The Year of the Pitcher by Sridhar Pappu *** (of 4)

In 1968, baseball's pitchers dominated hitters to such an extent that Bob Gibson of the Saint Louis Cardinals held opposing teams to barely more than one run every nine innings pitched and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won 30 games. Pitchers were so effective, a lear later, 1969, Major League Baseball had to improve batters' odds by lowering the pitching mound from 15 inches to 10 and it reduced the size of the strike zone.

What makes Pappu's recounting much more than just a book about great pitching, is his ability to contextualize a sport beginning its decline in America's heart (football and basketball were beginning their ascendency) within a country tearing itself apart over the Vietnam War abroad and race relations.

Here is a street scene from Detroit in 1967. Baseball somehow seemed both a reflection of America and unimportant.  The country was at war in Southeast Asia, with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and its cities. Throughout The Year of the Pitcher we are in awe of feats of athleticism still worthy of admiration and engaged at the intersection of Richard Nixon, Jackie Robinson, African American baseball players leading an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to be released from contracts that allowed players to be owned and traded like chattel, and Johnny Sain, perhaps the best pitching coach to ever live.

The book drives toward a World Series matchup between Bob Gibson and Denny McLain beginning with Jackie Robinson's tribulations as he broke baseball's race barrier, Bob Gibson's enduring anger at injustices he faced in Omaha and St. Louis, Denny McClain's pitching in Tigers stadium while the city around him burned, and Tiger teammates took stints in the National Guard attempting to restore order. Finally, there is a seven game World Series for the ages.