Sports books

[rponting]

Hello all. Just looking for some suggestions. I'm happily working my way through a list of sports books recommended by a friend in the States. I've acquired more than half of his ``absolute musts'' and have thoroughly enjoyed each of them, particularly Richard Ben Cramer's Dimaggio (how the heck did he sustain that style from front to bacK?)
Anyways, I'll put the list below. My question: are there any others I should be looking our for?


Cobb (Al Stump)
Babe (Robert Creamer)
Seabiscuit (Hillenbrand)
A Season on the Brink (Feinstein)
Joe Dimaggio (Cramer)
Summer of 49, October 64, Breaks of the Game, The Teamamtes (Halberstam)
Ball Four (Bouton)
The Boys of Summer, The Era (Kahn)
The Ticket Out (Sokolove)
The Game They Played (Cohen)
My Turf (Nack)
Moneyball (Lewis)
The Last Show (Darcy Frey)

 

[Lone_Star_Speed]

Bud, Sweat, & Tees: A Walk On the Wild Side of the PGA Tour--Alan Shipnuck
American Zoom--Peter Golenbock

 

[93Devil]

Men at Work - George Will

Basketball For the Player The Fan and the Coach - Arnold Red Auerbach

 

[The Big Ragu]

Heaven is a Playground, Rick Telander

 

[Huggy]

Greatest American Sportswriting of the 20th Century

 

[Willie-Butch]

Who's your Caddy -- Rick Reilly
And, as mentioned by LSS, Bud Sweat and Tees. Great, great book.

 

[FishHack76]

That's a great start to the list. I'll add
Buzz Bissinger's "Friday Night Lights"
William Nack's "Secretariat: The Making of a Champion"
and Ted McClelland's "Horseplayers: Life at the track"

 

[playthrough]

College Sports Inc. (Murray Sperber)
Instant Replay (Jerry Kramer/**** Schaap)
About Three Bricks Shy of a Load (Roy Blount)

 

[The Big Ragu]

So many GREAT ones in this genre, and I am not even including reality-based novels such as North Dallas Forty... I'd also add:

You Know Me Al, Ring Lardner (some of the richest writing you will find; and gives a great sense of the changes in the world of sports!)
Paper Lion, George Plimpton
No Cheering In The Press Box, Jerome Holtzman
Eight Men Out, Eliot Asinof
Only The Ball Was White, Robert Peterson
The Red Smith Reader, Red Smith

 

[Pilot]

The Kid Who Only Hit Homers — Matt Christopher
Catcher With A Glass Arm — Matt Christopher
Finding Buck McHenry —Alfred Slote

 

[outofplace]

College Sports Inc. (Murray Sperber)
Instant Replay (Jerry Kramer/**** Schaap)
About Three Bricks Shy of a Load (Roy Blount)

You beat me to the last one, playthrough, though I would recommend the update with some follow-up articles Blount wrote later in the decade. Great stuff. I'm going to have to dig that one back out and re-read it. Blount is great anyway, and nobody has written anything on the Steelers of the 70s that comes even close to this. Amazing that he did it before the dynasty really began.

Like I always do on these lists, I'll add my favorite and remind people to look past the terrible movie they made out of it.

For Love of the Game (Shaara)

 

[SoSueMe]

I found Game of Shadows absolutely fascinating. I knew steroids were rampant, but not like that. And it amazed me how many people talked and how much detail/info the guys from the Chronicle were able to come up with.

Growing up around Detroit, I liked The Final Season by Tom Stanton, who is from New Baltimore, Mich. and attended all 81 home games during the last season at Tiger Stadium. I can't believe some of the events in his life he missed by going to all 81 games.

Also, I LOVED the Era 1947-1957; When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World, by Roger Kahn.

Edit: Ooops. I see you listed the Era.

Oh, another interesting (sometimes dry) read is Tabboo; Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It by John Entine.

 

[Football_Bat]

I've heard about the one at the MGM Grand being pretty awesome, but I like the one at Mandalay Bay.









(That's really what I originally thought the thread topic was. No lie.)

 

[Ashy Larry]

I've heard about the one at the MGM Grand being pretty awesome, but I like the one at Mandalay Bay.









(That's really what I originally thought the thread topic was. No lie.)

me too.

 

[93Devil]

I second Heaven is a Playground and Three Bricks. I cannot believe I forgot those two. Just too much on my mind this morning I guess.

 

[chester]

48 Minutes by Terry Pluto and Bob Ryan. I read that when I was in junior high and just loved it for the behind-the-scene details it provides.

Nine Innings by Daniel Okrent is another of my personal favorites, for much the same reason as I liked 48 Minutes.

 

[Hustle]

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/42266/

 

[Football_Bat]

Heck, while we're at it ...

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/12804/

 

[jgmacg]

The Sweet Science - A.J. Liebling

 

[Del_B_Vista]

"Loose Balls," by Terry Pluto