Rex Barneys Thank Youuuu for 50 Years in Baseball from Brooklyn to Baltimore
by By Macht, Norman L. and Barney, Rex
Category: Sports & Recreation , Baseball , General

September 26, 1981, millions of viewers watched on NBC television as Nolan Ryan pitched his fifth no-hitter. Late in the game, commentator Tony Kubek asked Joe Garagiola, "Did you ever see anybody throw faster than Nolan Ryan?"Without hesitating, Joe replied, "Sure. Rex Barney."Joe Garagiola contributes the foreword for this story of Rex Barney, the man who threw faster than Feller, faster than Ryan; whose pitching career sped by quicker than his fastball because he could not control it. Barney became a legend as part of the most exciting era of the Brooklyn Dodgers - 1943 to 1951 - when Jackie Robinson came in and Leo Durocher switched to the hated New York Giants. Two months after Leo's departure, Barney no-hit the Giants in the Polo Grounds.In his own inimitable style, Rex tells the story of his battle to control his fastball and, later, his own life, and his struggles to overcome illness and a near-fatal stroke. Along the way, Rex takes the reader into dugouts, clubhouses, and broadcast booths to meet many of the managers, stars, and scrubinis he has known during his fifty years in baseball.