Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember by John Feinstein

From Barnes & Noble

Successful pitchers stay away from the heart of the strike zone; they "live on the black," their deliveries hugging the black rubber border of home plate. In this sharply executed effort, bestselling author John Feinstein tracks two top-flight veteran hurlers through the 2007 season: New York Mets left-hander Tom Glavine and Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina. A superb effort by the author The Sporting News calls "sports writing's John Grisham."

From the Publisher

Pitchers are the heart of baseball, and John Feinstein tells the story of the game today through one season and two great pitchers working in the crucible of the New York media market. Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina have seen it all in the Major Leagues and both entered 2007 in search of individual milestones and one more shot at The World Series-Glavine with the Mets, Mussina five miles away with the Yankees. The two veterans experience very different seasons--one on a team dealing with the pressure to get to a World Series for the first time in seven years, the other with a team expected to be there every year. Taking the reader through contract negotiations, spring training, the ups of wins and losses, and the people in their lives-family, managers, pitching coaches, agents, catchers, other pitchers--John Feinstein provides a true insider's look at the pressure cooker of sports at the highest level.

Publishers Weekly

Though the season-long profile-in which a sportswriter follows a player, team or coach through a single season-grows increasingly familiar, this entry from Feinstein, one of the genre's pioneers (Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL; The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever), delivers rare insight into the minds of two of baseball's most cerebral (and successful) pitchers. Veteran sportswriter Feinstein follows the Yankees' Mike Mussina and the Mets' Tom Glavine during the 2007 season, as they pursue personal milestones and try to pitch their teams back into the postseason. Although they each reach some of their goals (Mussina to 250 wins, Glavine 300), neither team reaches its ultimate goal. The main narrative, of personal and team struggle, is compelling, but the true enjoyment of books like these are in the details, and Feinstein does not disappoint. Not only does he exhaustively chronicle the season on-field, he reveals tidbits of inside ball that even hardcore fans will find enlightening: Who knew that Mussina's best friend on the Yankees is the bullpen catcher, Mike Borzello, or that Glavine helped avert a likely player strike after the 2003 season? This smart season tour makes a treat for both casual and die-had fans.
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Library Journal

Sportswriter Feinstein follows star pitchers Tom Glavine (Mets) and Mike Mussina (Yankees) through their 2007 seasons.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0316027626
  
• ISBN-13: 9780316027625
• Format: Paperback, 800pp
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Pub. Date: April 2008
• Edition Description: Large Type
• Sales Rank: 104,471