Nine Innings

You'll never watch baseball the same way again.
A timeless baseball classic and a must read for any fan worthy of the name, Nine Innings dissects a single baseball game played in June 1982 -- inning by inning, play by play. Daniel Okrent, a seasoned writer and lifelong fan, chose as his subject a Milwaukee BrewersBaltimore Orioles matchup, though it could have been any game, because, as Okrent reveals, the essence of baseball, no matter where or when it's played, has been and will always be the same.
In this particular moment of baseball history you will discover myriad aspects of the sport that are crucial to its nature but so often invisible to the fans -- the hidden language of catchers' signals, the physiology of pitching, the balance sheet of a club owner, the gait of a player stepping up to the plate. With the purity of heart and unwavering attention to detail that characterize our national pastime, Okrent goes straight to the core of the world's greatest game. You'll never watch baseball the same way again.

Daniel Okrent, the author of The Ultimate Baseball Book, has written not just another windy paean to the national pastime, full of labored metaphors and recollections of demolished stadiums, but a detailed, digressive breakdown of a single early-season game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles on June 10, 1982. Along the way the reader learns about the history of the slider, the building of the Orioles by their famed manager, Earl Weaver, how batters' swings reveal their personality, and even which brand of vitamin C can be found in a certain player's locker. It's a labor of love, but an enthralling one that reveals the complexities at the heart of this most complex and maddening game.