The High Hard One. This item is unavailable.The High Hard One

'"The High Hard One" is the bald confession of a hard-nosed unabashed fun-seeker who pitched, ably and often, for many teams in organized baseball. Ol' Hig's tale is told with a salty tongue, further spiced with rue and bitter memories...He was...typical of the half-educated, strong-armed, Southern farm boys who made baseball the National Pastime' - Jim Brosnan, "New York Times Book Review". '[This] is not the usual baseball autobiography. Rather, it is a bit of Americana...Filled with uninhibited comment regarding both the author and other baseball notables' - "Library Journal". "The High Hard One" intimately portrays the rough-and-ready life of a bush-league ballplayer during the Great Depression. Kirby Higbe broke into the big time with the Chicago Cubs in 1938, showed his talent for striking out batters while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1940, and led the National League in victories for the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941. He was with the Dodgers when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and integrated the team in 1947. That year was, for Higbe, 'the end of what you might call the Babe Ruth era and the beginning of modern professional baseball'. Martin Quigley, Higbe's coauthor, has also written the widely praised "Today's Game" and "The Crooked Pitch". He lives in St. Louis.