High Heat

'Summer' is one of PW's Top 10

2012-01-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

Spring 2012 Announcements: Sports: Olympians, Yogi & the Knuckler
By Michael Coffey
Jan 20, 2012

This June, the Summer Olympics from London will be hard to escape, and there are no fewer than five books in the pages that follow that deal with the history of Olympic competition in one way or the other.

All of the Olympics books would seem to have value, but the one done in association with Olympic Museum in Switzerland wins the gold, at least in this preliminary event: The Treasures of the Olympic Games, an “interactive history” of the games by Neil Wilson, comes from Carlton Books, and features many photos plus facsimiles of Olympic mementoes, some innocent, like rail passes, some chilling, like a police report detailing the fatal hostage-taking in Munich in 1972.

Whether this Olympiad is battered by politics will be a big security question no doubt in the streets of London , but sports and politics have often been inextricably linked. Da Capo’s Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball—and America —Forever by Tim Wendel revisits a horrendous year in America , with the assassinations of MLK and RFK, and riots and arson in many cities. Detroit was one of the hottest cities, and Wendel recalls the exploits of the Tigers, with several homegrown black stars, who appealed for calm in their hometown and also won the World Series.

Library Journal? Great review

2012-01-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

Wendel (fiction & nonfiction writing, Johns Hopkins Univ.; High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time) follows the tradition of homing in on a key year in both baseball and U.S. history. America was being torn apart in 1968, and baseball was under stress, too. The pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers had players at loggerheads with one another. Star players like Cardinal ace Bob Gibson were not immune to racial tension and prejudice. And yet, the ultimate story is one of triumph as these teams provided some respite and hope to a beleaguered country suffering from the effects of the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Wendel has interviewed many of the key participants to bring this crucial year to life. Transcending baseball history alone, this is recommended for baseball fans and students of the era.—P.K., Library Journal

Summer of '68 cover

2012-01-12T10:36:00.000-05:00

Here's the cover for Summer of '68. This is the pivotal play in that season's World Series recast for the time period.With cover blurbs from Ken Burns, Tom Stanton, John Thorn, David Maraniss and Hampton Sides, Summer of '68 will be out March 13.

From David Maraniss

2012-01-08T15:03:00.002-05:00

“The Summer of 68 captivated me from the get-go: I was 18 that summer, reeling from the chaos of an unforgettable year, awestruck by the ferocious beauty of Bob Gibson, rooting for Willie Horton and the Tigers from the city of my birth. Cheers to Tim Wendel for bringing it all back so vividly.”

--David Maraniss

Endorsements keep coming

2012-01-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

I'm a big admirer of Hampton Sides' writing. Thankfully, he took the time to blurb Summer of 68 (see below). Sides joins Tom Stanton, John Thorn and Ken Burns. The cover goes to the printer next week, and we still may pick up another blurb or two before we close. But I'm thrilled and humbled these great writers took the time.

"A year of great convulsion and heartbreak, 1968 was the closest we've come to a national nervous breakdown since the Civil War. But as Tim Wendel so deftly captures in this fine book, it was also a year when baseball soothed and thrilled us—and urgently reminded us why it's called the "national pastime."

—Hampton Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail

Blurb from MLB's official historian

2012-01-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

“It seems like only yesterday when both our nation and its pastime seemed in mortal peril. Tim Wendel ’s Summer of ’68 brilliantly evokes the glories and the grim realities of that time, when America and baseball came to a crossroads, and emerged for the better on the other side.”–John Thorn, Official Historian of Major League Baseball and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden

Another blurb for Summer of '68

2011-12-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

This is from my good friend and top Detroit-area author Tom Stanton:
""No book better captures how in 1968 sports changed America -- and vice versa. In splendid fashion, Tim Wendel takes us on a rollicking journey through an unparalleled year of tumult, tragedy and, too, joy. Summer of '68 reads like a novel brimming with surprising action, colorful characters and fresh insights. I enjoyed every page."

First cover endorsement

2011-11-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

This from Ken Burns about the Summer of '68:
“As always, Tim Wendel gets to the heart of this game and the complicated republic it so precisely mirrors.”

Book copy edits? Done

2011-11-13T16:10:00.000-05:00

I've done with the copy editor's questions/edits for Summer of '68. Now we're hunting down cover blurbs and trying to finish the cover, where we're looking to add some color and perhaps a funky border.
It's going to get done, it has to, because Amazon and B&N are now taking pre-orders for Summer of '68: The Season When Baseball -- And America -- Changed Forever.
Pub date is mid-March.
Pedal to the metal.

Moving ahead

2011-11-08T13:39:00.000-05:00

Just sent off the captions for the 16-pages of photos in the Summer of '68. Next up is reading the copy-edited version. Pub date is officially March 13, 2012.

Mr. Holland's Opus

2011-10-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

A few summers ago, when I was in Texas researching High Heat, I spoke with Derek Holland about what it was like to have Nolan Ryan as the president of the ballclub he pitched for. What kind of influence did Ryan have, if any?
"We talk a fair amount," said Holland, who was struggling at the time. "The bottom line is he wants me to step up. He wants me to become a pitcher."
It took a while but Holland stepped up in helping the Rangers square this year's World Series.

RFK in Indianapolis

2011-10-18T12:08:00.000-04:00

The night Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, it fell to Robert Kennedy, then running for the Democratic Party nomination for president, to tell a crowd in Indianapolis the bad news. Speaking from the heart, from little notes, he told the crowd that his family had suffered from such a tragedy. Of course, that was a reference to his brother's death in 1963.
That evening in Indianapolis, RFK quoted the Greek poet Aeschylus (Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget/falls drop by drop upon the heart) and closed by telling the crowd, "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world."
Of course, Kennedy's speech came the night after King gave his "Mountaintop" speech in Memphis. An amazing 24-hour period that's highlighted in SUMMER OF '68, which will be out from Da Capo this spring.

Lolich's other commitment in 1968

2011-10-02T10:39:00.000-04:00

Mickey Lolich struggled during much of the 1968 regular season. His National Guard obligations often kept him away from the ballclub for weeks at a time. Stationed 200 miles north of Detroit, he tried pitching to anybody who would catch him -- high school players, weekend warriors, even a priest. It did little good as Lolich ended up in the Tigers' bullpen. In fact, Lolich's plight was played out on almost every team, where younger players tried to satisfy their military commitment with the Vietnam War at its height by being in the Guard.
"It wasn't the best of situations," said Nolan Ryan, who was also in the Guard at that time.
Of course, Lolich would go on to great success in the '68 World Series, becoming the last pitcher to throw three complete-game victories.

Photos for new book

2011-09-05T17:14:00.000-04:00

I've started to line up photos for the new book about the year 1968 in sports. Here's my favorite so far.

Talking Titles

2011-08-11T17:11:00.002-04:00

Editing continues on the new book about the 1968 season, which will be out from Da Capo this spring.
Working titles include SUMMER OF '68: WHEN BASEBALL AND AMERICA CHANGED FOREVER.
or
SEASON ON FIRE: SPORTS, AMERICA AND THE SUMMER OF '68.
Let me know what you think.

Down in the Valley

2011-07-28T09:14:00.000-04:00

Finally made it out to see a game in the Valley League last night. It was great fun, and thanks to Austin and Charlie for letting me join them in the New Market (Va.) Rebels' broadcast "booth." I'm coming back next year for the Full Moon game.

Manuscript Has Been Delivered

2011-07-12T16:35:00.000-04:00

Relieved. Exhausted. Excited.
The pretty much sums up where my head is at after I turned in the manuscript for the new book, working title SIXTY-EIGHT: THE YEAR OF THE PITCHER AND WHEN SPORTS SAVED AMERICA. This will be out in Spring 2012 from Da Capo Books.
Of course, there is still much to do. I have a few remaining interviews to finish (with the space allotted for where that information goes), and there are photos to chase down and the whole editing process to now go through. But I believe this book has a lot going for it.
The whole idea of focusing on one of the major watershed years in our nation's history -- 1968 -- from a sports point of view was a lot of fun. Where else can you bring Denny McLain, Bob Gibson, Mickey Lolich, Bobby Kennedy, Vince Lombardi, Jim Ryun, Nolan Ryan and Tom Hayden into the same story?
I'll keep you posted as we begin the next phase of this project.

Walking in Memphis

2011-06-17T11:17:00.000-04:00

Just returned from Memphis and some great interviews, including those in Dr. Martin Luther Kings's inner circle, for SIXTY-EIGHT: THE YEAR OF THE PITCHER AND WHEN SPORTS SAVED AMERICA. Along the way, I swung down to Mississippi and have now visited all 50 states.

Jim Northrup RIP

2011-06-08T23:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry to hear about the death of Tiger great Jim Northrup. Ironically, I was finishing up the section on Game Seven in the new book, SIXTY-EIGHT. Of course, that's when Northrup hits a two-run triple of Cardinals great Bob Gibson to give the Motor City the title. Northrup had a lot of nicknames, but my favorite was Sweet Lips because his teammates said he had an opinion about everything.

Preface for SIXTY-EIGHT

2011-05-17T10:46:00.000-04:00

I think this new book will open something like this:

What if we could distill all that we know, what we truly believe, down to a few memorable moments, snippets of motion, short stories set in a particular time or year? When we’re discussing the year 1968 – a period of great upheaval, clamor and divisiveness -- that may be only true approach.

Rsearch on Sixty-Eight

2011-05-05T09:48:00.000-04:00

The two teams that met in the 1968 World Series -- the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals -- were among the most racially diverse institutions in the land at the time. Willie "the Wonder" Horton was among them. The Tigers' outfielder grew up in the Detroit projects and tried to stop the riots in the Motor City in the summer of 1967.
I asked him recently how he was able to play at such a high level despite rioting and assassinations going throughout the country. He replied, "I didn't go away from home."
I said that was impossible. Ballclubs play have of their games on the road, sometimes spending weeks away from home.
Horton smiled and told me about how he went out of his way to make good friends in every American League city the Tigers visited. Good enough friends that he could have dinner with them, even bunk out on the couch in their homes.
"In that way, I was never away from home," he told me.
The year 1968 was a difficult time in our country's history. But how some of the top athletes of that time persevered can still be a lesson today.

Pitching's 'kinetic chain'

2011-03-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

I discovered how troublesome this could be on my trip to Dr. James Andrews' bio-mechanics lab in researching High Heat. Stephen Strasburg, I feel your pain.

High Heat in PW10

2011-01-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

Publisher's Weekly named High Heat one of its Top 10 sports titles for this spring. Here's the blurb from PW:
For the hard stuff, Tim Wendel's High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time might suffice. It's as much about hard science as putting mustard on the ball. David Maraniss calls it "brilliantly executed."
To the left is the new cover for the trade paperback edition, due out in March.

Publisher's Weekly item

2011-01-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

Da Capo editor Jonathan Crowe acquired two sports books, one on baseball and the other on golf. Crowe took North American rights to Johns Hopkins professor Tim Wendel's Sixty-Eight: The Year of the Pitcher—When Baseball Saved America from Chris Park at Foundry Literary + Media. Wendel focuses on that eponymous season when, thanks to things like a bigger strike zone, pitchers began to dominate the game. The baseball season is then set against what Da Capo called "one of the most divisive and turbulent years in American history." Crowe also bought world rights to The Magnificent Masters.

Gillick in Hall

2010-12-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Great to see Pat Gillick reach the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was once roommates with fireballer Steve Dalkowski and was a major source for High Heat.
Also, Marvin Miller should have gotten in and good to see my friend Davey Concepcion in the running.

New book coming along

2010-11-17T14:32:00.000-05:00

I've been on the road a ton, researching SIXTY-EIGHT, a new book about sports in the year 1968. While the nation was being pulled apart back then, the sports world (baseball's Tigers and Cardinals, the rise of the American Football League, the Mexico City Olympics) was certainly memorable to watch and may have helped hold everything together.
I'm writing away -- about half way done with the working draft.

Price wins AL Players Choice

2010-11-01T15:40:00.000-04:00

David Price was honored to win the Players Choice Award as the American League's outstanding  pitcher, especially since it was voted by his peers. "That does make it a little  more special...," Price said. "The guys that I'm playing with, they feel that I deserve that  this award, so that does mean a lot to me."

A shout-out for Castro's Curveball

2010-10-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

This from Joe Gray, who heads up BaseballGB, a great blog about baseball writing from a British point of view:
"Most of the book reviews on BaseballGB are on non-fiction publications, but we do run the rule over an occasional novel as well. For a classic work, I thoroughly recommend Ring Lardner’s You Know Me Al (at least you won’t feel ripped off, as it retails at just £1.25 for a new copy on a website that shares a name with a big river). Among 21st Century publications, I’m still yet to read anything that tops Castro’s Curveball by Tim Wendel ... (It) was definitely an excellent piece of writing."

Price rolls on

2010-09-29T11:15:00.000-04:00

I recently finished the Afterword for the tradepaper edition of High Heat, which will be out in February 2011. Here's what I wrote about the Rays' David Price, who led the Tampa Bay Rays to a playoff berth last night.

"Every time I saw Price pitch during the 2010 season, I was tempted to say that I knew him when. In researching High Heat, Price was the latest phenom, a season or so ahead of Stephen Strasburg, Aroldis Chapman and the new crop. Still, Price was on the outside looking in back then. When I first interviewed Price, he was at Triple-A Durham, wondering if a move to the bullpen would hasten his final call-up to the majors. In 2010, though, the left-hander came into his own, establishing a club record for victories and perhaps providing solace for the young guns following in his wake."

105 mph clocking....

2010-09-25T12:48:00.000-04:00

Those High Heat readings continue to happen. Reds rookie Aroldis Chapman was clocked at 105 last night in San Diego. Pretty impressive. Just finished the Afterword for the trade paper edition of High Heat and the Cuban defector gets his due. Does he belong with Feller, Ryan, Dalkowski, etc.? Certainly. But I'm not ready to put him in the top rung yet.

Up in Michigan

2010-09-14T09:22:00.000-04:00

I've returned from four days in the Detroit area. Caught up with family, attended the Knight-Wallace Fellowship reunion in Ann Arbor and had a great interview with ex-Detroit Tiger Willie "the Wonder" Horton. Research for the new book, working title SIXTY-EIGHT, rolls on.

Chapman hits 103 mph

2010-09-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

In his major-league debut, Cincinnati Reds rookie Aroldis Chapman was clocked at 103 miles per hour. The High Heat club has a new member. Ironically, this comes days before Stephen Strasburg is scheduled for Tommy John surgery.

Fun time in Portland

2010-08-19T16:58:00.000-04:00

The reading at Powell's went well. Thanks to everyone for coming out. Photos will be going up soon.

Off to Portland

2010-08-13T12:46:00.000-04:00

I've healed enough to be in Portland, Oregon, this weekend. Reading at Powell's (Hawthorne breanch) on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.

Beginnings of the new book

2010-07-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

Working my way through a lot of great research material from Cooperstown. Trying to tease out the threads for this new book, SIXTY-EIGHT. In search of narrative.

New book project

2010-07-09T12:55:00.000-04:00

It is entitled SIXTY-EIGHT: WHEN BASEBALL SAVED AMERICA. Just agreed to a deal with Da Capo (the publisher of HIGH HEAT). It will be out in Spring 2011.
Of course, 1968 was the Year of the Pitcher, with amazing individual performances by Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Luis Tiant, Don Drysdale, etc. But it was also the time of Mexico City Olympics, Lombardi's Packers, the rise of the American Football League, as well as national sorrow and upheaval (MLK and RFK assassinations, the Chicago riots). It's a large canvas and that has me excited and nervous. But I'm back with my good friend and editor Jonathan Crowe.
Any ideas or insights are always welcome.

At Bethesda Big Train

2010-06-29T09:29:00.000-04:00

OK, I did throw my ceremonial first pitch over the catcher's head. (I think Steve Dalkowski would have been proud.) But I did get to hang with these guys, including my good friend Paul Dickson, at the Bethesda (Md.) Big Train game Sunday night. The rain held off and the hometeam won.

Strasburg & The Big Train

2010-06-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

Stephen Strasburg already shares many similarities with Walter "Big Train" Johnson. Before the season began, I documented many of these in Washingtonian magazine. They are similar in build, both right-handers. They pretty much came out of nowhere to national prominence and they're both epic fireballers.
Last week they began to share another similarity as Strasburg lost 1-0 to Kansas City. Nobody lost more 1-0 games in big league history than the Big Train (26).
But there's another area the new kid in town doesn't want to share with Johnson. During his Hall of Fame career, Johnson was so concerned about hitting a batter that he rarely buzzed batters inside. In fact, Ty Cobb figured that out. Now comes word that Nationals' officials are a mite concerned that Strasburg is around the plate too much, too. Will he come inside more? Give hitters an up-close glimpse of that high heat? We'll see what happens in future starts.

Power pitching

2010-06-16T14:38:00.000-04:00

Good to see David Price pick up his 10th victory last night. Of course, he's the phenom character in High Heat. For the new edition, out next spring, I'm working up an Afterword with David, Stephen Strasburg and Ubaldo Jimenez. Looks like we could be seeing Price and Jimenez as the All-Star starting pitchers next month. Nothing wins like sheer speed.

Writing about Strasburg

2010-06-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

My column about Stephen Strasburg's amazing debut just went up on Huffington Post. I think I'm going to be writing about this guy some more down the line.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-wendel/fireballer-stephen-strasb_b_609115.html

Strasburg's amazing debut

2010-06-08T21:46:00.000-04:00

Fun to have D.C. be the center of the baseball universe for a night. Strasburg's 14 strikeouts ranks behind only J.R. Richard and Karl Spooner all-time for a rookie debut. My editor is already asking for more Strasburg in the paperback edition of High Heat.

NYT Review this Sunday

2010-06-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

High Heat will be reviewed in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday. We haven't seen the whole piece, but the snippets are a rave. See below.

"Sensitive and scrupulous, (Wendel) never forgets that for every Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, lucky to have their unearned gifts, there are flameouts like Steve Dalkowski ... High Heat is ‘a séance with the game’s past,’ an almost literary fantasy in which all the great pitchers throw side by side on the same diamond.”

Strasburg alert

2010-06-01T13:06:00.000-04:00

It's official. Stephen Strasburgh will make his major league debut Tuesday, June 8, here in D.C. His arrival comes 103 years after Walter "The Big Train" Johnson turned the local team into a contender. Some fans expect nothing different from Strasburgh
Also on the fireballer alert wire, Aroldis Chapman may soon be up for the Reds.

S.F. Chronicle review

2010-05-26T16:07:00.000-04:00

High Heat was included in a roundup of new titles in the San Francisco Chronicle. That's my old stomping grounds, as I used to work at the S.F. Examiner, which is right next door. Here's the short review:
"You can teach a good curveball, you can teach a changeup, but you can't teach arm speed. It's a God-given ability." So says pitcher Troy Percival in this highly entertaining exploration of the pitch that has made so many careers (and destroyed so many arms). Fascinating details emerge: Until 1887, batters could call for their preference: a high or low pitch. A high school coach recalls Nolan Ryan's budding skills: "Those kids were so scared, they'd swing at anything just to get out of there." When the Baltimore Orioles were too cheap to invest in a newfangled portable radar gun, manager Earl Weaver bought one himself, for $1,200.

The Boston Globe review

2010-05-21T19:46:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe Review. My publisher, Da Capo, is in Cambridge, Mass., so this is a good one to land.

Happy birthday to Stan Mikita

2010-05-20T16:20:00.000-04:00

OK, we're off baseball for a moment, as I need to wish my friend Stan Mikita a happy 70th birthday. Of course, Stan was the inspiration for my novel for young readers, My Man Stan. He graciously did the foreword. Here we are signing books at the Blackhawks' convention two summers ago. The Blackhawks haven't been this good since Stan's heyday.

Blogcritics review

2010-05-20T15:07:00.000-04:00

The Baseball Cabal at Blogcritics gives High Heat a thumbs-up.

Price continues to roll

2010-05-19T07:47:00.000-04:00

What a difference a year makes. Last season, I caught up with the Rays' David Price at Triple-A Durham. He was so frustrated about not being with the big-league club he wondered if he should move to the bullpen, perhaps try to be a closer. Well, he stuck it out as a starter and last night went six innings against Cleveland to become the American League's first six-game winner.

Wisconsin connections

2010-05-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

I'll be on 92.1, The Mic, Madison's Progressive Talk station, on Sunday at 11 a.m. So much of book touring these days is doing radio, and I had a lot of fun talking with host Stu Levitan. Not only is Stu a great interviewer, but you can find his review of Bob Dylan's Chronicles in the trade paper edition. He wrote it for the Capital Times in Madison, which David Maraniss' father used to edit. Of course, David, along with Ken Burns, graciously wrote cover blurbs for High Heat. Small world.

Strasburg in D.C. by mid-June

2010-05-13T14:23:00.000-04:00

Back in February, I predicted that Stephen Strasburg, the next great fireballer, would be in the majors by mid-June. Now it looks like he's ahead of schedule. The Washington Post reports that the hard-throwing, right-hander could be in D.C. by June 4 when the Nats open a homestand against the Reds. After no-hitting Norfolk through six innings last night, he doesn't have anything else to prove in the minors.

More reviews

2010-05-11T20:18:00.000-04:00

ARETE, the sports literature journal, weighs in about HH. Calls the book "intriguing and informative." And singles out the sections about biomechanics, "the miraculous Tommy John surgery" and "the extensive analysis of
the talents and problems of little-known Steve Dalkowski."

The Ryan Interview

2010-05-09T18:58:00.000-04:00

Some were asking about the interview I did with Nolan Ryan last summer in researching High Heat. Here's an excerpt that recently ran in Guideposts.
http://www.guideposts.com/story/nolan-ryan-success-secrets

Third printing

2010-05-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

Da Capo announced that High Heat will go into a third printing this week. Thanks for the help and support, everybody.

Thumbs-up from LA Daily News

2010-05-01T10:29:00.000-04:00

Tom Hoffarth calls High Heat, "a fastball down the middle ... maybe one as fast as (Steve) Dalkowski's..."
http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/archives/2010/04/30-baseball-boo-3.html

Live from New Britain. CT

2010-04-27T11:30:00.000-04:00

Part of the fun during my swing through New Britain, Conn., last week. Here I am with Ken Lipshez, the top baseball writer for The Herald.
Thanks to Ken, the students at Central Connecticut State, their teacher Mary Collins and several of Steve Dalkowski's friends and former teammates for making it a grand evening. It was a real joy to read about Steve before an audience that treasures him.

Price stepping up

2010-04-26T14:13:00.000-04:00

Great performance by the Rays' David Price on April 25. He pitched his first compete game at the major league level, a four-hit shutout victory over Toronto. Of course, David is the phenom character in High Heat. He often struggled last season and began the year at Triple-A Durham, but he's coming into his own now.

Nationals' fireballer

2010-04-25T13:20:00.000-04:00

Stephen Strasburg
Dave Sheinin profiled the newest fireballer in The Washington Post. In High Heat, I focused on the Rays' David Price as the hard-throwing phenom. Still, Strasburg and the Reds' Aroldis Chapman are featured in the book, with the Nats' star among the photo package. We will likely have more about Strasburg and Chapman in the paperback edition next season.

High Heat a Hit in Utah

2010-04-14T14:36:00.000-04:00

Seth Bracken at the Deseret News calls High Heat "a perfect companion for fans of America's greatest pastime."

Publisher's Weekly review

2010-04-12T09:32:00.000-04:00

“[Wendel] presents a satisfying search for the ultimate fastball pitcher, with a result that's just conclusive enough…while leaving plenty of room for baseball die-hards' second-favorite sport: debating other fans.”—Publishers Weekly, April 12, 2010

Simon, Edwards, iPad

2010-04-04T16:14:00.000-04:00

The interview with Scott Simon ran on NPR Saturday morning and the one with Bob Edwards for Sirus/XM was replayed on NPR over the weekend. In addition, High Heat is the No. 1 sports book on the new Apple iPad.

On the road

2010-03-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

No rest for the wicked. The first week of promoting High Heat opened with a reading at the Barnes & Noble in Alexandria. The manager there is my friend Brighid Moret and it was a fun evening.
From there, it was on to the Virginia Festival of the Book, where I joined Roland Lazenby (author of a great bio about Jerry West) and Arlynda Lee Boyer (author wild read Buddha on the Backstretch).
The interview with Bob Edwards aired on Sirus/XM (37 minutes long!) and I have one with NPR's Scott Simon coming up.
Thanks to everyone for the support.

AP review is a home run

2010-03-15T12:54:00.000-04:00

Called it "a fascinating book..." By noon today the review had been picked up by 15-plus outlets, including Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100315/us-book-review-high-heat/

Book Cheer from LJ

2010-03-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

In Library Journal's new Book Cheer column, Chris Vaccari of Sterling Publishing ranks High Heat as one of the top titles for this spring.
"Is a great fastball about a state of mind, arm mechanics, or both?" he writes "No chin music here! High Heat will make you think."

Koufax in camp

2010-03-01T16:38:00.000-05:00

Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax will make an appearance at the Dodgers' spring training camp as an instructor this week.
Perhaps he can be as beneficial for the club's young arms (Clayton Kershaw?) as ex-catcher Norm Sherry once was for him.
A half-century ago, at a spring training game in Orlando, Sherry convinced Koufax to take something off his fastball. Koufax's stuff was so electric he didn't need to overthrow to get batters out. That's how Koufax went from being a journeyman to a Hall of Famer. Yes, the transformation was that sudden and remains one of success stories in High Heat.
"With any of these great pitchers, the questions become, 'Can they harness their stuff? Can they pull together what's been given to them sufficiently to become great?'" says Jeff Torborg, who caught Koufax's perfect game in 1965.
Sherry agrees that "throwing fast is a God-given talent. That's for sure. But it's not like it's a present with all the bows."

New York Post Review

2010-02-28T15:04:00.000-05:00

High Heat was included in the NY Post's Required Reading column. They said the effort "draws you in right from the first pitch..."
My friend Tim Gay's latest, Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert, was also included in the Post review.

Review, updates

2010-02-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

Spitball, the Literary Baseball Magazine, just reviewed High Heat. They call it "freewheeling and always entertaining."
Yesterday, I did an extended interview with Bob Edwards for his show on Sirus/XM. I'll keep you posted about when that airs. Also, future reviews pending from Newsday and The Boston Globe.

Chapman brings the heat

2010-02-23T10:10:00.000-05:00

Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman is opening eyes in the Cincinnati Reds' spring camp. Pitching coach Bryan Price hinted that Chapman could open his professional career in the major leagues this April.
"He could start anywhere," Price said. "But we want to access him and make sure it's the right place. Maybe it's in Cincinnati. Maybe it's somewhere else in our system. Turn him loose. Let him compete and see what he's all about."

Great expectations for Price

2010-02-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

Last spring, when I was researching High Heat, I needed a young phenom, somebody who could really bring it, to be one of the main characters. That guy became David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays.
He was coming off an epic postseason that saw the Rays reach the World Series for the first time in their history.
Despite such accomplishments, he wasn't guaranteed a job with the major league club when camps opened last year. In fact, he began the year at Triple-A Durham, N.C., where I caught up with him.
What a difference a year makes. Barring injury, Price will open this season in the Rays' rotation. He, along with Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis will make up the 3 through 5 spots. The Rays are banking a lot on their young guns. Between them, Price, Niemann and Davis have started only 62 big-league games, winning only 27.
Of course, this season such fireballers as Stephen Strasburg (Washington) and Aroldis Chapman (Cincinnati) are following in Price's footsteps.

Book trailer

2010-02-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

We did a short bit on YouTube with the last novel and it worked so well that here's the one for High Heat. Check out the vintage photos.
High Heat book trailer

Cover on Amazon

2010-02-09T12:58:00.000-05:00

We're definitely getting closer to the March 9 pub date. Cover for High Heat went up on Amazon this morning. In addition, I did the pre-interview for a session with Bob Edwards on Sirus/XM that will tape on February 24. Not sure when that will be airing yet, but I'll let you know.
High Heat on Amazon

Tony C.

2010-02-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about living in the Washington, D.C. area is having the Library of Congress nearby.
When I was working on High Heat, my friend Paul Dickson mentioned that the LOC had recently acquired the Look magazine collection. Of course, Look was one of the most photogenic magazines ever. At that point, I was working on the section about the fastball's dark side. While we are enthralled with the high heat, there sometimes is a cost to pay (see Ray Chapman, Tony Conigliaro).
As a kid, Tony C. was my favorite player. The slugger got off to a Hall of Fame start but was never the same after being beaned by Jack Hamilton in 1967.

At the LOC, I found great background info about that tragic incident. But I also found never-before-published photos of Conigliaro taken by Look magazine photographer Jim Hansen. One of them appears in High Heat.

Verlander signs

2010-02-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

More good news for Tigers fans as Justin Verlander, another fireballer, signs a five-year contract worth $80 million. He won a career-high 19 games with a career-best 3.45 ERA in '09. But what really impressed the scouts I talked with in doing High Heat was his velocity often increased the later he went into ballgames.
That distinction puts him in such rare company as Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan. Sounds like a sound investment to me.

Zumaya blazing again

2010-01-31T11:11:00.000-05:00

Good news for Tigers fans. Fireballer Joel Zumaya is throwing like a fireballer again. The imposing right-hander has been working in Florida, looking to rebound from three consecutive injury-shortened seasons.
“I like what I’ve seen recently,” said Tigers pitching coach Rick Knapp. “All the indications are that he’s healthy, that he feels good and strong, and that there’s not a weak link in his delivery.”
GM Dave Dombrowski added that “everything at this point is encouraging. Basically, he’s been cleared (to pitch) 100 percent. If he didn’t have an injury history, you’d say he’s ready to go."
Nothing can turn around a ballclub faster than an infusion of high heat. When healthy, Zumaya ranks with the top fireballers ever. That’s why I put him in the Top 12 in High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time.
Zumaya had 186 pitches clocked at or above 100 mph thrown, twice as many as the next highest total and achieved in only 31 innings, according to figures compiled by Nick Stamm of STATS, Inc. Detroit had three pitchers in the top eight with RHP Justin Verlander third with 33 and RHP Fernando Rodney tied for eighth with seven.

First review clears bases

2010-01-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

From Library Journal
"Wendel (Far From Home: Latino Baseball Players in America ) moves across baseball history to show that choosing the fastest pitcher, and defending such a choice, is subjective: there are no agreed-upon criteria, since speed alone is not useful if you can't hit the plate. In our era of moneyball and sabermetrics, it's refreshing to read a book so vividly written that we can easily envision the old-time players and scouts spit tobacco juice to punctuate their opinions while disdaining mere radar readings. Wendel teaches us as much about the evolution of the values of our society as he does the development of the national pastime: will all information gathering rely only upon machinery, or will we trust our eyes, instincts, and judgment? Highly recommended."

Photos Galore

2010-01-24T12:59:00.000-05:00

The way it usually works in publishing is that the author takes care of the inside photographs or illustrations and the publisher is on the hook for the cover.
For High Heat, we decided upon an eight-page photo insert, along with full page photos for each of the sections. The later include Walter Johnson, Bob Feller, David Price and Steve Dalkowski.
In assembling the eight-page insert, I put the word out to several of my best friends, who also happen to be great photographers. One who really stepped up was Jose Luis Villegas.
We had worked together on Far From Home, the coffee-table book about Latinos in baseball (National Geographic, 2008). Frankly, I wasn't looking to do another Latino-themed book after Castro's Curveball and The New Face of Baseball. But once I saw Jose Luis' images, I had to be on board.
When I contacted Jose Luis about any possible images for High Heat, he mentioned a vintage shot he had somewhere of Nolan Ryan.
"Let me see if I can find it," Jose Luis said.
A few weeks later, the image to the right arrived. It's from Ryan's sixth no-hitter, against the Oakland A's. It's one of 24 photographs in High Heat.

A Fireballer's Allure

2010-01-10T18:28:00.000-05:00

With the signing of Aroldis Chapman, we're once again reminded that nothing is valued more in professional baseball than the ability to throw a baseball better than 100-plus miles per hour.
As a starter and reliever with Cuba's national team, Chapman, 22, has been clocked at 102 miles per hour. Today the Reds signed him to five-year, $30 million deal.
Of course, last year fireballer Stephen Strasburg was the game's biggest bonus baby. The season before it was left-hander David Price. Fireballers all. And all of them are in High Heat.
But pardon me if I find myself thinking about Steve Dalkowski at such times. He was a bonus baby, too. Even though his contract was in the tens of thousands rather than in the multi-millions. That's a vintage shot of Dalkowski to the left.
He would have been remembered as the best of the bunch -- if he had truly made it.

Cover blurbs

2010-01-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Cover blurbs for High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time
(March 2010 release from Da Capo Press)

"High Heat is a great idea brilliantly executed. Tim Wendel, one of my favorite baseball writers, delivers this fastball with a winning mix of science, biography, and mythology."
-- David Maraniss, author of Clemente and When Pride Still Mattered

"This is a blazing fastball of a story, compelling, relentless, riveting."
-- Ken Burns, Filmmaker