Review of
Odd Man Out: A Year On the Mound With A
Minor League Misfit, by Matt McCarthy, ISBN 9780670020706
Five out of five stars
Odd, but not too much
Matt McCarthy
was a pitcher on the Yale baseball team that had a horrible record. His
personal statistics were also not all that great. Yet, he was something that
all major leagues teams were always looking for, a lefthanded thrower that
could occasionally get batters out. While his velocity was only in the mid-eighties,
there was at least the potential that he could improve on that over time. For
these reasons, the Anaheim Angels drafted him, paid him the minimum bonus of
$1,000 and invited him to their spring training camp. This book is his history
of that year where he was a professional baseball player.
McCarthy was
assigned to the Provo Angels in the very low minor leagues. It is a short
season with long journeys, the players log thousands of miles on the team bus
during the season. Sometimes, they arrive in their destination in the morning
after hours on the bus only to play a game later that day. The bus is not in
the best of shape, the air conditioning often does not work.
Some of the
player escapades are expected, such as the easy women in the cities. Much of
the humor expressed by the players and coaches is crude and vulgar, which is
also no surprise given the age and gender of the population. However, there are
some very deep insights into the minor league culture. What is astonishing is
that the Latin players and the white players have almost no interaction. Even
in the more intimate locations such as the clubhouse and dugout, there is
almost no communication and little desire to do so. The Latin players are all
referred to as Dominican, independent of their country of origin.
It is a sad and
puzzling aspect of the story, given that approximately 25% of the major league
players are Latin, it is very likely that some of the players on the Provo team
will make the major leagues. It makes no sense why the major league club doesn’t
spend more resources in supporting the Latin players, most of which are in
their late teens and in a foreign culture.
While McCarthy
demonstrates some occasional competence as a pitcher, he never really rises
above the level of mediocre. It is fortunate that he is a talented biologist
that attends medical school after is baseball career is over. Which only lasts
a year. There is no great game at the end, this story is about the grind, how
McCarthy survives it and actually learns from it. So does the reader.
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