Matthew A. Tyner, Sr

About Matthew A. Tyner, Sr

This is not about my accomplishments it is about my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. This book could not have been completed without the generosity of my dear friends and colleagues who never wavered in their belief in me and the hope for this book. I owe special thanks for all the hours sacrificed to make this book possible by Anita L. Helm, Michael Melnik, and Greg Shaw. I will be forever grateful for them all working with me to make this book happen.
Why I Wrote This Book
I wrote this book to give you a laser-focused look at my life. You’ll learn about my lifelong struggle with addictions and all the places it touched: my baseball career, my relationships, and my eventual spiritual awakening.
Fast and Hard is my unvarnished story of how, for decades, addictions wrecked my life, hurt those around me, and denied me success in the game I love. This isn’t a story about baseball. It’s a story about a suffering boy in a man’s body who played a lot of baseball. It’s a story about a long and painful journey that eventually led to redemption.
People often ask, “How the hell are you still alive?” My simple answer is, “Only by the grace of God.” I wrote this book to give voice to His unbelievable grace. A childhood friend who became a Christian minister, Rev. William Helm, encouraged me to share my story. I hope reading it helps others as much as writing it has helped me. In some areas of the book, I have changed the names of people, or left them out completely, to protect their privacy.
I don’t expect you to like what you see because for years, I didn’t. I just hope Fast and Hard offers you some insight into a darkness that can be healed only through love and being honest with yourself, your friends and family, and God.
Why the title Fast and Hard? It came from an episode in 1981. I had spent a very long night partying with a guy named Mad Max. I had a game the following day and the stands were packed. I stepped into the batter’s box and the crowd suddenly quieted. It was as if the spectators were all holding their breath as I prepared to hit. What broke the silence wasn’t the fans. It was Mad Max screaming at the top of his lungs: “Hit it like you live, Tyner—fast and hard!”
Thank you