In Bull Durham, the late Max Patkin — the “clown prince of baseball” playign himself in the film — is talking up Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) to Annie Savoy (Susan Sarndon), telling her what an unusual guy he is. “I actually saw him read a book once,” Patkin says with a touch of awe, adding that the publication didn;t even have pictures in it.
Meet Matt DeSalvo, the latest in a stream of Yankee rookie pitchers, and subject 
of a recent New York Times article by Tyler Kepner for the simple fact that the young man actually reads!
The budding bibliophile — who has a list of 400 books he wants to read before he dies — pitched well in his debut, a no-decision in the 3-2 loss to the Mariners in which he game up one run on three hits in seven innings. He won his first game five days later, again in a game against the Mariners, giveing up two runs in 6.1 innings.
As if to show how much of an anomaly DeSalvo must be, Kepner puts his hobby in context:
“He is halfway through the list already, having devoured 17 books during spring training alone. Teammates marvel at this.
“For me to read a 200-page book,” said the reserve catcher Wil Nieves, who caught DeSalvo in the minors, “it would probably take two years.”
More on DeSalvo from the blog, BookChase.
is available on Amazon.com,
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