Best Sports Book Ever

[William]

My pick:
40 years later and it's still my #1:
Instant Replay

[Randy]

Wow, I remember reading that book when I was in high school. Maybe I'll check it out again.

Thanks,

Randy

[Randy]

I liked The Greatest Game Ever Played, and a biography of Sadaharu Oh by David Falkner. Also, though I don't like the Yankees, I really liked Dynasty. If anyone is interested in the point-shaving basketball scandals of the early Fifties, I'd recomment, The Game they Played, and the Scandals of 51. The books look at the scandals from very different perspectives.

[Tony]

I have not read the scandal books, but I did like "The Greatest Game Ever Played" although it's not among my favorite sports book. I'm still partial to David Halberstam and Roger Angel's "New Yorker Magazine" articles on baseball. On the same sport, George Will did a nice job with "Men at Work." Actually, most of the best sports writing tends to be about baseball. Why is that?

[Randy]

Just read The Match by Mark Frost. I loved it. Fascinating characters. The book is as much about friendship and redemption as about golf.

[Vincent]

I'd have to say that Bang the Drum Slowly sticks with me even all these many years later.
In fact, I think it's time that I read it all over again.
Also Summer of 49 by David Halberstam is pretty good, in that it makes baseball exciting.

[Tony]

For my money the best sports book of all time is the Red Smith Reader, the greatest moments in sports history as told by the best sportswriter whoever lived. The compilations of Roger Angel's New Yorker essay make for good reading, especially his work in the early 1970's, around the dawn of free agency.

Don't know why baseball has the best writing, you'd think golf, a sport that shares the same pastoral attributes, would spawn it's fair portion of great writers, but not so much.

[Tracy]

My favorite is Another I could read again is Fatso by Art Donovan.

[Tracy]

Vincent wrote: "I'd have to say that Bang the Drum Slowly sticks with me even all these many years later.
In fact, I think it's time that I read it all over again.
Also Summer of 49 by David Halberstam is pretty g..."

I agree with you on the summer of 49.