Out of My League

This is perhaps Plimpton’s first experience in participatory journalism. In the autumn of 1958, Plimpton arranges with Sports Illustrated to pitch against both lineups prior to a major league all-star game exhibition in Yankee Stadium. It begins with a few chapters of Plimpton arranging the deal and then how woefully inadequate his preparations are for pitching. On the day of the game, Plimpton arrives at Yankee Stadium and has the odd outsider feeling, finding it hard to interact with the players to warm up as well as perform his duties as a journalist. The actual game starts well as Plimpton retires the first two NL batters. When future Met Frank Thomas hits a long homerun into the bleachers, Plimpton can even appreciate the show more collaborative effort between him and Thomas in creating that homerun. But things turn progressively worse. There is no umpiring for this event so the batters feel no need to swing at bad pitches, and thus stand there letting Plimpton wear himself down throwing pitch after pitch. Finally Yankee coach Ralph Houk takes Plimpton off the mound before he can he even finish pitching to the NL lineup. The experience is both physically exhausting and humiliating for Plimpton and perhaps gives an appreciation of athletic endeavor. The book also works as an interesting snapshot of the ballplayers of that time and eavesdropping on their conversations.

“I knew then that the pitcher’s pleasure is a fragmentary thing, that the dugouts, like sausage machines, eject an unending succession of hitters to destroy any momentary complacency a pitcher may feel during an afternoon of work.” p. 96 show less

George Plimpton is a master of participatory journalism, and this is the account of his first foray into that field. The book is short but pleasant to read. It is comical, friendly, and realistic. In "Out Of My League," Plimpton comes away from a baseball game wondering what it would be like to actually pitch against Major League batters. With the help of Sports Illustrated, he is given the opportunity to pitch to the American League and National League starters before an All-Star exhibition game in late October. With all his skill and charm, George Plimpton describes what would surely happen if any average fan suddenly walked onto a baseball field and was given the chance to pitch. For Plimpton fans and baseball fans, this brief but show more entertaining account is a must-read. show less

Amusing, well-written account of the professional writer's experience trying to fit in as a pitcher in big-league baseball.

Its hard to imagine something like this happening today with the doped-up narcissistic thugs who play the three major sports today. Things were better then.

Great book (...): This novel was about a guy who went to a Yankee game. He was a very rich man who sat right in the front down on field level. He was watching the famous Yankee's like Babe Ruth, and Lou Gerhig. He came up with this crazy idea to pitch in the so called " All Star Game" against Babe Ruth, Lou Gerhig and Hank Aaron. He knew a lot of baseball players so he was just talking about the idea but everyone thought it was just a crazy idea. Soon he really started asking about it as a real idea. The commissioner and Hank Aaron (the captain of the National League) and Babe Ruth (The Captain of the American League). He was asking if he could pitch in the all-star game. He was wondering if he could really do it and how much it would show more cost. He thought that if he hired a pitching coach and practiced everyday until the game that he would be good enough to really do good in the all-star game. He was starting to have press conferences about the idea and having talks with the two all-star team coaches. After about a week of thinking about the idea the commissioner of baseball told him that he would be able to pitch in the all-star game. When he started to warm up in the bullpen the crowd was going crazy. He came in the 5th inning. He started off pitching to Hank Aaron. He struck him out. That is a good start. He pitched two innings perfect. He did so great that he got to pitch in the major league after that.
I liked this book because it was about baseball. It was about the old great players of baseball. It had to do with a fan like me making up a crazy idea that I would make up. To play baseball and pitch against major league great players to pitch against. It was a very cool sports book also so it was a good book. It is a very good sport baseball book that I think every baseball fan should be able to read because it is great.
I would recommend this book to all players who like baseball and sports. But if you had to read you might want to study up on your all-time baseball's greatest player. Also boys should read this book that is about 8-teen in age. It has not such good language in it for young kids. It was a long book also so I would recommend this to people that have time to read this book. You have to take a long time and read every little detail to get this book. show less