Mike Torrez

The history of baseball is filled with players whose careers were defined by one bad play. Mike Torrez is remembered as the pitcher who gave up the infamous three-run homer to Bucky "Bleeping" Dent in the 1978 playoffs tie-breaker between the Red Sox and Yankees. Yet Torrez's life added up to much more than his worst moment on the mound. Coming from a vibrant Mexican American community that settled in Topeka, Kansas, in the early 1900s, he made it to the Majors by his own talent and efforts, with the help of an athletic program for Mexican youth that spread through the Midwest, Texas and Mexico during the 20th century. He was in the middle of many transformative events of the 1970s--such as the rise of free agency--and was an ethnic role model in the years before the "Fernandomania" of 1981. This book covers Torrez's life and career as the winningest Mexican American pitcher in Major League history.

Legendary sports columnist Maury Allen captures the dramatic and emotional highlights of the careers of 50 former New York Yankee fan favorites, including Dooley Womack and Phil Linz.

Everyone wants to be able to perform well at important moments, especially in the world of sports, where both team and individual efforts are necessary for success. A person who does well for the team is praised for his or her contributions. But when the team suffers a loss, especially at a key point in the season, one person is often blamed for it even though the team is just as responsible. This work considers baseball players whose careers have been defined and misrepresented by one moment in which they botched a play, costing their teams an important victory (often a pennant or World Series win), and ever since have taken most of the blame for the team's breakdown. It covers Fred Merkle, whose controversial failure to tag second base after a game-winning single lost the pennant for the Giants in 1908; Fred Snodgrass whose dropped fly ball contributed to the Red Sox's second championship in the 1912 series; Mickey Owen, whose passed ball resulted in the Dodgers losing Game 4 of the 1941 World Series to the Yankees; Ralph Branca, who delivered one of the most talked about home runs in history to Bobby Thomson in the 1951 NLCS; Mike Torrez, whose home run pitch to Bucky Dent was the final, improbable event in the Sox' great collapse of '78; Tom Niedenfuer, whose blown save in the 1985 NLCS cost the Dodgers the pennant; Donnie Moore, the California Angels pitcher remembered for giving up a home run in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS; Bill Buckner, whose E-3 caused him to be blamed for the Red Sox's World Series loss in 1986; and Mitch Williams, blamed for his three-run home run pitch to Joe Carter in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series that lost the world championship for the Phillies.

Known as the "voice" of the San Francisco Giants, Miller takes readers on a journey into the heart of baseball as he's seen it from the best seat in the house--as a commentator for "ESPN Sunday Night Baseball." "Crammed with great stories, candid observations, and a genuine affection for the game."--"San Francisco Chronicle."

Explore the stories behind home run stats and look at baseball's "greatest hit" from the game's beginnings through today.

Going back nearly 70 years, almost to the very start of the seminal Yawkey Era--when the Sox were owned by Tom and Jean Yawkey--Game of My Life recalls some of the greatest players in Red Sox history and some of their greatest games. Black-and-white photos throughout.