Pride and Pinstripes: The Yankees, Mets, and Surviving Life's Challenges

by Mel Stottlemyre, John Harper

Long considered one of the most underappreciated Yankee greats, Mel Stottlemyre was only 22 in 1964 when he got signed to the Yankees, and quickly became one of their star pitchers–pitching in the World Series in 1964, his first year out. After retiring in 1974, he went on to work with the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, and Houston Astros, and finally the New York Yankees in 1996, until his retirement in 2005. Stottlemyre's sons Todd and Mel, Jr. both followed in their father's footsteps, becoming star pitchers themselves, continuing a great Stottlemyre legacy that has made the name synonymous with powerhouse pitching. In this, his first autobiography, Stottlemyre will take us behind the scenes, to the golden age of baseball, through almost five decades of Major League behind–the–scenes stories.

Genres: Baseball, Biography, Sports

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jason Beem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mel's story was really fantastic. He's a great yankee and I loved the baseball stories, but for me it was the stories about his son Jason and his battle with cancer, as well as the other off the field stuff that made this so engaging for me.

Mel is all class and so is his book.

[Jim Swike · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a Mets fan or Yankee fan, Mel Stottlemyre, was the pitching coach for the 1986 Mets and the Joe Torre glory years. he tells us stories about life with both teams. A story not just about sports but about battling cancer, a great read. Enjoy!

[Patrick Tarbox · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. There are a lot of parts of it that are very vanilla (making sure it is long enough to be worthy of book-length), but there are some really personal and impactful parts of the book that I appreciate the author speaking about. I have read plenty of other autobiographies where those are avoided altogether, so tackling the difficult topics should not go unnoticed or unrecognized.

[William Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look inside of the life of true Yankee

Even though Mabton, Mel's hometown is only an hour away from where I live, I didn't realize what a great career he had. What a down to earth guy. I feel like I know him. Great insight into the mind of a pitching coach. Great to relive some of those great seasons with view from the dugout. Thanks for writing this book Mel.

[Mike Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, another daytime soap opera of a book. Yankees win this, they lose that, cashman gets a free agent, george says that. Boring. Instead of describing what it means to be a pitching coach, we rehash Yankee seasons and playoffs. Seriously? It is like a wikipedia article on the Yankees.

[Geary Holody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brought back memories of my early days as a Yankee fan

[Tim Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing earth shattering, rather run of the mill sports book...decent read.

[Aaron Lozano · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read, always fun to hear an insders perspective on basbeall, teammates, owners and more. Stottlemyre is a true role model and a great Yankee!