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Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons & Other Fans
 
 
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Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons & Other Fans [Hardcover]

Tim McCarver (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 24, 1998
Tim McCarver, major league baseball's premier analyst, has been surprising and delighting viewers for years with his remarkable insight. Fans who once were content to merely watch baseball were stimulated into wanting to think baseball as well. McCarver brings to the booth a combination of twenty-one years of major league service and nearly twenty more in broadcasting. There is nobody better at explaining the game than McCarver, and it is a rare game in which the viewer does not learn something new and unusual. Now he is putting down on paper all he knows about the sport, producing this unique perspective on how America's pastime should be played and watched.
With his unmistakable wit and storytelling verve, McCarver succinctly explains the fundamentals and proper mechanics of baseball at the level necessary for success in the major leagues. Once the skills have been learned, the viewer can devise smart strategies, getting into the heads of the players, coaches, and managers: When should a player or manager be conservative or aggressive; what factors change as the count goes deeper; how do you set up an effective running game, and how can a defense try to sabotage it?
This book is a gold mine for all fans, from brain surgeons and rocket scientists to beginners who want to start with the basics. (Even major leaguers will be able to pick up some pointers.) With a deeper knowledge and understanding of baseball, any fan will be able to watch it like a pro.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On the surface, baseball looks like such an easy game--you throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball, and you run around the bases--but there are so many beautiful and hidden facets to the diamond. If anyone knows the game's on-field secrets, it's Tim McCarver. He caught in the Majors for 21 seasons, handling such Hall of Fame hurlers as Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. Since hanging up his spikes almost two decades ago, he's been one of the game's most visible, thoughtful, and instructive analysts.

McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons is just that: a packed, at times densely penned, manual for smart and inquisitive fans, written up to their hunger for good, solid, challenging insight into the game's tactics, strategies, and maneuverings. McCarver goes into impressively thorough detail, which is his ultimate strength and occasional weakness; he assumes you've already got at least a baseball B.A. If you don't know a cut fastball from a four-seamer, you might consider applying elsewhere until you do, but if you are indeed up to the demands of a provocative graduate seminar, McCarver's quite a professor. He's an engaging storyteller, he never hides his biases, and while he's naturally strong on his perceptions into the game's most primal relationship of pitcher and catcher, he's never less than major league everywhere else around the diamond.

From School Library Journal

YA-Although this instructive overview is a bit complex for novices, its entertaining look at the strategies of the game will delight and educate curious readers. There are no diagrams of suggested plays and there is minimal explanation of basic terms. For avid baseball fans, however, McCarver's stories and point of view on strategy are both fun to read and informative. The authors go beyond an explanation of baseball to an interpretation of the game, often play by play. Writing with similar intent but with less emphasis on history than George Will in Bunts: Curt Flood, Camden Yards, Pete Rose and Other Reflections on Baseball, (S & S, 1998), McCarver and Peary use humor and experience as touchstones to their ideas. Together, they present baseball as a game of intellect as well as physical strength and make its plays easier to understand for TV viewers. This is an entertaining commentary that will delight fans eager to learn more about "the inside story" of baseball.
Catherine Charvat, King's Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 344 pages
  • Publisher: Villard; 1 edition (March 24, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375500855
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375500855
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

35 Reviews
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 (14)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
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1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Suprise! I like this book!, June 24, 2002
By 
Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I'm not a big fan of Tim McCarver, the TV analyst. So when I've seen this book I didn't give it much of a glance until just recently. I leafed through a few pages and became intrigued. I read a few more and was hooked. He does a wonderful job explaining the "intricacies" of the game. McCarver takes a kind of 'scientific' approach in explaining the various parts of the game, from the preparation he goes through before a televised game, to the pre-game meetings, to the actual game itself, "working a lineup," what is involved in playing the various positions, pitcher-batter duels, and so on. He also talks about what is going on with each pitch and how everyone, batter, pitcher, catcher and all the other players react to various pitch counts.

Since I've read the book, I've tried to be more conscious of what goes on during a game, checking to see if I can tell what signals a first or third base coach is giving, what kind of signs a catcher is giving a pitcher, or the other various strategies going on within a game. These "games within the game" have made watching baseball more fun. I may still at times get aggravated with McCarver's analysis during a game, but this book has made me a more knowledgeable fan.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great baseball book, June 18, 2002
I picked up this book thinking I knew everything there is to know about the game of baseball, boy was I wrong! I have learned so much from this book, I feel that if I told George Steinbrenner that I read Tim McCarvers Baseball For Brain Surgeans and Other Fans, that he would hire me on the spot as manager and fire Torre. This book is that good. This book is also fun to read. You would't be able to enjoy this book if you do not know about baseball already, because it gets a little complex sometimes. So go out and get this book if you like baseball and want to learn more about how the game is played
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars For Serious Fans Only, January 13, 2006
Let me begin by saying that I like so many baseball fans have two thoughts regarding McCarver. 1) I appreciate this former Major League catcher's immense understanding of the game and 2) I get tired during broadcasts of listening to his endless (and seemingly self-serving and self-inflating) ramblings about what is going on in the heads of players and coaches. That said, the only problem I really had when reading this book was getting McCarver's voice out of my head.

Once I did that I found the material within its pages useful (even in coaching youth baseball) and interesting. It is not however, for the faint hearted or simply casual fan. I think to fully appreciate McCarver's insights, one has to have a little more that rudimentary knowledge of the game. Having been involved in baseball for youth through college I found an easy grasp of his theories and thoughts...I'm not sure the simple newcomer to the game will (but they may).

All-in-all I found the book very enjoyable and it is actually one of the few books that I have actually read TWICE!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
Viewers often ask me what I do prior to a telecast. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
tailing fastball, leadoff men, defensive manager, sinkerball pitcher, easiest pitch, potential tying run, trail runner, particular batter, productive outs, lone runner, breaking ball, straight steal, plate coverage, slower pitch, particular pitcher, pickoff attempt, cut fastball, pitch selection, natural stroke, low fastball, good bunter, pickoff move, pregame meetings, bat head, base stealer
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
National League, American League, Greg Maddux, Bob Gibson, Barry Bonds, Steve Carlton, World Series, Tony Gwynn, Todd Hundley, Willie Mays, All-Star Game, Ken Griffey, Randy Johnson, Rickey Henderson, Andy Pettitte, Jim Leyland, Mike Piazza, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Jeff Mitchell, Larry Walker, Edgardo Alfonzo, Joe Torre, New York
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