Baseball Bookshelf Recommendation #3

Apart from being one of the books Doc's read to become, well, Doctastic, The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement by H.A. Dorfman is an effective breakdown of how to improve perfomance. Obviously, it's geared towards pitching and all the physical, psychological and emotional pieces that come together within that context. However, many of the lessons and recommendations are incredibly transferrable for general performance enhancement or specific goal-related enhancement.

Part of the reason I like this book so much (and plan on reading its hitting and baseball counterparts) is because it's all set in baseball terms. As a platform for information delivery, whether situational or anecdotal, baseball is easily relatable and understandable for me. I never played at a very high level, but even with my limited experience as a baseball player, the player-centric approach in the way Dorfman goes through all of the points in the book is still easily accessible. Each topic's main body explains the role it takes in the pitching process and is followed with "What the Pitcher Should Do...". Some of my favourite topics were "Confidence", "Negativism", "Poise" and "Positivism".

As a baseball book, it gives a nice behind-the-mental-scenes look at just what can be going/does go through the mind of your favourite (or not-so-favourite) pitcher when he's on the mound. There are some great stories about players Dorfman has worked with in his career that add a nice real-life connection to the information he presents to the reader.

20 days and counting 'til the Home Opener in Toronto!
Enjoy the countdown,
JaysGirl5

P.S. Along the lines of books using baseball as a delivery platform, Management by Baseball: The Official Rules for Winning Management in Any Field is another great example. Jeff Angus does a great job in that book taking the management playbook from baseball and applying it in non-sports workplaces. I had to read it for a management course I took a few years ago and really, really benefitted from it. It also expanded my understanding of baseball managers and all that the manager side entails when in the baseball world.

Baseball Bookshelf Recommendation #2

It's impossible not to be taken in by the view of baseball that former Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatte gives in his various writings on the sport. In the small collection of his essays, A Great and Glorious Game, there are pieces he wrote before entering the Commissioner's office and after.

I really don't want to over-write about the essays in this book. I found reading them to be very personal, as there were many times where the feelings baseball evokes in me were captured in words and scenes created by Giamatti's writing; to the point that sometimes it feels as if I could have written them (if I were anywhere near as accomplished a writer and academic as Giamatti was.)

There are in total nine essays, with very helpful summaries by editor Kenneth S. Robson, that help set the timeframe and atmosphere in which Giamatti wrote each piece. David Halberstam precedes the essays with a thoughtful and sincere foreword for the book and the man behind the words. To quote Halberstam, Giamatti "...loved baseball, he loved history, he loved ideas, and he loved words" (p. IX). My kind of Commissioner.

Read this book or try and find the different essays online somewhere and read them. They are definitely worth your time. I'll list them all at the end of the post to help in your searching.

Hope you enjoyed the Jays 2011 return to TV broadcasted baseball today! Watching baseball or reading about it (or writing about it) is definitely the best way to spend a Sunday in March.
Until soon,
JaysGirl5

P.S. For another great baseball book, check out David Halberstam's The Teamates: A Portrait of Friendship. Again, you won't be sorry.

Essays by A. Bartlett Giamatti:

• "The Green Fields of the Mind", from the Yale Alumni Magazine, 1977
• "Tom Seaver's Farewell", from Harper's Magazine, 1977
• "Recall as the Series Ends, the Afternoon of the Fall", from The Hartford Courant, 1978
• "Men of Baseball, Lend an Ear", from The New York Times, 1981
• "Baseball and the American Character", presented to The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1985
• "Decision in the Appeal of Kevin Gross", presented to The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 1987
• "To Sports Fans: Clean Up Your Act", from The Boston Globe, 1987
• "Baseball as Narrative", from Take Time for Paradise, 1989
• "Statement Released to the Press on the Pete Rose Matter", from The New York Times, 1989