Joe Cox

THE IMMACULATE INNING by Joe Cox,for a baseball statistic geek like me, was a treat for me to read. Cox did his homework and really found a lot of unique facts about the baseball players who achieved these difficult and/or odd and/or lucky feats in baseball history.
Cox devotes a chapter to each feat (like hitting .400, or winning 30 games, etc) and at the beginning of each chapter he reviews the times it happened, prominent players who did it, and likelihood it could happen again amongst other facts. Then the meat of each chapter describes a few of the instances this particular accomplishment happens. Cox does an excellent job of considering the player, the rules of the time, the style of baseball played, even how that player might tie into other players that completed the discussed feat or another feat in the book. Cox keeps the chapters short but meanwhile still informative and entertaining.
THE IMMACULATE INNING reveals the details behind those well-known feats all baseball fans know and brings humanity those players who achieved those unique feats.
Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield, Joe Cox, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (plus d'informations)

ALMOST PERFECT by Joe Cox tells the story of 16 major league pitchers and their brush with perfection; each pitcher carried a perfect game until the 27th and last batter and lost it. These men are all different, from Hall of Famers, to fringe players; some early in their career, some one their way out of baseball, and hailing many different domestic and international locales.
Cox does an excellent job of setting the scene for each pitcher; he provides their (and often the pitcher's team's)backstory leading up to the game in question, walks the reader through the game, and then tells not only what happened to the pitcher after their special day, but fills out the story with tidbits surrounding the game, whether its what happened to the team the rest of the season, or about one of the batters in detail, etc. Each chapter is brought to life with myriad of special choices that paint a clear picture of the almost perfect game. While there is no clear relation each pitcher has to one another, for the most part there was a theme I gathered from each story, that while all of the pitchers wanted a perfect game, that most of them were less concerned with not getting it than those around them and they just figured things happen and that's just baseball.
For a baseball fan like me, ALMOST PERFECT was a joy to read. I recommend it to any baseball fan and I think anyone who reads it is reminded that even when life is going great and then falls apart, the best idea to follow is just move on and continue living.
Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield, Joe Cox, and Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!… (plus d'informations)