OT: Books About Sports

[Leebo33]

I just read Moneyball and I really enjoyed it. It made me realize how much I love good books about sports, but for some reason I seem to skip them over for fiction.

In the past few years I've read Ball Four, Men at Work, and The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro. I bought Fever Pitch to take with me on my vacation.

What else would you guys recommend?

[pk500]

"Rough Ride" by Paul Kimmage.

It's a great expose about the widespread drug abuse in the pro cycling peloton in the 1980s and early 1990s by a former pro rider and Tour de France veteran.

It's a scary read even if you're not into cycling. And Kimmage holds no punches and admits he was part of the problem. The guy can write, as he became a cycling reporter after he retired.

If the steroid problem in baseball is even a quarter as bad as the drug problem in cycling, then the sport is tainted badly.

Take care,
PK

[James_E]

Hey Leebo, I want to read Moneyball. Want to do a swap (temporary)? You mail me moneyball, I mail you something back, then we return the books to each other. (Ala "book club")

I have:


"May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy"

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0 ... 02-0755250

Which really opened my eyes to evil of some owners and specifically Bud Selig.

and

"Paths to Glory: How Great Baseball Teams Got That Way"

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1 ... 02-0755250

Which I'm currently reading.

[Leebo33]

Sorry, James. I rented it from the public library. Our library system is online so it is very easy to browse the catalog and reserve books. I usually limit my book purchases to the times when I am traveling.

We save quite a bit of money, which I then proceed to blow on buying every crappy baseball game that comes out.

[Naples39]

On the baseball tip, I read "Veeck as in Wreck" last year and really enjoyed it. Turns back the clock a bit from the other stuff going around in this thread, but definitely worth a read IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

[BBReBozo]

Just finished "The Punch" by John Feinstein on audiobook a few weeks ago. Pretty good stuff, and a great subject (the fight between Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjonovich that nearly killed Rudy T. and changed both their lives) but I'm not sure there's enough material for a book. As a result, Feinstein repeats himself an awful lot in the book and presents a lot of tangential matter that doesn't so much serve the subject with the context of the times, as merely flesh out the book.

I think this subject would have made an excellent long piece in SI or ESPN the magazine. As a book, there's just not enough here to sustain it.

Still, I enjoy Feinstein and his books. You can't really go wrong with any of his stuff.

[abrams99]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

Baseball's fall classic was born in October 1903, when the Boston Americans, the American League champions, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the National League pennant winners, played the first World Series. The games drew thousands of loyal, high-spirited fans to the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, the "Athens of America," and to Exposition Park in Pittsburgh, the "Smokey City." Local newspapers of the day devoted as much coverage to the shenanigans of the spectators as they did to the exciting action on the diamond.
In this vivid and lively account, Roger I. Abrams recaptures the drama and color of this historic sporting event. He shows how the series, which was won in eight games by the Boston Americans, provides a unique lens to view American life and culture at the dawn of the twentieth century. This is a fascinating story brimming with colorful, larger-than-life characters: legendary players Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Jimmy Collins, Fred Clarke, Big Bill Dineen, and Deacon Phillippe on the field; and Mike "Nuf Ced" McGreevey, "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, and the boisterous Boston Royal Rooters, cheering, chanting, and singing in the grandstands. This is also the story of how the post-season play gave disparate classes in society—Brahmins, industrialists, Irish politicians, Jewish immigrants—the rare opportunity to join together in common support of their local teams and heroes.

I read it. It's different and fun.

[F308GTB]

Ball Four was certainly a great read. I'd like to get Graeme Obree's book (cyclist). I hear good things about it. Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike is a good one as well. Read that while in the hospital after breaking my hip (cycling accident). Made for a quick recovery.

[einmanXP]

Hardy Boys: Ball Four

Choose Your Own Adventure: <The one about a Rally type race: I think using the SABB 900 was the wrong choice>

Curious George: Man in yellow hat vs 1979 Pardres (for the love of Steve Garvys wife)

[Cincinnati_Kid]

i recently snagged a hard cover version of hardball off of ebay great read

[pk500]

Z:

Have you read Murray Walker's autobiography?

Murray is a colorful character, to say the least, and he's been around F1 since the beginning of the World Championship in 1950, so the book is entertaining despite its huge size.

Take care,
PK

[LAking]

Fever Pitch is a great book, especially if you consider yourself a true fanatic of any one team in particular. That book is like my bible. It perfectly sums up what being a sports fan is all about.

Any of the George Plimpton books where he writes about joining a pro sports team (Detroit Lions, Boston Bruins, etc.). Being a hockey fan i loved the Bruins one. I can't remember what it was called though. He played in goal for one pre-season game with the Bruins during the 70's. He even witnessed a bench clearing brawl where the guys were fighting in the hallways outside the dressing rooms, with skates on and everything. Fun read.

[Brando70]

I actually haven't read that many sports books, but I really enjoyed David Halberstam's Playing for Keeps, his book about Michael Jordan. Very well written and tremendously insightful into what made Jordan tick.

[pk500]

Former Boston Globe and SI reporter Leigh Montville just wrote a book on the life of Ted Williams, focusing a lot on after he retired from baseball.

Newsweek just ran a review of it, and it sounds like a very interesting read about a very complex guy.

Take care,
PK

[Bill_Abner]

The Glory of Their Times : The Story of Baseball Told By the Men Who Played It

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

Wonderful, wonderful read

[GB_Simo]

PK is onto something when he suggests Murray Walker's autobiography, "Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken". As a Brit I grew up listening to Murray's commentary on pretty well any form of motorsport you care to mention, and his style (the Australian humourist Clive James once said that "in his quieter moments, Murray talks as if his trousers are on fire") comes across wonderfully well in the book. I read it in one extremely long sitting, which was a mistake - this is a book to be savoured.

I've just finished 'Chasing The Title' by my favourite motorsport journalist Nigel Roebuck, which is a hugely entertaining look at many of the key episodes in the history of the Formula One World Championship from its inception in 1950 to its 50th anniversary in 2000. The asking price is a little prohibitive, and if you register on the Autosport magazine website and have a scout around the Ask Nigel section you'll end up reading 90% of the book, but it's still worth hunting down if you have any interest at all in the sport.

Also, though I fancy this is something of a niche title - 'From Tears To Cheers', the diary of Hartlepool United midfielder Ritchie Humphreys for our promotion-winning 2002/03 season. Nope, didn't think so.

Cheers,
Adam

[Sudz]

I've read a ton of hockey books in the past year or so.

Sean Pronger's book = Good read. Nice account of an NHL journeyman and having a better brother playing. Said thanks for reading when I reached out on Twitter.
Patrick Sullivan's Book = Decent read. Story about growing up with a terrible father. Never said s*** when I reached out via Twitter. Is kind of a dick on NHL Network radio.
Bernd Bruckler's book on playing in the KHL = Good read on how shitty the KHL can be.Said thanks for reading when I reached out on Twitter.
Terry Ryan's book on getting drafted by the Canadians = Great read on the life of a 1st rounder. Another kid with a shitty dad.Said thanks for reading when I reached out on Twitter.
Bob McKenzie's latest = Meh. Kinda boring but a few decent stories.

I donated those books (aside from Bob's book) but have a few others I'm reading. Anyone interested in me sending them along (for free) when I'm done? I have one on players who played just 1 NHL game and Gretzky's latest.

[greggsand]

A friend of mine just published his first novel. It's geared to the 'young adult' crowd. "This was Never about Basketball"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990548929/re ... Fzb4GHN3S2

[FifaInspected]

English Soccer Fans: Anything that Michael Calvin has written is 'Must Read"

The Nowhere Men - The untold story of football's true talent spotters.
Living on the Volcano - The secrets of surviving as a Football manager
Family: Life, Death and Football (soccer) One year spent on the frontline of a proper football club.
No Hunger in Paradise: The Players, The Journey, The Dream.


David Goldblatt's The Game of our Lives and The Ball is Round are both Fantastic.

Daniel Taylor's I Believe in Miracles - the Remarkable story of Brian Clough's European cup winning team.

As Mentioned.. Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch is a great read as well.