Customer Reviews

The Best American Sports Writing of the Century

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3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

My girlfriend first brought the Best American Sports Writing series to my attention in 1992 by giving me that year's edition as a Chrismas present. I showed my gratitude by burying my head in its covers and ignoring the outside world (her included) until I had finished.

Since that time I have been a keen follower of the series. Because I live in Australia I have little prior background to many of the stories, but this perhaps gives me an objectivity which enhances my enjoyment.

The "Best American Sports Writing of the Century" is a seriously thick compilation of some fantastic pieces. Although falling short of the editors' lofty aims of being a portrait of American life over the past 100 years, it nevertheless manages to identify many of the people and defining moments that have become integral to (admittedly, my perception) of modern American history.

My favourite story - perhaps George Plimpton's `Medora Goes to the Game', a wonderfully uplifting tale of a father's sneaky attempts to convince his 9 year old daughter to aspire to his alma mater, set against the backdrop of the 1980 Harvard-Yale game. Second place to `Into Thin Air', Jon Krakauer's harrowing personal tale of tragedy on Everest. There are many other classics, too numerous to mention here - one that particularly fascinated me was Paul Solotaroff's shocking portrayal of steroid abuse in the body building world.

Brickbats to Murray Kempton's play-by-play account of a baseball game, which failed to inspire me (to be fair, possibly because I am not familiar with the game's intricacies). Also, thumbs down to the editors for selecting no fewer than 6 pieces on Muhummad Ali (a trap which the UK-based Picador sports writing anthology also falls into) Davis Miller's excellent piece notwithstanding.

But perhaps the most fascinating insight the book gave me was the fragile mental state of some of America's most famous boys of summer - Ty Cobb, Ted Williams and Joe Di Maggio. All three appeared to me to have, as we say in Australian vernacular, `a `roo loose in the top paddock', surely begging the question - does an athlete need to be ill at ease with the world to achieve greatness, or does America's adoration and constant media attention lead to a wariness and deluded view of self-importance that cannot be extinguished ?

Consistently great, always interesting and occasionally just plain fantastic sports writing, although I don't think you need to be a jock to enjoy this book - writing by Mailer, Talese, Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson speak to everyone regardless of the subject. This is a book to read and savor over a long period of time, to return to often, and share among friends. Halberstam's picks give the book a surprising and provocative historical edge. While the omission of A.J. Leibling and a few others are surprising, it's more than made up for by the inclusion of some superb surprises. Take this book on vacation - or take a vacation by reading this book.

Great writers. Great subjects. Very insightful and revealing. A must, if you're a sports fan. Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams & Joe Louis, to name a very few of the fascinating articles...written by people who were there...a must read!

If you enjoy reading about sports, there is little doubt you will enjoy many pieces in this book, especially if your interests lean toward boxing and baseball, which completely dominate this book.

I feel like readers would have better served if the editors had broken things down differently, perhaps by decade, or by sport, with 2 or 3 pieces from each. That would have given readers a much better feel for the breadth of sports in the 20th century.

But with this, the selections are clustered around mid to late century and as noted, are mostly about baseball and boxing. A very high percentage of the articles are about retired athletes bemoaning their lost "Glory Days."

Among the top selections are a long piece of Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, which stands out because it details an athlete who was active at the time the piece was written and is about football, which is barely mentioned in the book and Ring Lardner's "Eckie", which is the funniest and most irreverent piece in the book.

There is one article about hockey, a piece on the making of a goon and none about basketball. Track and field is not represented at all. The book is intended more for a New Yorker reader than a reader of the Sporting News; more for a fan of Roger Angell than Bill James.

Years ago I read a piece included in this book, called 'Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu' by John Updike. I was reading a lot of Updike at that time, and found it strangely to be the most moving, the best thing he had written. I will venture to say it is one of the best things in this book.
Other sports - writing I loved a lot came not from the daily papers or columns or magazines but from longer often fictional works. For my money Zane Grey's 'The Shortstop' and Charles Einstein's 'The Only Game in Town' are two of the greatest pieces of sportswriting. I would also say that Hemingway in his writing about fishing and boxing and bullfighting- and Lardner ( who is included here but in a small selection) were at the highest level of the game. And Sherwood Anderson too for a story he has about horses and a young person's love of the track. Bernard Malamud in 'The Natural' also wrote about baseball and its dreams and disappointments in a way a real fan could take to heart. I would also add a selection Laura Hillebrand's great book on 'Seabiscuit'. And of course another masterpiece of writing Frederick Exley's 'A Fan's Notes'.
That said I believe this present collection a rich one.The opening piece on Joe D. by Guy Talese has about it something of the class and hidden mystery of the Yankee Clipper himself. The last selection of Norman Mailer on Muhammed Ali is as big as the egos of both of these two master- self- promoters. But there is also much here for those on the other side, the losers as in Murry Kempton's column on Sal Maglie who lost after pitching outstanding ball in the game Don Larsen was perfect in- in the 1956 World Series.
For some reason Baseball and Boxing are the sports most written about. Baseball is a world in itself, with its own special character. I would have liked to see a selection from Philip Roth in which he describes I believe it is in 'American Pastoral' the feeling of playing center- field. Boxing has the drama of the man- against- man combat. Perhaps a piece by Joyce Carol Oates on Mike Tyson might have been included here.
When I was a child one of my heroes was Grantland Rice. And I am happy to see a selection from his columns here.
Again there is a great deal of wonderful stuff here but I am not sure it has most of the great sports- writing of the century in it. I think of some of the sports-biographies which have been written and are truly outstanding. Tom Meany's old books on Joe D. and the Babe are I believe even out- of-print but they told the story of their heroes in a way a young person could be inspired by and identify with.
What I am saying I guess is that this very good selection is still only a small part of what there is out there.
The game is long , and the life too short to read.

Congratulations to David Halberstam and Glenn Stout for putting together their choices for "The Best American Sports Writing of the Century". As with any anthology of "the best of", there are selections that will make one wonder about its' inclusion while there are others whose omission will seem equally unjust. However, such arguments only occur when somebody puts out their choices for public consumption. Having said that, I offer the following criticisms. First of all, Halberstam, in his introduction, heaps a bit too much praise on Gay Talese's story about Joe Dimaggio. One reads it thinking that, yes this is good, but it's not THAT good. There was a fairly lengthy story about Bobby Fischer that was interesting but kept me wondering if chess was a sport. There were a number of short articles and feature articles that were good but still made you wonder why they were included. However, there was plenty of the better and some of the best. The book gave me a good introduction to an excellent sports writer I had not previously known of; W C Heinz. There was the fascinating "Outside" magazine article by Jon Krakauer, "Into Thin Air" that led to the later (equally excellent) book of the same name. There is a touching story about Tommy LaSorda's son, Al Stump on Ty Cobb, an interesting story about a hockey "enforcer", a disturbing article about the steroid madness of body building, the obligatory yet interesting article about Tiger Woods, and a closing section on Muhammed Ali. Unfortunately, the latter section includes an endless article about the Champ by Norman Mailer ironicly titled "Ego". There's lots more but, to be honest, by the time I finished the book, a lot of the earlier selections were by then forgotten. My nomination for the most egregious omission, Frank DeFord's "Sports Illustrated" article "The Toughest Coach the Ever Was". This is an enjoyable book. Some articles may not have merited inclusion in a book of this title but they were still fairly interesting.

This is an excellent book for several reasons--it is convenient in that you can quickly read one story and put the book aside without having to go back to get back into the story, it is full of excellent writing, and it gives beautiful glimpses into a very diverse group of sports. The book advertises itself as containing the "best" sports writing of the century and for the most past I would certainly agree, and disagreement has to be expected when you declare something the best, so it is great reading. It is fine journalism, telling captivating stories about people and games, but it is also does an excellent job of showing the importance of sports beyond the fields of play. I would highly recommend the book to sports loves, aspiring journalists, and I would also recommend many of the pieces for people who cannot understand why sports lovers really love sports.

Some amazing pieces on great athletes and sporting moments over the last 100 years. Some Enlightening (Ali, DiMaggio) Some Heartwarming (Secratariat) and even some Zany (Thompson on the Derby). Being a young man, I missed most of these great people/moments in history - but the tales live on and are captured through excellent writing. Highly recommend!

I spent the better part of a month engrossed in this wonderful collection of sports writing, and I can't recommend this strongly enough for sportsfans and historians alike. The chronological organization of the writings herein also provided a fascinating look at the way America's sports passions have evolved over the past century. Boxing, horse racing, and baseball were prominent in the first half of the century, while the "x-games" of mountaineering and fishing came to light later. Five stars without any reservations.

I purchased this book last year, and found it to be so enjoyable that I gave my copy to a friend, and then ordered two more copies for Christmas gifts. If you, or someone you know, likes to read short stories that cover all sports written by the best of our generation, buy this. You won't regret it...