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Rating: 
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: As a young baseball fan, my memories of the 1986 postseason are fairly vague. This book makes me understand why so many say that the 1986 playoffs were so amazing.
The book begins with recounts of the bad luck of Angel manager Gene Mauch who had already experienced 3 near misses with The Series. Here, we have the 1986 ALCS, with Mauch's California Angels being "one pitch away" from the World Series before losing Game 5 in 11 innings to the Red Sox, and then losing games 6 and 7 10-4 and 8-
1 respectively.
Then the book moves onto the NLCS, telling the story of the Met's preocupation with the split-finger fastball of Mike Scott, who beat them in games 1 and 4, and who they believed to be illegally scuffing the ball. The Met's won the marathon game 6 in 16 innings, 7-6, preventing them from having to face Scott in Game 7.
Finally, the story of the World Series, with The Red Sox being a pitch away in Game 6 before the Mets tied the game. Then the unfortunate error by Bill Buckner, which allowed the Mets to win in the bottom of the 9th, and go on to win Game 7 8-5.
After the stories of the Games, it moves on to in depth looks at the players from the 3 postseason series : their memories from the games and what happened to them after 1986.
For me, as an Astros fan, this book really brought to life how close a team can come to victory only to have it slip away. It happened to every team in 1986; only the victorious Mets avoided the heartbreak.
As Sowell says in his closing, there are so many ways baseball can break a fans heart. But when a team reaches the top, nothing is greater.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fantastic. It really takes you there.
Review: I watch this series when I was thirtten and the biggest (only) Red Sox fan in my Yankee & Met fan dominated high shcool. This book completely capture all of the suspens and heartbreak of what might be the best POST SEASON in history.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad book, but there are better
Review: The 1986 playoffs were some of the best games that baseball has seen. Authour Mike Sowell has tried to capture the excitement and suspense of those playoffs in "One Pitch Away" While not a bad book, one can't help leaving this book feeling that much more could have been done with it. The problem I have with the book is that 2/3 of it is spent interviewing the players of those playoffs. I didn't really care about hearing about Doug DeCinces and his investment company. Sowell probably could have gone into greater detail about the whole season and the effect the 86 playoffs had on baseball. Not a bad book, but there are better.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book, but there are better
Review: The 1986 playoffs were some of the best games that baseball has seen. Authour Mike Sowell has tried to capture the excitement and suspense of those playoffs in "One Pitch Away" While not a bad book, one can't help leaving this book feeling that much more could have been done with it. The problem I have with the book is that 2/3 of it is spent interviewing the players of those playoffs. I didn't really care about hearing about Doug DeCinces and his investment company. Sowell probably could have gone into greater detail about the whole season and the effect the 86 playoffs had on baseball. Not a bad book, but there are better.
Rating: 
Summary: in depth players' accounts of the 1986 postseason
Review: The things I love the best in the ball game are its histories and the way a whole season may change in a eye blink. In this book, I found each of them: it's the history of the unbelievable 1986 baseball post-season, and the way a single pitch could change a whole season and, why not, a whole lifetime. Not only the Billy Buck ball, but also the Donnie Moore tragedy, the Red Sox curse, the Angels and the Astros: an unbelievable amount of puzzle pieces all in their place for the final picture. If you love the ball game, you'll love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Why is Mike Sowell Out Of Print?
Review: This and his best book, "The Pitch That Killed" are great baseball books. What has happend to Mike Sowell? Why are these great books out of print? I was amazed by the in-depth research in both of these books, and I want to read more by this writer. Does anyone have news about this author and what he is currently working on?
Rating:
Summary: Why is Mike Sowell Out Of Print?
Review: This and his best book, "The Pitch That Killed" are great baseball books. What has happend to Mike Sowell? Why are these great books out of print? I was amazed by the in-depth research in both of these books, and I want to read more by this writer. Does anyone have news about this author and what he is currently working on?
Rating:
Summary: Good, informative piece on 1986 Post Season
Review: This book consists of two parts:
The first one is about the American League Championship Series (centered around the Angels and their manager Gene Mauch), the National League Championship Series (centered around the Mets? fear of Houston?s splitfinger-fastballing pitcher Mike Scott and their cheating allegations against him), and the World Series (centered around Boston?s First Baseman Bill Buckner).
The second part includes chapters on Donnie Moore, Mike Witt, Doug DeCinces, Bob Knepper, Billy Hatcher, Mike Scott, Gary Carter, Ray Knight, Mookie Wilson, Bill Buckner, Dave Stapleton, Calvin Schiraldi, Bob Stanley, and Dave Henderson and the pivotal roles they played during the 1986 Post Season. (Unfortunately, it seems the author wasn?t able to get Roger Clemens for an interview.)
In addittion to this the book has 22 black-and-white photographs (some of them are team?s promo-portrait-pictures, some are game-photos, and some are recent shots of the players today) and a really good index.
The overall-tone of the book seemed a little too neutral and reserved to me, but on the other hand everything was told in a very exact way. The player-interviews which were worked into the text seamlessly by the author definitely liven the book up.
I liked this book because it had a lot of new information for me. Mike Sowell offers a view of both sides of the games. But at first I was a little bit disappointed because in spite of the exact title of the book I had hoped it would be more about the Red Sox - my favorite team! It wasn?t written especially for fans of one of the four teams involved - so be prepared!
All in all I?d say "One Pitch Away" is an informative (even if it?s more of a general work) book on one of baseball?s post seasons.
Rating:
Summary: in depth players' accounts of the 1986 postseason
Review: Without even being a huge baseball fan I was intrigued by this well told story of the 1986 League Championships and World Series. The history of the games was very dramatic and well written. It also gave very in depth and personal accounts from the players of those series and the impact they had on their lives. It told of the heartbreak and happiness that one postseason could inflict on so many people.
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