OT: Best Sports Book Ever?

[bags27]

At my wife's urging (she's an avid tennis player; I'm not), I'm reading David Foster Wallace's String Theory (= On Tennis: Five Essays). Why am I not surprised that the prose is jawdroppingly brilliant? But as sports writing, it is now far-and-away my all-time favorite. Even if you're not a tennis fan, download it at Amazon as On Tennis for 5 bucks and you'll have a mesmerizing evening.

 

[todbo]

Try Green Bay Diary.

 

[reno tony]

Title got me. Sports books are also locations to place bets in Nevada.

 

[Intpseeker]

Boys in the Boat. Great story. Excellent writing.

Although kid fiction, reading many of the Chip Hilton books (Clair Bee) beginning when I was eight years old, impacted both my understanding of the inherent values of sports, if done right, as well as the strategic side of it.

 

[cbraarj]

Foul 1st time l read all about Connie Hawkins ! Read this for the 1st time in 1977 Was Blacklisted from the NBA for a few years for receiving illegal benefits in college but made the 50th Anny team!

 

[johnnyc]

There are many for me but I know what was number one back in the day. As a kid who was a Knick fan and who played street ball all day into the night this was the book.....

The City Game: Basketball from the Garden to the Playgrounds

The City Game

 

[MicVol]

Boys in the Boat. Great story. Excellent writing.

Although kid fiction, reading many of the Chip Hilton books (Clair Bee) beginning when I was eight years old, impacted both my understanding of the inherent values of sports, if done right, as well as the strategic side of it.

Loved Boys in the Boat, but another great crew story from the female side, is Red Rose Crew by Daniel Boyne.

 

[cookie447]

Nothing not to like about SEABISCUIT. Wonderful story, brilliantly presented!

 

[RowdyFan]

A Season On The Brink....a year with Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein.

 

[johnnyc]

Foul 1st time l read all about Connie Hawkins ! Read this for the 1st time in 1977 Was Blacklisted from the NBA for a few years for receiving illegal benefits in college but made the 50th Anny team!

Yep..... this was part of my basketball reading trifecta.....The City Game, Foul and The Open Man by Dave DeBusschere

 

[ThisJustIn]

In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle - great chronicle of a high school season (with Stanford great Jamila Wideman)

My Losing Season - fascinating coming of age story

 

[Waquoit]

Ball Four. Been a favorite of mine since I read it in 8th grade. It's no accident that that the best friends I met in college were big fans. 2nd place: Bad Stuff 'bout The Mets.

 

[8893]

Ball Four. Been a favorite of mine since I read it in 8th grade. It's no accident that that the best friends I met in college were big fans. 2nd place: Bad Stuff 'bout The Mets.

I loved Ball Four, too. Read it around that same age also. Eye-opener, to put it mildly.

 

[MicVol]

A Season On The Brink....a year with Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein.

Oh favorites are hard, I get so excited about good sports reads. I have liked lots of Feinstein's books. One of those I really liked was The Last Amateurs.

 

[loneycafe]

A good novel related to tennis is Anne Lamott's "Crooked Little Heart."

I second the "In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle."

In the similar vein, a haunting book about girls basketball is "Counting Coup."

 

[calpedaler]

I third In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle.
Loved Seabiscuit.
My grandpa gave me his old copy of The Boys of Summer.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Kahn's, The Boys of Summer
Plimpton's, Paper Lion

 

[Gus Mahler]

I loved Ball Four, too. Read it around that same age also. Eye-opener, to put it mildly.

Me three. We recited lines from that book for years.

 

[j66kicker]

Moneyball. Great business book too!

 

[RegisteredUconn]

The Real All Americans about Jim Thorpe's Carlisle team (by Sally Jenkins).

Real All Americans: The Team That Changed a Game, a People, a Nation

 

[Kibitzer]

My favorites:

- 1948, by David Halberstam. Great narrative of Red Sox vs. Yankees in epic season climax.
- George Will's foray into baseball.Excellent book (title forgotten)
- Absent Friends and Smith on Baseball, by the incomparable Red Smith.
- Jerry Kramer's book about Lombardi and the Packers.
- The Ones Who Hit the Hardest. Dallas vs. Pittsburgh in the 1970's.
- Let Me Tell You a Story. Red Aeurbach & John Feinstein.
- Geno's book. C'mon!​

 

[johnnyc]

Babe: The Legend Comes To Life - Robert Creamer
Shoeless Joe - W.P. Kinsella

 

[Zorro]

Ball Four, My Losing Season, Boys of Summer. Bird at the Buzzer.

 

[UNHAlumInCT]

"When the Game Was Ours with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird" by Jackie MacMullan.

Really enjoyed "Foul" as well.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I love to read so it's not just one......
No special order-----
I Never Had It Made Jackie Robinson
Bird At The Buzzer Mel Goldberg
October 1964 David Halberstram
Instant Replay Jerry Kramer
Sixty One Tony Kubeck
The Bronx Zoo Sparky Lyle
the Closer Mariano Rivera
Me And My Dad Paul O'Neill

There are some books above - -Boys of Summer
Ball Four

 

[Fishy]

My first reaction to the thread title was that my favorite was either the Venetian or the Mirage.

Maybe I should start reading more.

 

[meyers7]

Fever Pitch - Bruce Hornby (better/different than either movie)
Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We are Afraid to Talk About It - Jon Entine (very interesting, not as provocative as you would think, read)

 

[Adesmar123]

Best sports book ever?

Louie on Main St above the barber shop....quick to call back when you call...pays off quickly and has beed known to let you slide for a week.

Could there be anyone better?

 

[VAUConnFan]

Ramblers - Michael Lenehan(great read, fantastic book about the 1963 national champion Loyola of Chicago Ramblers)
Just Let Me Play - Charlie Sifford with James Gullo

 

[huskyblooz]

"Fatso" by Art Donovan
"The Matheny Manifesto" by Mike Matheny
"The Winner Within" by Pat Riley