Is This a Great Game, Or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head--My 25 Years in BaseballESPN's Tim Kurkjian has spent over twenty-five years covering almost 3,000 Major League Baseball games and interviewing about that many players, coaches, managers and executives. In Is This a Great Game, or What?, Kurkjian combines his years of experience, uncanny knowledge and deep love of the game, to create a book filled with some of the most fascinating insight into Major League Baseball this side of Jim Bouton's bestseller, Ball Four. Whether he's explaining what goes through a ballplayer's mind when he faces a fastball in the chapter "My Face Was Crushed by a Bowling Ball Going 90mph", detailing bizarre rituals and superstitions performed by some of baseball's greatest players, or taking us into the locker room to see what transpires in the clubhouse of a Major League team, Kurkjian's tales are at times hilarious, other times horrifying, yet always entertaining. Kurkjian has spoken to some of the greatest ballplayers ever over the years and they have revealed details about themselves and the game they love with a candor that readers won't find anywhere else. Filled with anecdotes and fascinating insight, this is an essential book for baseball fans or anyone curious about America's pastime. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 My Mom Was My Catcher | 5 |
2 Business But Its a Pleasure | 21 |
3 Ill Beat You Playing from My Knees | 39 |
4 Phil Niekros Teeth | 59 |
5 Im Old Im Fat Im Bald Im Ugly I Have a Plate in My Head | 77 |
6 My Face Was Crushed by a Bowling Ball Going 90 MPH | 97 |
7 I Need It NowStat | 119 |
10 There Was a Blimp in Left Field | 167 |
11 The Sun Will Rise the Sun Will Set and Ill Have Lunch | 179 |
12 Its Ambidextrous Not Amphibious | 191 |
13 Angel My Man | 201 |
14 Why Cant There Be a Lefthanded Catcher? | 217 |
15 Just Grab That Bat as Tight as You Can Son | 227 |
16 I Love Ketchup | 239 |
Acknowledgments | 257 |
Other editions - View all
Is This a Great Game, or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head--My 25 ... Tim Kurkjian Limited preview - 2007 |
Is This a Great Game, or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head--My 25 ... Tim Kurkjian No preview available - 2008 |
Is This a Great Game, Or What?: From A-Rod's Heart to Zim's Head--My 25 ... Tim Kurkjian No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
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