Bullpen Diaries Mariano Rivera Bronx

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Bullpen Diaries Mariano Rivera Bronx

Baseball is the only game where the defense has the ball.

So begins an inside look at baseball’s most scrutinized group of players—relief pitchers—and life in the most intriguing bullpen of all, that of the New York Yankees.

Second-guessed and overstressed, the manager finds his use of the bullpen the most debated topic after any game, but the reliever is the guy in the spotlight, game on the line, alone on a raised mound of clay.

Bestselling sportswriter Charley Rosen takes the reader on the wild journeying that is the evolution of relief pitching over the years and examines the eccentric characters who have taken on the pressure of closing out games—or not. Bullpen Diaries is full of consultations with key players, coaches, and scouts from around the league; replete with the drama of blown plays and walk-off grand slams; and laced with amusive anecdotes regarding Yankee greats all around the years.

To underscore the drama and difficultness of being a reliever, Rosen uses key games in the 2010 season—acknowledged now as the Year of the Pitcher—to spotlight systems and mistakes, thoroughly question relievers on the rise or on the way out, and make an analyzation of the teams and the pitchers the Yanks faced. Bullpen Diaries likewise takes a look at Yankee systems for success—past, present, and, most important, future. Lastly, Rosen reveals his forecastings for 2011 and beyond for baseball’s most storied franchise.

With clear or deep perception on current players from around the league and tales of Yankee legends, Stadium history, and the author’s Bronx childhood, Bullpen Diaries is a love letter to baseball and a pure joy for all fans of America’s favored pastime.

Published on: 2011-04-26
Released on: 2011-04-26
Format: Bargain Price
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
384 pages

Review“Rosen does a fantasti occupation weaving in the evolution of relief pitching, the fortunes of the 2010 Yanks, and a great deal of good old baseball talk in this terrific book.” (- Marty Appel, author of Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain )

“The great joy of this fantasti book comes from it is layered structure, in which plays and players of long ago float in, around, over, and beneath each current game. A delightful and perceptive book.” (- John Thorn, editor of Total Baseball, and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden )

About the Author

Charley Rosen is an analyst for FoxSports.com and the coauthor with Phil Jackson of the bestseller More Than a Game. He is likewise the author of fifteen other sports books and has written more than a hundred pieces for publications such as the New York Times Book Review, Sport, Inside Sports, Penthouse, M, and Cigar Aficionado—the latest being a piece for Men’s Journal in regards to Phil Jackson’s trip to Australia and New Zealand.

A lifelong Yankees fan, Rosen had a pitching tryout at Yankee Stadium one fine June day in 1963.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Could have been good, even great
By Joe
If you absolutely love baseball, you may love this book. If you don’t love baseball you may not care for this book at all (but then why did you buy it?). The book does a good job of taking you behind the scenes of a day-to-day operations for a baseball team. Specifically how the bullpen works.
If you are a sabermetrics believer than this book will have more appeal for you. I think that we can get lost in the numbers and sometimes lose the beauty of the game. To be fair, this book did not lose the beauty, sometimes it just muddied it up a bit. It is a day by day account of the Yankees 2010 season mostly from the pitchers point of view. As a Yankees fan, I enjoyed that aspect of the book.
I enjoyed the almost conspiratorial way Rosen shares how pitchers are graded and different people’s take outside the Yankee organization on pitchers like Joba Chamberlain. At some level though this book just reminded me of a research book though. It has its place but the appeal is going to be limited.
There is a lot to enjoy in this book and there is a bit to dislike. It is an OK to good book. It does a good job of jogging down memory lane to yesteryear and coming back to the moment.
Above all else baseball is a game of counting and remembering. This book does both. Perhaps the biggest drawback to me was the predictions for the 2011 season, almost all of which have proven to be incorrect. Having read an uncorrected proof I am hoping they were all removed before the actual book came out. Buy this book if you love baseball, if you like the Yankees or like sabermetrics. If you are just a so/so fan or a casual fan this book probably is not for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A wonderful look . . .
By David Zampino
. . . inside the bullpen of one of the most storied franchises in baseball history.

In “Bullpen Diaries”, author Charley Rosen takes the reader through the entire 2010 season with the New York Yankee bullpen, month-by-month, relief pitcher by relief pitcher, and in some cases (literally) pitch-by-pitch. The baseball knowledge of the author is encyclopedic, as is his ability to spin a good yarn and relate an amusing anecdote. I’ve been a baseball junkie for decades and thorougly loved this book.

The only caveat — and one that cost the book a 5th star — is that there is simply too much information for anyone OTHER than a baseball junkie to absorb. The author anaylzed literally EVERY GAME of the 2010 season (not all games are analyzed in the book — but dozens are). For the casual reader, this is overkill.

In other words, the reader needs to know what he (or she) is getting into before picking up this book. If you’re looking merely for the casual anecdote about relief pitching — go elsewhere. But if you REALLY want the inside scoop, you’re going to love this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Bullpen Diaries: Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the Future of the New York Yankees
By amauris r. soler
Very good book. I’m a huge Yankee fan so it was a pleasure to read. Great gift for a true Yankee fan.

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