Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
"The best baseball book I’ve read in years." — Sam Walker • "An exhilarating story of innovation." — Ben Reiter • "Swing Kings feels like a spiritual successor to Moneyball." — Baseball Prospectus
From the Wall Street Journal’s national baseball writer, the captivating story of the home run boom, following a group of players who rose from obscurity to stardom and the rogue swing coaches who helped them usher the game into a new age.
We are in a historic era for the home run. The 2019 season saw the most homers ever, obliterating a record set just two years before. It is a shift that has transformed the way the game is played, contributing to more strikeouts, longer games, and what feels like the logical conclusion of the analytics era. In Swing Kings, Wall Street Journal national baseball writer Jared Diamond reveals that the secret behind this unprecedented shift isn’t steroids or the stitching of the baseballs, it’s the most elemental explanation of all: the swing. In this lively narrative romp, he tracks a group of baseball’s biggest stars—including Aaron Judge, J.D. Martinez, and Justin Turner—who remade their swings under the tutelage of a band of renegade coaches, and remade the game in the process.
These coaches, many of them baseball washouts who have reinvented themselves as swing gurus, for years were one of the game’s best-kept secrets. Among their ranks are a swimming pool contractor, the owner of a billiards hall, and an ex-hippie whose swing insights draw from surfing and the technique of Japanese samurai. Now, as Diamond artfully charts, this motley cast has moved from the baseball margins to its center of power. They are changing the way hitting is taught to players of all ages, and major league clubs are scrambling for their services, hiring them in record numbers as coaches and consultants. And Diamond himself, whose baseball career ended in high school, enlists the tutelage of each swing coach he profiles, with an aim toward starring in the annual Boston-New York media game at Yankee Stadium.
Swing Kings is both a rollicking history of baseball’s recent past and a deeply reported, character-driven account of a battle between opponents as old as time: old and new, change and stasis, the establishment and those who break from it. Jared Diamond has written a masterful chronicle of America’s pastime at the crossroads.
Jared Diamond
JARED DIAMOND has been the national baseball writer for the Wall Street Journal since 2017. Prior to that, he spent a season as the Journal’s Yankees beat writer and three seasons as their Mets beat writer. In his current role, he leads the newspaper’s baseball coverage. This is his first book.
Read more from Jared Diamond
Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball's Home Run Revolution Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Biophilia Hypothesis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Swing Kings
Related ebooks
Season Ticket Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Late Innings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood on the Horns: The Long Strange Ride of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Enough to Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nice Guys Finish Last Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless, and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5North Dallas Forty Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A False Spring: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stealing Games: How John McGraw Transformed Baseball with the 1911 New York Giants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yogi: The Life & Times of an American Original Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Shift: The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpaced Out: The Tactical Evolution of the Modern NBA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetaball: How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pistol: A Biography of Pete Maravich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bullpen Gospels: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cactus League: Spring Training Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Classic Mantle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bill James Guide to Baseball Managers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5October 1964 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfinished Business: On and Off the Court with the 1990-91 Boston Celtics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babe: The Legend Comes to Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Baseball For You
The Umpire Strikes Back Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Baseball America 2023 Prospect Handbook Digital Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Basic Baseball Strategy: An Introduction for Coaches and Players Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ron Shandler's 2023 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFuture Value: The Battle for Baseball's Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Batter's Box: A Novel of Baseball, War, and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPitching Isn't Complicated: The Secrets of Pro Pitchers Aren't Secrets At All Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Baseball 100 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Baseball For Dummies Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Baseball Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Baseball Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Moneyball: by Michael Lewis | Includes Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Game of Baseball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long Shot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baseball Anecdotes Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Own Particular Screwball: An Informal Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantasy Baseball for Smart People: How to Profit Big During MLB Season Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Time Is It? You Mean Now?: Advice for Life from the Zennest Master of Them All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Swing Kings
9 ratings0 reviews