Pitcher vs. hitter at its highest level

Posted Oct 7, 2009 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Oct 7, 2009 at 09:01 PM

Oh, to be a fly on this wall.

Imagine sitting in a room to listen as a pair of Hall of Famers — one of the game’s most dominating pitchers and an equally dominant power hitter — discuss baseball’s most intricate strategies. What is the pitcher thinking about, and what runs through a hitter’s mind? How does a player handle pressure? And what other factors come into play?

When the Hall of Famers are Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, you’d better pay attention. Aided by sportswriter Lonnie Wheeler (who collaborated with Gibson in the pitcher’s second autobiography, “Stranger to the Game” in 1994), Gibson and Jackson discuss a variety of fascinating topics in a book that runs 273 pages.

You know what? There could have been twice as many pages, and I would have been just as fascinated. It was that good.

The book is called “Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & A Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played,” (Doubleday, $26 hardback). It is a candid, humorous, no-holds-barred look at the eternal battle between the pitcher and the hitter.

In one corner is Gibson, who won 251 games and struck out 3,117 batters during his career with the Cardinals. Gibson was an intense competitor who would not let a hitter dig in against him. His fastball clocked in the mid-90s range and he rarely made a bad pitch. In 1968 he was sensational with a 1.12 ERA.

“For a pitcher, it’s not just avoiding mistakes,” Gibson writes. “More important is that you avoid mistakes at the wrong time.”

Jackson, called “Mr. October” for his World Series heroics, hit 563 homers and had 1,702 RBIs.

“As a hitter, what I had to learn, mostly, was what I could do and what I couldn’t do,” Jackson writes.

Those are just snippets. There is plenty of insight, and some needling too. Both men had issues with their managers at times: Solly Hemus thought Gibson would never develop into a great pitcher, while Jackson and Billy Martin were like oil and water.

Gibson and Jackson air their grievances, but it never takes away from the book’s focus. Both reach back into their memories to produce an absorbing discussion.

Aspiring players and even major-leaguers could learn a thing or two from this book. And if you love baseball, you will enjoy the back-and-forth, give-and-take discussion between Gibson and Jackson.