Inside Pitch by Tom Glavine

Triumph Books

Tom Glavine—writing with Nick Cafardo—made some updates to his memoir, which was republished as Inside Pitch: Playing and Broadcasting the Game I Love by Triumph Books in 2016. The book contains the large majority of None but The Braves (1996), replacing the last two chapters with four new chapters to reject Glavine’s leaving the Atlanta Braves for the New York Mets, winning his 300th game, and transitioning into a broadcaster. Greg Maddux pens the foreword.

After starting with the 1995 World Series win, Glavine takes us back to his childhood before working his way towards the end of his playing career. It’s impossible to think now—especially with athletes choosing to be one-sport players—but Glavine was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and NHL’s Los Angeles Kings on the same day. Both teams made their run at him, and yes, there’s probably a universe out there where Glavine is scoring goals alongside the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.

The Hall of Famer is bothered by “the misconception that athletes are born with a silver spoon in their mouth.” Sure, it’s probably true that some of them were but it didn’t apply to Glavine. He put in the work, even in the cold of Billerica, Mass. As a minor leaguer, players have to take long, uncomfortable bus rides—at least, that’s what conditions were for Glavine back in the mid-1980s after he got drafted.

“There’s a lot of frustration and hard work players have to go through before they make it. Most never do. You usually never hear about that, though. Sometimes people just see the glamourous side of being a professional athlete and they wind up resenting the player because he makes a lot of money. They fail to see what he had to do to get there.”

When Glavine finally made it as a player and started talking to children in schools or clinics, the thing he stressed the most is that people should try to be “a well-rounded person” and get an education. This isn’t to say that people should not try to pursue their dreams but as we’ve seen in the past, a player could be the #1 overall draft pick but as we’ve seen in the past, nothing is a guarantee. See Brady Aiken, Steve Chilcott and Brien Taylor. All three were drafted #1 during the MLB Draft and not a single one of them ever played a day at the highest level.

The Braves struggled as a whole in the late 1980s. While Bobby Cox was the team’s general manager, it wasn’t until June 1990 that the Braves made organizational changes that would pave the way for their domination of the next decade. Cox took on the managerial reigns while Leo Mazzone was promoted to the team’s pitching coach. While coaches are not really recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame in the same way that managers and executives are, Mazzone should really have a plaque for what he was able to do with the pitching staff. As Glavine writes:

“A good pitching coach is both strong on mechanics and capable of detecting flaws in the delivery. Not everyone has both of those abilities but I was lucky enough to have Leo. He also had a pretty good idea of how to set hitters up because of his experience as a minor league pitcher. And he knew what every pitchers strengths are and he accentuated those things.”

One of the changes that the Braves had made to their club during the 1990 season was trading away Dale Murphy. Glavine writes about playing with Murphy and also chimes in on Murph’s Hall of Fame candidacy. A two-time NL MVP, Murphy won 4 Silver Sluggers and 5 Gold Globe Awards. He didn’t make much progress on the BBWAA ballot but picked up 37.5% (6/16) of the vote when considered by the retooled Veterans Committee in 2023. If you go by the JAWS rating, he is the 27th best center fielder of all time. Not all of those outfielders are in the Hall but there are plenty of worthy candidates, including Jim Edmonds.

At another point, Glavine shares his thoughts on the tomahawk chop. He understands why Native Americans protested, writing that he sympathizes with their concerns. But at the end of the day, he believes it to be a “very innocent thing” and not meant to be disrespectful.

When one wins awards as a pitcher, comparisons to other pitchers are inevitable. In fact, Mazzone started telling people during the 1991 season that Glavine was the Whitey Ford of the 1990s. Glavine felt awkward when Mazzone introduced him in such a matter to Ford himself. His thoughts:

“To be compared to one of the greatest like that is a great compliment but also it means that you have a lot to live up to. I’ve never deserved that comparison.”

As for what Ford told Glavine:

“You’re a pretty darned good pitcher. I really enjoy watching you.”

High praise from one great to another great.

Speaking of greats, the Braves really bolstered their pitching staff in December 1992 by signing the Mad Dog for a 5-year/$28 million deal. Obviously, it came at the expense of veteran pitcher Charlie Leibrandt, who ended up being traded to the Texas Rangers. He played one more season before calling it a career. But anyway, Glavine says of Maddux:

“Greg Maddux is the humblest guy I’ve ever met. For someone who’s achieved so much and who might be the best pitcher ever, he’s so unassuming. Looking at him, you wouldn’t know he’s an athlete. Nor does he pound his chest and declare, ‘Hey, look at me, I’m the best pitcher in baseball!’ He’s a lot like the rest of us—he enjoys golf, goofing around, his time away from the field with his family. On the field, a completely different guy; he’s extremely observant and intense.”

I have to say that one of the things I enjoy about reading these books are having to read what players have to say about their teammates, etc. It really goes a long way in humanizing them and bringing them down to earth if you know what I mean. Glavine, like Smoltz, has plenty of stories to share about the period in which he was a part of the best rotation in baseball with Mad Dog, Smoltzie, and Steve Avery, especially the golf stories—Smoltzie more than most—where they would mostly talk about—what else—pitching.. Anyway, Ave was never the same pitcher after the 1993 season but he was with the Braves long enough to enjoy the 1995 World Series championship. The Braves made two more appearances in the Fall Classic, falling to the New York Yankees in 1996 and 1999.

While Glavine is a baseball purist and didn’t initially like the changes to the league setup going into 1994, he recognized that it made sense from a practical and business standpoint. There was no reason for a division to have teams stretching across four different time zones! Going into 1993, the Braves played their final season in the National League West. At the time, the NL West consisted of the Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, and the expansion Colorado Rockies. With the changes for 1994, the Braves joined the NL East and both the Reds and Astros joined the newly formed NL Central.

Another thing that Inside Pitch does really well is add a substantial amount of insight into the 1994-95 strike and negotiations. Glavine was a player rep and unfortunately, it caused fans to bully him while in the bullpen during the 1995 season. The strike hurt baseball in a massive way, especially with the fans. But at the same time, the business was changing. The league was a few years removed from owners colluding to prevent players from signing elsewhere as a free agent. This paragraph, though, feels like a gut punch, if anything:

“My feeling was and always has been that if a franchise can’t exist in a certain market after years of losing money, then it’s obvious the fans in those cities no longer want to support the team. There are many markets dying to get a baseball franchise who can guarantee all types of revenue up front and brand-new stadiums that make the clubs a fortune.”

Look at Montreal and how the Expos didn’t really have much of a choice. They were looking at their second postseason appearance in 1994, leading the Braves despite having the second-lowest payroll in all of baseball. Would a World Series appearance have made a difference in keeping baseball in Montreal? It’s really hard to say. Washington, D.C.’s gain is Montreal’s loss. For what it’s worth, aside from 1900, the nation’s capital had a professional team during the 1891-1971 seasons. The Expos became the Nationals—an homage to earlier teams in D.C. as the Washington Senators were officially known as the Nationals or Nats during the 1905-1955 seasons. But I digress.

Playing for the Braves during the 1990s meant playing for team owner Ted Turner. A visit to the Braves clubhouse really put sports into perspective. An owner obviously wants to win every game but at the same time, Turner realizes that it’s just a baseball game, not a life-or-death situation like when people are sent off to fight a war. His comments on Turner segued into a brief discussion about relationships with Braves team leadership going into the strike. They were on opposite sides of the labor battle but hoped to remain as friends and respect one another.

Next to leaving the Braves to pitch for the New York Mets, one of the more emotional parts is revisiting the first time that the Braves played against the Mets in the days and weeks that followed the 9/11 attack. The Braves had their first series in New York shortly after baseball resumed playing, making a stop by Ground Zero to pay respect.

Despite wanting to be a lifetime Braves player, the financials just didn’t work out. As such, Glavine was pitching for the Mets when he became the 23rd pitcher to earn his 300th career win on August 5, 2007. Randy Johnson became the 24th just under two years later and likely the last one in baseball history, too—Justin Verlander is the active leader at 260 wins. But at 41 years old, it’s unlikely that he reaches the milestone. Max Scherzer (216/39) and Clayton Kershaw (210/36) are in second and third, respectively. At publication, Gerrit Cole isn’t even halfway there with 148 wins in his age-33 season.

Glavine joined Maddux and Bobby Cox in a Braves-heavy 2015 Induction Weekend, joining Frank Thomas, Tony La Russa, and Joe Torre. He plans on attending the ceremony every year unless a family situation interferes. The pitcher notes that as the focus turns to health, pitching numbers will have to be adjusted when it comes to voting for the Hall of Fame. Verlander, Scherzer, and Kershaw are almost certainly going to be inducted. We’ll have to see what happens with Zack Greinke—he’s the 25th best pitcher according to the JAWS ratings. Aside from two active pitchers and two controversial players, everyone north of him is in.

There aren’t that many errors throughout the book. In updating earlier chapters, John Smoltz’s then-Braves franchise record for saves is incorrect on page 191. He set a franchise record with 154 saves in 2004 after recording 44 saves that season. Craig Kimbrel later broke the record.

In publishing his memoir, Glavine is one of a handful of Braves Hall of Famers to pen their thoughts on the Braves dominance in the 1990s, including Smoltz and Chipper Jones. One would expect that Greg Maddux will pen a memoir at some point. Whether you’re a Braves fan or baseball fan in general, Inside Pitch is essential reading.