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Almost Perfect
The Heartbreaking Pursuit of Pitching's Holy Grail
By Joe Cox
Foreword by Jim Bunning
Published by Lyons Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Table of Contents
About The Book
The rich, poignant tales of major league baseball’s most hard-luck fraternity—the pitchers of its Almost-Perfect Games
From 1908 to 2015, there have been thirteen pitchers who have begun Major League Baseball games by retiring the first twenty-six opposing batters, but then, one out from completing a perfect game, somehow faltering (or having perfection stolen from them). Three other pitchers did successfully retire twenty-seven batters in a row, but are still not credited with perfect games. While stories of pitching the perfect game have been told and retold, Almost Perfect looks at how baseball, at its core, is about heartbreak, and these sixteen men are closer to what baseball really is, and why we remain invested in the sport. Author Joe Cox visits this notion through a century of baseball and through these sixteen pitchers—recounting their games in thrilling fashion, telling the personal stories of the fascinating (and very human) baseball figures involved, and exploring the historical American and baseball backdrops of each flawed gem.
From George “Hooks” Wiltse's nearly perfect game in 1908 to “Hard Luck” Harvey Haddix’s 12-inning, 36-consecutive-outs performance on May 26, 1959 (the most astounding single-game pitching performance in baseball history) to Max Scherzer’s near miss in 2015, Joe Cox’s book captures the action, the humanity, and the history of the national pastime’s greatest “almosts.”
From 1908 to 2015, there have been thirteen pitchers who have begun Major League Baseball games by retiring the first twenty-six opposing batters, but then, one out from completing a perfect game, somehow faltering (or having perfection stolen from them). Three other pitchers did successfully retire twenty-seven batters in a row, but are still not credited with perfect games. While stories of pitching the perfect game have been told and retold, Almost Perfect looks at how baseball, at its core, is about heartbreak, and these sixteen men are closer to what baseball really is, and why we remain invested in the sport. Author Joe Cox visits this notion through a century of baseball and through these sixteen pitchers—recounting their games in thrilling fashion, telling the personal stories of the fascinating (and very human) baseball figures involved, and exploring the historical American and baseball backdrops of each flawed gem.
From George “Hooks” Wiltse's nearly perfect game in 1908 to “Hard Luck” Harvey Haddix’s 12-inning, 36-consecutive-outs performance on May 26, 1959 (the most astounding single-game pitching performance in baseball history) to Max Scherzer’s near miss in 2015, Joe Cox’s book captures the action, the humanity, and the history of the national pastime’s greatest “almosts.”
Product Details
- Publisher: Lyons Press (March 15, 2019)
- Length: 280 pages
- ISBN13: 9781493039531
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Raves and Reviews
As that baseball fanatic Tolstoy almost wrote, ‘All perfect games resemble one another; each imperfect game is imperfect in its own way.’ Cox analyzes the 16 games between 1908 and 2015 in which pitchers retired at least the first 26 batters they faced, only to see perfection elude them.
– The New York Times
Joe Cox deftly conjures up the past, allowing us to fully consider a handful of pitchers who deserved a better fate.
– Tim Wendel, author of Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball—and America—Forever
Almost Perfect might be narrowly viewed as an examination of the fine line between immortality and forgetability, but credit Joe Cox for leveraging the topic to expose an array of baseball history, utilizing near-misses as a platform from which to launch in-depth looks at the people and eras that have made baseball what it is today. It’s a terrific look back at some engaging players and moments we might otherwise have overlooked.
– Jason Turbow, author of The Baseball Codes and Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s
Almost Perfect is an entertaining and illuminating book that offers up sixteen, er, perfect examples of why falling short of perfection is often far more interesting than actually attaining it.
– Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s
[M]eticulously researched . . . Cox holds up their brush with perfection as a mirror for the fallible human condition. . . . Cox adds considerable pre- and postgame context to these almost-perfectos to give his subjects and the national pastime depth. . . . The ambitious effort will appeal to hard-core fans.”
– Publishers Weekly
. . . very well researched baseball fun.
– Booklist
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