Sports Illustrated: Inside Baseball: The Best of Tom Verducci

By Sports Illustrated

No sport has inspired better writing than baseball, and no one writes baseball better than Tom Verducci. As Sports Illustrated's lead baseball writer since 1993, Verducci has witnessed the achievements of the games greatest heroes and told their inspiring stories with unmatched passion and sophistication. He has enriched SIs readers with an insiders perspective on the game, examining subtle shifts in the ever-changing balance between pitchers and hitters, between slumps and streaks, between sacred records and the athletes trying to break them. Despite his deep affection for baseball, however, Verducci has never shied away from the hard truth about the game: his landmark piece about steroids, for instance, changed the baseball landscape forever.These 25 pieces span the generations from Sandy Koufax to Roger Clemens, from Ted Williams to Barry Bonds.They chronicle the important trends in the game and celebrate baseballs brightest stars and most breathtaking performances.They are the best work of a writer at the top of his game.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933405007
• ISBN13: 9781933405001
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Sports Illustrated Books
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Great Baseball Reading

I enjoy the writing of Tom Verducci in Sports Illustrated, so I knew I wanted to get his book when it was published. I wasn't disappointed. The stories span generations and various aspects of the game and are wonderful to read.

A Great Variety of Baseball's Best Stories

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated has treated us to a wide variety of his best baseball stories from 1993 to March of 2005. "The Left Arm of God" can only be about Sandy Koufax, the competitive fire of Jack Morris pitching game seven of the World Series for the Twins against the Braves, the stress of being a major league closer, the agony of the Red Sox and Cubs, the tragedy of Strawberry and Gooden with the Mets, the Red Sox winning it all in 2004, the nightmare that is steroids and why players didn't like to be slapped on the butt for doing a good job. These are a few of the subjects covered in the book, but the one I enjoyed the most was the last chapter when the author spent five days in spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays, and was confronted with the seemingly impossible task of hitting a baseball thrown by a professional player, even a non-roster one. Television does not do justice to the difficulty of deciding whether or not to swing at a pitch let alone hitting a round ball with a round bat square. Baseball has been blessed with great writers such as Roger Angell and Roger Kahn. It is comforting to know Tom Verducci is carrying on the tradition.