Roy Halladay often references The Mental ABC's of Pitching by the late sports psychologist Harvey A. Dorfman and supposedly never travels without it. Jamie Moyer, too, used to talk about the book. When Dorfman died earlier this year, I was moved to get the book from the library.
It turns out to be a fascinating book, even for one who is not a pitcher or aspiring to be one. If I had bought the book, I would still be annotating it. It is simply stuffed with insights and practical advice, much of which goes way beyond baseball. It could easily be a handbook for writers. Simply put it's about right attitude, right approach, right effort, right execution. Dorfman understands how very difficult it is to put these things into action and walks the pitcher/reader through endless practical ways to stay focused on the here and now of pitching. This is not marshmallow of a book. It may not be for everyone, but you will not know that till you read it.
Two things in recent years have enhanced how I look at pitching. One was an interview with a Chinese artist named Xiang Yang (www.xiang-yang.org), which I did in Philadelphia right before going to a Phillies game. Yang's amazing thread works and his reflections on 'moving objects in space' still color my appreciation for pitching. Dorfman's book is the second. Things from the book keep coming to mind each time I now watch a game. I guess I could add a third: seeing Roy Halladay pitch again and again in person.
