* Review: Living on the Black

From a more diverse post on Chapelhillnews.com:

‘Living on the Black’ ‘Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember”, $26.99 (Little Brown, 526 pp.), by John Feinstein

Pitching is one of the most difficult jobs on the planet. So, pitching
well is reserved for only an elite few athletes. John Feinstein’s
“Living on the Black” chronicles the 2007 season of two of the most
successful pitchers in baseball history: Mike Mussina of the New York
Yankees and Tom Glavine of the New York Mets. Glavine started that
season 10 wins away from his 300th victory. Mussina had to overcome an
early-season injury and a mid-season slump that knocked him out of the
starting rotation for the first time in his career.

“Living on the Black” lays out in great detail the physical ingredients of
pitching — the workouts, the bullpen sessions, the actual innings, the
post-game routines. The book also gets into the mental aspect of the
game — the hardest part of pitching, according to Mussina. Feinstein
reports Glavine’s emotions poignantly as he edges closer to his 300th
win, or as the superstitious pitcher repeatedly refers to it, The
Number That Must Not Be Named.

The book delves into all the baseball arcana that goes on behind the scenes: pitching styles,
scuffed balls, slumps, umpires, triumphs and defeats. Glavine and
Mussina are crafty pitchers who must rely on their control and the
ability to throw the ball on the corners of home plate or the edges of
the plate. When they can’t hit their spots, hitters generally light
them up, hence the importance of an umpire who gives them the corners.

As for scuffed balls, the pitchers tell Feinstein that a ball that is
scuffed during play is like gold and that a pitcher should hold onto it
for as long as he can. Mussina says the scuff can make a ball, when
properly gripped, dive an extra 3 to 4 inches to the outside, good
enough maybe for a quick out.

The book provides a wealth of other
information about such topics as what the coach and the catcher and
pitcher talk about during those mound visits (it’s mostly just to give
the pitcher a chance to catch his breath); how a pitcher prepares for
his next start; and how crucial the network of coaches and players and
family are to the players, who rely upon those sources for advice and
moral support when things get tough.

One of America’s top writers, Feinstein takes an extensive tour of the background of
baseball in the book, and his close relationships with the pitchers
show through. This inside look at pitching will fascinate fans and
perhaps inspire casual readers to take a closer look at America’s
favorite pastime.