Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit

by Matt McCarthy

Book Overview

The best baseball book since Moneyball.

Hailed by critics as one of the great books about baseball, Odd Man Out captures the gritty essence of our national pastime as it is played outside the spot-light. Matt McCarthy, a decent left-handed starting pitcher on one of the worst squads in Yale history, earned a ticket to spring training as the twenty-sixth-round draft pick of the 2002 Anaheim Angels. This is the hilarious...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143116819
• ISBN13: 9780143116813
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

BEST MINOR LEAGUE MEMOIR EVER

This was a great read, well written and expertly paced. Good enough that I Googled the author, his teammates, the Provo Angels, and other aspects of the memoir just to catch up and learn more of them 9 yrs later. I was dismayed to see the book slandered by the NY Times and alliterate bloggers for some negligible discrepancies. The entire memoir rings true and complements accurately the experiences of other low-minor leaguers recorded in previous memoirs (e.g., The Boys Who Would Be Cubs (1990; J. Bosco) and Minor Players, Major Dreams (1997; B.H. Mandel). I consider this the best MiLB memoir I've ever read and I favor the genre.

Adds a dose of humanity to a game of numbers

I had a hard time putting this book down. As a baseball fan, I really enjoyed the human face given to the players by the author; he has written about three-dimensional players, not baseball cards. Many of the then minor-league players Matt McCarthy played with are now in the majors and it was enjoyable to watch their progress and have a few laughs in the process. Recommended for everyone who loves the game.

Great minor league baseball narrative

A great book for any baseball fan or any parent out there who has a child dreaming of one day playing ball in the majors. McCarthy's minor league experiences are probably much like those of thousands of other guys who never reached their ultimate goal. But his ability as a storyteller makes them very noteworthy. The book is funny, candid and self-deprecating. And knowing throughout it that the author had a great future outside of the game made it much easier to read about his struggles.

Excellent

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought that the author did a good job and it kept my interest throughout. I actually didn't want it to end. If you like baseball and ever wondered what it might be like playing in the minors you will like this book. My only complaint is I wish the author had told us about his goodbye to his host family in Provo. They were great people and I think he missed the boat on tying up that lose end for the readers.

A fast, fun read

A really fine book about minor league baseball. Sometimes funny , sometimes touching, but always interesting, this is a must read for anyone interested in minor league baseball and life on the road. Several reviews have compared this book to Ball Four and A False Spring, and you could also add Jim Brosnan's two books (The Long Season and Pennant Race) to the mix. However this book is actually much closer to Rick Wolff's, What's A Nice Harvard Boy Like You Doing In The Bushes? and Dave Baldwin's, Snake Jazz. The latter is in my opinion is one of the best baseball books ever written. If you are a baseball fan, or just someone who wants a good book to read, do yourself a favor and get this book.