Straight Talk from Wild Thing Format: Hardcover

When Mitch Williams threw the pitch that lost the 1993 World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies, no one could have predicted that his reaction to the loss would win the hearts and minds of Phillies fans across the nation. He stood at his locker for an hour after the game, answering every question, most of which could be answered simply: "I threw a bad pitch." He didn't go into hiding, make excuses, or believe that one loss was the end of the world. Phillies fans, notorious as the toughest in sports, recognized a stand-up guy when they saw one and embraced him as one of their own. Though his successful pitching career is behind him, Mitch is still standing up in Philadelphia and telling it like it is. Straight Talk from Wild Thing is the story of his career, but more than that, it is inside baseball seen from many perspectives: sitting on a 10-hour minor league bus ride, standing on a pitcher's mound, and sitting in a clubhouse, a dugout, and a ranch in Texas, where a man who "retired" at age 32 struggled to figure out what to do next.

Mitch Williams is a former All-Star closer who is now a well-regarded baseball commentator in Philadelphia and also with the new MLB Network. He lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and five children. This is his first book.

Darrell Berger grew up outside Toledo, Ohio, and attended Vanderbilt University. He is a Unitarian Universalist minister in Orange, New Jersey, and a tour guide at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey. He is the author, with former Yankees outfielder Roy White, of "Then Roy Said to Mickey..." also published by Triumph Books.