Odd Man Out
A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit
by Matt McCarthy
A Baseball Book Review
Jan Larson
Matt McCarthy was a left-handed starter on four bad teams at Yale University and in the summer of 2002 hoped to be chosen in the major league free agent draft. The Anaheim Angels gave McCarthy at shot at his dream of playing in the Major Leagues by selecting him in the 21st round. He quickly accepted a $1000 signing bonus and boarded a plane for training camp in Mesa, Arizona.
Odd Man Out is McCarthy’s sometimes raunchy and always entertaining recollection of his one season pitching (or not) with the Class A Pioneer League’s Provo Angels. McCarthy opens the clubhouse doors as he recounts tales of baudy behavior, excessive drinking, the temptation of steroids, good games and bad, pink slips, Dominicans, Weenie Wednesday and Larry King Night.
McCarthy and his Angels teammates endured the culture shock of heavily Mormon Provo, 17 hour bus trips to Medicine Hat, Alberta, the endless search for "slump busters" and the assorted motivational techniques of manager Tom Kotchman. Rally Monkey? "Kotch" had other ways to "rally" his players.
The book provides an insight into the life in the low minor leagues and is recommended for anyone that ever had such aspirations.
Here are the key statistics:
Book: Odd Man Out
A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit
Author: Matt McCarthy
Author’s Credentials: McCarthy is currently an intern at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City.
Published: 2009, Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group; ISBN: 978-0-670-02070-6
Length: 304 pages.
Price: Retail list – $25.95; Online – from $1.04 (used) + shipping.