Top Lady
1) God Save the Fan, Will Leitch
I’m a huge fan of Deadspin.com, and Buzz Bissinger’s face-to-face assault of Leitch on Bob Costas’ show a few months back makes me like it even more (especially since Leitch stayed as cool as a cucumber the whole time, even though it was pretty clear that Buzz has no idea what a blog is). Also, midway through the book, he describes watching the Cardinals win the 2006 NLCS in a bar in New York—and I was there with him!
2) Moneyball, Michael Lewis
The concept that you can win a baseball game without getting a lot of hits (or, for that matter, any hits) is pretty revolutionary. The fact that I understand that concept (and know who Billy Beane is) is thanks to this book.
3) The Natural, Bernard Malamud
A great work of literature about the appetite for success that drives successful athletes in any sport.
4) Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
See above, non-human category.
5) Kids' sports books of fun facts and bloopers
Every house with one or more boys has these. They tend to be oversized, they have cartoon drawings instead of photos, and your mom probably bought it at the grocery store. But, 20 years later, I can still tell you that the first basketball game was played with peach baskets nailed to a wall instead of nets.
Top Guy
1) Veeck as in Wreck, Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck is the greatest promoter in baseball’s history. He planted the ivy at Wrigley Field, introduced fireworks and exploding scoreboards to the game, and convinced then White Sox announcer Harry Carey to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. Veeck was also a baseball man, winning championships as the owner of the Indians and White Sox, integrating the American League with the signing of Larry Doby, and becoming a “Champion of the Little People” by sending Eddie Gaedel to bat. Veeck as in Wreck is his autobiography, and it’s one of my favorite books in any genre.
2) The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam
The best sports books are those that are only about sports on the surface, and Halberstam’s The Breaks of the Game is a masterpiece. It’s ostensibly about the 1979 Portland Trail Blazers, a nearly perfect team derailed by big egos, salary disputes and a freak medical condition afflicting its star player. However, the book is really about the problems of selling a black sport to a predominantly white audience and how the infusion of major money affects everything that happens on and off the court.
3) Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
This is another sports book that is only kind of about sports. This time, the focus is on Texas high school football, but the heart of the book is how high school football weaves itself into the fabric of society. While Bissinger chronicles one year in the life of a small-town football team, his book also delves into subjects such as race, class, gender roles and relationships between parents and their children.
4) Ball Four, Jim Bouton
Bouton didn’t write the first tell-all about the life of a baseball player, but he definitely wrote the best. The book is Bouton’s diary of his 1977 comeback with the expansion Seattle Pilots (which would only last one year in Seattle before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers). The book was controversial from the start for breaking the code that what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room, and Bouton was virtually blacklisted from the game following its publication.
5) The Bad Guys Won, Jeff Pearlman
When I was nine years old, the New York Mets won the World Series, and I jumped on the bandwagon. Over the years, I heard that the championship team was nothing more than a collection of really talented scoundrels—the stars were Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry—but I didn’t know just how bad those Mets were until reading Pearlman’s account of the 1986 season. The book also serves as a primer on how to build a World Series team and on how to dismantle that team right after the champagne stops flowing.
1) God Save the Fan, Will Leitch
I’m a huge fan of Deadspin.com, and Buzz Bissinger’s face-to-face assault of Leitch on Bob Costas’ show a few months back makes me like it even more (especially since Leitch stayed as cool as a cucumber the whole time, even though it was pretty clear that Buzz has no idea what a blog is). Also, midway through the book, he describes watching the Cardinals win the 2006 NLCS in a bar in New York—and I was there with him!
2) Moneyball, Michael Lewis
The concept that you can win a baseball game without getting a lot of hits (or, for that matter, any hits) is pretty revolutionary. The fact that I understand that concept (and know who Billy Beane is) is thanks to this book.
3) The Natural, Bernard Malamud
A great work of literature about the appetite for success that drives successful athletes in any sport.
4) Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand
See above, non-human category.
5) Kids' sports books of fun facts and bloopers
Every house with one or more boys has these. They tend to be oversized, they have cartoon drawings instead of photos, and your mom probably bought it at the grocery store. But, 20 years later, I can still tell you that the first basketball game was played with peach baskets nailed to a wall instead of nets.
Top Guy
1) Veeck as in Wreck, Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck is the greatest promoter in baseball’s history. He planted the ivy at Wrigley Field, introduced fireworks and exploding scoreboards to the game, and convinced then White Sox announcer Harry Carey to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch. Veeck was also a baseball man, winning championships as the owner of the Indians and White Sox, integrating the American League with the signing of Larry Doby, and becoming a “Champion of the Little People” by sending Eddie Gaedel to bat. Veeck as in Wreck is his autobiography, and it’s one of my favorite books in any genre.
2) The Breaks of the Game, David Halberstam
The best sports books are those that are only about sports on the surface, and Halberstam’s The Breaks of the Game is a masterpiece. It’s ostensibly about the 1979 Portland Trail Blazers, a nearly perfect team derailed by big egos, salary disputes and a freak medical condition afflicting its star player. However, the book is really about the problems of selling a black sport to a predominantly white audience and how the infusion of major money affects everything that happens on and off the court.
3) Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
This is another sports book that is only kind of about sports. This time, the focus is on Texas high school football, but the heart of the book is how high school football weaves itself into the fabric of society. While Bissinger chronicles one year in the life of a small-town football team, his book also delves into subjects such as race, class, gender roles and relationships between parents and their children.
4) Ball Four, Jim Bouton
Bouton didn’t write the first tell-all about the life of a baseball player, but he definitely wrote the best. The book is Bouton’s diary of his 1977 comeback with the expansion Seattle Pilots (which would only last one year in Seattle before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers). The book was controversial from the start for breaking the code that what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room, and Bouton was virtually blacklisted from the game following its publication.
5) The Bad Guys Won, Jeff Pearlman
When I was nine years old, the New York Mets won the World Series, and I jumped on the bandwagon. Over the years, I heard that the championship team was nothing more than a collection of really talented scoundrels—the stars were Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry—but I didn’t know just how bad those Mets were until reading Pearlman’s account of the 1986 season. The book also serves as a primer on how to build a World Series team and on how to dismantle that team right after the champagne stops flowing.
4 comments:
You should have pulled your list from here.
The only sports book I have ever read was "Hard Courts" by John Feinstein. When I was 12 and obsessed with playing tennis. I remember being wholly scandalized.
(http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Courts-John-Feinstein/dp/0394583337)
I'm glad to get some different recommendations...!
What about "Top 5 Sports Movies"?
Top 5 Sports Movies is a great idea--thanks! Watch for it soon.
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