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.