The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball's Golden Age

by Sridhar Pappu Narrated by Leon Nixon

Overview

The Year of the Pitcher is the story of the remarkable 1968 baseball season, which culminated in one of the greatest World Series contests ever, with the Detroit Tigers coming back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cardinals in Game Seven of the World Series.



In 1968, two remarkable pitchers would dominate the game as well as the broadsheets. One was black, the other white. Bob Gibson, together with the St. Louis Cardinals, embodied an entire generation's hope for integration at a heated moment in American history. Denny McLain, his adversary, was a crass self-promoter who eschewed the team charter and his Detroit Tigers teammates to zip cross-country in his own plane. For one season, the nation watched as these two men and their teams swept their respective league championships to meet at the World Series. Gibson set a major league record that year with a 1.12 ERA. McLain won more than 30 games in 1968, a feat not achieved since 1934 and untouched since. Together, the two have come to stand as iconic symbols, giving the fans "The Year of the Pitcher" and changing the game.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/31/2017
This exciting work by New York Times columnist Pappu is a sophisticated look at the 1968 baseball season, which he dubs the year of the pitcher. That year, the L.A. Dodgers’ Don Drysdale threw 58 and two-thirds scoreless innings and there were 185 shutouts in the National League and 154 in the American League. “Hitters were lost, offense nonexistent,” Pappu writes, as he explains why Major League Baseball subsequently made rule changes to benefit batters, such as shrinking the strike zone and lowering the pitcher’s mound. Pappu gives a comprehensive look at the careers of the two superstars of that year, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers. As Pappu moves from their early years to the final legendary World Series battle between their two teams, he skillfully weaves the two players’ contrasting styles—McLain’s brazenness and “visions of grandeur” and Gibson’s steely gaze and “fierce persona”—into a larger story about the pitchers’ effect on baseball; changing attitudes about players’ rights; and the shadow of politics and race cast over the sport during the year of the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. With skillful writing, Pappu also illuminates the ongoing role of Jackie Robinson as he brings to life the events of this tumultuous year. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"Bob “Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, a transformative season, a fabulous World Series, and a nation undergoing its own radical change—they’ve all found their perfect chronicler in Sridhar Pappu. His book is both a pleasure and a revelation.”—Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
 
“I covered Gibson and McClain in the 1968 World Series, but I never grasped what it all meant to the nation and its pastime until I read Pappu’s rich, insightful, lively book.”—Robert Lipsyte, author of An Accidental Sportswriter
 
“Here’s the rare baseball book that succeeds as first-rate sports-writing and dramatic history. Sridhar Pappu tells the story of Bob Gibson and Denny McLain brilliantly, with prodigious reporting and beautiful writing.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season
 
“The Year of the Pitcher stands up and stands out . . . Seldom does an era, and do sports personalities, come alive so vividly, and so unforgettably.”—Boston Globe
 
“Explores so much more than the battle between two pitchers and their teams . . .Pappu is especially insightful in his discussions of issues of race that pervaded baseball and American society . . . A fine history of a vital period in the history of not only baseball, but America.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“This exciting work by New York Times columnist Pappu is a sophisticated look at the 1968 baseball season . . .  Pappu gives a comprehensive look at the careers of the two superstars of that year, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals and Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers. As Pappu moves from their early years to the final legendary World Series battle between their two teams, he skillfully weaves the two players’ contrasting styles—McLain’s brazenness and “visions of grandeur” and Gibson’s steely gaze and “fierce persona”—into a larger story about the pitchers’ effect on baseball; changing attitudes about players’ rights; and the shadow of politics and race cast over the sport during the year of the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. With skillful writing, Pappu also illuminates the ongoing role of Jackie Robinson as he brings to life the events of this tumultuous year.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“New York Times columnist Pappu offers an exciting look into that legendary season, beautifully capturing both pitchers’ fascinating journeys throughout their careers. The author effectively interweaves the stories of McLain and Gibson in an engaging fashion, engrossing readers with the rivalry of Detroit and St. Louis. Enjoyable chapters describe the lead up to one of the most exciting World Series in baseball history, in which Detroit came back to win the championship from a 3–1 deficit. VERDICT: Devoted baseball fans will appreciate this story from one of major league's best years.”—Library Journal
 
“I didn’t think there was any more I could learn on the subject that I didn’t already know, but The Year of the Pitcher, by Sridhar Pappu, due Oct. 3, is a compelling tale of all that America was in the turbulent year of 1968, told through a (mostly) baseball prism.”—Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
 
“[Pappu] brings historical context and fine biographical narrative to baseball’s place in society in 1968.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A highly engaging look at that ’68 season, which climaxed with a seven-game Cardinals-Tigers World Series. The book will appeal not only to Cardinals and Tigers fans, but to everyone interested in good baseball stories and the evolution of the game.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch



 

Library Journal

09/15/2017
The extraordinary 1968 baseball season is known as the year of the pitcher and included two of finest pitchers of all time: Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals. Gibson set a modern-era major league record, finishing with a 1.12 earned run average. Meanwhile, McLain was the last person to win more than 30 games (he finished with 33), a record that has yet to be broken. New York Times columnist Pappu offers an exciting look into that legendary season, beautifully capturing both pitchers' fascinating journeys throughout their careers. The author effectively interweaves the stories of McLain and Gibson in an engaging fashion, engrossing readers with the rivalry of Detroit and St. Louis. Enjoyable chapters describe the lead up to one of the most exciting World Series in baseball history, in which Detroit came back to win the championship from a 3–1 deficit. VERDICT Devoted baseball fans will appreciate this story from one of major league's best years.—Gus Palas, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Kirkus Reviews

2017-07-03
Capturing baseball and its relationship to society in the 1960s on and off the field through the experiences of two teams and their two star pitchers.The year 1968 represented the apex of a decade in which pitchers asserted dominance over hitters in Major League Baseball. In that epochal year, two men were ascendant in what was still America's pastime. Bob Gibson (b. 1935) was the taciturn, intimidating African-American ace for the St. Louis Cardinals. Denny McLain (b. 1944) was the swaggering, self-involved white No. 1 pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. The two led their teams to pennants and a clash in that year's World Series. The Cardinals were the defending champions, while the Tigers were desperate to reach a level that had recently eluded them. New York Times "Male Animal" columnist Pappu tells this story, but he explores so much more than the battle between two pitchers and their teams. The author is clearly building toward 1968 from the beginning, but in reality, that year was the culmination of longer trends, and Gibson, McLain, and the teams represent a lens through which to view baseball in the 1960s more broadly. Refreshingly, Pappu rejects clichés about baseball saving a struggling Detroit or baseball somehow bringing America together. Instead, the sport tended to follow society more than leading it. Furthermore, despite the subtitle, Pappu does not present a "golden age" narrative. If anything, he rejects such romantic thinking. While Detroit emerged as the winner of the 1968 World Series, it hardly brought a city together beyond the fleeting celebrations that any championship brings. Pappu is especially insightful in his discussions of issues of race that pervaded baseball and American society. While he follows a generally chronological narrative, many of the chapters address themes that require him to go backward and forward in time in ways that both muddle the narrative and occasionally lead him to repeat key facts and arguments. But those are minor quibbles in a solid book. A fine history of a vital period in the history of not only baseball, but America.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170578092
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	10/30/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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