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best sports biographies

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by SheaSeals, May 30, 2007.

  1. friend of the friendless

    friend of the friendless Active Member

    Sirs, Madames,

    Well-Paid Slave and Koufax are the obvious choices. Halberstam's Red Sox book (Williams, Doerr, etc) is not a conventional bio but close enuf to count.

    YHS, etc
     
  2. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    Go back a little farther, to 2000, and you get Richard Ben Cramer's Dimaggio.
     
  3. Trey Beamon

    Trey Beamon Active Member

    I agree. It's hard to get over the image of Namath sitting at a bar, alone and competely depressed.

    Two more...

    When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

    Cobb by Al Stump
     
  4. BigSleeper

    BigSleeper Active Member

    While it certainly can 't be considered one of the best by any means, I recommend "Fatso: Football When Men Were Really Men" by Art Donovan. It seems to be mostly about Donovan's love of cold cuts and beer, but I remember finding it a really fun read.
     
  5. Not sure why, but I had a tough time getting past the first few chapters. I'm sure those are the slowest of the book, but I might never know.
     
  6. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    [​IMG]

    Let me preface this by saying: I don't like the Red Sox.
    But, this is an amazing biography and story of an amazing man.
    Worth the time of anyone. Montville extensively interviewed hordes of Williams contemporaries, and we all know how quickly that generation of Americans is disappearing. If you can handle swear words in your reading, I highly recommend.
     
  7. sportsed

    sportsed Member

    Gotta add Bill Nack's latest, Ruffian: A Race Track Romance.

    Though you won't be able to put this on your list of biographies from the past five years, add this one to your bookshelf if you haven't already: Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. It's a classic.

    I've had the pleasure of working with Bill on a handful of projects. He is, without question, a pro's pro.
     
  8. sportsed

    sportsed Member

    Oh, one more: Adrian Wojnarowski's The Miracle of St. Anthony, about high school coach Bob Hurley, is a damn good piece of journalism.
     
  9. Claws for Concern

    Claws for Concern Active Member

    Searching for Bobby Orr by Stephen Brunt.
     
  10. Jones

    Jones Active Member

    Whoopsie.

    I blame the misleading headline. And my poor comprehension skills.

    But now that this thing's gone off-field, I second the plug for Searching for Bobby Orr. Stephen Brunt is a very good writer always, but he especially nailed this one.

    He's also an excellent guy, one of my favorites in the business.
     
  11. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    Haven't read those books but Nack's SI story on Secretariat is the best sports story I've ever read.
     
  12. Curt Flood was by Brad Snyder, former Baltimore Sun reporter turned Yale law student turned biglaw attorney turned full-time author, all by about age 35.
     
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