Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch It Like a Pro (Paperback)

~ (Author), Danny Peary (Author) "Viewers often ask me what I do prior to a telecast..." (more)
Key Phrases: tailing fastball, leadoff men, defensive manager, National League, American League, Greg Maddux (more...)

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Villard (March 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375753400
• ISBN-13: 978-0375753404
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #318,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 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 (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great baseball book, June 19, 2002

By	Rudy Horn (Seattle) - See all my reviews

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Serious Fans Only, January 13, 2006

By	CE Durham (US) - See all my reviews

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!