Tim Wendel is the author most recently of DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH , which offers an inside look at the 1991 World Series, arguably the best of all time. His previous book, SUMMER OF '68: THE SEASON WHEN BASEBALL, AND AMERICA, CHANGED FOREVER, was a Top 10 choice by Publisher's Weekly and a Notable Book for 2013 by the State of Michigan.

The baseball trilogy began with HIGH HEAT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FASTBALL AND THE IMPROBABLE SEARCH FOR THE FASTEST PITCHER OF ALL TIME , which was an Editor's Selection by The New York Times Book Review.

Of his 11 books, Tim has published several works of fiction, including CASTRO'S CURVEBALL (Ballantine/​U of Nebraska) and RED RAIN (Writers' Lair) and HABANA LIBRE (CityLit Press).

His nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, American Scholar, National Geographic Traveler, USA Weekend, Washingtonian, GQ and Esquire, and his fiction in Gargoyle, Stymie and Potomac Review. In addition, he regularly contributes to Huffington Post and USA Today’s op-ed page, and he co-wrote one of the 2005 finalists for the Good Morning America national memoir contest.

CASTRO'S CURVEBALL was his thesis project at Johns Hopkins University, with Ballantine/​Random House purchasing it as he finished the program. As an instructor at JHU, Wendel has received the 2009 Award for Teaching Excellence and the Professional Achievement Award in 2004 and 2010. In addition, he is a Walter E. Dakin Fellow and Tennessee Williams Scholar to the Sewanee Writing Conference, and a Pen/​Faulkner visiting writer to the Washington, D.C. Public Schools.

Tim is currently a writer in residence at JHU. He has a master's in writing from there and a bachelor's degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University. Born in Philadelphia, Tim was raised in Lockport, N.Y. One of his first jobs was writing music reviews for The Buffalo Courier-Express. Since then he's worked on both coasts and in between, covering everything from the Olympics to politics to the America's Cup.

He lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife and they have two children.

Books by Tim Wendel

High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time

by Tim Wendel - Nonfiction, Sports

At its heart, HIGH HEAT is a reflection on our infatuation with the fastball --- the expectation it carries, the raw ability it puts on display and, most of all, the feats and trials of those who have attempted to master it. As Wendel puts it, “The tale of high heat can lead in several different directions at once, and the real story has more to do with triumph and tragedy that with the simple act of throwing a baseball.”