Head Game: Baseball Seen from the Pitcher's Mound

Baseball's most celebrated chronicler on the history and evolution of the greatest mental and physical duel in sports-between the picture and the batter.

Sports Illustrated - Ron Fimrite

The title refers to the battle of wits between pitcher and batter, which is the essence of baseball. Kahn sides with pitching, and in a narrative that is both analytical and anecdotal, he rewards the reader with what amounts to a scholarly treatise on the craft. He does so through engrossing portraits of pitching masters, from Candy Cummings, the reputed inventor of the curveball, to Bruce Sutter, the popularizer of the split-finger fastball. Kahn also presents us with Christy Mathewson on the fadeaway, Warren Spahn on the changeup and Don Drysdale on the duster.

This book is Kahn at his best, which is pretty damn good.

Roger Kahn, renowned as the author of the award-winning bestseller The Boys of Summer, is the author of sixteen books whose subjects range from baseball to political activism. His most recent book is A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s. Born in Brooklyn, Kahn now lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.