I have not giving you a book review for a while so here goes. The book “A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone” was a different type of read. It was written by Roger Angell. Angell admitted the focus of the book covering David Cone’s career changed as he was writing it. If you do not remember Cone’s career he started off briefly with the Royals and played on five different teams, mainly for the Mets and Yankees. He was a KC kid coming from a working class family and going to Rockhurst HS. I found it fun to learn that his high school did not even have a baseball team. Cone was discovered playing summer Ban Johnson baseball. He was the youngest of four children. It is often the case, the youngest child becomes the most competitive (trying to catch up to their older siblings). He was known for his competitive nature, his outspokenness, and his ability to get a strikeout when he needed it the most. Cone threw the 16th perfect game in MLB history in 1999 on 88 pitches. He was an All-Star five times, a Cy Young winner, and had a record of 194-126. He finish his career at the age of 40 coming back to the Mets.
The book covered Cone’s connection to the Royals drug scandal in 1983 when Willie Wilson and others were charged. The book also covered Cone’s family, his personal life, his injuries even the elusive effectiveness of his slider. The author did a good job letting you in on how Cone felt about the art/science of pitching in the major leagues. Cone’s question, “Who owns a pitcher’s arm?” was an interesting theme. Cone also shared- ”When a manager would walk to the mound and asked me if I thought I could get the next guy out, I had to lie, and I had to find a way to make him believe my lie.” Lies or no lies, Cone threw 56 complete games so he stayed in a lot games.
Cone was not an instant star, it took him five years to get to the majors. He was known for high pitch counts and staying in the tough games. He did reluctantly become a relief pitcher late in his career.
Cone was a player rep during the player strike in 1994. At the time many of us thought the players were asking for too much and the whole ordeal put a bad taste in our mouths. I know it push me away from baseball for a while. Cone’s thoughts on the strike helped my see things differently. Cone emphasized, “We can not give up what Curt Flood won for us.” Cone is clearly an intelligent man that knew transitioning out of baseball would be tough. “I will leave MLB an old man and learn how to build a new life as a young man.” Probably the topic I thought was the most unusual was Cone’s feelings about his working class father. When Cone signed his first multi-million dollar contract he was proud of course, but he was also a bit embarrassed that he would be making more in the next nine months than his father did in his whole life. Cone made $67 million in his career. If you really like thoughtful discussions about MLB pitching this is a book for you. Dave Cone became a sports journalist after retirement.
