Strikeout: A Celebration of the Art of Pitching

A worthy addition to Curran's books on hitting (Big Sticks) and fielding (Mitts), this relaxed, informal history treats the art and science of pitching from 1846 to the present. Curran traces the slow evolution of the so-called server, whose purpose was to help the batter hit, into today's hurler, the avowed enemy of hitters. He covers changes in rules, in distance between pitcher and hitter (not fixed at 60'6""until 1893) and in methods of delivery from underhand to overhand. His chief focus, though, is on the modern game, particularly the years from 1900 to 1920, the Golden Age for hurlers, and the various attempts to even the balance as the Ruthian home run altered the game radically between wars, including the advent of the reliever. He provides anecdotes about the great and near-great who toiled on the mound, the advantages of left-handedness, cheating, the problem of control and the alleged eccentricity of the pitching breed. Curran's wit enhances the history, as when he writes of ``John Barleycorn, the Cy Young of the losers' league'' or refers to an agonizingly slow worker as ``the human-rain-delay of the dead ball era.'' A joy for fans. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)