Book review: "The Greatest Game Ever Pitched"

I recently read the book "The Greatest Game Ever Pitched", by Jim Kaplan. The book tells the story of a baseball game played in 1963 between the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Brewers. The pitchers that day were Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn, who are both now in the Hall of Fame. As the title states, both pitchers were excellent that day; there was no score through nine inning. The extra innings kept piling up, and both pitchers kept going. In the 16th inning, the game was still scoreless and both starting pitchers were still in the game. Finally, in the bottom of the 16th, Willie Mays (another Hall-of-Famer) hit a home run off of Spahn to give the Giants a 1-0 victory.

This book not only tells the tale of this particular game, but also serves as a duel biography of both pitchers. Spahn and Marichal had many differences - Spahn was born and raised in Buffalo, while Marichal was one of the first baseball stars from the Dominican Republic. Also, in 1963 Spahn was over 40 and nearing the end of his career, while Marichal was in his 20s and just establishing himself as a star. In spite of these differences, Kaplan weaves together their stories and shows how the two had many similarities as well.

Overall, the book proved to be an interesting view into baseball across several decades, as well as a good insight into the lives of two great yet often overlooked pitching stars. I would recommend this book for any baseball fan.