Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity, and the Perfect Knuckleball

by R.A. Dickey, Wayne Coffey (Contribution by)

Overview

The perfect gift for baseball fans, now with a new epilogue by author R.A. Dickey, winner of the 2012 Cy Young award. 

"An astounding memoir—haunting and touching, courageous and wise."—Jeremy Schaap, bestselling author, Emmy award-winning journalist, ESPN

In 1996, R.A. Dickey was the Texas Rangers’ much-heralded No. 1 draft choice. Then, a routine physical revealed that his right elbow was missing its ulnar collateral ligament, and his lifelong dream—along with his $810,000 signing bonus—was ripped away. Yet, despite twice being consigned to baseball’s scrap heap, Dickey battled back. Sustained by his Christian faith, the love of his wife and children, and a relentless quest for self-awareness, Dickey is now the starting pitcher for the Toronoto Blue Jays (he was previously a star pitcher for the New York Mets) and one of the National League’s premier players, as well as the winner of the 2012 Cy Young award.

In Wherever I Wind Up, Dickey eloquently shares his quintessentially American tale of overcoming extraordinary odds to achieve a game, a career, and a life unlike any other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780452299016
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/26/2013
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	430,257
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

R.A. Dickey of the Toronto Blue Jays is one of the premier pitchers in baseball.  In 2012 while playing for the New York Mets, he became the first knuckleballer to win the National League Cy Young Award, major league baseball’s highest honor for a pitcher.  He has also written for the New York Times and is working on a young adult edition of Wherever I Wind Up and two children’s books. When not on the road with his team, Dickey lives in Tennessee with his wife and four children.

Wayne Coffey is an award-winning journalist for the New York Daily News and the author of more than thirty books, including The Boys of Winter, a New York Times bestselling chronicle of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. A three-time Pulitzer nominee, he has long been regarded as one of best sports feature writers in the nation. 

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Worst Night I Ever Had 1

Chapter 1 Plastic Spoon 15

Chapter 2 Summer of '83 29

Chapter 3 Faith on Walnut 39

Chapter 4 The Wolf of Green Hills 53

Chapter 5 Volunteering for Duty 73

Chapter 6 Cover Story 87

Chapter 7 The Lone Ranger 105

Chapter 8 Minor Achievement 113

Chapter 9 Showtime 129

Chapter 10 Requiem for My Fastball 147

Chapter 11 Redhawk Redux 157

Chapter 12 The World According to Charlie 165

Chapter 13 Knuckleballer Non Grata 179

Chapter 14 The Bottom 191

Chapter 15 Into the Missouri 203

Chapter 16 Sounds of the Moment 221

Chapter 17 Rule Five Surprise 239

Chapter 18 Getting My Phil 259

Chapter 19 Citi Dweller 279

Chapter 20 Fingernails in Flushing 295

Chapter 21 Unbroken Moments 307

Epilogue: Summits 329

Acknowledgments 343

Index 347

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"R.A. Dickey's book is unlike any other professional athlete's autobiography you have ever read. And that is a very good thing." —Mike Bauman, MLB.com

Editorial Reviews

Things did not come easily for major league knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. In 1996, the Texas Rangers signed this recent college graduate for $810,000, but then discovered that his arm was missing a ligament and reduced the offer by more than ninety percent. Ten years later, the struggling pitcher decided that his best chance for staying in the majors was to reinvent himself as knuckleballer. In his first start, his new experiment failed historically: He gave up six home runs, tying a modern baseball record. His persistence has paid off: Since the hardcover release of this book, he won Cy Young Award honors for his twenty-game winning seasons with the New York Mets.

It's a gripping memoir, a brutally honest account of family woes, childhood abuse and his failures as a husband and father. But it's also a meditation on contemporary baseball that is insightful without throwing anyone under the bus, save the author himself. (And maybe Alex Rodriguez.) It might be the finest piece of nonfiction baseball writing since Ball Four. Perhaps above all, it's a classic epic quest, a flawed hero's unlikely odyssey to the major leagues and to discovering the mystical pitch that helped him get there.”—Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated

“R.A. Dickey is one of the coolest athletes I’ve ever met—a great mixture of soul and intellect. He wanted to write his own book with the same passion he brings to his knuckleball or working the heart of the dugout between starts. This is an athlete worth knowing better.”—George Vescy, New York Times

“R.A. Dickey has a baseball story that is unlike anybody else’s. If every player had his character, work ethic, and makeup, it would put a lot of managers and coaches out of work, because there would be no need for them.”—Buck Showalter, manager of the Baltimore Orioles

“MLB's only active knuckleballer boasts a story compelling enough to be told forthwith…. Dickey credits his faith with overcoming myriad trials both personal and professional, but it never feels as if he's preaching. Once an English-lit major and now a starting pitcher for the New York Mets, the author emerges as one of baseball's good guys, and someone who can write as well as he pitches. Dickey has set a new standard for athlete autobiographies.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An astounding memoir—haunting and touching, courageous and wise."—Jeremy Schaap, bestselling author, Emmy award-winning journalist, ESPN

"Nobody in baseball has overcome more obstacles than R.A. Dickey, and nobody writes about them with more honesty and insight. R.A. doesn't want to be called a hero, but he is exactly that, and when you read about his life's journey and his courage, you will agree with me. This is an awesome book by an awesome man."—Orel Hershiser, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst, former MLB All-Star

"A wonderful and powerful new memoir."—Jim Caple, ESPN

"I can't recommend Wherever I Wind Up enough."—Gary Cohen, SportsNet NY (SNY)

"R.A. Dickey's book is unlike any other professional athlete's autobiography you have ever read. And that is a very good thing."—Mike Bauman, MLB.com

From the Publisher

Starred Review.

Most professional baseball players pen a memoir after they retire. But pitcher R.A. Dickey-who spent four seasons with four different Major League Baseball teams and is MLB's only active knuckleballer-boasts a story compelling enough to be told forthwith. A heralded 1996 first-round draft choice, Dickey's $810,000 signing bonus with the Texas Rangers was yanked after doctors discovered the right-handed pitcher was missing an ligament in his right elbow. Thus began a dramatic up-and-down journey through the professional ranks, sustained by Dickey's determination, as evidenced by the book's proverbial Latin epigraph, "Dum spiro, spero"-"While I breath, I hope." He and co-author Coffey (The Boys of Winter) write with startling candor not only about the game-Dickey's fellow players, steroids in baseball, his disdain for rookie hazing-, but also about his tumultuous upbringing-being a victim of sexual abuse as an 8-year-old at the hands of his babysitter, growing up in Nashville with an alcoholic mother, sleeping in vacant houses as a teenager, and becoming a Christian. Dickey credits his faith with overcoming myriad trials both personal and professional, but it never feels as if he's preaching. Once an English-lit major and now a starting pitcher for the New York Mets, the author emerges as one of baseball's good guys, and someone who can write as well as he pitches. Dickey has set a new standard for athlete autobiographies. Color photos.
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Publishers Weekly

This book chronicles R.A. Dickey’s path from “phenom” (baseball-ese for a hot, young prospect) to minor league hanger-on to Big League success story. Dickey succeeds through perseverance, belief in himself, and reliance on his Christian faith. It’s a compelling story, and narrator Ben Hunter has an engaging style that the listener easily can believe is the author’s voice. But the author’s prose style is flat and reserved, and his sentences are occasionally long and involved. In print these weaknesses aren’t a problem, but in audio they translate into a less-than-satisfying experience despite Hunter’s efforts to overcome them. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2013 - AudioFile