Most people believe that being extremely tall would be fantastic. It isn't. It has its advantages, but it also has nearly as many disadvantages. It can be useful in basketball, business, and politics, and when friends are trying to find you in a crowded place. However. it's also inconvenient, expensive, sometimes harmful to one's health, and a little tedious to be bombarded almost daily with questions about how the weather is up there. In this book, the author takes a lighthearted look at the various aspects of extreme height, and those affected by it, from the perspective of someone who has spent the majority of his life towering above the crowd.

Though his Hall of Fame baseball career featured a curve ball nicknamed "Old Sal," Joseph McGinnity was as tough as the metal he worked in his off-season foundry job. This biography traces the hard life and colorful career of Iron Man McGinnity from his childhood working the coalfields of Illinois to his death in 1929. McGinnity may have been the most durable hurler in the history of the sport, often pitching both games of a doubleheader. He averaged more wins per season in his 10-year major league career than any pitcher in history, then continued to pitch for decades after that in the minor leagues, retiring at 54.