Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember [NOOK Book]

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Overview

Pitchers are the heart of baseball, and John Feinstein tells the story of the game today through one season and two great pitchers working in the crucible of the New York media market. Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina have seen it all in the Major Leagues and both entered 2007 in search of individual milestones and one more shot at The World Series-Glavine with the Mets, Mussina five miles away with the Yankees. The two veterans experience very different seasons--one on a team dealing with the pressure to get to a World Series for the first time in seven years, the other with a team expected to be there every year. Taking the reader through contract negotiations, spring training, the ups of wins and losses, and the people in
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Overview

Pitchers are the heart of baseball, and John Feinstein tells the story of the game today through one season and two great pitchers working in the crucible of the New York media market. Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina have seen it all in the Major Leagues and both entered 2007 in search of individual milestones and one more shot at The World Series-Glavine with the Mets, Mussina five miles away with the Yankees. The two veterans experience very different seasons--one on a team dealing with the pressure to get to a World Series for the first time in seven years, the other with a team expected to be there every year. Taking the reader through contract negotiations, spring training, the ups of wins and losses, and the people in their lives-family, managers, pitching coaches, agents, catchers, other pitchers--John Feinstein provides a true insider's look at the pressure cooker of sports at the highest level.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
Good pitchers avoid the heart of the plate; great pitchers "live on the black," their deliveries slicing over the black rubber borders of home plate. In this sharply executed effort, bestselling author John Feinstein tracks two top-flight veteran hurlers through the 2007 season: New York Mets left-hander Tom Glavine and Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina. A superb effort by the author The Sporting News calls "sports writing's John Grisham."
Publishers Weekly
Though the season-long profile-in which a sportswriter follows a player, team or coach through a single season-grows increasingly familiar, this entry from Feinstein, one of the genre's pioneers (Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL; The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever), delivers rare insight into the minds of two of baseball's most cerebral (and successful) pitchers. Veteran sportswriter Feinstein follows the Yankees' Mike Mussina and the Mets' Tom Glavine during the 2007 season, as they pursue personal milestones and try to pitch their teams back into the postseason. Although they each reach some of their goals (Mussina to 250 wins, Glavine 300), neither team reaches its ultimate goal. The main narrative, of personal and team struggle, is compelling, but the true enjoyment of books like these are in the details, and Feinstein does not disappoint. Not only does he exhaustively chronicle the season on-field, he reveals tidbits of inside ball that even hardcore fans will find enlightening: Who knew that Mussina's best friend on the Yankees is the bullpen catcher, Mike Borzello, or that Glavine helped avert a likely player strike after the 2003 season? This smart season tour makes a treat for both casual and die-had fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal

Sportswriter Feinstein follows star pitchers Tom Glavine (Mets) and Mike Mussina (Yankees) through their 2007 seasons.

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780316032339
  • Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
  • Publication date: 5/1/2008
  • Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
  • Format: eBook
  • Sales rank: 194,893
  • File size: 530 KB

Meet the Author

John Feinstein is the bestselling author of Tales from Q School, Last Dance, Next Man Up, Let Me Tell You a Story (with Red Auerbach), Caddy for Life, Open, The Punch, The Last Amateurs, The Majors, A Good Walk Spoiled, A Civil War, A Season on the Brink, Play Ball, Hard Courts, and three sports mystery novels for young readers. He writes for The Washington Post, Washington Post.com, and Golf Digest, and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition."

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 13 )

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Sort by: Showing 1 – 14 of 13 Customer Reviews
  • Posted July 27, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    For Baseball Fans

    Decent work by Feinstein, who has done much better in the past. This book really should be titled "Glavine, with a little Mussina". I'm not sure if Mussina was added later as an afterthought, but probably 65-70% of the book is about Glavine and his season.

    I was a little surprised with the amount of excuses that are given for Glavine's failures, some are by Feinstein and some are by Glavine himself. Everything is the umps fault, which is a theme drummed on throughout the book. That part is frustratingly humorous if you remember seeing TG pitch in the playoffs in the 90s and 2000s, regularly getting favorable calls on pitches not even close to the zone. Glavine had a HOF career. There's no need for the excuses.

    If you're a baseball fan, especially a fan of good pitching and some of the science of that part of the game, then this is a good read. If not, if you prefer 14-12 games with lots of HRs, not for you.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 12, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Fantastic

    I am a huge baseball fan so this book was great. I'm into baseball history but I'm also still only 21 years old so it was neat to read about a season that I was actually alive to see! Lastly, as a Mets fan it's cool to relive the season Tom Glavine won 300 games...how frickin' long it took him to get there and the end of his Mets career that still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 2, 2008

    Book For All Baseball Lovers

    This book is a great book for those who like baseball. I recommend this book to anyone who likes the game. This book is a great story about two pitchers who struggle through different problems during the year. It tells the story of these two guys and how they have become such sports icons. I recommend this book for anyone who wants a good read about a great game.

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