Pitched Battle

by Klima, John

• ISBN13: 9780786412037
• ISBN10: 0786412038
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

Pitching duels are the essence of baseball competition-they require great measures of patience and fundamentals, and take the best one pitcher has to offer and give him a loss he does not deserve. When two pitchers alternately take the mound and remove the game from the batters' hands, spectators are on the edges of their seats. Those rare games and pitchers get all the attention in this work, as the author provides commentary on the greatest pitching duels of all time. It covers 35 of them, beginning with that of May 5, 1904, between Rube Waddell and Cy Young and ending with the May 28, 2000, opposition of Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens. Other highlighted games include those pitting Christy Matthewson against Chief Bender, Sherry Smith against Babe Ruth, Bill Wight against Satchel Paige, Warren Spahn against Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson against Don Drysdale, Steve Carlton against Phil Niekro, and Greg Maddux against Pedro Martinez, just to name a few.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
First to Perfection Rube Waddell vs. Cy Young (May 5, 1904)	p. 3
Man at Work Joe McGinnity vs. Eddie Plank (October 13, 1905)	p. 8
Did God Throw a Fadeaway? Christy Mathewson vs. Chief Bender (October 14, 1905)	p. 13
The Spitballer and the Gentleman Eddie Walsh vs. Addie Joss (October 2, 1908)	p. 21
Birth of Hope Smokey Joe Wood vs. Walter Johnson (September 6, 1912)	p. 25
A Ruthian Duel Sherry Smith vs. Babe Ruth (October 9, 1916)	p. 33
Nine of Nothing Fred Toney vs. Hippo Vaughn (May 2, 1917)	p. 38
The Busher Beats the Odds Dick Kerr vs. Ray Fisher (October 3, 1919)	p. 43
Duel for the Empire Waite Hoyt vs. Art Nehf (October 13, 1921)	p. 47
Murderer's Row Handcuffed Lefty Grove vs. Wilcy Moore (September 3, 1927)	p. 52
Duel of Survival Freddie Fitzsimmons vs. Bump Hadley (October 3, 1936)	p. 58
The Price of Myth Eddie Smith vs. Bob Feller (April 15, 1940)	p. 63
Don't Forget the Duel Red Ruffing vs. Thornton Lee (July 13, 1941)	p. 68
Better Than a War Mort Cooper vs. Denny Galehouse (October 8, 1944)	p. 72
Shutout the Whispers Bill Wight vs. Satchel Paige (August 20, 1948)	p. 77
Number Five Is the Hardest Allie Reynolds vs. Robin Roberts (October 5, 1950)	p. 82
Keys to the Cathedral Johnny Podres vs. Tommy Byrne (October 4, 1955)	p. 87
Perfectly Impossible Sal Maglie vs. Don Larsen (October 8, 1956)	p. 92
H Is for Heartbreak Harvey Haddix vs. Lew Burdette (May 26, 1959)	p. 97
Human Enough to Lose Warren Spahn vs. Juan Marichal (July 2, 1963)	p. 102
Don't Even Think About It! Bob Gibson vs. Don Drysdale (May 25, 1965)	p. 110
The Perfect Play Bob Hendley vs. Sandy Koufax (September 9, 1965)	p. 114
Duel of Upside-Down Days Mike Cuellar vs. Tom Seaver (October 15, 1969)	p. 120
Lefty and the Knuckler Steve Carlton vs. Phil Niekro (August 21, 1972)	p. 125
One versus Deuce Nolan Ryan vs. Bert Blyleven (September 20, 1976)	p. 130
Worse Than Fear Mike Scott vs. Dwight Gooden (October 8, 1986)	p. 136
The Poet's Game Mike Moore vs. Roger Clemens (April 29, 1986)	p. 141
Death of the Fastball Jimmy Key vs. Frank Tanana (October 4, 1987)	p. 146
The Unlikely Ace Orel Hershiser vs. Andy Hawkins (September 28, 1988)	p. 151
Moment of Truth John Smoltz vs. Jack Morris (October 27, 1991)	p. 157
Duel of Lessons Nolan Ryan vs. Randy Johnson (September 27, 1992)	p. 162
Master and Student Greg Maddux vs. Pedro Martinez (June 15, 1995)	p. 168
The Country Boy Andy Pettitte vs. John Smoltz (October 24, 1996)	p. 175
Then It Happened Kerry Wood vs. Shane Reynolds (May 6, 1998)	p. 180
Two of a Kind Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens (May 28, 2000)	p. 185
Index	p. 191
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