Inside Pitch: Life in Professional Baseball [Paperback]

George Gmelch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

From the spark of ambition to play baseball professionally to the necessity of reinventing life after baseball, the anthropologist and former Minor Leaguer George Gmelch describes the lives of the men who work at America's national game.

Twenty-four years after his own final road trip as a minor leaguer, Gmelch went back on the road with ballplayers, this time with a pen and pad to record the details of life around the diamond. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews with Major and Minor League players, coaches, and managers, Gmelch explores players' experiences throughout their careers: being scouted, becoming a rookie, moving through or staying in the Minors, preparing mentally and physically to play day after day, coping with slumps and successes, and facing retirement. He examines the ballplayers' routines and rituals, describes their joys and frustrations, and investigates the roles of wives, fans, and groupies in their lives. Based on his own experience as a player in the 1960s, Gmelch charts the life cycle of the modern professional ballplayer and makes perceptive comparisons to a previous generation of players.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Gmelch is a former first baseman in the Detroit Tigers farm system and a professor of anthropology at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He is the author of nine books, including Baseball without Borders: The International Pastime (Nebraska 2006) and In the Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People (with J. J. Weiner), available in a Bison Books edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080327128X
• ISBN-13: 978-0803271289
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in baseball from an anthropologists perspective, July 15, 2002

By 

ohmysohopeless (Nowhere to Go) - See all my reviews

This review is from: INSIDE PITCH (Hardcover)

George Gmelch's Inside Pitch uncovers the lives of professional baseball players behind the scene, from an anthropological perspective. What this means is that the emphasis is placed on observations. There is not much of extravagance, often arising from the glamorized life style of ballplayers. Rather, it is the unglamorized side of stories that interests us in this book. This is an academic writing (though very readable), and as such it might look like a little dry read, except on a few occasions like when Gmelch, with his old teammates, reminisces his own days as a ballplayer back in the 60's, and writing about such highly emotional events as the release of a minor leaguer.

The stories are told mostly from interviews of various people involved in the game, such as players, managers, scouts, people in management, wives of players, and even groupies. Being a former ballplayer himself, Gmelch does not miss those questions that would naturally arise from any curious baseball fans. Also it enables him to have comparative views on how things have changed from the days when he actually played, e.g., the increased role of money and the improved, yet somewhat less camaraderie-oriented (for the lack of better words) conditions surrounding minor leaguers.

Despite being an observer, Gmelch obviously can relate deeply to players, having gone through similar emotional up's and down's himself. After learning how much the players need to go through before only few among them eventually climb up to the topmost echelon of the baseball world, I came to find myself accepting of players being lavishly paid (still don't want another strike, though), especially considering that in many other outrageously paid occupations like cooperate CEO's and entertainers, breed, luck, and/or connection may play much greater roles than sheer skills, for which others are paying. That is the extent to which you would come to feel like rooting both for those who flourish in the glory of the major league and for those whose dream ends up being shattered after tremendous hard work and stiff competitions.

The purpose of this work, of course, is not to sensationalize or sentimentalize, so it is understandable that the tone of the narrative throughout the book is reserved to an extent, despite that many stories can be emotionally involved. For me, that takes something away from this highly interesting work. This is probably an unfair criticism from a student, being tired of reading too much academic work in an ivory tower. No wonder that two of the chapters I like most deal with players with unfulfilled dreams, including that of young Gmelch.

I highly recommend this book to those who wish to view ballplayers as human beings, just like us.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside pitch, April 3, 2001

By 

"pknocks11" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: INSIDE PITCH (Hardcover)

The Inside Pitch by George Gmelch is one of the best baseball books I have ever read. This book gives the reader an inside look into the lives of baseball players. The Inside Pitch shows the reader what it is like to be a professional baseball player through the eyes of professional baseball players. You really learn a lot about baseball as a culture; what it is like to play minor league baseball, making it to the majors, being a rookie away from home, getting released, the pressures of performing well, bonus babies, groupies......Easily the best baseball book I have ever read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raves for Gmelch's Inside Pitch, May 22, 2001

By 

Jon Albert (Delmar, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: INSIDE PITCH (Hardcover)

After reading Inside Pitch, I looked at the beloved game of baseball in a whole new fashion. It opened my eyes to many hidden aspects of the game, that fans rarely catch a glimpse of. The personal stories of Gmelch were heartwarming and informative at the same time. I recommend this book to any baseball fan!