Whether you are kid in your backyard or a 50 something has been (me), a game of catch is really something special, isn’t it? So, what constitutes a game of catch? At its core, it is two individuals standing several feet to yards apart tossing a football, a softball, a baseball back and forth. But it is so much more than that on so many different levels. It could be a father and son, or mother and daughter, or teammate to teammate, or brother to brother, or sister to uncle, or former coach to former player. It could be a conversation about the birds and the bees or ‘where are you going with this guy, marriage???’, or ‘what do you want to do with that jalopy in the driveway’ or ‘hey, I just need a moment of your time to tell you Mom’s sick.’ It can be a seriously focused game of catch to work on mechanics or a silly game of catch with a lot of buffoonery or a silent, ‘I get that you are mad at me and the world’ game of catch and ‘I’ll be quiet.’ On a personal level, of all the games I played in, coached in, wrote about, and participated in – nothing will ever top the wonderful memories I have of playing catch with my sons.

So, during the game of catch in your baseball world, did you ever try out a new pitch? Ever grip the baseball across the seams and throw it to your buddy or your daughter or your teammate? Ever yell out, “hey look at that, did you see that dip?” To which, the catcher of the new pitch yells back, “yeah, what was that?” Did you try out a pitch you saw Greg Maddux or Nolan Ryan or Bob Feller or Bob Gibson or Lee Smith or Bruce Sutter throw on TV or at a live ball game? Did you put your fingers on the baseball they way the photo in the book or internet showed you, then throw it to your game of catch partner, and it wound up in the neighbor’s living room? Been there, done that many times over the years, so I can say from experience, wow that did not go as planned. Ever want to know how to really throw a splitter or a sinker or a curveball or a changeup to impress your game of catch partner, maybe impress your coach? Well, guess what? You are in luck because there is a book filled with great pitches, their history, who threw them first, who threw them well, and I just finished reading it cover to cover.

It is called “K, A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” by the unbelievably talented sportswriter Tyler Kepner. “K” as I will refer to it, is a history lesson of ten pitches many of us know by name but maybe not exactly where they came from or who was the first to introduce it to the baseball world. Kepner goes really deep in the history of each pitch, just digging up a treasure trove of really cool baseball stuff that I was just fascinated by. The trials and errors of each pitch, the evolution of manipulating a baseball to go left or right or up or down, the ones who made the pitch work, the ones who failed on the field but resurrected their careers as pitching coaches to teach, the knowledge was just endless and so interesting. It is 10 chapters of baseball gold and I was hooked from Page 1.

I really enjoyed Kepner’s ability to introduce a pitch, go back in time to write about it’s beginnings, then weave his wave back to the present day pitcher. “K” has stories from the 1800s, the early 20th century game featuring a pitcher named Ruth, the Spitball era, the Shineball era, the Feller years, the Gibson years, the Ryan years, the Martinez years – if a pitch played a part in any decade, Kepner wrote about it. “K” is really easy to read and understand, whether you are currently pitching in Little League or pitched in high school when Pearl Jam came out. It is a baseball fan’s kind of book – tons of star pitchers mentioned, how to grip this and throw that, and some amazing quotes from All-Stars and Cooperstown Hall of Famers.

As a baseball fan, a former pitcher, and an admirer of great writing I highly recommend “K, A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches” by Tyler Kepner. It is a fascinating book on the origin of these 10 pitches, who threw them well, how they threw them, what their contemporaries thought of their pitches, and so much more. You want you next game of catch to include a knuckleball or splitter or slider or curveball? Then, I would suggest grabbing “K” and reading through that section, understand how Maddux or Gibson or Ryan or Martinez or Wakefield threw a certain pitch. Then, grab a baseball and put your finger across the seams or next to each other or spread across the baseball. And fire it across the yard to your catching partner and ask “hey did you see that, it moved a foot over to the right, how about that???” It just might make your next game of catch something special, something you will be talking about for days, months, maybe years to come.