heard about before, which makes the book very interesting.
We often hear so much about Tim Wakefield or R.A. Dickey or the Niekro brothers or Charlie Hough, so it's refreshing to read a book about a very successful knuckleball pitcher like Tom Candiotti, who also had a good curveball. He was one of the top pitchers in both the American and National Leagues during the prime of his career, and he definitely deserves a book written about him. Great job also by K.P. Wee, the author, to get this story published.
I have been looking forward to this book because I live in L.A. and I remember seeing Candiotti pitch because he spent six seasons with the Dodgers from 1992 to 1997. He was Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park's teammate and I always am appreciative that Candiotti took care of Park, a big hero in South Korea, even though Park essentially replaced him in the Dodgers' starting rotation. A very classy guy Candiotti was, so I looked forward to this biography.
In this book, we get some interesting insights about the knuckleball from Candiotti as well as former and current executives such as Fred Claire, Mark Shapiro, and Pat Gillick. The author, K.P. Wee, also includes a few anecdotes from Candiotti himself, ones that I have never read/heard about before, which makes the book very interesting.
We often hear so much about Tim Wakefield or R.A. Dickey or the Niekro brothers or Charlie Hough, so it's refreshing to read a book about a very successful knuckleball pitcher like Tom Candiotti, who also had a good curveball. He was one of the top pitchers in both the American and National Leagues during the prime of his career, and he definitely deserves a book written about him. Great job also by K.P. Wee, the author, to get this story published.
October 28, 2014
I loved this "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" by K.P. Wee! I'm typically not at all a fan of sports genre books but this is so much more. The subject of this book, Tom Candiotti has such a profound drive for success I found myself not only cheering from him but implementing some of the drive he displays in my own life issues.
In a nutshell, It is a biography of a baseball pitcher who despite not being drafted and having undergone major elbow surgery, despite not having a 95-mph fastball, still managed to pitch 16 years in Major League Baseball. It is a truly inspirational story that gets lost because he played in an era before social media. He went on to win 151 games in the major leagues.
Author K.P. Wee really did a great job with this one as it is not just a sports book. Far from it. This book is so inspirational and motivational I *HIGHLY* recommend this to everyone! If we all had the drive of Tom Candiotti there is no limit to what we could do!
In a nutshell, It is a biography of a baseball pitcher who despite not being drafted and having undergone major elbow surgery, despite not having a 95-mph fastball, still managed to pitch 16 years in Major League Baseball. It is a truly inspirational story that gets lost because he played in an era before social media. He went on to win 151 games in the major leagues.
Author K.P. Wee really did a great job with this one as it is not just a sports book. Far from it. This book is so inspirational and motivational I *HIGHLY* recommend this to everyone! If we all had the drive of Tom Candiotti there is no limit to what we could do!
September 11, 2014
K.P. Wee's book on Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs is sure to be the "go-to" book on this incredible player. Not only is the book packed with the most detailed, statistics, facts and anecdotes ever, it is simply a darn good read! I already know what I'm getting my brother, the sports fanatic for his birthday! Wee's writing is exception, articulate and full of knowledge that baseball fans crave. I came to a new understanding of why MLB behaves the way it does and how politics can really hurt the game. Wee never misses a beat and his writing style was fun and easy to read, it kept me in the game the entire time. As if Tom Candiotti were telling me his life story himself. There's a wealth of information that would take even the most diehard fan years to learn it all. Wee has made this reader a lifelong fan! A Home run of a book for sure! 5 Stars!
June 22, 2015
This is a very engaging biographical account of the Tom Candiotti's MLB career, following the ups and downs he went through along the way. Wee delivers a wonderful insight in the world of Major League Baseball and the career of this very interesting knuckleballer, Tom Candiotti. Through his fantastic writing style, Wee filled this book with interesting facts and statistics that would delight any sports fan! I highly recommend this book to any sports fan, but especially a baseball fan. Tom Candiotti's story is sure to inspire!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews