Pat Jordan – författare

In A Nice Tuesday, Pat Jordan chronicles his decision to reclaim the failed potential of his youth. A young baseball pitcher of inordinate promise, Jordan had been one of the Milwaukee Braves first "bonus babies." His struggle through the minor leagues and ultimate failure to play in the majors, eloquently chronicled in A False Spring, defined his youth. At fifty-six, Jordan realizes that "this trivial thing" has also defined his life and decides to make a comeback. He whips himself back into playing condition and convinces an independent minor-league team, the Waterbury (Connecticut) Spirit, to let him return to the mound one last time. In this memoir, Jordan lays bare his midlife quest with honesty and humor, making A Nice Tuesday about much more than baseball.

In A False Spring, Pat Jordan traces the falling star of his once-promising pitching career, illuminating along the way his equally difficult personal struggles and quest for maturity. When the reader meets Jordan, he is a hard-throwing pitcher with seemingly limitless potential, one of the first "bonus babies" for the Milwaukee Braves organization. Jordan's sojourn through the lower levels of minor-league ball takes him through the small towns of America: McCook, Waycross, Davenport, Eau Claire, and Palatka. As the promised land of the majors recedes because of his inconsistency and lack of control, the young man who had previously known only glory and success is forced to face himself.

Ole Club Foot was born with a deformity in one foot, so running away from trouble was not an option. He learned different and better ways to survive. He grew a huge body and a world class rack. He became king of his domain. Hunters were saying that he was one of those unkillable bucks. Bruce Turner learned as a young hunter how to use all his senses to a high degree to make him a hunter above everyone else. It was said that he could track down anything and kill any buck he went after, but it will take all of Bruces skills and knowledge to kill a buck as wise as Ole Club Foot. Bruce was at home in the woods where he never expected to find a beautiful girl in the woods with his same interest, but when he saves her life, she misunderstands and turns away from him. Would he ever get a chance to win her back? Bruce, the girl, and Ole Club Foots lives get intertwined and reach an exciting climax that you dont want to miss. Pat Jordan, the author of Ole Club Foot, has spent 45 years chasing whitetails in Northern Michigan. A lot of the material he writes about in this book was taken from personal experience or from those hes hunted with.

“One of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America.” —Time In the late 1950s, acclaimed sportswriter Pat Jordan was a young pitching phenom, blowing away opposing batters for his Fairfield, Connecticut, high school baseball team. Fifteen major league clubs offered him a contract, but it was the Milwaukee Braves who won out, signing Jordan to a $45,000 bonus—one of the largest paid to any new player by the organization—and shipping him off to McCook, Nebraska, to play for their Class D ball club.   It did not take long, however, for Jordan to realize he was out of his depth in professional baseball’s backwoods. He battled with inconsistency and a lack of control for three dismal seasons in such far-flung locales as Keokuk, Iowa, and Palatka, Florida, before the Braves released him and he gave up his dreams of big league greatness.   Declared “unforgettable” by the Los Angeles Times and “a major triumph” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, A False Spring is a powerful and deeply affecting memoir about the gift of athletic talent and the heartbreak of unfulfilled promise.  

A middle-aged man tries to return to baseball—and become a better husband and father—in this funny, heartfelt memoir by the author of A False Spring. One of baseball’s original “bonus babies,” Pat Jordan signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1959—and then proceeded to struggle mightily in the minor leagues over the next three years. Depressed and frustrated, he gave up on baseball and eventually discovered his true calling as one of American’s greatest sportswriters.   But the unfulfilled promise of his youth continued to haunt Jordan, until, at the ripe old age of fifty-six, he resolved to get back into shape and rediscover his fastball. Come hell or high water, he would pitch again, this time for the Waterbury (Connecticut) Saints, an independent minor league team made up of players half his age.   Eloquent, honest, and delightfully bawdy, A Nice Tuesday is the sequel to Jordan’s acclaimed memoir, A False Spring, and the unforgettable chronicle of a sports comeback unlike any other.

The acclaimed author of A False Spring profiles athletes famous and obscure in this captivating and incisive anthology Once a young pitching prospect with the Milwaukee Braves, Pat Jordan went on to become one of America’s most revered sports journalists, writing for Sports Illustrated, Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, and a host of other major league publications. The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan showcases his finest journalism, with twenty-six extraordinary articles covering virtually the entire range of professional sports in America—from baseball, football, and basketball to boxing, tennis, and Formula One racing.   Jordan offers indelible portraits of some of the most legendary sports figures of our time, exposing the imperfections often obscured by the bright lights of fame. He explores the miracle of the Williams sisters and their brash, charismatic father, Richard, and turns his unflinching gaze on such controversial sports personalities as Roger Clemens and O. J. Simpson.   Other highlights include a poignant account of Duke basketball legend Bobby Hurley’s rehabilitation after a devastating car accident, a profile of transsexual tennis star Renée Richards, and fascinating side-trips to the Professional Poker Tour, the child beauty pageant circuit, and a depressed, blue collar town in Pennsylvania where high school football offers the only solace.  

The ultimate instruction for young pitchers. In addition to covering all the basic pitches, it also includes sections on proper motion, strength development, and pitching control.