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K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From The New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than three hundred people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.
The baseball is an amazing plaything. We can grip it and hold it so many different ways, and even the slightest calibration can turn an ordinary pitch into a weapon to thwart the greatest hitters in the world. Each pitch has its own history, evolving through the decades as the masters pass it down to the next generation. From the earliest days of the game, when Candy Cummings dreamed up the curveball while flinging clamshells on a Brooklyn beach, pitchers have never stopped innovating.
In A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches , Tyler Kepner traces the colorful stories and fascinating folklore behind the ten major pitches. Each chapter highlights a different pitch, from the blazing fastball to the fluttering knuckleball to the slippery spitball. Infusing every page with infectious passion for the game, Kepner brings readers inside the minds of combatants sixty feet, six inches apart.
Filled with priceless insights from many of the best pitchers in baseball history--from Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Nolan Ryan to Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw-- K will be the definitive book on pitching and join such works as The Glory of Their Times and Moneyball as a classic of the genre.
The baseball is an amazing plaything. We can grip it and hold it so many different ways, and even the slightest calibration can turn an ordinary pitch into a weapon to thwart the greatest hitters in the world. Each pitch has its own history, evolving through the decades as the masters pass it down to the next generation. From the earliest days of the game, when Candy Cummings dreamed up the curveball while flinging clamshells on a Brooklyn beach, pitchers have never stopped innovating.
In A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches , Tyler Kepner traces the colorful stories and fascinating folklore behind the ten major pitches. Each chapter highlights a different pitch, from the blazing fastball to the fluttering knuckleball to the slippery spitball. Infusing every page with infectious passion for the game, Kepner brings readers inside the minds of combatants sixty feet, six inches apart.
Filled with priceless insights from many of the best pitchers in baseball history--from Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Nolan Ryan to Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw-- K will be the definitive book on pitching and join such works as The Glory of Their Times and Moneyball as a classic of the genre.
512 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2019
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January 7, 2024
“A major league pitcher is part boxer and part magician; if he’s not punching you in the face, he’s swiping a quarter from behind your ear. If you ever square him up, you better savor it. Even in batting practice, the world’s best hitters tap harmless grounders and punch lazy fly balls. In the heat of competition, every hit is an exquisite anomaly…”
- Tyler Kepner, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
As part of a dying breed – a fully committed baseball fan – the premise of Tyler Kepner’s K proved irresistible. In it, he seeks – in his own words – to present a history of Major League Baseball through ten different types of pitches: the slider; the fastball; the curveball; the knuckleball; the splitter; the screwball; the sinker; the changeup; the spitball; and the cutter.
This is not only a clever idea, but it provides a potentially wonderful framework for observing how baseball has evolved since the 19th century. In other words, pitching advances are an interesting yardstick against which to measure changing strategies, abilities, and player mechanics.
Unfortunately, while Kepner has collected a great deal of testimony from Major League pitchers both past and present, he shows little inclination to derive any meaning from what he learned. Instead of putting his research into the service of an overarching thesis, he mainly strings anecdotes together. This can certainly be enjoyable, and K is not a chore to read. Nevertheless, it delivers far less than promised.
***
K is divided into ten chapters, with each chapter dedicated to one pitch. Given the book’s title, this structure did not surprise me. What did surprise me, however, was the evident lack of care given to ordering the chapters.
For example, the obvious place to start is with the fastball. It is, after all, the fundamental pitch at all levels of baseball. Likely, the first pitch ever thrown was a fastball. Anyone with an arm can execute it, though the “fast” part is relative. But instead of beginning at the obvious place – that is to say, at the beginning – K opens with the slider.
This seems like a small thing, but it is representative of K’s larger problem with cohesiveness. Each of the chapters feels mutually exclusive. There is no connective tissue between them. There is no attempt at any sort of chronology, to show how one pitch led to another. The bottom line is that K is more a collection of essays than a book.
***
Of course, this only matters if the standalone chapters can’t stand alone. To that end, the ten chapters in K vary wildly in quality.
None of the chapters, even the good ones, are well organized. Rather than approaching each pitch methodically – describing how it is thrown, how it moves, and how it has been utilized over the last century-and-a-half – Kepner prefers to stitch together an endless succession of yarns, most of them he collected himself, the fact of which he’s happy to remind you.
To a certain extent, this rambling, pastiche-like style makes sense. Baseball is a story-driven sport, with a deep connection to its legends. Even with a pitch-clock, there’s a lot of dead-air to fill during a game, and anyone who tunes in today will still be treated to endless reminiscing by the announcers. While this is fine in moderation, it can also try one’s patience.
Depending on the pitch, the point of emphasis in each chapter tends to shift. In the fastball chapter, for instance, I expected an in-depth discussion on the drastic rise in velocity, perhaps comparing players of different ages to see how old-timey fireballer Walter Johnson stacks up against Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson. Kepner goes a different route, focusing on injuries.
K works best when Kepner actually develops a theme. In the knuckleball chapter, for example, he ably demonstrates how the low-intensity pitch has been used by guys who otherwise lacked the fancy stuff needed to play in the Major Leagues. I liked the shift in focus away from well-known stars to the guys just trying to carve out a career, any way they could.
***
Though the subtitle promises “a history of baseball in ten pitches,” K is generally light on the past. Kepner is a journalist, not a historian, and it shows on just about every page. He prefers the living to the dead; and he prefers quoting people he’s interviewed over people interviewed by others. In short, K is heavily weighted toward recent events and players.
That’s not to say that baseball’s earlier days are entirely ignored. I appreciated the curveball chapter because it actually dug into the origins of the curveball. I just wish there had been more sections like it.
***
Baseball has always been in love with statistics. Today, that penchant has been taken to new extremes, with a whole raft of complex measurements to tell us a player’s true value. Part of the advanced stats revolution is the use of metrics such as spin rate, vertical drop, and horizontal movement. A lot of these metrics have gone mainstream. Baseball analyst Rob Friedman – to take one example – runs a Twitter account called Pitching Ninja, in which video overlays are used to show balls dipping, ducking, and swerving in fantastical ways.
For whatever reason, K almost entirely neglects this aspect of quantifying pitches. There is some, to be sure – the knuckleball chapter, especially, gets into aerodynamics – but this needed a bit more physics. If Kepner had interspersed some hard science into the storytelling, including descriptions about why each pitch moves as it does, this would have been a better book.
***
Some little things could have helped K immensely. There is a lot of talk about grips, but not a single diagram in the book to show finger placement. There are also no illustrations charting the way that each pitch moves, which also would’ve been helpful. This probably isn’t Kepner’s fault. Still, it is consistent with K’s essential emptiness. It is content to let a lot of different pitchers give their observations, without really doing anything with the wisdom they’ve conveyed.
***
Make no mistake: K is just fine. It’s not insulting or overly obnoxious. It is clearly the work of someone who loves the game, even if he loves talking about himself just as much. That said, its lack of organization and artistry means that it will hold zero interest for non-baseball fans.
For those who don’t watch the game, Major League baseball teams typically employ a five-man starting rotation. The top of the rotation guys – the number one and two pitchers – are the team’s aces. These are shutdown pitchers, the ones you want tossing in the most important games. The fourth and fifth starters are generally innings eaters, necessary over the course of an extremely long season.
The number three is a guy who isn’t a star, but can keep you in the game. Some days, he might even dominate. K is the literary equivalent of a number three starter. Sometimes really good, sometimes sort of bad, but mostly just adequate.
- Tyler Kepner, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
As part of a dying breed – a fully committed baseball fan – the premise of Tyler Kepner’s K proved irresistible. In it, he seeks – in his own words – to present a history of Major League Baseball through ten different types of pitches: the slider; the fastball; the curveball; the knuckleball; the splitter; the screwball; the sinker; the changeup; the spitball; and the cutter.
This is not only a clever idea, but it provides a potentially wonderful framework for observing how baseball has evolved since the 19th century. In other words, pitching advances are an interesting yardstick against which to measure changing strategies, abilities, and player mechanics.
Unfortunately, while Kepner has collected a great deal of testimony from Major League pitchers both past and present, he shows little inclination to derive any meaning from what he learned. Instead of putting his research into the service of an overarching thesis, he mainly strings anecdotes together. This can certainly be enjoyable, and K is not a chore to read. Nevertheless, it delivers far less than promised.
***
K is divided into ten chapters, with each chapter dedicated to one pitch. Given the book’s title, this structure did not surprise me. What did surprise me, however, was the evident lack of care given to ordering the chapters.
For example, the obvious place to start is with the fastball. It is, after all, the fundamental pitch at all levels of baseball. Likely, the first pitch ever thrown was a fastball. Anyone with an arm can execute it, though the “fast” part is relative. But instead of beginning at the obvious place – that is to say, at the beginning – K opens with the slider.
This seems like a small thing, but it is representative of K’s larger problem with cohesiveness. Each of the chapters feels mutually exclusive. There is no connective tissue between them. There is no attempt at any sort of chronology, to show how one pitch led to another. The bottom line is that K is more a collection of essays than a book.
***
Of course, this only matters if the standalone chapters can’t stand alone. To that end, the ten chapters in K vary wildly in quality.
None of the chapters, even the good ones, are well organized. Rather than approaching each pitch methodically – describing how it is thrown, how it moves, and how it has been utilized over the last century-and-a-half – Kepner prefers to stitch together an endless succession of yarns, most of them he collected himself, the fact of which he’s happy to remind you.
To a certain extent, this rambling, pastiche-like style makes sense. Baseball is a story-driven sport, with a deep connection to its legends. Even with a pitch-clock, there’s a lot of dead-air to fill during a game, and anyone who tunes in today will still be treated to endless reminiscing by the announcers. While this is fine in moderation, it can also try one’s patience.
Depending on the pitch, the point of emphasis in each chapter tends to shift. In the fastball chapter, for instance, I expected an in-depth discussion on the drastic rise in velocity, perhaps comparing players of different ages to see how old-timey fireballer Walter Johnson stacks up against Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson. Kepner goes a different route, focusing on injuries.
K works best when Kepner actually develops a theme. In the knuckleball chapter, for example, he ably demonstrates how the low-intensity pitch has been used by guys who otherwise lacked the fancy stuff needed to play in the Major Leagues. I liked the shift in focus away from well-known stars to the guys just trying to carve out a career, any way they could.
***
Though the subtitle promises “a history of baseball in ten pitches,” K is generally light on the past. Kepner is a journalist, not a historian, and it shows on just about every page. He prefers the living to the dead; and he prefers quoting people he’s interviewed over people interviewed by others. In short, K is heavily weighted toward recent events and players.
That’s not to say that baseball’s earlier days are entirely ignored. I appreciated the curveball chapter because it actually dug into the origins of the curveball. I just wish there had been more sections like it.
***
Baseball has always been in love with statistics. Today, that penchant has been taken to new extremes, with a whole raft of complex measurements to tell us a player’s true value. Part of the advanced stats revolution is the use of metrics such as spin rate, vertical drop, and horizontal movement. A lot of these metrics have gone mainstream. Baseball analyst Rob Friedman – to take one example – runs a Twitter account called Pitching Ninja, in which video overlays are used to show balls dipping, ducking, and swerving in fantastical ways.
For whatever reason, K almost entirely neglects this aspect of quantifying pitches. There is some, to be sure – the knuckleball chapter, especially, gets into aerodynamics – but this needed a bit more physics. If Kepner had interspersed some hard science into the storytelling, including descriptions about why each pitch moves as it does, this would have been a better book.
***
Some little things could have helped K immensely. There is a lot of talk about grips, but not a single diagram in the book to show finger placement. There are also no illustrations charting the way that each pitch moves, which also would’ve been helpful. This probably isn’t Kepner’s fault. Still, it is consistent with K’s essential emptiness. It is content to let a lot of different pitchers give their observations, without really doing anything with the wisdom they’ve conveyed.
***
Make no mistake: K is just fine. It’s not insulting or overly obnoxious. It is clearly the work of someone who loves the game, even if he loves talking about himself just as much. That said, its lack of organization and artistry means that it will hold zero interest for non-baseball fans.
For those who don’t watch the game, Major League baseball teams typically employ a five-man starting rotation. The top of the rotation guys – the number one and two pitchers – are the team’s aces. These are shutdown pitchers, the ones you want tossing in the most important games. The fourth and fifth starters are generally innings eaters, necessary over the course of an extremely long season.
The number three is a guy who isn’t a star, but can keep you in the game. Some days, he might even dominate. K is the literary equivalent of a number three starter. Sometimes really good, sometimes sort of bad, but mostly just adequate.
August 3, 2019
Wow, what a fun book! It brought me back to the days when I ate, drank and slept baseball, during the 1970s and 1980s. I played (and invented my own) tabletop baseball games, religiously watched the All-Star game, scored games on paper and strained to listen to faraway games on the radio. Lots of my heroes were mentioned in this book, from Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton, to Pedro Martinez.
The conceit for this "history of baseball" is examining 10 pitches and their history: slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball and cutter. Each chapter talks about the development of the pitch, who threw it first and how it impacts today's game. The author, the baseball writer for the New York Times, interviews dozens of pitchers, coaches and managers and goes into great depth for some of them.
It's an interesting way to look at things, and is consistently surprising. Each pitch has its proponents and detractors, and he looks at all sides. Hitters are consulted and the greatest throwing each pitch is described. I especially liked the descriptions of how the mechanics of each pitch is passed around and down through the generations.
I think my favorite chapter is probably the one on the knuckleball. It starts with an incredibly moving story about meeting with Jim Bouton, author of the famed Ball Four book about a season with the expansion Seattle Pilots, in western Massachusetts. He was suffering with dementia and his wife said that it was good for Jim to have company. It's exactly the kind of description that makes baseball so great. And he talks to the fraternity of knuckleballers, from Hall of Famers like Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm, to my favorite knuckler, Tim Wakefield.
But each chapter has incredible nuggets of gold. Like the one on the screwball, which immediately brought back golden memories of "Fernando-mania", when Fernando Valenzuela burst on the scene. It's a crazy pitch to try and throw and almost no one does it any more. You twist your arm backwards. The one time I tried it (I'm no athlete, nevermind a pitcher), my elbow was killing me for a week. The first real practitioner, Carl Hubbell, spent the rest of his life with his left hand facing out from his body. There was a great story about a screwballer who in 1980 almost won the Cy Young. Mike Norris, as a kid, would pick things up backwards. When he would reach for something, say a milk bottle, he would pick it up with his hand facing outwards instead of inwards, scaring his mom who was sure he would spill it! Sounds like a natural screwballer.
And it was also filled with great quotes. There was the one in the Curveball chapter, where a young Mike Piazza asked the Bill Madlock how to hit the curveball and was answered with "Don't miss the fastball!". Or the one where the pitcher explained how he learned to throw a pitch "It was like monkey see, monkey do. And I found the right monkey to follow."
I had only 2 small complaints, that might make it a 4.5 star book. One is that there are a lot of names. I mean A LOT. Each chapter, while having one or two real stars, talks about many pitchers, coaches, managers and batters. It can get a little overwhelming. And the other was that there were a number of the usual curmudgeons, complaining about how the game is played "today", whether today meant the 20s, 30s or all the way up to right now.
But it was a glorious ride back into baseball. Highly recommended if you like baseball!
The conceit for this "history of baseball" is examining 10 pitches and their history: slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball and cutter. Each chapter talks about the development of the pitch, who threw it first and how it impacts today's game. The author, the baseball writer for the New York Times, interviews dozens of pitchers, coaches and managers and goes into great depth for some of them.
It's an interesting way to look at things, and is consistently surprising. Each pitch has its proponents and detractors, and he looks at all sides. Hitters are consulted and the greatest throwing each pitch is described. I especially liked the descriptions of how the mechanics of each pitch is passed around and down through the generations.
I think my favorite chapter is probably the one on the knuckleball. It starts with an incredibly moving story about meeting with Jim Bouton, author of the famed Ball Four book about a season with the expansion Seattle Pilots, in western Massachusetts. He was suffering with dementia and his wife said that it was good for Jim to have company. It's exactly the kind of description that makes baseball so great. And he talks to the fraternity of knuckleballers, from Hall of Famers like Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm, to my favorite knuckler, Tim Wakefield.
But each chapter has incredible nuggets of gold. Like the one on the screwball, which immediately brought back golden memories of "Fernando-mania", when Fernando Valenzuela burst on the scene. It's a crazy pitch to try and throw and almost no one does it any more. You twist your arm backwards. The one time I tried it (I'm no athlete, nevermind a pitcher), my elbow was killing me for a week. The first real practitioner, Carl Hubbell, spent the rest of his life with his left hand facing out from his body. There was a great story about a screwballer who in 1980 almost won the Cy Young. Mike Norris, as a kid, would pick things up backwards. When he would reach for something, say a milk bottle, he would pick it up with his hand facing outwards instead of inwards, scaring his mom who was sure he would spill it! Sounds like a natural screwballer.
And it was also filled with great quotes. There was the one in the Curveball chapter, where a young Mike Piazza asked the Bill Madlock how to hit the curveball and was answered with "Don't miss the fastball!". Or the one where the pitcher explained how he learned to throw a pitch "It was like monkey see, monkey do. And I found the right monkey to follow."
I had only 2 small complaints, that might make it a 4.5 star book. One is that there are a lot of names. I mean A LOT. Each chapter, while having one or two real stars, talks about many pitchers, coaches, managers and batters. It can get a little overwhelming. And the other was that there were a number of the usual curmudgeons, complaining about how the game is played "today", whether today meant the 20s, 30s or all the way up to right now.
But it was a glorious ride back into baseball. Highly recommended if you like baseball!
February 11, 2019
In order to be a successful pitcher in Major League Baseball, it is highly recommended that a pitcher has more than one type of pitch he uses to consistently get batters out. Through the history of the game, ten pitches have been used most frequently and a discussion on each one of them is the basis of this excellent book by Tyler Kepner.
Pitches that are popular in today’s game, such as the fastball, cutter and slider, as well as pitches that are now phased out or given a new name, such as a screwball or splitter, are all discussed. Everything about a particular pitch is discussed. Kepner’s thorough research is on display each time he writes about pitchers in the early history of the game who threw the pitch being discussed without it being called the current name. Interviews with pitchers who threw the pitch with much success, such as Sandy Koufax and Bert Blyleven on the curveball chapter, add valuable insight into the specific pitch as well.
However, what really made this book a joy to read was the smooth and easy flow this book takes. The writing is outstanding in that it keeps that balance that a non-fan who wants to learn about pitching can do so without feeling overwhelmed, yet it is technical enough so that hard-core fans are not bored or disappointed because it is too simple for their tastes. Humor is spread throughout the book, both from pitchers being interviewed and the author himself. The information is also thorough since pitches that are no longer used or legal (such as the spitball), there isn’t an era, pitch or pitcher that isn’t covered.
No matter what level of fan a reader is or what is his or her favorite era of the game, this book is one that should be added to the collection of baseball books. If pitching is supposedly 90% of the game, then every baseball fan needs to read this to be informed of that 90%.
I wish to thank Doubleday Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Pitches that are popular in today’s game, such as the fastball, cutter and slider, as well as pitches that are now phased out or given a new name, such as a screwball or splitter, are all discussed. Everything about a particular pitch is discussed. Kepner’s thorough research is on display each time he writes about pitchers in the early history of the game who threw the pitch being discussed without it being called the current name. Interviews with pitchers who threw the pitch with much success, such as Sandy Koufax and Bert Blyleven on the curveball chapter, add valuable insight into the specific pitch as well.
However, what really made this book a joy to read was the smooth and easy flow this book takes. The writing is outstanding in that it keeps that balance that a non-fan who wants to learn about pitching can do so without feeling overwhelmed, yet it is technical enough so that hard-core fans are not bored or disappointed because it is too simple for their tastes. Humor is spread throughout the book, both from pitchers being interviewed and the author himself. The information is also thorough since pitches that are no longer used or legal (such as the spitball), there isn’t an era, pitch or pitcher that isn’t covered.
No matter what level of fan a reader is or what is his or her favorite era of the game, this book is one that should be added to the collection of baseball books. If pitching is supposedly 90% of the game, then every baseball fan needs to read this to be informed of that 90%.
I wish to thank Doubleday Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
February 16, 2019
I kept having one thought while reading this book: baseball is history. Not in the hand-wringing, why-aren’t-millennials-watching, existential sense, but in the way that what we see every summer is a response to what happened in summers past, and the way innovation and adaptation thread their way through (and over, and away from) every stitch on the ball. I think I liked the concept here more than the execution - Kepner seemingly interviewed every pitcher alive for this book, and at times the book feels like a jumble of anecdotes as opposed to a clean, linear approach - but it’s a really strong concept. If you love baseball, you’ll like this book.
May 8, 2019
I hate to be the ratings pooper here, especially since the reason for the lower rating probably rests on my expectations rather than any author created flaws. I was looking for a linear, explanatory excursion through the ten pitches. For example, here is the grip used to throw a slider, curve, fastball, knuckler, here is how it performs - trajectory, speed, rotation, spin direction, etc. Here is how it looks to the batter, here are stats related to how often it is thrown, what the batting results are, a bit of history, etc. What I got was a series of rambling anecdotes from just about every pitcher who ever threw a game of note and I just got bogged down. Much of the information I was looking for is there, just buried in the exposition. In the kindle version, the only illustrations are located at the end as opposed to the section where that particular pitcher is being discussed and I only discovered this after I finished and was thinking how much the book would be improved by illustrations. At any rate, probably a good book for the true baseball "nut". While I enjoy the game, that is not me.
January 8, 2020
Baseball is a simple game; a pitcher throws a ball towards a batter who swings either missing or hitting the ball to put it into play. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner explores the how the importance of the pitcher and the tools he uses has grown over 150 years of the sport as strategy has evolved along with and against it.
As the title of the book says, Kepner divides the book into ten chapters focusing on the different types of pitches that have endured throughout baseball history and some that have risen in prominence but have nearly faded away by the time of publication of the book. Through interviews and anecdotes from current and past players—both pitchers and hitters—that Kepner conducted himself or researched from past articles written as far back as the first decade of the 20th Century, the story of each pitch’s evolution and the prominent players that used them is discussed through particular careers and game situations that defined baseball history.
Kepner is extensive in his research in showing the history and the importance to the game that each pitch, through the careers of Hall of Famers or players that had spectacular runs for year but not an entire career. Yet Kepner had an issue with distinguish pitches that are very close to one another in one way or another though he tried his best, it wasn’t that I was looking for a tutorial on how to pitch but definitive elements about why pitches that appear similar to the casual fan are completely different and to me he didn’t quiet accomplish that.
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches is a very good look at one of the most important positions in American sports over the course of 150 years and how the players who played the position were able to gain an advantage over their competitors.
As the title of the book says, Kepner divides the book into ten chapters focusing on the different types of pitches that have endured throughout baseball history and some that have risen in prominence but have nearly faded away by the time of publication of the book. Through interviews and anecdotes from current and past players—both pitchers and hitters—that Kepner conducted himself or researched from past articles written as far back as the first decade of the 20th Century, the story of each pitch’s evolution and the prominent players that used them is discussed through particular careers and game situations that defined baseball history.
Kepner is extensive in his research in showing the history and the importance to the game that each pitch, through the careers of Hall of Famers or players that had spectacular runs for year but not an entire career. Yet Kepner had an issue with distinguish pitches that are very close to one another in one way or another though he tried his best, it wasn’t that I was looking for a tutorial on how to pitch but definitive elements about why pitches that appear similar to the casual fan are completely different and to me he didn’t quiet accomplish that.
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches is a very good look at one of the most important positions in American sports over the course of 150 years and how the players who played the position were able to gain an advantage over their competitors.
October 7, 2021
A trend in books is the “history of x in y objects”. This book is one of those.
It is not really the history of baseball, unsurprisingly but the history of the ten most well known pitches.
It’s not really the history of baseball but surely one will grasp the trends that the pitching game has seen over the years. It makes for an insightful read which should be entertaining enough for relatively casual fans and people who watch baseball on a nightly basis.
For me, a drawback is that I read a lot of baseball books and am familiar with many more. For me, it wasn’t too long into the book until I thought “oh, this is just a bit of anecdotes one after another.
Which is what this is, and based on the other reviews, this is probably obvious regardless of experience.
I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just suggesting the book is exactly that.
That said, whatever your baseball experience level is, it’s a good read.
For the biggest fan (watches baseball nearly daily like myself), you’re likely to know some of this already.
But as a gift book or to the teenage fan, it’s going to be a (wait for it) hit. I suspect this will stay in a print awhile.
So hardly a history of baseball and barely a history of ten pitches. (I think I got close to guessing all ten- but what no Eephus pitch? Surely, we need a sequel!) but a fun read on baseball? Yes.
It is not really the history of baseball, unsurprisingly but the history of the ten most well known pitches.
It’s not really the history of baseball but surely one will grasp the trends that the pitching game has seen over the years. It makes for an insightful read which should be entertaining enough for relatively casual fans and people who watch baseball on a nightly basis.
For me, a drawback is that I read a lot of baseball books and am familiar with many more. For me, it wasn’t too long into the book until I thought “oh, this is just a bit of anecdotes one after another.
Which is what this is, and based on the other reviews, this is probably obvious regardless of experience.
I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing. I’m just suggesting the book is exactly that.
That said, whatever your baseball experience level is, it’s a good read.
For the biggest fan (watches baseball nearly daily like myself), you’re likely to know some of this already.
But as a gift book or to the teenage fan, it’s going to be a (wait for it) hit. I suspect this will stay in a print awhile.
So hardly a history of baseball and barely a history of ten pitches. (I think I got close to guessing all ten- but what no Eephus pitch? Surely, we need a sequel!) but a fun read on baseball? Yes.
December 14, 2021
Parts of this book were fascinating, and you could tell Kepner did extensive research and got some great interviews. It was a fascinating framework for a history of baseball, looking at the development and lore of 9 different pitches. The downside was that it was *all* in there. It felt about 20-30% longer than it needed to be.
July 27, 2023
I think the research was exceptional here and the writing was solid enough but boy did this book became a tedious read. And I even knew of most all of these players.
There are some 200 different vignettes on various pitchers spanning the last hundred plus years. While the ten different pitches that make up the game are each assigned a chapter there is just way too much information on so many unrelated players.
This is my 95th book that I've read on baseball (as tracked by good reads) and I was excited by the historical prospect here. However the lack of a story arc and a journalistic style that does not differentiate baseball eras made for a slog.
One pet peeve that I have is mixing in current player anecdotes with those of players from a hundred years ago. It feels very asynchronous.
3 stars
There are some 200 different vignettes on various pitchers spanning the last hundred plus years. While the ten different pitches that make up the game are each assigned a chapter there is just way too much information on so many unrelated players.
This is my 95th book that I've read on baseball (as tracked by good reads) and I was excited by the historical prospect here. However the lack of a story arc and a journalistic style that does not differentiate baseball eras made for a slog.
One pet peeve that I have is mixing in current player anecdotes with those of players from a hundred years ago. It feels very asynchronous.
3 stars
September 17, 2019
This is as close to a flawless baseball book as it gets.
At once loads of fun and supremely informative, K marries the science of pitching with lore of the game in mesmerizing fashion.
I loved the unique structure of the book. And oh...the chapter on the spitter is mind-blowingly excellent.
At once loads of fun and supremely informative, K marries the science of pitching with lore of the game in mesmerizing fashion.
I loved the unique structure of the book. And oh...the chapter on the spitter is mind-blowingly excellent.
May 4, 2023
I read this during Spring Training this year and was quite glad I did. K:A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches is just that. The pitcher is in some control of the game. He starts with the ball and throws it to the batter. His repertoire usually consists of some of the ten core pitches explained in this book, one for each chapter. The book goes into the genesis of each pitch, the mechanics and the evolution to what we see today, once the ball leaves the pitchers hand. Full of anecdotes this book was a joy to read.
Recommended for casual fans and the more serious minded.
Recommended for casual fans and the more serious minded.
March 28, 2019
Two-word review: Instant classic.
More words review: Kepner spoke to hundreds of pitchers, ex-pitchers, hitters, and coaches for this book, and somehow he deftly weaves all these voices into a seamless narrative. Or, rather, ten seamless narratives, one for each of the ten pitches he's chosen to write about.*
I've been eager to read Tyler's book since he first told me about it, two or three years ago. You always worry about being disappointed in the actual event, but K is even better than I'd hoped, and I suspect it will now take its place on all the lists of essential baseball books.
* with apologies to the Eephus and Folly Floater and LaLob; am hoping they'll make the paperback.
More words review: Kepner spoke to hundreds of pitchers, ex-pitchers, hitters, and coaches for this book, and somehow he deftly weaves all these voices into a seamless narrative. Or, rather, ten seamless narratives, one for each of the ten pitches he's chosen to write about.*
I've been eager to read Tyler's book since he first told me about it, two or three years ago. You always worry about being disappointed in the actual event, but K is even better than I'd hoped, and I suspect it will now take its place on all the lists of essential baseball books.
* with apologies to the Eephus and Folly Floater and LaLob; am hoping they'll make the paperback.
March 21, 2019
Yes, there a little of this ‘new baseball’ in the book: Exit velo. Spin rate. Launch angle. But most importantly, there are the stories. We all know that the game is changing… that the power game has changed the movement game… and thus the complete game. Yet, it is stories, the anecdotes, and the yarns… like the ones in K that keep us coming back.
I’m not going to remember the spin rate of the curveball that struck out the last hitter to win the world series, but I will remember the story of how he learned to throw that pitch.
For my full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2019/03/21/k-...
For all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
I’m not going to remember the spin rate of the curveball that struck out the last hitter to win the world series, but I will remember the story of how he learned to throw that pitch.
For my full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2019/03/21/k-...
For all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
May 8, 2019
My only regret is not having a baseball to hold while reading in order to try out some of the grips. A fascinating read, and one of the best baseball books I've ever read.
July 14, 2019
A great overview of ten of the most common and iconic baseball pitches. Like most baseball books, it's heavy on the lore and history, but it doesn't get too oppressive (but if you haven't been a baseball fan, I bet the parade of names and history gets old fast).
I've a baseball fan my whole life and played through high school but I never grasped two things this book explains really well.
First, how pitchers develop their repertoire and learn the strategy of setting up hitters, which is hard to see when you're watching a game.
Second, and more universally important, it consistently highlights how much variety there is in each pitch from pitcher to pitcher. Even the straightforward fastball behaves differently depending on anatomy, picthing motion, age, and altitude. Like most human traits and behaviors it's easy to lose sight of how much variety is obscured by central tendencies and labels. Down with the tyranny of the mean, median, and mode!
I've a baseball fan my whole life and played through high school but I never grasped two things this book explains really well.
First, how pitchers develop their repertoire and learn the strategy of setting up hitters, which is hard to see when you're watching a game.
Second, and more universally important, it consistently highlights how much variety there is in each pitch from pitcher to pitcher. Even the straightforward fastball behaves differently depending on anatomy, picthing motion, age, and altitude. Like most human traits and behaviors it's easy to lose sight of how much variety is obscured by central tendencies and labels. Down with the tyranny of the mean, median, and mode!
January 11, 2023
This book is mainly for those interested in more technical aspects of the game. I have heard of the majority of the pitches discussed, but I really couldn't tell you one pitch from another. I do like the idea of the this book though - by focusing on each of the major pitches it does talk about the technical aspects, but also those that excelled at the pitch along with batters reaction. I had a mix of boredom and interest to this book as I'm more into the stories and history and less into the technical aspect.
How did this book find me? I saw it in an Audible sale and saw it was available through CloudLibrary. I knew I would not want to read this book over and over again.
How did this book find me? I saw it in an Audible sale and saw it was available through CloudLibrary. I knew I would not want to read this book over and over again.
June 14, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip through the history of the game as depicted by the ten primary pitches: each is given its own chapter. Kepner was a beat writer for NY teams but he also has a fondness for my team the Phillies. There are a lot of original quotes, stories, and explanations first hand as well as hearsay stories. I especially enjoyed the chapter about the outlawed pitches; namely the spitter, shine ball, and scuffed balls. Preacher Roe was a great pitcher who almost made it to the Hall of Fame but his fate was cemented when he took a $2,000 advance from Sports Illustrated in 1955 to discuss how and whether and why he threw the spitter. Against Carl Erskine's advice, he confessed and it may have cost him immortality. There are so many tid bits and gems in this book that you will appreciate. I was amazed at how often opposing pitchers would share important information about how to grip a certain pitch. For instance Kent Tekulve of the Pirates taught Dan Quisenberry the sinker. Mariano Rivera taught Roy Halladay how to throw the cutter and it rekindled an already great career for the Doc. There is everything from who threw the fastest ball(Bob Feller, no shy introvert about his own worth, says Walter Johnson was faster than he) to a discussion of whether throwing the curve and splitter cause early injuries. I also enjoyed the knuckle ball fraternity and the case of one catcher who quit because of it. The last chapter brings us to the mystery cutter that made Mariano Rivera the greatest relief pitcher of all time. This is a great read. My only criticism is that I would have loved diagrams or pictures of the grips for each pitch and how they are thrown rather than a description. Otherwise, an exceptional book.
July 23, 2025
The literary equivalent of what you might hear from the losing pitcher in their post-game presser - the concept was better than the execution.
This book needed another pass by an editor. More than once, a player or coach was mentioned by last name, with no further description or introduction, as if the previous sentence or paragraph had already discussed their mastery of a particular pitch. The book traces the lineage of some variations of pitches from one generation to another, but not with the type of depth or breadth that the subtitle promises. And when there's not enough info to stitch together an entire chapter, such as the spitter, it slaps together a bunch of anecdotes and asides about doctored balls more generally.
This book needed another pass by an editor. More than once, a player or coach was mentioned by last name, with no further description or introduction, as if the previous sentence or paragraph had already discussed their mastery of a particular pitch. The book traces the lineage of some variations of pitches from one generation to another, but not with the type of depth or breadth that the subtitle promises. And when there's not enough info to stitch together an entire chapter, such as the spitter, it slaps together a bunch of anecdotes and asides about doctored balls more generally.
July 21, 2022
Reading this as a primer to educate myself about a new hobby—it was astonishing. I can’t wait to read this again in ten years and have an entirely different experience.
May 4, 2019
A fantastic book -- what an incredible way to approach the history of baseball. Tyler Kepner combines great writing with amazing interviews from the pitchers, catchers, hitters, coaches and managers who describe in intimate detail how specific pitches are thrown (and missed). This book is a treasure, and belongs on the shelf of any serious baseball fan.
October 13, 2021
Fun read for a fan of the grandest game and it just might make a fan out of a casual observer. I loved how it is organized around the different pitches in baseball, their history and how that history is used to talk about the overall spectrum of the sport. Well written. My favorite chapter? The Screwball: the Sasquatch of baseball.
April 3, 2019
https://www.themaineedge.com/sports/p...
Baseball is a team game made up of individual battles, a series of one-on-one confrontations where one man throws a ball and the other attempts to hit it. Yes, the action evolves after that, but at its heart, baseball is about pitcher versus hitter.
The man at the plate has a weapon – his bat – and protection in the form of gloves, a helmet, perhaps some armor in the form of an arm guard or shin guard. The man on the mound has none of that. But he is not unarmed – he has the ball. And the ball can be a formidable weapon indeed.
That weapon is the focus of Tyler Kepner’s new book “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.” In it, the New York Times baseball writer digs deep into the myriad ways that players have tried to put the ball over the plate over the course of the game’s long history. It’s an exploration of one-half of that ever-present central conceit of hurler against striker.
Each of the 10 pitches – slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball and cutter – is examined at length, with Kepler speaking to a number of pitchers and coaches (including close to two dozen Hall of Famers) while also drawing from the game’s considerable and thorough lore. He contextualizes each offering, sharing not just a pitch’s origins, but its evolution.
It’s curious that Kepner started with the slider; one would think that the fastball would come first. Even the catcher’s sign for it is one finger. But Kepner’s case is a simple and perfectly valid one – the slider was the best pitch of his childhood hero, Steve Carlton. And Carlton’s has a very good case to be the best ever. That personal connection makes for a wonderful introduction.
Next up – the fastball. The heater. The cheese. The pitch that most impresses in terms of raw, unflinching power. It’s a discussion of how the fastball is a distillation of the one-on-one nature of the pitcher’s journey. Guys like Nolan Ryan, Bob Feller, Walter Johnson – each was THE legendary arm of his generation. All blessed with the ability to rear back and let fly faster than anyone. There’s no weapon more effective than a well-placed fastball.
The curveball follows, looping its way into the narrative. This is another chapter where Kepner delights in the technical, talking with an assortment of folks about what it means to throw a good curveball. Whether it’s a slow 12-6 breaker or something a little tighter, there are few pitches more delightful to watch than a well-snapped curve – a karate chop with a ball, as the chapter’s subtitle states.
What follows is one of those few “more delightful than a curveball” pitches – the knuckleball. The knuckler was, is and always shall be the black sheep of the pitching world. More art than science, it’s a pitch that precious few have mastered. Its practitioners, a motley collection of shaggy-dog baseball weirdoes who have chosen to hitch their wagons to a spinless, stuttering star. This one is fun.
And so it goes throughout the book. Roger Craig and Bruce Sutter, the Johnny Appleseeds of the split-fingered fastball. The lost art of the screwball. Mariano Rivera’s omnipresent and devastating cutter. The messy mayhem that comes with spitballs and other ball-doctoring. The once-mighty sinker’s slow fade in the age of swing angle elevation. The gentle majesty and subtle trickery of the changeup. It’s all here.
“K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” delivers exactly what its title promises. It is a fascinating deconstruction of the nature of pitching by those men who did it best. It is a cross-section of the game’s history, showing us the ebb and flow of the craft and how pitches have come into and fallen out of favor over the years.
Kepner’s passion for the game permeates the narrative he has constructed. The book offers intricate detail mixed with stories of the game – he blends the tangible notions of grips and spin rates and throwing motions with the ethereal myths of baseball’s bygone legends. It’s a combination that serves to elevate each element, a rich and engaging reading experience for any true fan.
An immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. Kepner gives us 10 – perhaps a curveball bounced or a cutter at the hands was fouled off or a knuckler wandered away – but what we get is certainly immaculate. One swing and a miss is merely a strike, but 10 swings and misses equal one fascinating “K.”
Baseball is a team game made up of individual battles, a series of one-on-one confrontations where one man throws a ball and the other attempts to hit it. Yes, the action evolves after that, but at its heart, baseball is about pitcher versus hitter.
The man at the plate has a weapon – his bat – and protection in the form of gloves, a helmet, perhaps some armor in the form of an arm guard or shin guard. The man on the mound has none of that. But he is not unarmed – he has the ball. And the ball can be a formidable weapon indeed.
That weapon is the focus of Tyler Kepner’s new book “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.” In it, the New York Times baseball writer digs deep into the myriad ways that players have tried to put the ball over the plate over the course of the game’s long history. It’s an exploration of one-half of that ever-present central conceit of hurler against striker.
Each of the 10 pitches – slider, fastball, curveball, knuckleball, splitter, screwball, sinker, changeup, spitball and cutter – is examined at length, with Kepler speaking to a number of pitchers and coaches (including close to two dozen Hall of Famers) while also drawing from the game’s considerable and thorough lore. He contextualizes each offering, sharing not just a pitch’s origins, but its evolution.
It’s curious that Kepner started with the slider; one would think that the fastball would come first. Even the catcher’s sign for it is one finger. But Kepner’s case is a simple and perfectly valid one – the slider was the best pitch of his childhood hero, Steve Carlton. And Carlton’s has a very good case to be the best ever. That personal connection makes for a wonderful introduction.
Next up – the fastball. The heater. The cheese. The pitch that most impresses in terms of raw, unflinching power. It’s a discussion of how the fastball is a distillation of the one-on-one nature of the pitcher’s journey. Guys like Nolan Ryan, Bob Feller, Walter Johnson – each was THE legendary arm of his generation. All blessed with the ability to rear back and let fly faster than anyone. There’s no weapon more effective than a well-placed fastball.
The curveball follows, looping its way into the narrative. This is another chapter where Kepner delights in the technical, talking with an assortment of folks about what it means to throw a good curveball. Whether it’s a slow 12-6 breaker or something a little tighter, there are few pitches more delightful to watch than a well-snapped curve – a karate chop with a ball, as the chapter’s subtitle states.
What follows is one of those few “more delightful than a curveball” pitches – the knuckleball. The knuckler was, is and always shall be the black sheep of the pitching world. More art than science, it’s a pitch that precious few have mastered. Its practitioners, a motley collection of shaggy-dog baseball weirdoes who have chosen to hitch their wagons to a spinless, stuttering star. This one is fun.
And so it goes throughout the book. Roger Craig and Bruce Sutter, the Johnny Appleseeds of the split-fingered fastball. The lost art of the screwball. Mariano Rivera’s omnipresent and devastating cutter. The messy mayhem that comes with spitballs and other ball-doctoring. The once-mighty sinker’s slow fade in the age of swing angle elevation. The gentle majesty and subtle trickery of the changeup. It’s all here.
“K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” delivers exactly what its title promises. It is a fascinating deconstruction of the nature of pitching by those men who did it best. It is a cross-section of the game’s history, showing us the ebb and flow of the craft and how pitches have come into and fallen out of favor over the years.
Kepner’s passion for the game permeates the narrative he has constructed. The book offers intricate detail mixed with stories of the game – he blends the tangible notions of grips and spin rates and throwing motions with the ethereal myths of baseball’s bygone legends. It’s a combination that serves to elevate each element, a rich and engaging reading experience for any true fan.
An immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out the side on nine pitches. Kepner gives us 10 – perhaps a curveball bounced or a cutter at the hands was fouled off or a knuckler wandered away – but what we get is certainly immaculate. One swing and a miss is merely a strike, but 10 swings and misses equal one fascinating “K.”
February 22, 2019
New York Times national baseball writer Tyler Kepner delivers a treat for the start of baseball season with his new book, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.
Kepner's book is a tale of baseball history from the pitcher's mound, using an assortment of the pitcher's familiar weapons as his themes for each chapter. As the subtitle implies, there are ten pitches examined- slider, fastball, curveball, change up, sinker, screwball, split-fingered fastball, cutter, knuckleball, and even the spitball.
Each chapter provides the history of the pitch, its development, and how it has wandered in and out of vogue over the course of the game's history. He provides basic instructions on how to successfully throw each pitch, outlines why the pitches are effective or can become troublesome, and spends time outlining some of the most prominent and effective practitioners of each pitch.
Kepner has a deep and wide list of contacts in the game, and he exploits this asset to great effect in the book. Barely a page goes by that the narrative isn't enhanced by direct quotes from names throughout the last fifty years of baseball history. Kepner even manages to get the ultra-media shy Steve Carlton to open up on the record about his famous slider.
The chapter- a- pitch structure keeps things organized and moving, and Kepner's prose and storytelling are top notch. Overall, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches will be a welcome addition to the library of any baseball fan. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Kepner's book is a tale of baseball history from the pitcher's mound, using an assortment of the pitcher's familiar weapons as his themes for each chapter. As the subtitle implies, there are ten pitches examined- slider, fastball, curveball, change up, sinker, screwball, split-fingered fastball, cutter, knuckleball, and even the spitball.
Each chapter provides the history of the pitch, its development, and how it has wandered in and out of vogue over the course of the game's history. He provides basic instructions on how to successfully throw each pitch, outlines why the pitches are effective or can become troublesome, and spends time outlining some of the most prominent and effective practitioners of each pitch.
Kepner has a deep and wide list of contacts in the game, and he exploits this asset to great effect in the book. Barely a page goes by that the narrative isn't enhanced by direct quotes from names throughout the last fifty years of baseball history. Kepner even manages to get the ultra-media shy Steve Carlton to open up on the record about his famous slider.
The chapter- a- pitch structure keeps things organized and moving, and Kepner's prose and storytelling are top notch. Overall, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches will be a welcome addition to the library of any baseball fan. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 27, 2019
Great book for the devoted baseball fan, especially one who like me finds pitching to be the most fascinating part of the game. My only quibble is the book's (sub)title: in no way is this book a "history of baseball," nor does it attempt to be one. But I don't blame Tyler Kepner for the title; I assume it was the idea of some editorial genius enthralled by the annoying and ever-growing publishing trend of hyping oddball works of non-fiction with grandiose titles like "A History of the World in 149 Objects" (or "11 Maps," or "24 Pictures"), or "923 A.D.: The Year That Changed Everything," or "Mackerel: The Fish That Saved Civilization," or "Ovaltine: The Beverage That Conquered the Great Depression" . . . WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE PUBLISHING MORONS ANYWAY???!!!
Sorry. Got a little carried away there. Anyway, Tyler Kepner has written an excellent account not of the history of baseball, but of ten different pitches thrown by hurlers throughout the baseball ages -- fastball, curve, slider, knuckleball, change up, screwball, etc. Each pitch is the subject of its own chapter -- although sometimes Kepner throws in bonus discussion of a different but related pitch (for example, the chapter on Spitters covers both the spitball and the scuffball, with good reason). And each chapter contains information about the history of that particular pitch, as well as entertaining anecdotes and fascinating how-to explanations from pitchers ranging from Hall of Famers to obscurities. I learned a fair amount from Kepner's book, but also found the book enjoyable even when he was writing about things I already knew.
One piece of advice (which I didn't follow myself, but should have): have a baseball at hand while reading, so you can try for yourself the different grips and throwing motions that are discussed on almost every page of the book.
An excellent book for serious baseball fans.
But NOT a history of baseball!
Sorry. Got a little carried away there. Anyway, Tyler Kepner has written an excellent account not of the history of baseball, but of ten different pitches thrown by hurlers throughout the baseball ages -- fastball, curve, slider, knuckleball, change up, screwball, etc. Each pitch is the subject of its own chapter -- although sometimes Kepner throws in bonus discussion of a different but related pitch (for example, the chapter on Spitters covers both the spitball and the scuffball, with good reason). And each chapter contains information about the history of that particular pitch, as well as entertaining anecdotes and fascinating how-to explanations from pitchers ranging from Hall of Famers to obscurities. I learned a fair amount from Kepner's book, but also found the book enjoyable even when he was writing about things I already knew.
One piece of advice (which I didn't follow myself, but should have): have a baseball at hand while reading, so you can try for yourself the different grips and throwing motions that are discussed on almost every page of the book.
An excellent book for serious baseball fans.
But NOT a history of baseball!
April 21, 2019
One of the things that makes baseball great is that no matter how many games you see, you will always, every game, see something you have never seen before.
The same holds true for baseball books. There are great books on teams (The Boys of Summer); great books on international baseball (You Gotta Have Wa); great biographies (Alexander’s: Ruth); great autobiographies (Cobb: My Life in Baseball); and great books on excellence (Men at Work). And now there is a great book on pitching.
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches is a unique look at the game. Tyler Kepner gives detailed insight into the effectiveness of: The Slider; The Fastball; The Curveball; The Knuckleball; The Splitter; The Screwball; The Sinker; The Changeup; The Spitball; and, The Cutter.
Kepner interviews some of the great and not-so great pitchers associated with each of the ten pitches. And where interviews are not possible, Kepner quotes from autobiographies or news archives.
Kepner documents how pitches come in and out of fashion: the Screwball and the Splitter fell out of fashion due to perceptions they led to serious injuries – although as is noted in the book, the pitches are out of favor and the pitchers keep getting injured.
Kepner has written a very insightful book. By narrowing his focus on one pitch at a time, Kepner has broadened the view of what it take for a pitcher to succeed in the only game that begins with the defense holding the ball.
The same holds true for baseball books. There are great books on teams (The Boys of Summer); great books on international baseball (You Gotta Have Wa); great biographies (Alexander’s: Ruth); great autobiographies (Cobb: My Life in Baseball); and great books on excellence (Men at Work). And now there is a great book on pitching.
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches is a unique look at the game. Tyler Kepner gives detailed insight into the effectiveness of: The Slider; The Fastball; The Curveball; The Knuckleball; The Splitter; The Screwball; The Sinker; The Changeup; The Spitball; and, The Cutter.
Kepner interviews some of the great and not-so great pitchers associated with each of the ten pitches. And where interviews are not possible, Kepner quotes from autobiographies or news archives.
Kepner documents how pitches come in and out of fashion: the Screwball and the Splitter fell out of fashion due to perceptions they led to serious injuries – although as is noted in the book, the pitches are out of favor and the pitchers keep getting injured.
Kepner has written a very insightful book. By narrowing his focus on one pitch at a time, Kepner has broadened the view of what it take for a pitcher to succeed in the only game that begins with the defense holding the ball.
May 15, 2019
This book is kind of poorly named. It's not a history of baseball in ten pitches. It's really just a history OF those ten pitches. There's no attempt to broaden the scope of the history to a larger history of baseball through the lens of 10 specific pitches, which is definitely possible. It's just that each chapter is a collection of stories about pitch types. IF you know, going into it, that that's what it is, this is a decent book. I did not.
My other major problem is that this book is very poorly organized. IF you're going to discuss ten pitches, you start with the fastball, then variations like the change up or the sinker, then you talk about the curveball as an introduction to breaking balls. Don't start with the slider.
It's not the best book but it's a decent collection of stories about baseball. I didn't hate it.
My other major problem is that this book is very poorly organized. IF you're going to discuss ten pitches, you start with the fastball, then variations like the change up or the sinker, then you talk about the curveball as an introduction to breaking balls. Don't start with the slider.
It's not the best book but it's a decent collection of stories about baseball. I didn't hate it.
November 2, 2020
A friend suggested this book, and I wasn't entirely sure what to think. Within 10 pages, I was completely impressed. Kepner isn't writing a history of baseball from 1850 to 2020. He's also not writing a history of baseball through the great pitchers: Cy Young to Stephen Strasburg.
Kepner takes ten great baseball pitches, and explains who used them, why they used them, how they discovered them... it's more of a history of the pitches. On that note, don't expect a clear explanation of how each pitch thrown, how the ball is held, or the manner in which the ball drops. There is way too much variation in each pitch for that to be a significant part of the book.
It's a truly enjoyable read, but if you aren't a baseball fan, I'm not sure this is up your alley. If you are a sports novice, considering a baseball book, I would recommend Ball Four by Jim Bouton.
Kepner takes ten great baseball pitches, and explains who used them, why they used them, how they discovered them... it's more of a history of the pitches. On that note, don't expect a clear explanation of how each pitch thrown, how the ball is held, or the manner in which the ball drops. There is way too much variation in each pitch for that to be a significant part of the book.
It's a truly enjoyable read, but if you aren't a baseball fan, I'm not sure this is up your alley. If you are a sports novice, considering a baseball book, I would recommend Ball Four by Jim Bouton.
May 28, 2019
There have been so many books written about baseball that a new angle is sometimes needed. Daniel Okrent tried this approach 35 years ago with a book called Nine Innings; which was the anatomy of baseball through one game. Tyler Kepner tries a similar approach by looking at the game through different pitches. I must say that this is an excellent idea, given the pitcher is the sun in the solar system of baseball.
But the book left me disappointed. It is not really a contemplation or study of the game; rather it is more of a compilation of what has been written about or spoken of as it relates to the game. If you've read a few baseball books, you'll get a sense of deja vu all over again, with apologies to Yogi Berra.
But the book left me disappointed. It is not really a contemplation or study of the game; rather it is more of a compilation of what has been written about or spoken of as it relates to the game. If you've read a few baseball books, you'll get a sense of deja vu all over again, with apologies to Yogi Berra.
September 22, 2020
I just don’t think I’m going to finish this book. Took me forever to get through the first five chapters and I’m just not interested in reading the next five. And I love baseball. But I didn’t feel like I learned anything. It’s not well written at all. Random bits and stories and anecdotes that may or may not have anything to do with each other and often with no flow or natural transition. There could be three paragraphs with five names in it so you never really get to learn anything. I was super excited about this book when I heard about it and very disappointed when I started reading it. There are better baseball books out there.
February 21, 2020
Boy, I wanted to like this book more than I did. Concept is great but there’s no connection throughout the book. It’s not starting historically. It doesn’t follow the way you’d set up a batter (fastball first). It reads like a series of disconnected pieces—columns linked together without connections or a frame. Just a series of good stories (and an incredible number of interviews) not well conceived or designed.
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