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Perfect I'm Not: Boomer
on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball by David
Wells, Chris Kreski (Contributor)
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- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow
& Co; 1st edition (March 2003)
- ISBN: 0060508248
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Book Description
Forget the perfect game. Forget the World Series rings.
Forget the legendary carousing, the barroom brawling, the
heavy-metal head-banging, and the endless supply of uncensored,
often havoc-wreaking quotes.
Forget the
feuds with dumb-assed fans, wrong-headed managers and the entire
city of Cleveland. Even if Perfect, I'm Not was to
blindly (and insanely) ignore all those amazing aspects of David
Wells' life as a major leaguer, his story would still bounce off
these pages as a wildly entertaining and jaw-droppingly honest
look at the game of baseball.
Nothing less
would be possible. Wells simply isn't wired for spin-doctoring.
He has no "delete" button. He pulls no punches.In a
sport that's now largely populated by a bland collection of
well-dressed, personality-free, cliché -- spouting Stepford
jocks, Wells clearly holds the title of "baseball's most
beloved bad-ass".
From rookie ball amid the beer-soaked, frozen tundra of the
Great White North, through Winter Ball amid the easy women and
explosive diarrhea of Venezuela, Perfect I'm Not explores
Boomer's long, strange, often insane climb through the
minors.
And from the Siberia of the Blue Jays' bullpen, through
intensive training with a brilliant little Yoda known as Sparky
Anderson, the book also examines how Boomer grew from a mediocre
reliever, into a solid, reliable, hugely successful
starter.
From there, after tortured dealings with Marge Schott in
Cincinatti, and Pat Gillick in Baltimore, the book follows
Boomer deep inside the New York Yankees' dugout, right through
the teams' fairy-tale seasons of '97 and '98. It stands with
David on the mound through his legendary perfect game.
It documents his high-profile love affair with the
night-life of New York City, and then explores just how
devastating it felt to be unceremoniously dumped for Roger
Clemens.
Perfect I'm Not also follows Boomer through his
chronic back pain of 2001, then surgery, rehab, uncertainty, and
one pinstriped Christmas miracle, courtesy of Boss Steinbrenner.
And though the 2002 season may have enjoyed a less than perfect
climax, it nonetheless rounds out the book with a Yankees
reunion that kept Boomer smiling from February, right into
October.
Perfect I'm Not gives readers an unprecedented,
all-access pass to every major league stadium in the country,
providing a first-person perspective of life on the diamond, as
well as an uncensored, warts-and-all, insider's guide to life
inside locker-rooms, hotel rooms, planes, dugouts, buses,
bedrooms, restaurants, titty-bars, and more. It's great fun.
It's real. It's as close as you're ever gonna get to making the
show.
About
the Author
David Wells is one of the most
colorful, honest, outspoken and genuinely funny beings on
this, or any other planet.
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