Author Series: Schoolboy: The Untold Journey of a Yankees Hero

Waite “Schoolboy” Hoyt’s improbable baseball journey began when the New York Giants signed him as a high school junior, for no pay and a five-dollar bonus. After nearly having both his hands amputated, Hoyt somehow ended up becoming the best pitcher for the New York Yankees in the 1920s.

Based on a trove of Hoyt’s writings and interview transcripts, Tim Manners has reanimated the Hall of Famer’s untold story, entirely in Hoyt’s own words. Hoyt shares his thoughts on famous moments in the golden age of baseball history; assesses baseball legends like Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, and Pete Rose; and describes the strategies of managers John McGraw, Miller Huggins, and Connie Mack. He writes at length about the art of pitching and how the game and its players changed—and didn’t—over his lifetime.