It was about time someone wrote about the charismatic Tom Candiotti
As a fan of Tom Candiotti, I always wondered why he is so grossly underrated that at times it seems almost criminal to me. After reading this ebook (an extremely essential text even from a historical point of view) I came to know why. Truth to be told, after I finished reading it I realized how little I knew about the man himself. Once you read this ebook: you will agree with me that it is a shame that Candiotti was never acknowledged as one of the best pitchers ever in the Dodger history, given his remarkable contributions. It is true indeed that you are only as good as your last game; people don’t remember how great you fared in the past, if you lose one, yes, just ONE game, people will keep harping on that and hurling potshots at you.
How many pitchers are there who can boast of a 3.73 ERA after going through the Tommy John surgery (he was the second person to be in the majors post-surgery)? Not many. But Tom did it, and he could do it because he was disciplined and hardworking. He KNEW he could do it – he was a passionate and dedicated player who was determined to make a big comeback.
I think that Bill Bryk nails it in the head when he says of Tom, (I am quoting from the ebook itself) “Tom was smart enough to realize that he could get to the big leagues without a knuckleball but probably would’ve never stayed there and been as successful .That knuckleball prolonged his career. Once he developed that pitch, he became really successful for many years in the big leagues.” Just how much of a sensation Tom was back in the day can be conjectured from the way Candiotti talks of the ALCS loss “People loved me there…I always got a great response from the crowd…They’d follow me around when I left the SkyDome Hotel to grab a bite…They were mad because we didn’t win.”
Tom Candiotti has been through a lot of ups and downs in his life (lesser mortals like me would have probably balked at the kind of setbacks which Tom encountered) and if your heart doesn’t cry out for him even once while you are reading this ebook, then something must be terribly wrong with you. I really envy the author – I hope I can meet my idol just once in my lifetime.
Although every detail of Tim’s life: small and big – has been immaculately chronicled, I never for once found the book boring. All along I felt like Candiotti himself was telling me the story of his life. Considering the length of the ebook, that is a big plus and the author deserves credit for it. The way Tom convinces Dr. Jobe that he is ‘worth it’ as well as Tom’s supposed ‘psychic’ powers (he is said to have been able to predict the scores of other games) is quite humorous in an odd way. In addition, I love the pictures included in the ebook: they are very rare and hard to come by.
I love reading ebooks which are thorough and well-written, such as this one. I eagerly look forward to reading more from this author.