K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 988 ratings

Price: 15.75

Last update: 02-24-2025


About this item

From the New York Times baseball columnist, an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching, based on years of archival research and interviews with more than 300 people from Hall of Famers to the stars of today.

The baseball is an amazing plaything. We can grip it and hold it so many different ways, and even the slightest calibration can turn an ordinary pitch into a weapon to thwart the greatest hitters in the world. Each pitch has its own history, evolving through the decades as the masters pass it down to the next generation. From the earliest days of the game, when Candy Cummings dreamed up the curveball while flinging clamshells on a Brooklyn beach, pitchers have never stopped innovating.

In K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, Tyler Kepner traces the colorful stories and fascinating folklore behind the 10 major pitches. Each chapter highlights a different pitch, from the blazing fastball to the fluttering knuckleball to the slippery spitball. Infusing every moment with infectious passion for the game, Kepner brings listeners inside the minds of combatants 60 feet, six inches apart.

Filled with priceless insights from many of the best pitchers in baseball history, including 22 Hall of Famers - from Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Nolan Ryan to Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw - K will be the definitive guide on pitching and join such works as The Glory of Their Times and Moneyball as a classic of the genre.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Frank G. Splitt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tyler Kepner’s K: A veritable time machine
    Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
    Tyler Kepner’s K: A veritable time machine

    Those of us who have had the good fortune to pitch a baseball in competition at any level should enjoy Tyler Kepner's inside view on the art of pitching. His book, K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches, covers various kinds of pitches, ball grip and release, finger pressure, and body mechanics, as well as the major-leaguers that mastered the art of delivering each of ten pitches. But that’s not all.

    Anecdotes from the great pitchers of the game, both past and present, spice-up the author’s narrative making the book an enjoyable read from start to finish. It was hard to put down as it rekindled fond memories of wins, losses, championships, and friendships of long ago.

    I had a baseball in hand as I read this well written book—learning the proper names for pitches I threw from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s without the help of any kind of pitching coach that proliferate in today's game.. For me, the book was a veritable time machine. It literally transported me back to the days of my youth and early adulthood when I had a tryout with the Chicago White Sox in 1950 at age 19. If I only knew then what I know now.

    If you love baseball, you will enjoy this book while gaining a deeper understanding of the game and its players, as well as pitching strategy and tactics.
  • James W. Parrish
    5.0 out of 5 stars What every pitcher, or would be pitcher, will enjoy
    Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2019
    I loved this book. Just wish it was available when I was younger and just experimenting with different pitches. I grew up in a very small country town back in the 50 that didn't even have little league. We would gather at the baseball field, choose up sides and play til dark. We had no idea of what pitches we were chunkin, except it was a burner or a slow ball.

    This book takes me back to all my old 50s & 60s era pitchers, and how they shaped the game of baseball. I now have the joy of working with my grandson and showing him different pitches. Really takes me back to being a kid and just loving to play the game.

    Highly recommended!
    JP
  • Aran Joseph Canes
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Everlasting Duel at the Heart of it All
    Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2019
    There are many ways to watch a baseball game. The casual viewer simply watches the interplay between pitcher, batter and fielders. Whether the batter gets a hit or not seems simply a matter of chance.

    Following the expansion of Rotisserie leagues, analytics has allowed non-athletes another way of viewing the game. Statistics like WHIP or WAR enables one to chart the prowess of each pitcher or batter more accurately. Now the battle between pitcher and batter seems less a matter of chance and more a matter of probabilistic calculation.

    But there is a yet another way of watching the game. It is to understand the mechanics of how the pitcher chooses a pitch, grips a ball and the corresponding reaction of the batter.

    It is this view that K provides. If you are interested in learning what options are in a pitcher’s repertoire and how the sword fight between pitcher and batter persists pitch by pitch then you will enjoy K.

    Of course, all of this is illuminated by anecdotes from the greats of the game both past and present. If you don’t know baseball lore then K will be mostly unreadable. But given how many people still watch baseball and how many people still read books, I suspect most readers will have enough baseball knowledge to appreciate the book.

    A delight for baseball aficionados, this is a book for all those who want to watch the game with insight into what is really going on between pitcher and batter. Maybe not a classic but a genuine contribution to understanding a game which seems to have had so many books written about it that nothing more could be said. Highly recommended to fellow fans of the national pastime.
  • Daniel A. Knobler
    5.0 out of 5 stars A labor of love (and you’ll love it)
    Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019
    I’ll admit up front that Tyler Kepner is a friend. I’d have read his book even if it wasn’t great. But the fact is, it is great. You can tell through every word how much he loves the subject, but he writes in a way that makes you love it, too. He got to the right people and asked them the right questions, and he got fascinating answers. And he spent time looking into the history books to find answers from those he couldn’t reach himself.

    Tyler is an outstanding writer, as anyone who reads The New York Times already knows. So my expectations were high. Even so, with this book, he exceeded them.
  • P. Castronovo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hall of Famers Explain Their Craft
    Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2019
    From the curve to the cutter, this book provides both a history of baseball and a tutorial in pitching. The author thoroughly explains how to throw each of the ten pitches (leave the screwball to the pros). More than that, however, a few of each pitch's most successful practitioners tell the reader about each pitch. For example, Steve Carlton discusses his slider, Mariano Rivera describes the cutter, Adam Wainwright the curve, Gaylord Perry on his spitter, and so on. Love him or hate him, Roger Clemens also makes an appearance. Since 98% of watching baseball is pitching, knowing each pitch makes the game all the more enjoyable. Combining the tutorial with color commentary from Hall of Famers, this book is both informative and entertaining.
  • David Connell
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great baseball book. One of the best.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2023
    If you love professional baseball you will love this book. Great interviews with the great pitchers in the game for the last 50 years. They explain how they grip and throw the different pitches. A very well written book. I enjoyed every bit of it.

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