NY TIMES: "Odd Man Out" an inaccurate memoir

by SactoFan on Mar 3, 2009 11:24 AM PST

Never thought all of those things could be the headline but the recently published Utah-based minor league memoir "Odd Man Out" , by Matt McCarthy - a low level (Single A Provo, now Orem) Angel pitcher - details a year pitching for Tom Kotchman that the New York Times says is filled with inaccuracies and impossibilities.

Litany of details listed as inaccurate and not factually supported.

After 1+ seasons in the minors, Yale-trained McCarthy is now a doctor. I'd hate to be one of this guy's patients.

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Some of the criticismis unwarranted

They are harping on “inaccuracies” such as the recollection that a guy pitched well and was cut and then they detail the guys statistics and reveal that he had a bad outing, like McCarthy was supposed to not write a book since he didn’t track pitch counts a month prior to a particular anecdote.

by Rev Halofan on Mar 3, 2009 12:35 PM PST reply actions

Everyone's a critic...

especially the Rev.

by BruinHalo on Mar 3, 2009 1:27 PM PST up reply actions

Criticisms are warranted

I think all criticisms are warranted. If you are writing a book, you have to do the research – even if it means going back over the box scores. At the very least, someone at the publisher should have noticed and caught those errors – any and all errors hurt the author’s credibility and the publisher’s.

by HowTheGrichStoleChristmas on Mar 3, 2009 1:12 PM PST reply actions

I have bought the book ....

…. “Odd Man Out” but have not read it yet. McCarthy, have a baseball fan read your manuscript for proofreading before you publish it! Back in the 1980’s Bill James would have frequent statistical errors in his articles. Mr. James has been much better about that for the past 15 to 20 years. Easy corrections that are not made are my pet peeves. I am not talking Jake Peavy here!

by Yetijuice on Mar 3, 2009 1:35 PM PST reply actions

It's an interesting thing, baseball memoirs in the era of Retrosheet

I’ve spent the offseason reading a bunch of memoirs (Buzzie Bavasi, Whitey Herzog, Nolan Ryan, etc.), and it’s always funny to have Baseball Reference up in your browser to see who’s full of the most dukey, as far as specific recollections go. (Don Baylor is about the worst, though Whitey ain’t much better…Nolan, on the other hand, checked his facts.)

But it got me thinking how hard it must be to do a “Ball Four” in the modern era, for two reasons: 1) is Retrosheet, so all this is fact-checkable, and 2) is that professional sports is a much much MUCH more guarded thing nowadays, so you get pushback. (For example, I would l-o-v-e to know the story-behind-the-story of this NYT piece … was it Tim Mead? Tom Kotchman? Reagins? Or just some independent verification work on the part of the NYT?)

One of my fave books of the past decade was Bob Dylan’s memoir. If there was a Baseball Reference to fact-check that puppy, lord knows how inaccurate it would be. And yet, I don’t care one damned bit. It’s an interesting conundrum.

by mattwelch on Mar 3, 2009 2:00 PM PST reply actions

FIELD OF DREAMS

lot of errors just with the whole rising from the dead part…

by Rev Halofan on Mar 3, 2009 2:04 PM PST up reply actions

“Write it and idiots will buy it.”

by Downing Rules on Mar 3, 2009 2:06 PM PST up reply actions

How about "The Natural"?

In “reel life” Roy Hobbs hits a home run, yet when I checked the book he struck out. What’s up with that?

I was uncool before uncool was cool.

by WiHaloFan on Mar 3, 2009 3:03 PM PST up reply actions

Are you telling me that Rudy never got that sack playing for Notre Dame? Talk about a potential let-down.

by Downing Rules on Mar 3, 2009 3:05 PM PST up reply actions

by cupie on Mar 3, 2009 4:05 PM PST reply actions

no joke

you’d like to think your favorite players wouldn’t act like McCarthy depicts some of them in this book, but pro athletes are no Angels, none of this stuff seemed to ridiculous to me.

by ponusbaum43 on Mar 3, 2009 8:15 PM PST up reply actions