Sixty Feet, Six Inches

Chapter One--The Pitched Battle

Any Little Edge

Reggie Jackson: "When I stepped into the box, I felt the at-bat belonged to me. Everybody else was there for my convenience. The pitcher was there to throw me a ball to hit. The catcher was there to throw it back to him if he didn’t give me what I wanted the first time. And the umpire was lucky that he was close enough to watch. Gibson was the same way. That’s why people thought he was mean. And that’s the attitude you’ve got to have. When I hit, I felt I was in control of the home-plate area, and it was important that I felt that way. If I let the pitcher control it, it would give him an advantage. There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There’s the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn’t want two out of three. I wanted them all. The pitcher has the ball, and nothing happens until he lets go of it. So, as the batter, I felt I had to fight for any bit of control I could get. I expected the umpire, the catcher, and the pitcher to wait on me. I wanted to get ready on my time. I’d call time or pause or do something that wasn’t too annoying but at least would get the pitcher off his pace. If I could disrupt his rhythm a little bit, just for a second or two, the advantage swung to me. But I didn’t want to create an ire, some kind of anger to make him bear down harder. I didn’t want a guy to step back and grit his teeth. Being a jerk about it just doesn’t work. There’s a fine line between annoying somebody just a little bit and angering him to the point where you may get drilled in the back."

Bob Gibson: "Him backing out of there all the time, that is annoying, because I liked to pitch in a hurry. But I never let it annoy me to the point that it distracted me. You don’t knock guys down for that kind of stuff. They give you plenty of other reasons to knock them down."

Reggie Jackson: "Against the great pitchers, in particular, I’d try to break that rhythm. They’re going to try to pitch a fast game, under two hours if possible—although that hardly ever happens anymore. They want to get a flow going, throw strikes, get ahead, keep you off balance and on the defensive. They want you to get in the batter’s box, because they’re ready to pitch. If a pitcher stays in his groove, he’s going to be comfortable. He’s going to be on his game plan. So you have to get him out of that comfort zone any way you can. If I could do a little something to break that rhythm—make him say to the umpire, “Come on, get him in there, let’s go, let’s go!”—I might get a ball one. You want him thinking about something other than where he’s putting this first pitch. So you might step out, adjust your helmet, tie your shoe or something; but you want to be careful. You don’t want to get hit.

Bob Gibson: "I got a chuckle out of the comment that a pitcher wants to keep the game under two hours. After I’d get through warming up in the bullpen and was sitting waiting to go out there, I’d always say to the guys, 'Okay, an hour and fifty-seven minutes, let’s go!” They play better behind you if you’re working quickly.' "

Reggie Jackson: "Ken

Share your thoughts on the Sixty Feet, Six Inches ebook with other internet viewers!

Title of ebook: Sixty Feet, Six Inches
ISBN: 9780385532167
parent-ISBN: 9780385528696
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Pages: 288
Published: 09-2009
Released online for download: 09-22-2009
Author of eBook: Jackson, Reggie
Author of eBook: Wheeler, Lonnie
Author of eBook: Gibson, Bob

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

ePub

Yes

0385532164

9780385532167

2311 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Mobipocket

Yes

9780385532167

622 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirements

Download reader

eReader

Yes

7770826179

9780385532167

404 KB

n/a

Not allowed

No

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Sixty Feet, Six Inches

A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played
Chapter One--The Pitched Battle

Any Little Edge

Reggie Jackson: "When I stepped into the box, I felt the at-bat belonged to me. Everybody else was there for my convenience. The pitcher was there to throw me a ball to hit. The catcher was there to throw it back to him if he didn’t give me what I wanted the first time. And the umpire was lucky that he was close enough to watch. Gibson was the same way. That’s why people thought he was mean. And that’s the attitude you’ve got to have. When I hit, I felt I was in control of the home-plate area, and it was important that I felt that way. If I let the pitcher control it, it would give him an advantage. There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There’s the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn’t want two out of three. I wanted them all. The pitcher has the ball, and nothing happens until he lets go of it. So, as the batter, I felt I had to fight for any bit of ... read full excerpt from: Sixty Feet, Six Inches ebook

Top eBooks in "Sports - Baseball"

Coaching Baseball For Dummies

by National Alliance For Youth Sports, The

Packed with batting, pitching, and fielding drillsGet the score on coaching youth baseballVolunteering as a baseball coach can be a fun, rewarding ...more

Best price: $17.70

American Icon

by Thompson, Teri / Vinton, Nathaniel / O'Keeffe, Michael

Michael O’Keeffe, Christian Red, Teri Thompson, and Nathaniel Vinton (shown left to right) are the New York Daily News Sports Investigative Team, which has been ...more

Best price: $23.65

Brooklyn Dodgers the Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957

by Nordell, John R.

Brooklyn Dodgers the Last Great Pennant Drive, 1957...more

Best price: $6.05

Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball's Most Enigmatic Slugger

by Rhodes, Jean

Authorized by the future Hall of Famer himself, and written by a clinical psychologist and an award-winning investigative journalist, Becoming Manny is the incredible story ...more

Best price: $21.94

Covering the Bases

by McFall, Thomas

Albert einstein once said Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert einstein never met Bill James. For years baseball fans have been praising the so-...more

Best price: $5.42

Baseballgolf

by Pezzuti, Tom

While drying your sparkling clean ball on the dirty towel hanging from the ball washer, you take a deep breath and survey the scene. After teeing up your ball, you're ...more

Best price: $5.42

'78

by Reynolds, Bill

The thrilling inside story behind a crucial chapter in Red Sox lore?and a turbulent time in a troubled city. George Steinbrenner called it the greatest game in the history of...more

Best price: $24.95

Crazy '08

by Murphy, Cait

From the perspective of 2007, the unintentional irony of Chance's boast is manifest—these days, the question is when will the Cubs ever win a game they have to ...more

Best price: $10.49

Other Sports & Fitness eBooks Categories

Sports & Fitness General (422)

Boating (37)

Diets (424)

Exercise (99)

Fishing (33)

Games-Gambling (37)

Martial Arts & Self-Defense (85)

Nutrition (240)

Sailing (49)

Baseball (196)

Basketball (50)

Football (70)

Golf (112)