Tracing the evolution of pitching and the pitcher’s art of deception, Terry McDermott tells the fascinating story of baseball’s 150-year hunt for the perfect pitch. Using the platform of an individual video game (nine chapters, nine innings, nine pitches), he explores the history of every kind of pitch, combining the folk knowledge of the players with the tremendous wealth of fresh data taken to the sport by the developing legion of statisticians who are transforming many of the sport’s once sacred values. As a lifelong baseball fan, McDermott methods his subject using the love every fan brings to the park plus the expertise of a probing journalist, discovering with irrepressible enthusiasm and curiosity both science and the romance of the overall game.