As I gained scientific knowledge and major league game experience, I developed a plan for how I wanted to pitch.   During my 1967 baseball season with the Detroit Tigers, I learned that I did not have pitches with which to equally challenge right and left-handed batters.   I needed pitches that enabled me to pitch equally well to both sides of home plate.   In 1967, I started training every day throughout the year to learn how to achieve the spin axes I needed to make my pitches move toward both sides of home plate.   With my increasing knowledge of the Physiology of Exercise, I adjusted my interval training program.   After every high speed cinematographic analysis, I adjusted my force application techniques.

     Finally, before the 1972 season, I felt reasonably prepared to pitch as I planned.   As a result, in 65 games, I pitched 116 closer relief innings with an 1.78 earned run average that produced 14 wins, 8 losses and 18 saves.   Additionally, I convinced my field manager, Gene Mauch, that I could effectively pitch in more games.

     In 1973, I pitched 179 closer relief innings in 92 games with a 2.66 earned run average that produced 14 wins, 11 losses and 31 saves.   I set major league records for relief innings pitched (179) and appearances (92).

     In 1974, I pitched 208 closer relief innings in 106 games with a 2.42 earned run average that produced 15 wins, 12 losses and 21 saves.   I reset the major league records for relief innings pitched (208) and game appearances (106).   I also set major league records for most consecutive games won (3), most consecutive games pitched (13) and most games finished (83).

     From 1972 through 1974, I averaged 168 innings in 88 games with a 2.36 earned run average.   My pitching plan succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.   In 1979, I reset my major league record for most games finished (84) and set American League records for game appearances (90) and relief appearances (89).

     For my 1972 season, sportswriters voted me fourth in the National League Cy Young balloting.   For my 1973 season, they voted me second in the National League Cy Young balloting and I received the 1973 National League Fireman of the Year Award.   With 179 relief innings pitched, I became the first closer relief pitcher to pitch more than the required 162 innings to qualify for the earned run average title.

     For my 1974 season, they voted me first in the National League Cy Young balloting, making me the first relief pitcher to receive the Cy Young Award.   I also received my second National League Fireman of the Year Award.   New York Mets manager, Yogi Berra, selected me for the 1974 All-Star game and I pitched two scoreless innings.   With 208 relief innings pitched, I became the only closer relief pitcher to twice qualify for the National League earned run average title.

     In 1975, Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Walter Alston, selected me for the 1975 All-Star team.   In 1978, sportswriters voted me seventh in the American League Cy Young balloting.   In 1979, sportswriters again voted me seventh in the American League Cy Young balloting and I received my third Fireman of the Year Award.

     I played professional baseball from March 1961 to October 1981.   During my first four years, I played minor league shortstop and earned minor league all-star recognition three times, including in the double-A Southern League.   Thereafter, I pitched for seventeen years, fourteen of which were in the major leagues.

     From 1974 on, sportswriters persistently asked me to explain how I could pitch high quality innings so frequently.   I always answered that Biomechanics/Kinesiology, Physiology of Exercise and Motor Skill Acquisition trained me.   They always wanted greater details.   When I gave them greater details, they wanted me to give them simpler answers.   With this book, I will as simply as possible again answer how pitchers should apply force to their pitches.