In Bull Durham, the late Max Patkin — the “clown prince of baseball” playign himself in the film — is talking up Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) to Annie Savoy (Susan Sarndon), telling her what an unusual guy he is. “I actually saw him read a book once,” Patkin says with a touch of awe, adding that the publication didn;t even have pictures in it.
Meet Matt DeSalvo, the latest in a stream of Yankee rookie pitchers, and subject 
of a recent New York Times article by Tyler Kepner for the simple fact that the young man actually reads!
The budding bibliophile — who has a list of 400 books he wants to read before he dies — pitched well in his debut, a no-decision in the 3-2 loss to the Mariners in which he game up one run on three hits in seven innings. He won his first game five days later, again in a game against the Mariners, giveing up two runs in 6.1 innings.
As if to show how much of an anomaly DeSalvo must be, Kepner puts his hobby in context:
“He is halfway through the list already, having devoured 17 books during spring training alone. Teammates marvel at this.
“For me to read a 200-page book,” said the reserve catcher Wil Nieves, who caught DeSalvo in the minors, “it would probably take two years.”
More on DeSalvo from the blog, BookChase.
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