May

15

Books: McCarthy is baseball’s odd man out

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 4 Comments

odd-man-outThe Cape Cod Baseball League attracts top college players from universities everywhere, but very few come from the Ivy League. On my current CCBL roster I see Wareham has a pitcher from Harvard, but you won’t find many Ivy Leaguers on Cape teams.

From reporting in Jim Collins’ narrative account of a season on the Cape we know that players from the big state schools think their brainiac Ivy League teammates are, uh, a little strange. Collins, by the way, is quoted on the book cover.

Former Yale left-handed pitcher Matt McCarthy explores this theme  in his very funny, insightful and somewhat flawed memoir, Odd Man Out, a first-person account of  a year on the mound as a minor league misfit. For college and summer league fans, we learn about the aspirations, plans and inner-workings of college and rookie professional players.

I enjoyed the story so much that I read it in just two sittings. Over the course of nearly 300 pages we follow McCarthy from his entrance to the Yale baseball squad — one of the worst in the school’s long history — through his first and only complete professional season., which he spent in Provo, Utah.

I thought the locker room stories about Erick Aybar, Quan Cosby, Joe Saunders and Bobby Jenks were money. Coach Tom Kotchman’s “rally dildo” and Dice Clay impersonations also were memorable. We also learn about the daily psychology of a rookie trying to get ahead, the economics of living paycheck to paycheck, the use of steroids, slumpbusters, drinking and petty fights.

I mentioned earlier that the story is flawed. Shortly after the book came out this year, news stories began to appear in which former teammates and coach Kotchman took issue with McCarthy’s facts. Upon close examination, the flawed facts seem minor and the accusations seem more to me like a campaign to undermine someone who broke the cardinal rule of professional baseball — never talk outside about what happens inside a team family. Fair enough, but I suspect that much of the story is true and probably more honestly reports on this early stage of pro ball than any book since Ball Four, which created its own stir back in the day.

The Cape League makes a brief appearance on pages 26-27 where McCarthy talks about his close friend and Yale teammate Jon Steitz, who reportedly played for the Orleans Cardinals. McCarthy writes that Steitz threw a no-hitter for the Cardinals. I see no mention of Steitz on the Cardinals website nor do I see his name in the list of Cape alumni provided by the league. If any of you remember Steitz throwing a no-hitter for Orleans I’d love to hear about it.

Comments

4 Responses to “Books: McCarthy is baseball’s odd man out”

  1. Dave on May 15th, 2009 4:17 pm

    Steitz pitched a six inning no-hitter in a 7-2 victory over Bourne on August 3, 2000. Both runs were unearned. Control was an issue for Steitz as he walked five batters, hit two more, and threw two wild pitches.

  2. Capeman on May 20th, 2009 9:39 am

    Chatham and Harwich have finally posted their rosters. I’m sure that their will be a post about it but wanted to mention it in case anyone wanted to take a look.

  3. Capeman on May 22nd, 2009 11:49 pm

    I actually think think the Ivy League has had a much bigger impact on the Cape than perhaps given credit for… There are actually more roster players than the pitcher from Wareham (who i believe was actually released because of an injury anyway – Max Perlman) Hyannis has a pitcher from Brown, Falmouth has a pitcher from Cornell and Wareham has a catcher from Harvard as well as a SS from Harvard.

    In past year’s, while not exactly in line with the larger conferences, the Ivy League has been represented better than perhaps expected. Ben Crockett from Harvard (Wareham) was league’s top pitcher in 2000 and Bill Whistler from Penn (Bourne) received the same honor in 1990 and 1991. Ron Darling from Yale (Cotuit) was league MVP in 1980. Joshua Faiolo from Dartmouth (YD) was Playoff MVP in 2004 and Matt Kutchar from Brown (Wareham) was Playoff MVP in 2002. Doug Glanville from Penn (Wareham) was named League’s top prospect in 1990.

    These are pretty good numbers and I think the Ivy League stands up pretty well.

  4. Mike on July 1st, 2009 1:51 pm

    Perlman, the Harvard kid who was released from Wareham due to injury from the 2009 roster, was an all-star in 2008 and was second in the league in innings. The Ivy League, as Capeman said, is not as represented as the other conferences, but they do often send quality players.

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