Book Review: Wild Pitches by Jayson Stark

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Earlier this year, ESPN senior baseball writer Jayson Stark published his newest book, Wild Pitches: Rumblings, Grumblings, and Reflections on the Game I Love (Triumph Books).
Image credit: Triumph Books
Stark has always been fascinated with America’s national pastime. When he was in middle school, he knew he would make baseball his life’s work not as a player but a sportswriter. For Stark, covering baseball doesn’t really seem like work to him. He gets to cover the people that help make the game of baseball what it is. One day in the future, he’ll probably accept the Spink Award during the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend.

What Stark manages to do in Wild Pitches is bring the best of his work into one book. Whether it is covering the Philadelphia Phillies for the Philadelphia Inquirer or baseball for ESPN, Stark has made himself one of baseball’s influential voices.

More from St Louis Cardinals News

A March 2008 column pays tribute to Al Lang Field where Stan Musial and the St. Louis Cardinals once trained during Spring Training. A few pages are spent on the 2011 World Series champion Cardinals. In the October Classics section, Stark’s column on The Greatest World Series Game Ever is about none other than Game 6 in 2011. No Cardinals fan can ever forget where they were when David Freese hit his extra innings walk-off home run.

A few pages later and Stark’s column is on the Albert Pujols home run that sent the 2005 NLCS back to Busch Stadium II for one final game.

This collection of Stark’s work is poignant, whimsical, and laugh-out-loud funny. Unique and unforgettable, baseball fans are sure to be entertained and enlightened for hours on end.