Starting and Closing (Enhanced Edition) (Enhanced Edition)
Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
John Smoltz was one of the greatest Major League pitchers of the late twentieth / early twenty-first century—one of only two in baseball history ever to achieve twenty wins and fifty saves in single seasons—and now he shares the candid, no-holds-barred story of his life, his career, and the game he loves in Starting and Closing.
A Cy Young Award-winner, future Baseball Hall of Famer, and currently a broadcaster for his former team, the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz delivers a powerful memoir with the kind of fascinating insight into game that made Moneyball a runaway bestseller, plus a heartfelt and truly inspiring faith and religious conviction, similar to what illuminates each page of Tim Tebow’s smash hit memoir, Through My Eyes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Smoltz, an eight-time All-Star pitcher with the Atlanta Braves from 1988 to 2008, took an unusual path toward a likely Hall of Fame career. A premier starting pitcher before having Tommy John surgery, Smoltz became a dominant closer, a role requiring a completely different mindset. In his late 30s, Smoltz rejoined the Braves' starting rotation, where he enjoyed more success before shoulder surgery marked the beginning of the end. An interesting career does not make for interesting copy, especially when the author admits that he "never wanted to write a book." Ever so accommodating, Smoltz decides to tell his life story as a way to help others, a nice way of saying you're in for 300-plus pages of inspiration-tinged platitudes. Among the anecdotes and observations, Smoltz describes a sports-playing childhood in Michigan that fed his competitive spirit, the struggles of rehabbing from career-threatening injuries in 2000 and 2008, and his Christianity. Sadly, Smoltz keeps the reader at arm's length, whether he's skimping on the details behind his departure from the Braves or repeatedly offering clich s as keen insight (failure, according to Smoltz, is "an opportunity to grow"). Those qualities, along with Smoltz's defensive, immodest tone, make for a memoir that reads like an extremely lengthy cover letter. 16-page color insert not seen by PW.
