The Sporting News Selects Baseball's Greatest Players : A Celebration of the 20th Century's Best

by Ron (Author) / Mays Smith

Call this a labor of love. Call it an honor, a challenge, an opportunity for closure. Call it appropriate for The Sporting News, the publication that has been a watchdog and chronicle for baseball since 1876, to select the 100 greatest players of the 20th century. The names roll off the tongue like a split-finger baseball. Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Bench, Greg Maddux, George Brett, Mickey Mantle. Not only have TSN's editors determined the cream of baseball's crop over a 100-year period, they have dared to rank the players according to the talent and passion they brought to the field and the emotion and excitement they stirred among generations of fans. All of the Top 100 made a lasting imprint on a game that celebrates its heroes like no other.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Reference, Nonfiction, Biography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is of value to football fans because it does not have the reactionary results of a Sportcenter or Espn production. Many current sports magazines and Television outlets have a memory of sports heroes that generally goes back to the previous Monday because all they are concerned about is hype. This book took many generations of players and sports writers and had them pick a top ten group of Hall of Famers and celebrated football players so that one person could not screw up the results. Once that was tabulated they went on to 10 to 15th, 25th to 50th and finally the final group. It certainly seems to be a fair manner in which to judge athletes over nearly a century of play. Each athlete has a comprehensive summary of his career and accomplishments.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't about Kershaw, Pujols, or Cabrera. This is a look back at the best of the 20th Century. Pictured on the cover are Ruth, Mays and Griffey, Jr. However, don't make the mistake of thinking these are the top 3 of the that century. Spoiler alert: Three from the "chemicals make me better" era sneak including Bonds and McGwire. Nothing in depth, but this book features:
1. An introduction by Willie Mays;
2. Photos from the extensive files of The Sporting News;
3. A key stat box for each of the 100 selected.

Eye-candy for the table in the man cave, and sure to start some good discussions, such as: "was Maddux better than Carlton?"

[Cws]

J7963Smi

[Jamison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good List. The top 20 are the real baseball royalty. quick read, lots of nice photos. Only 3 steroids cheats (Bonds, McGwire, Clemons) so thats good.

[Bill Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated now....steroids era....so hard to tell