cover image Rage: The Legend of "Baseball Bill" Denehy

Rage: The Legend of "Baseball Bill" Denehy

Bill Denehy with Peter Golenbock. Central Recovery (HCI, dist.), $16.95 trade paper (294p) ISBN 978-1-937612-55-9

Once a bright pitching prospect, Denehy recalls his promising career crash from emotional turmoil, personal injury, and addiction in a blistering, candid memoir assisted by writer Golenbock. Blessed with a sizzling 95-mile-per-hour fastball, Denehy graduated high school and signed with the New York Mets in 1967, taking his place beside future stars Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. A severe rotator cuff tear in his rookie year ended his days as a reliable starter, resulting in trades, disabled list stints, trips to various doctors, and countless cortisone shots. Denehy's serious anger issues, a yen for booze and coke, and an inability to play by the rules such as his failures in real estate, coaching college baseball, a radio job, and his marriage all made matters worse. Denehy felt bad luck dogged him after his good fortune, writing: "One day you're headed for greatness, and the next day you're falling into a deep chasm with no end in sight and nothing to break your fall." Denehy's courageous, triumphant book grabs readers, detailing his regression to blindness from the cortisone shots, recovery from addiction, and ultimate emotional serenity. (July)