Bigger than the game : restitching a major league life

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Title:

Bigger than the game : restitching a major league life

Author:

Hayhurst, Dirk, 1981- author.

ISBN:

9780806534879

Physical Description:

305 pages ; 21 cm

Personal Subject:

Hayhurst, Dirk, 1981-

Subject Term:

Pitchers (Baseball) -- Biography.

Baseball players -- Biography.

Shoulder -- Wounds and injuries.

Summary:

Dirk's latest memoir about his sports injury, his rehab, and the lessons he learned outside of the game, will go down as yet another baseball classic.

A possibly career ending injury looks to knock Hayhurst out of baseball forever. Isolated from his family, broken, and branded a traitor by his teammates for writing inside the locker room, Hayhurst finds himself at a crossroads: should he continue down the spiral of depression and prescription drug abuse he's falling into, or seek psychological help at the risk of being labeled a "head case" by an industry biased against that which it cannot quantify? Or maybe Hayhurst just needs to show them all how much fun being a head case can be?

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	921 HAYHURST	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	921 HAYHURST	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"The best writer in a baseball uniform." --Tyler Kepner, The New York Times

After nearly a decade in the minors, Dirk Hayhurst defied the odds to climb onto the pitcher's mound for the Toronto Blue Jays. Newly married, with a big league paycheck and a brand new house, Hayhurst was ready for a great season in the Bigs.

Then fate delivered a crushing hit. Hayhurst blew out his pitching shoulder in an insane off-season workout program. After surgery, rehab, and more rehab, his major-league dreams seemed more distant than ever.

From there things got worse, weirder, and funnier. In a crazy world of injured athletes, autograph-seeking nuns, angry wrestlers, and trainers with a taste for torture, Hayhurst learned lessons about the game--and himself--that were not in any rulebook. Honest, soul'searching, insightful, hilarious, and moving, Dirk Hayhurst's latest memoir is an indisputable baseball classic.

Praise for The Bullpen Gospels and Out of My League

"Dirk Hayhurst writes about baseball in a unique way. Observant, insightful, human, and hilarious." --Bob Costas

"A fun read. . .This book shows why baseball is so often used as a metaphor for life." --Keith Olbermann

"Entertaining and engaging. . .reminiscent of Jim Bouton's Ball Four ." -- Booklist

"A rare gem of a baseball book." --Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated

"A humorous, candid, and insightful memoir of Hayhurst's rookie season in the majors. . .Grade: Home Run." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Author Notes

Dirk Hayhurst is the New York Times bestselling author of The Bullpen Gospels, Out of My League, Bigger Than the Game, and the e-book Wild Pitches . Drafted from Kent State University in 2003 as a senior sign, Hayhurst pitched professionally for nine years on more than eight minor league teams and three major league teams--the San Diego Padres, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Tampa Bay Rays. He has been a professional broadcaster and baseball analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays and Sportsnet Toronto, a contributor for ESPN with the Olbermann Show on ESPN 2, and a panelist on TBS's coverage of the MLB post season. Visit him at www.dirkhayhurst.com.

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

A revealing yet occasionally tedious, seasonlong account of a major league pitcher on the outs. Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Hayhurst (Out of My League, 2012, etc.) began what would be his final season in 2010 training "like a beast" and anticipating the publication of his book, The Bullpen Gospels, on opening day. However, he had to win over skeptics who believed anyone who wrote from the inside violated the locker room code and therefore could never be trusted as reliable. Furthermore, talking to the press corps during spring training to garner publicity for his book caused teammates to question his motives, particularly a cocky, malicious pitcher who nicknamed him "Media," and encouraged several teammates to turn against him. Hayhurst wanted to prove he belonged, but he started the season relegated to the training room on the 60-day disabled list with an arm injuryand it only got worse. The combination of prolonged pain and social ostracism made him panicky, and the author admits, "it was a delicate balance of trying to get healthy physically and not unraveling mentally into some anxious, why-am-I-not-healthy mess." Rarely does an athlete admit publicly to feeling anxious, afraid or depressed, but Hayhurst candidly shows readers that he was fraying both emotionally and physically. (One line sums it up nicely: "Arm pain can make your whole life hurt.") However, the author draws out his emotionally honest story with unnecessary, lengthy accounts of interactions with coaches and trainers, as well as intimate conversations with his wife. Several chapters devoted to his rehabilitation program lend no insight or deeper understanding of his pain. A flawed yet unique, personal story of an athlete's anguish at the end of his career.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

Most observers credit Cardinals and Reds relief pitcher Jim Brosnan with originating the baseball tell-all with his The Long Season (1960) and Jim Bouton with kicking the genre up several notches with his Ball Four (1970). In both cases the player-authors were accused of violating "the sanctity of the clubhouse" by revealing many of the not-so-positive sides of their teammates. Both were established major leaguers. Hayhurst was far from established when his The Bullpen Gospels (2010), detailing a season in the minors, was published. Thus he earned even less of a pass on being a tattler than did his predecessors. Now Hayhurst chronicles a season in hell, upon being picked up by the Blue Jays for the 2010 season and being treated as a pariah by teammates as he tries to battle back from a debilitating injury. At times funny, it is more often a sober story of someone who defies convention and is living with the consequences. VERDICT He's a former pitcher with a career major league record of 0-2, but Hayhurst gets a "W" with this one.-Jim Burns (JB), Jacksonville P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

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