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Fastball John
From his status as the #17 pick overall in the 1970 June draft in the shadow of his induction notice to his post-game minor league antics with Goose Gossage, Gorman Thomas and Charlie “Country Chuck” Manuel, former Rookie Pitcher of the Year John D’Acquisto explores the free love and “free agency” of 1972 California; the tragedy at Spring Training ‘74; John’s role as a pawn in the struggle for clubhouse power between manager Charlie Fox and Bobby Bonds; deep inside the untold story of the Bob Gibson/D’Acquisto pitching duels; the endless nightlife and shady characters of 1976 San Francisco; the despair of ex-major leaguers deserted in the 1977 AAA baseball purgatory of sunny Honolulu; the backroom dealings between players and management ahead of the 1981 players’ strike, and the fateful meeting between John and his former owner that may have derailed his career.
“Heinie.” Randy. Buzzie. “Sweet Matt.” “Davvy.” Marvin. “Mac.” Juan. Jimmie Reese. Gibby & Torre. “Moff.” Keith. “Onti.” “Ras.” Pete. “Simba” & Geno, among many others along for the ride.
Featuring a foreword by popular 70's baseball historian Dan Epstein and flavored by music of the era.
If you love the narrative structure of cable dramas like Mad Men and House of Cards, then you will adore this rich, period love story between a man and his profession.
“Heinie.” Randy. Buzzie. “Sweet Matt.” “Davvy.” Marvin. “Mac.” Juan. Jimmie Reese. Gibby & Torre. “Moff.” Keith. “Onti.” “Ras.” Pete. “Simba” & Geno, among many others along for the ride.
Featuring a foreword by popular 70's baseball historian Dan Epstein and flavored by music of the era.
If you love the narrative structure of cable dramas like Mad Men and House of Cards, then you will adore this rich, period love story between a man and his profession.
558 pages, Paperback
Published September 13, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 13, 2016
Baseball autobiographies have had a variety of faces in the past 60 years. In the 1960s and ’70s, readers could choose from the diary-based works of Jim Brosnan (The Long Season) or Jim Bouton (Ball Four). One of the better autobiographies of that era was 1976’s Nice Guys Finish Last by Leo Durocher and Ed Linn.
And for the past 25 years, sports lovers have been bombarded by baseball autobiographies from stars, managers, Hall of Famers and even umpires. Many were simply cashing in on their current fame; others had long careers and were trying to nail down their legacies in print.
Meanwhile, R.A. Dickey wrote a harrowing autobiography in 2012 (Wherever I Wind Up) and Dirk Hayhurst’s candid and funny Out of My League was released the same year.
The point to this ramble is that good baseball biographies are hard to find. When one appears, it’s an occasion to savor.
That’s the case with John D’Acquisto’s memoir.
Fastball John (Instream Books; paperback; $20.99, $9.98 Kindle; 542 pages), co-written with Dave Jordan, takes the reader into the locker room and presents a view from a journeyman’s eyes. And D’Acquisto had quite a journey, rising from the minors and pitching for six major-league teams over 10 seasons.
He managed a 34-51 record with a 4.56 ERA, but numbers don’t tell D’Acquisto’s story. He was a 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander with an eye-popping fastball that could top 100 mph. But elbow woes and Tommy John surgery derailed a career that seemed so bright.
D’Acquisto had been a No. 1 pick of the San Francisco Giants (and 17th overall) in 1970. As a minor-leaguer, he had back-to-back seasons (1971-72) where he struck out more than 240 batters in a season. D’Acquisto takes the reader through his growing pains in the minors, his relationship with future major-leaguers like Goose Gossage and Gorman Thomas, and his eventual promotion to the majors to pitch for his mentor, Giants manager Charlie Fox.
There were a lot of fun times in pro ball. There was drinking, plenty of music — D’Acquisto peppers his prose with plenty of iconic songs from the 1970s (“throughout my life, the music playing in the car set the tone for my day”) — and a good deal of women he met on the road. D’Acquisto goes into enough detail to let the reader know what happened, but is sensitive enough to change the names of his partners.
D’Acquisto really excels as a storyteller in Fastball John. His blow-by-blow account of his first pitching duel against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1974 is riveting, and the aftermath might be surprising to some — but not to those who knew what kind of competitor Gibson was. Whether watching Sam McDowell chugging half a bottle of vodka or throwing a no-hitter for Triple-A Phoenix in early 1973, D’Acquisto is engaging with vivid detail.
And he uses music to convey his emotions. When he was called up to the Giants in 1973 and was flying to San Francisco from Phoenix, D’Acquisto was “floating in a tin can, far above the world” — a nice nod to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
After waking from his Tommy John surgery, he observes that “for an instant you’re relieved that this was the ugliest, most vivid dream you’ve ever experienced.” But that was OK because soon he’d be driving to the ballpark, “rocking the Led Zeppelin.” It didn’t happen, because D’Acquisto suddenly found himself on the disabled list.
He talks about the time he refused to come out of a ballgame, telling Cardinals manager Vern Rapp to get off the mound. D’Acquisto was throwing a no-hitter at the time.
“This was the only time, the only time, in my professional life, where I didn’t do what I was told,” he writes.
Didn’t matter. He knew he was being showcased for a trade, and it happened within 72 hours as he was shipped to his hometown team, the San Diego Padres.
Some of D’Acquisto’s adventures away from the ballpark were just as intriguing. There was Italian restaurant he helped bankroll, frequented by a famous mobster. There was his work as a player rep during the talks that led to the 1981 baseball strike, which essentially ended his major-league career.
Life after baseball wasn’t especially kind to D’Acquisto, who was convicted of securities fraud and served time in prison. Through it all, D’Acquisto kept his sanity, maintained his innocence and finally re-emerged with a new outlook on life.
It’s very interesting reading, and not a typical baseball autobiography. There is plenty of humor and D’Acquisto pulls no punches. Ask his opinion of former manager Bill Rigney, and then duck. Longtime friend John “The Count” Montefusco also plays an intriguing role in D’Acquisto’s post-baseball career.
Since songs set the tone for him, D’Acquisto probably can take solace in the 1998 song “The Way” by — of all things — a group named Fastball:
Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved in gold.
And it’s always summer, they’ll never get cold.
They’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray.
It never really happens that way. More realistically, D’Acquisto sums up his life simply: “One good run, great hits, couple errors and an unearned walk.”
It’s a linescore that makes Fastball John an excellent memoir. One to savor.
And for the past 25 years, sports lovers have been bombarded by baseball autobiographies from stars, managers, Hall of Famers and even umpires. Many were simply cashing in on their current fame; others had long careers and were trying to nail down their legacies in print.
Meanwhile, R.A. Dickey wrote a harrowing autobiography in 2012 (Wherever I Wind Up) and Dirk Hayhurst’s candid and funny Out of My League was released the same year.
The point to this ramble is that good baseball biographies are hard to find. When one appears, it’s an occasion to savor.
That’s the case with John D’Acquisto’s memoir.
Fastball John (Instream Books; paperback; $20.99, $9.98 Kindle; 542 pages), co-written with Dave Jordan, takes the reader into the locker room and presents a view from a journeyman’s eyes. And D’Acquisto had quite a journey, rising from the minors and pitching for six major-league teams over 10 seasons.
He managed a 34-51 record with a 4.56 ERA, but numbers don’t tell D’Acquisto’s story. He was a 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander with an eye-popping fastball that could top 100 mph. But elbow woes and Tommy John surgery derailed a career that seemed so bright.
D’Acquisto had been a No. 1 pick of the San Francisco Giants (and 17th overall) in 1970. As a minor-leaguer, he had back-to-back seasons (1971-72) where he struck out more than 240 batters in a season. D’Acquisto takes the reader through his growing pains in the minors, his relationship with future major-leaguers like Goose Gossage and Gorman Thomas, and his eventual promotion to the majors to pitch for his mentor, Giants manager Charlie Fox.
There were a lot of fun times in pro ball. There was drinking, plenty of music — D’Acquisto peppers his prose with plenty of iconic songs from the 1970s (“throughout my life, the music playing in the car set the tone for my day”) — and a good deal of women he met on the road. D’Acquisto goes into enough detail to let the reader know what happened, but is sensitive enough to change the names of his partners.
D’Acquisto really excels as a storyteller in Fastball John. His blow-by-blow account of his first pitching duel against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1974 is riveting, and the aftermath might be surprising to some — but not to those who knew what kind of competitor Gibson was. Whether watching Sam McDowell chugging half a bottle of vodka or throwing a no-hitter for Triple-A Phoenix in early 1973, D’Acquisto is engaging with vivid detail.
And he uses music to convey his emotions. When he was called up to the Giants in 1973 and was flying to San Francisco from Phoenix, D’Acquisto was “floating in a tin can, far above the world” — a nice nod to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
After waking from his Tommy John surgery, he observes that “for an instant you’re relieved that this was the ugliest, most vivid dream you’ve ever experienced.” But that was OK because soon he’d be driving to the ballpark, “rocking the Led Zeppelin.” It didn’t happen, because D’Acquisto suddenly found himself on the disabled list.
He talks about the time he refused to come out of a ballgame, telling Cardinals manager Vern Rapp to get off the mound. D’Acquisto was throwing a no-hitter at the time.
“This was the only time, the only time, in my professional life, where I didn’t do what I was told,” he writes.
Didn’t matter. He knew he was being showcased for a trade, and it happened within 72 hours as he was shipped to his hometown team, the San Diego Padres.
Some of D’Acquisto’s adventures away from the ballpark were just as intriguing. There was Italian restaurant he helped bankroll, frequented by a famous mobster. There was his work as a player rep during the talks that led to the 1981 baseball strike, which essentially ended his major-league career.
Life after baseball wasn’t especially kind to D’Acquisto, who was convicted of securities fraud and served time in prison. Through it all, D’Acquisto kept his sanity, maintained his innocence and finally re-emerged with a new outlook on life.
It’s very interesting reading, and not a typical baseball autobiography. There is plenty of humor and D’Acquisto pulls no punches. Ask his opinion of former manager Bill Rigney, and then duck. Longtime friend John “The Count” Montefusco also plays an intriguing role in D’Acquisto’s post-baseball career.
Since songs set the tone for him, D’Acquisto probably can take solace in the 1998 song “The Way” by — of all things — a group named Fastball:
Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved in gold.
And it’s always summer, they’ll never get cold.
They’ll never get hungry, they’ll never get old and gray.
It never really happens that way. More realistically, D’Acquisto sums up his life simply: “One good run, great hits, couple errors and an unearned walk.”
It’s a linescore that makes Fastball John an excellent memoir. One to savor.
August 31, 2017
This is arguably one of the best baseball memoir biographies ever written. This is not a cynical or bitter story such as that told by Pat Jordan in his A False Spring. Rather it is an optimistic story of highs and lows, redemption, and an appreciation for playing in the game of life. It is a story written so well that it reads like a thriller novel. I loved the use of song phrases and titles from hit songs that parallel his life's story. The hits of the 70's are always intelligently woven into the story. It is the story of a young man who threw a 100 MPH fastball when it was a rarity in the game. Johnny D (I love the name because that's what I called a fraternity brother with a similar name) arrived on the baseball scene when it was in transition from the golden era to the union era. He began with a salary of $25,000 or so and ended with a multi-year contract of several hundreds of thousands. He shared a locker room with Willie Mays, McCovey, and several other Hall of Fame players. Juan Marichal taught him to pitch "backwards". Pete Rose told him he was "tipping"his pitches.
He had good looks and a good Italian Catholic upbringing. He did what he was told to do. He lived through the emergence of Marvin Miller and the fight for players' rights, baseball negotiations, a couple of minor strikes or lockouts, and a major 1981 strike during a pennant chasing 1981 with the Expos. He was a union co-rep and he felt the animosity from management as a result of his efforts. He was benched by Gene Mauch and sat on the bench in a pivotal game which left the Expos out of the world series that year. He was blocked by vendettas from getting a slot in the rotation by Bill Rigney. In his relatively short career( beset by wildness and Tommy John surgery), he managed to play under by my count thirteen managers. They ranged from Charlie Fox, a father figure, an uncle-like figure in Roger Craig, a grandfatherly Jerry Coleman, a pal in Billy Martin, as well as to testy old school men like Al Dark, Vern Rapp, Dick Williams, Mauch, and Bill Rigney. I found the honest presentation of his interaction with some of those managers fascinating and an eye opener.
I particularly enjoyed the way the authors gave a full unbridled portrayal of baseball life from a nineteen year old up to a thirty two year old man. Johnny D had plenty of women but they are treated respectfully in the book-they aren't groupie bimbos. They have careers and are intelligent. The sex is more implicit than explicit. It does not come across in a braggadocious way. There is very little profanity and those that are used are uttered in the heat of a ball game. Dave Jordan and Johnny D demonstrate the toll that a trade or even trade rumors can have on a player and his family, and the callous way in which it can be done. But there is very little whining-it is straightforward and part of the life that goes with the celebrity. Nevertheless it took its toll on at least one marriage.
But it is also clear that the love for the game, the friendships that are made, the experiences he shares with the reader were all worthwhile in the end. Even a betrayal by one of his closest friends John The Count Montefusco can be forgiven because of those splendid esoteric years that so few among us can ever attain. Johnny D is a very likeable guy: a talented guy who played guitar well enough to play in a group and open for real stars, and a guy who became a banker and investment advisor. I must confess that I found the chapters involving the securities fraud a bit confusing and not fully fleshed out. Perhaps it was deliberate(the book is over 500 pages). I also have to admit that I did not fully accept the protestations of innocence or the motivations of the U.S. Attorney as manipulating a case for celebrity. You will have to decide that for yourself. Nonetheless, I was happy for Johnny D and his last marriage to his best friend in life. I wish both Dave Jordan and Johnny D and Sharon success in a long future.
He had good looks and a good Italian Catholic upbringing. He did what he was told to do. He lived through the emergence of Marvin Miller and the fight for players' rights, baseball negotiations, a couple of minor strikes or lockouts, and a major 1981 strike during a pennant chasing 1981 with the Expos. He was a union co-rep and he felt the animosity from management as a result of his efforts. He was benched by Gene Mauch and sat on the bench in a pivotal game which left the Expos out of the world series that year. He was blocked by vendettas from getting a slot in the rotation by Bill Rigney. In his relatively short career( beset by wildness and Tommy John surgery), he managed to play under by my count thirteen managers. They ranged from Charlie Fox, a father figure, an uncle-like figure in Roger Craig, a grandfatherly Jerry Coleman, a pal in Billy Martin, as well as to testy old school men like Al Dark, Vern Rapp, Dick Williams, Mauch, and Bill Rigney. I found the honest presentation of his interaction with some of those managers fascinating and an eye opener.
I particularly enjoyed the way the authors gave a full unbridled portrayal of baseball life from a nineteen year old up to a thirty two year old man. Johnny D had plenty of women but they are treated respectfully in the book-they aren't groupie bimbos. They have careers and are intelligent. The sex is more implicit than explicit. It does not come across in a braggadocious way. There is very little profanity and those that are used are uttered in the heat of a ball game. Dave Jordan and Johnny D demonstrate the toll that a trade or even trade rumors can have on a player and his family, and the callous way in which it can be done. But there is very little whining-it is straightforward and part of the life that goes with the celebrity. Nevertheless it took its toll on at least one marriage.
But it is also clear that the love for the game, the friendships that are made, the experiences he shares with the reader were all worthwhile in the end. Even a betrayal by one of his closest friends John The Count Montefusco can be forgiven because of those splendid esoteric years that so few among us can ever attain. Johnny D is a very likeable guy: a talented guy who played guitar well enough to play in a group and open for real stars, and a guy who became a banker and investment advisor. I must confess that I found the chapters involving the securities fraud a bit confusing and not fully fleshed out. Perhaps it was deliberate(the book is over 500 pages). I also have to admit that I did not fully accept the protestations of innocence or the motivations of the U.S. Attorney as manipulating a case for celebrity. You will have to decide that for yourself. Nonetheless, I was happy for Johnny D and his last marriage to his best friend in life. I wish both Dave Jordan and Johnny D and Sharon success in a long future.
February 22, 2021
I think if I had read this years ago I would have rated it higher. Everyone said this is such a different baseball biography and parts of it are. But man, it's your typical ego driven biography for the most part (even in the second half). John D'Acquisto could throw a baseball 100 miles per hour. And John D'Acquisto reminds you of that often. John D'Acquisto also had sex with a lot of females thanks to being a sports player. And John D'Acquisto reminds you of that often. Such an ego (I know all sports players have to have one). Anyway, his baseball career bio is typical, nothing note-worthy to me really. Some managers good, some managers bad. Some players fun, some players, jerks, etc.
It's his after career life that makes this a bit more interesting (but still with the ego and stubborness). I don't want to spoil it but some things happened, which he denies but we really don't get both sides to the story and I don't care enough to look it up online to be honest.
Most of the reviews on here and a place where you buy books are overwhelmingly positive. But, to me, it was just OK. Not great, not bad, some interesting parts about baseball but nothing earth shattering. Sorry he went through some stuff but maybe it could have been avoided? He doesn't really go into detail about what he could have done differently. Just more ego driven comments instead.
It's his after career life that makes this a bit more interesting (but still with the ego and stubborness). I don't want to spoil it but some things happened, which he denies but we really don't get both sides to the story and I don't care enough to look it up online to be honest.
Most of the reviews on here and a place where you buy books are overwhelmingly positive. But, to me, it was just OK. Not great, not bad, some interesting parts about baseball but nothing earth shattering. Sorry he went through some stuff but maybe it could have been avoided? He doesn't really go into detail about what he could have done differently. Just more ego driven comments instead.
June 2, 2017
John D’Acquisto didn’t have a memorable major league baseball career – as a journeyman pitcher, he compiled a 34-51 record with a 4.52 ERA. However, many of his experiences in the game were memorable to him, and he recalls them, along with what happened to him after baseball, in this terrific memoir co-written with Dave Jordan.
D’Acquisto was a first round draft choice of the San Francisco Giants and he took a typical route through the minor leagues to reach San Francisco. He writes about his growing pains, his puppy love feelings for women, especially one he called “Katie” (he kept the real names of women he encountered out of the book), and his chance encounters with major league stars such as Richard “Goose” Gossage.
He keeps up the excellent storytelling through his time in the major leagues, through his surgery, the trades, his release from the California Angels which he attributed to being a player representative during the 1981 players’ strike and even the thrill of being in a pennant race when he pitched for the Montreal Expos during their run to the National League East title, in which they ultimately finished second behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
D’Acquisto brings this same level of great writing when talking about his life after baseball. Whether it was his marital issues (he was married three times), his success and subsequent trouble with a career in finance and the legal issues he faced that earned him prison time for fraud, he spoke with the same candor and humor that he did when talking baseball. I thought that was quite impressive that he could relieve his time in prison or the double crossing done to him by a former Giants teammate without sounding bitter or angry.
Throughout the book, D’Acquisto uses music of the times to also express how he is feeling or what he is doing at the time. One of the most clever connections to music was the chapter when he wrote about his surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. It is now known as Tommy John surgery, but it wasn’t at that time. D’Acquisto compared his negative feeling about needing surgery to the sad thoughts he had about “a new song from a legendary rock group on the cab radio, a sweet ballad, very trendy for the time period. You think it’s sad that this amazing band, who authored so many hard-charging, fantastic tunes during your high school years, is now throwing this soft slop at the pop charts. You wonder what happened to their fastball.” He was talking about the song “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship, formerly Jefferson Airplane. While if the song reference was left at that it would be great, the final line of the chapter about his surgery when he steps back on the field for the first time afterward makes the chapter my favorite in the book. “If only you believe like I believe.”
Because there are so many musical references like this that fit his story, that makes this book very different than the typical sports memoir. Between the vivid detail, all of clever use of popular music and his frequent sprinkles of humor, this book is certainly one that all baseball fans should read. It would be easy to compare this book to “Ball Four”, but that really isn’t fair because they project entirely different messages. This one is quite upbeat despite all the trouble D’Acquisto encounters. This was a highly entertaining, highly satisfying read.
I wish to thank Instream Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
D’Acquisto was a first round draft choice of the San Francisco Giants and he took a typical route through the minor leagues to reach San Francisco. He writes about his growing pains, his puppy love feelings for women, especially one he called “Katie” (he kept the real names of women he encountered out of the book), and his chance encounters with major league stars such as Richard “Goose” Gossage.
He keeps up the excellent storytelling through his time in the major leagues, through his surgery, the trades, his release from the California Angels which he attributed to being a player representative during the 1981 players’ strike and even the thrill of being in a pennant race when he pitched for the Montreal Expos during their run to the National League East title, in which they ultimately finished second behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
D’Acquisto brings this same level of great writing when talking about his life after baseball. Whether it was his marital issues (he was married three times), his success and subsequent trouble with a career in finance and the legal issues he faced that earned him prison time for fraud, he spoke with the same candor and humor that he did when talking baseball. I thought that was quite impressive that he could relieve his time in prison or the double crossing done to him by a former Giants teammate without sounding bitter or angry.
Throughout the book, D’Acquisto uses music of the times to also express how he is feeling or what he is doing at the time. One of the most clever connections to music was the chapter when he wrote about his surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe. It is now known as Tommy John surgery, but it wasn’t at that time. D’Acquisto compared his negative feeling about needing surgery to the sad thoughts he had about “a new song from a legendary rock group on the cab radio, a sweet ballad, very trendy for the time period. You think it’s sad that this amazing band, who authored so many hard-charging, fantastic tunes during your high school years, is now throwing this soft slop at the pop charts. You wonder what happened to their fastball.” He was talking about the song “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship, formerly Jefferson Airplane. While if the song reference was left at that it would be great, the final line of the chapter about his surgery when he steps back on the field for the first time afterward makes the chapter my favorite in the book. “If only you believe like I believe.”
Because there are so many musical references like this that fit his story, that makes this book very different than the typical sports memoir. Between the vivid detail, all of clever use of popular music and his frequent sprinkles of humor, this book is certainly one that all baseball fans should read. It would be easy to compare this book to “Ball Four”, but that really isn’t fair because they project entirely different messages. This one is quite upbeat despite all the trouble D’Acquisto encounters. This was a highly entertaining, highly satisfying read.
I wish to thank Instream Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...
April 10, 2023
John D’Aquisto has led a rich life full of unique experiences. He is an excellent story teller. A great book for any baseball fan. John gives insight into the life of a journeyman ballplayer on the fringes of MLB rosters.
January 8, 2018
This was a wonderful baseball memoir. A must-read for any baseball fan. The best true look at an entire career arc from the point of view of a player—the challenges they face, the people they meet that have permanent impacts on their careers, what it's like to be in a big-league clubhouse, how relationships form and change over time, the mental struggle of a player on the fringes. I was totally hooked. Plus the book featured some of our favorite Mets: Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter. The only reason this got 4 stars instead of 5 was because I was a little less interested in the financial stuff/legal troubles toward the end of the book, but obviously that was a big part of John's life too, so it's perfectly fitting that it was in his memoir—it's part of his story too. I just wasn't as enthralled at the end. But still a wonderful read overall. Just what I needed to give me that dose of baseball I was craving this offseason.
February 8, 2017
Great read from beginning to end. If you want to know about the baseball journey, this is the book for you. A great book written by a great man.
April 14, 2017
This was a great baseball book. There was quite an insight of behind the scenes of baseball that fans don't see. Loved reading about some of the old players that played baseball when he broke into the National League. It was definitely eye opening. I really enjoyed the book. It was terrible the way people railroaded him after his playing days and he paid for it with going to prison.
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July 10, 2018Good Book
Very concise and a good read. Highly recommend this book.
Follows an interesting life.
Mr. D'Acquisto leaves nothing out in this book
Very concise and a good read. Highly recommend this book.
Follows an interesting life.
Mr. D'Acquisto leaves nothing out in this book
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews