Michael Duca

I'm a ballpark rat. I've seen more than 3000 major league games in person, been involved with baseball for more than 45 years, and still love going to the park every day. For the book, I conducted more than 150 interviews with current and past players, coaches, managers, trainers, front office personnel, and writers, many in the Hall of Fame. As an Official Scorer for Major League Baseball, I've been fortunate enough to have worked several milestone games -- Greg Maddux's 300th win, Jason Schmidt's 16-strikeout game, the first video-replay home runs in two different parks, AT&T and the Oakland Coliseum, and Barry Bonds' 756th home run. Jason and I hope that our book will give both the casual fan, who wonders why pitchers sometimes hit batters, and the serious fan, who wants to know why on earth Robin Ventura ever went out to the mound to fight 46-year old Nolan Ryan, a better understanding of the best game yet invented.