"puffball" using rosin dust. Perry also showed Sudyk how he hid additives on his uniform and body. Sudyk also traveled to Perry's home in North Carolina. Synopsis In the book, Perry talks about beginning his MLB career as the "11th man on an 11‐man pitching staff" for San Francisco. He learned how to throw a spitball from Bob Shaw, a teammate of Perry's with the Giants, as well as how to hide that he was throwing it from the umpires and opposing team. Perry discussed using the pitch in a game for the first time on May 31, 1964, against the New York Mets, during extra innings of the second game of a doubleheader. He pitched ten innings without allowing a run, and entered the Giants' starting rotation soon after. Perry would chew slippery elm bark to build up his saliva. He wrote that he stopped throwing the spitball in 1968, when MLB changed the rules that had previously permitted a pitcher to touch his fingers to his mouth before touching the baseball. However, he turned to other substances that he could put on the ball, such as Vaseline and K-Y Jelly. Perry publicly stated that he began to throw a forkball. While he was pitching, Perry employed decoy maneuvers, touching different parts of his uniform and person, to give himself a psychological edge over the hitters. The book also discusses Perry's early life in rural North Carolina, as he and his older brother, Jim, grew up in a farmhouse that did not have electricity until he was 13 years old or indoor plumbing when he was 15 years old. Release and reception An excerpt of the book was released in the September 1973 issue of Sport. Perry conducted interviews during off days of the 1973 season to promote the book. A promotional segment on The Today Show on NBC was cancelled because a producer did not want to promote cheating. The book was released in 1974. Kuhn said that he enjoyed the book. Before the 1974 season, MLB added to Rule 8.02; now nicknamed "Gaylord's Rule", it allowed umpires to call an automatic ball if they suspected a spitball, and eject the pitcher on the second offense. In response to Perry's claim that he stopped throwing a spitball, Dave Anderson of The New York Times wrote: "It's not the first autobiography with some fiction in it." Perry gained a