LIVING ON THE BLACK
TWO PITCHERS, TWO TEAMS, ONE SEASON TO REMEMBER

By JOHN FEINSTEIN

A BOOK REVIEW BY SAM COOPER

Glavine is two years older than Mussina, but has pitched in the major leagues  four years longer.  In that time, both have experienced much success. Glavine had 300 wins and Mussina had 250 through the end of the 2007 season.  Both have been named to the annual all-star teams and have been nominated as Cy Young  award candidates numerous times. Glavine has won the award  twice.  In careers as long as theirs, many honors have  been given them, too many to specify here, but let it be said that both can look back on their records with much satisfaction when their days of retirement arrives.

Glavine started his major league career with the Atlanta Braves in  1987 and pitched in a leading role for them until 2002 when he joined the New York Mets.

Mussina joined the  Baltimore Orioles in 1992 and went to the NEW YORK Yankees in 2000 as a mainstay in the rotation.

Glavine was a 5 time 20-game winner, but Mussina never reached that plateau. He had several 19 game seasons.

This is a book  strictly for the devotees of baseball, as it is crammed with specialized information of the art of professional pitching. When listening to sports analysts on the radio or television, one can hear references to “mechanics” of pitchers. They rarely explain what is meant by this term. The author spends a great deal of time  in  detailing  what is meant by “mechanics”, and why pitchers are often given instruction in them. In fact, reading this book becomes tedious to the average , or even to the above-average baseball fan, as there seems to be much repetitions. How many times must a reader be told that the umpires are mainly at fault with failures of pitchers?  How interesting is it to learn, over and over,  that a pitching coach has detected  a flaw in the delivery  of either man?  Until the end of the book, when the N.Y.Mets were struggling, futilely, to maintain their lead, there was no human drama in the long, wordy book.

The more interesting details offered include the baseball draft status of both, the fact that Glavine has never been injured to the extent that he had to be placed on the disabled list while Mussina was disabled six times. Although he writes that Glavine occasionally alibis his losses, blaming them on not feeling well, or umpires judgment was at fault, he doesn’t do the same to Mussina, who surely has had the same problem. (It is remembered that he put the blame for his failures on such reasons as the trip to Japan starting the season in 2006,on missing his regular turn several times as well as the time he had to wait to start the game (in the minor leagues) while a marriage took place at home plate prior to the game, to name a few.)  He compares the differences in the personalities: Glavine is easy-going, somewhat extroverted, while Mussina is happy to be left alone with his crossword puzzle or with a book. The former can be interviewed readily, while Mussina is not and deems suspicious of the motives of the interviewer, although when he is interviewed, his answers are generally blunt and honest. They are both family men who love their families and have been involved in anything resembliug a scandal.  Anyone attempting to read this book should be prepared to sift through much details about the finer points of pitching and if interested in this aspect of baseball, will find it rewarding.

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