An interesting and insightful look at two pitching greats | Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams,...

Decent book but could have been better | Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember | John Feinstein

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	• Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember John Feinstein Little, Brown and Company, 2008 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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Inside Pitch

What I love about John Feinstein is his ability to take the sports fan into a world we don't normally see. In "Living on the Black" he uses his journalistic credibility and his extraordinary story telling powers to create a "behind the scenes" story of two veteran pitchers, Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine. Each pitcher is struggling to eek one more season out of his "ancient" body. Mr. Feinstein approaches his story with the same pacing of the baseball season itself (this may put off some readers). His detailed approach gives us tremendous insight into the art of pitching. This book is a fine addition to your collection of Baseball Literature.

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An interesting and insightful look at two pitching greats

Living on the Black is an interesting and insightful look at Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina, two of the game's greatest pitchers, during the 2007 season. Both pitchers experience frustrating seasons.

Glavine posts a 13-8 record for the Mets while registering his 300th career win. The Mets choke down the stretch, blowing a 7-game lead with 16 to play. Mussina goes 11-6 for the Yankees, who capture the wild card and lose to the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the playoffs.

Although I'm sure author John Feinstein would have preferred for the Mets and Yankees to have met in the World Series, or at least advanced farther in the playoffs, the book still delivers.

Feinstein devotes the first 125 pages to the careers of Glavine and Mussina prior to the 2007 season. I found that part of the book more interesting than I would have thought, particularly since I was fairly familiar with the careers of both players.

Feinstein's discussion of spring training pitching philosophy and workout routines is the best I've read.

Glavine and Mussina share a number of traits: They're intellectual, physically talented, reliable, push themselves to keep improving and constantly make adjustments.

Living on the Black gives readers a better appreciation of pitching and its challenges. You will better understand a pitcher's psyche, frustrations and ups and downs. The value each pitcher puts on his family also comes through strongly.

As Glavine pursues his 300th career win, Mussina attempts to deal with being dropped from the Yankees rotation after not missing a start in 498 turns.

Feinstein is as smooth a writer as Glavine and Mussina are pitchers. Despite its 500-plus pages, the book never lags. And, you don't have to be a Mets or Yankees fan to enjoy this book.

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Decent book but could have been better

As someone who has read John Fienstein's books for more than ten years now I can say that I have seen some of his books that are good to great and some that are poor to lousy. This one sadly rates in the second category. Overall it is a weak and overwrought story and essentially a 500 page plus book that could be half that length with a good editor.

The book also contains a number of errors that a good editor would have caught along with the long winded phrases. Plus the fact that he dwells so long on the prep of two pitchers when focusing on either Glavine and the Mets or Mussina and the Yankees would have sufficed. Basically this book is too much information and too little strength. I hope his next work is better!

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Good Book But A Little Too Detailed

John Feinstein is a very good sports author. I love most of his books. I thought this was an interesting concept for a book. I enjoy both pitchers, Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine, that he chose to follow. Mr. Feinstein showed a different side of both pitchers. He had a great season to follow with the New York Mets collapse and the New York Yankees fighting to make the playoffs. I really enjoyed Mike Mussina's breaking down of what a pitcher truly is and what they do.

Now the bad, I hated that Mr. Feinstein went through game by game giving the highlights that someone could have gotten from the boxscores. He left me asking questions as I read about what the two pitchers thought or how it effected them that I wish he would have answered. The first part of the book where Mr. Feinstein goes through each of their careers to date was fascinating. However he couldn't sustain that pace and the critical analysis after he started with the 2007 season. I really did enjoy this book but wish he would have had a better editor that would have made the book flow a little tighter.

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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.

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