If there was one complaint about the book however, it is that it ended up releasing a year early. Following the books March 2012 release, Dickey would go on to produce a storybook ending that even Disney would probably reject as being a bit too far-fetched.
Fortunately, Dickey has addressed this in the new paperback release of WHEREVER I WIND UP: My Quest for Truth Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball from Plume. In an all new chapter titled "Summits", Dickey takes us through the 2012 season, a year that would see him climb the baseball mountaintop as well as an actual mountaintop.
In the new epilogue, Dickey talks about...
...keeping his mind busy while battling altitude sickness on Kilimanjaro:
"I start running through the National League East lineups, batter by batter, trying to figure out how I am going to go after Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Ruiz and the rest, my own game of fantasy baseball at almost four miles above sea level."
...his fears about releasing his book:
"Am I going to be a pariah in my own clubhouse? Are my teammates going to be repulsed by my brokenness and not want to have anything to do with me?"
...Mike Baxter's no-hitter saving catch:
"He collapses in a heap. The ball is still in his glove. It is one of the great clutch catches I have ever seen."
...pitching in the All-Star Game:
"I end by getting Miguel Cabrera, a man bound for a Triple Crown, to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.I walk off the mound and think: Only God could write this narrative."
...on the fans who showed up to watch him win his 20th game:
"Now they are standing as I walk toward the dugout, pouring so much emotion and affection into me it's almost palpable. I tip my hat but I wish I could do more. I want to remember this moment forever, and I will."
From a purely Mets-centric perspective, the paperback edition provides a fitting conclusion to Dickey's unforgettable career in orange and blue. While Robert Allen Dickey will no doubt continue to write new chapters in Toronto, it is the moments he talks about in this book that will live forever in the hearts of Mets fans everywhere.
The paperback version of WHEREVER I WIND UP: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball (Plume; $17.00) will be available on March 26th, 2013 wherever books are sold. Nook and Kindle versions also available.
Follow me on Twitter @readtheapple.
No comments:
Post a Comment