“The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” by Jeff Passan

When I was still in elementary school, my dad told me to learn about baseball because it would help me with dating. I thought that was a pretty strange thing to stay to a fourth grader, but it turns out dad was right. Knowing about baseball, understanding the game, who plays it and who is best at it, has been extremely helpful in dating and in life in general. I started as a Los Angeles Dodger fan, and later my allegiance morphed to the Cincinnati Reds bonding together with my Ohio relatives. I then dabbled a little with the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, and finally settled into my now 27-year-devotion to the San Francisco Giants (which has been inherited by both Charlotte and Lily, who are perhaps the greatest Giants fans ever.) Part of being a baseball fan, is understanding the problems in the sport. Pitchers are baseball’s rock stars, making millions of dollars, and sometimes they get hurt. “The Arm” by Jeff Passan is an investigative piece into the fragile nature of every pitcher’s arm. There’s a tiny ligament in the arm that is prone to injury and when this happens pitchers, from little league to the major leagues, rush to the only possible solution: Tommy John surgery.  It can take nearly a year to recover and rehab from the operation and has been performed on some of my favorite players, such as closers Rod Beck, Robb Nen and Brian Wilson. Passan, the leading baseball columnist for Yahoo Sports, examines the epidemic surrounding the surgery, why it is happening and where it is headed. If you are not a baseball fan already, this book will appear too technical. But if you are a fan of the sport, this book will offer you a fascinating perspective into America’s favorite pastime. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.