About this item
THE MAN WHO BATTED A THOUSANDA spectacular debut major-league game—then obscurity.On the final day of the 1963 major-league baseball season, Houston Colt .45s teen sensation John Paciorek—in his one and only big-league game—went three-for-three, giving him a career batting average of 1.000. He also notched three RBI and scored four times. In the outfield John played magnificently, cleanly fielding all four balls hit to him. His was, truly, a perfect game—the most spectacular game ever by a player in his only big-league appearance. Then, a back injury dropped him just as quickly back down to the minor leagues, where he soon departed from baseball forever. A rare jewel of baseball history, Perfect tells John’s remarkable story, from his childhood in Detroit, to athletic excellence in high school, to a solitary season in the low minors, to his one shining day in the majors and everything that followed.
About the Author
Steven K. Wagner is a longtime author and freelance writer. He began his career as a newspaper reporter, working for several small papers before joining the legendary wire service United Press International in Boise, Idaho, as assistant bureau chief. He left there to become an editor with Oregon's largest daily newspaper, The Oregonian, and later worked as the newspaper's night crime reporter. After four years with The Oregonian Mr. Wagner moved to Los Angeles and began working as a freelance journalist. His writing and photography appeared in the Los Angeles Times for 15 years and he has also completed assignments for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, Seattle Times, Oklahoma City Oklahoman, Baseball America and other newspapers. His first book, titled "Perfect: The Rise and Fall of John Paciorek, Baseball's Greatest One-Game Wonder" (Breakaway Books, NY) , was published in March 2015. His second book, titled "Seinsoth: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Dodger" (Sunbury Press, PA) , was released in November 2016. A third book, titled "Sixteen Bases: Tales of the Four-Home Run Batsmen," is in process. Mr. Wagner currently resides in Southern California.
