Catfish: My Life in Baseball

The former pitcher for the New York Yankees and Oakland A's recounts his baseball experiences, from the beginning of his career, to his retirement after fifteen years of pro ball, to his election to the Hall of Fame

Hunter is as much at home traipsing through woods and streams on a hunting or fishing expedition or planting a soybean crop as he is pitching a major-league victory. In this warm reminiscence, written with Sports Illustrated staffer Keteyian, he covers his brilliant teenage baseball career in North Carolina, his years with the Oakland A's and then the Yankees. The book is particularly interesting about Hunter's stint with the three-time world-champion aggregation put together and torn apart by Charley Finleyand observes that there may have been better players, but there were few teams better than the A's. Then the authors progress to the furious bidding that took place when Hunter became a free agent and his stint with the Yankees at a time when Billy Martin was the off-again, on-again manager and the egos of Martin, Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner were in constant collision. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As baseball's first free agent, Hunter went from the Oakland A's to the New York Yankees, helping both teams to win several World Series in the 1970s. Those expecting a juicy and irreverent collection of anecdotes similar to Sparky Lyle's Bronx Zoo or Graig Nettles's Balls will be disappointed. Hunter is now a gentleman farmer with the accent on "gentleman." This is a warm reminiscence of his years on both teams, his relationships with his teammates, especially the late Thurmon Munson, as well as a sensitive evocation of his life in North Carolina before and after his baseball career. "Catfish" is a nickname manufactured by Charlie Finley; this is Jim Hunter's story.Jo DeLapo, Queens Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.