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(More customer reviews)Just took THE GREATEST GAME EVER PITCHED out of the library and now plan to purchase it. What a great and well written story!! As an avid NY/SF Giants fan (especially SF due to my age), saw a synopsis of this book in the New York Post and it quickly interested me. The story is not only an inning by inning account of the game, but an account of both Marichal's and Spahn's lives. We can see how both pitchers got to this point in their careers. Marichal's brilliant career just beginning , a pitching neophyte who would record the first 20 win season in which he would win 20 or more six out of the next seven years. At age 25, 1963, would be only his third full season in the majors with the Giants. Spahn's illustrious career was near the end at age 42. Still a master, he would go on to win 23 games in his last great year. Spahn would pitch till the age of 44 but mustered only 13 total wins his last 2 years before retiring.
One of the books greatest strengths is showing how the men worked their way up into having the Hall of Fame careers they had. Marichal's hard upbringing in the Dominican Republic is discussed in length. Marichal had to deal with prejudice against the Latino players which is vividly described in the book once he made the "bigs". This came from cities, players, and even his manager, Alvin Dark. Mr. Kaplan does a wonderful job detailing everything involved. Spahn's upbringing in Buffalo, NY, and his involvement in WW2, is broadly discussed as well. You get a real feeling about Spahn's roots. The book serves as biographies (particularly their early years) of the two competing champions.
The game itself is a great "blow by blow" view. In my opinion, it is done in the correct manner without all 16 innings being discussed one inning after another. The book brings in stories of their lives as the game progresses. The game itself turns out to be one for the ages. The old guard versus the new guard, one man starting to ascend while another trying to hold onto his former greatness. This is more of a 16 round boxing match, then a 16 inning baseball game. Chances are far and few between, and none taken advantage of till the fateful 16th inning. Spahn, as a batter, almost would have won the game himself with his bat. McCovey hits what is ruled a foul ball but what he claims today was and should have been called a homerun basically hit out of Candlestick Park. Mays finally sends everyone home when he homers off Spahn to end the epic battle. Mays had long been Spahn's protagonist getting his first big league hit ( a home run) off of him.
Jim Kaplan's THE GREATEST GAME EVER PITCHED hits a homerun in my eyes. Most writers believe that the 60's was the real golden age of baseball with the game getting better with the inclusion of more African American stars and the arrival of Latino stars into the game. Kaplan shows this in great detail. The book is an easy read and you will want to keep picking it up. Highly recommended for any baseball fan who loves reading about legendary players, legendary times, and legendary games. GIANTSGURU
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century
It would have been enough just to see them pitch. Taking the mound at San Francisco s Candlestick Park that summer night in 1963 were 42-year-old Warren Spahn and 25-year-old Juan Marichal the embodiment of an ageless wonder headed for the Hall of Fame and a whirling wunderkind making his own case for immortality. But as one scoreless inning followed another en route to a 16th-inning climax, the 15,921 fans in attendance began to sense that they were watching a pitching duel for the ages. They remained, shivering and thrilled, to see it end after midnight. The sui generis event surpassed the world of statistics and entered into the realm of magic. The late Ron Fimrite of Sports Illustrated fame called it the greatest game he ever saw. Author Jim Kaplan, who covered baseball for SI in the seventies and eighties, initially planned to expand a magazine story he d written about the game into book form. The more he researched the principals in his travels from San Francisco to South Buffalo to Santo Domingo, however, the more fascinated he became with their biographies. Spahn was one of the most decorated ballplayers to fight in World War II. Marichal narrowly escaped death three times. Despite their obvious differences Spahn was white, American, and left-handed, Marichal is bronzed, Dominican, and right-handed Kaplan found extraordinary similarities between the friendly rivals. As a result, The Greatest Game Ever Pitched is a dual biography with an unforgettable game woven through it, and a baseball gem in its own right.
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