Wednesday, May 9, 2012

the last book I ever read (Seasons in Hell, excerpt one)



from Mike Shropshire's Seasons in Hell:

Dick Bosman was the starter in that 1973 opener and he pitched heroically for the Rangers that night until he yielded a key home run to Dick Allen that seemed to be still traveling on an upward trajectory when it passed over the centerfield fence. Yes . . . Allen had been the American League's MVP the season before, but one or two Dick Allens would lurk in the batting order of every team on the Rangers' schedule. Meanwhile, Wilbur Wood, the Sox's big knuckleballer, limited the Rangers to four anemic singles in the opener.

Wilbur Wood, by the way, was typical of most of the upper-tier pitchers in the American League of that era in that he would deceive the hitter rather than overpower him. Poor Rico Carty. He was totally baffled by Wood's dip-and-dive knuckleball pitches and swung the bat like a man attempting to fight off a swarm of killer bees.

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