They Call Me Oil Can Baseball, Drugs, and Life on the Edge

by Boyd, Dennis; Shalin, Mike

• ISBN13: 9781600786822
• ISBN10: 1600786820
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-01
• Publisher: Triumph Books

Summary

Speaking candidly to veteran sportswriter Mike Shalin for the first time about his often tumultuous career in Major League Baseball, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd recounts a life that began in the Deep South of Mississippi, and the events that led him toward great heights atop the pitcher's mound at Fenway Park. As part of a stellar rotation alongside Bruce Hurst and a young Roger Clemens, Boyd served a dazzling array of pitches to opposing batters, most notably during the Boston Red Sox ill-fated 1986 World Series run against the New York Mets; and while he was at once brilliant and focused on the mound, off the field--as he affectingly reveals here--Boyd was unraveled by the personal battles he waged with substance abuse and destructive mood swings. As one of the few African American starting pitchers in the history of baseball, Boyd offers a candid, insightful, and often funny portrait of an athlete with boundless passion for the game, his teammates, and the Boston Red Sox.

Author Biography

Dennis Boyd played for the Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers during his 10-year Major League Baseball career. He lives in East Providence, Rhode Island. Mike Shalin covered the Red Sox during his 22-year career with the Boston Herald and is the author of Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly. He lives in South Easton, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Author's Note	p. xiii
Prologue: October 1986	p. 1
The Beginning	p. 7
Baseball, Family, and Integration	p. 23
Oil Can	p. 43
Cocaine	p. 57
Still Fighting	p. 75
The End	p. 93
Mexico, Mississippi, and Fort Dix	p. 101
The Love's Still There	p. 127
Those I've Met Along the Way	p. 143
The World According to Oil Can	p. 193
Statistics	p. 221
About the Authors	p. 225
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