Pitching to the Corners

Most professional baseball players hang up their spikes for good after their time in the major or minor leagues. Don August chose a different path. In 1989, August was the Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day starting pitcher. The year before, he went 13–7 and finished fourth in the balloting for American League Rookie of the Year. He was the Brewers’ Ace—and then, suddenly, he wasn’t.

By 1992, August was a free agent looking for an opportunity that no big league team was willing to offer. After playing winter ball in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, he signed to play in Mexico. After refusing to be a replacement player during the Major League Baseball lockout in 1994, he continued his career in Taiwan, learning new languages, earning multiple awards, making game show experiences, and surviving earthquakes, gambling scandals and a hurricane. After five years, August left Taiwan, and ended up in Europe, pitching his team to the Italian League title. This book is the complete autobiography of a singular baseball player, with a storied international career to which few players can lay claim.

Don August was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Baseball team after completing a standout career as a pitcher at Chapman College in Orange, California. He then joined the Houston Astros organization as the club’s first round draft pick. His pro career took him across two oceans, spending five years in the Taiwanese professional ranks and one year in Italy before retiring after the 2000 season. He has gone on to become a teacher and highly successful high school baseball coach in the Milwaukee area, earning more than 250 wins in the dugout.

Mark Knudson is a former standout pitcher at Colorado State University and a veteran of 12 years in professional baseball. He earned a Journalism degree from CSU while becoming a 3rd round draft pick of the Houston Astros. After retiring, he turned to sports writing and broadcasting, working in radio and TV while being selected by Boulder Daily Camera as Best Sports Talk Show Host in Denver. He is a high school baseball coach; a feature writer for Mile High Sports and www.WoodyPaige.com, and does a Colorado Rockies podcast on www.BLEAV.com.

Don August with Mark Knudson
Foreword by Dan Plesac
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 229
Bibliographic Info: 38 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9307-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5381-5
Imprint: McFarland

Foreword by Dan Plesac 1
Introduction 3
One. Break on Through 5
Two. Who’ll Stop the Rain? 22
Three. Travelin’ Man 36
Four. Speaking in Tongues 57
Five. Cheeseburger in Paradise 73
Six. Family of Man 90
Seven. The Replacements 106
Eight. Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man 120
Nine. People Are Strange 135
Ten. Scenes from the Italian Restaurant 152
Eleven. The End 170
Twelve. Glory Days 196
Epilogue: With a Little Help from My Friends 209
Index 217