Pudge
The Biography of Carlton Fisk
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Pudge marks the first biography of the Hall of Fame catcher, whose famous home run in the 1975 World Series has been called one of the greatest moment in the history of televised sport.
Carlton Fisk retired having played in more games and hit more home runs than any other catcher before him. A baseball superstar in the 1970s and 80s, Fisk was known not just for his dedication to the sport and tremendous plays but for the respect with which he treated the game.
A homegrown icon, Fisk rapidly became the face of one of the most storied teams in baseball, the Boston Red Sox of the 1970s. As a rookie making only $12,000 a year, he became the first player to unanimously win the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1972, upping both his pay grade and national recognition. Fisk's game-winning home run in Game Six of the hotly-contested 1975 World Series forever immortalized him in one of the sport's most exciting televised moments. Fisk played through an epic period of player-owner relations, including the dawn of free agency, strikes, and collusions. After leaving Boston under controversy in 1981, he joined the Chicago White Sox, where he played for 12 more major league seasons, solidifying his position as one of the best catchers of all time.
Doug Wilson, finalist for both the Casey Award and Seymour Medal for his previous baseball biographies, uses his own extensive research and interviews with childhood friends and major league teammates to examine the life and career of a leader who followed a strict code and played with fierce determination.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wilson, following his works on pitcher Mark Fidrych (The Bird, 2013) and third-baseman Brooks Robinson (Brooks, 2014), takes on the life of legendary Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk. Using original research and interviews, Wilson begins with a look at perhaps Fisk's greatest moment: hitting the winning home run in the 12th inning of game six of the 1975 World Series. He writes that Fisk had a "perfectionist's drive to excel and a single-minded devotion to duty," adding that he "tolerated nothing less than maximum effort, from himself or his teammates." Wilson traces that drive from Fisk's early days playing basketball and baseball in New Hampshire to his being named Rookie of the Year for the Red Sox in 1972, and through a career that stretched into the 1980s. He also notes that Fisk's perfectionism wasn't able to help him as his career wound down in the '90s: "The last half of his career had been spent during the zenith of hatred between players and owners." Wilson delivers a solid look at the prodigious career of one the finest baseball players of the '70s.