# Favorite Sports books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305 "2011-03-28T20:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/1 "2011-03-28T20:23:14Z")
I am in the mood to read some sports writing. Non Fiction preferably but fiction is welcome if it’s really good. If we can leave out Biographies I would appreciate it. It’s not a genre that I have really any experience with, but I finally got around to reading Moneyball a couple of months ago and am interested in more. So what do people like? (If this is better for the Game Room I understand, but I figured Cafe Society since my interest is in writing with Sports Writing being sort of a sub genre.) Edit: Dammit! Can’t edit the title after you hit post, huh? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/2 "2011-03-28T20:41:11Z")
_Paper Lion_ (and its sequel, _Mad Ducks and Bears_), by George Plimpton. A great look into what life in the NFL is like, or at least, was like in the 1960s. _When Pride Still Mattered_, by David Maraniss. Insightful, well-written biography on Vince Lombardi. (On edit, I see that you’re not so interested in biographies, but this is a really excellent book.) _Scorecasting_, by Tobias Moskowitz and Jon Wertheim. _Freakonomics_ for sports geeks. Proves (or disproves) various bits of conventional wisdom in sports. _Baseball Between the Number_s, by the Baseball Prospectus staff. Sort of similar to _Scorecasting_, focuses on sabermetrics and new stats for understanding baseball. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/3 "2011-03-28T20:52:57Z")
Baseball: - To learn the game’s, well, inside baseball: \*\*Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez \*\*and a ghost writer. Takes a couple of games and walks you through the strategy decisions pitch by pitch, taking time to explain concepts along the way. You think you know baseball or wish you understood it more? This is your book. - About the game: \*\*Ball Four, by Jim Bouton \*\*- the first tell-all, the best tell-all. Real laugh-out-loud moments on most pages and deep insight about the game, the business of the game and growing old in the game. - About the game: **Summer of '49 and October 1964 by David Halberstam**. '49 is about the Yankees and Red Sox and Golden Age baseball; 1964 is about the Cardinals and the Yankees representing New School vs. Old School baseball and the emergence of teams led by African Americans… - Football - I guess I would go with \*\*North Dallas Forty **and/or** Semi-Tough \*\*- novels but thought of as highly accurate about pro football back in the day… All for now… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/4 "2011-03-28T21:18:14Z")
+1 for Ball Four, Semi-Tough, and North Dallas Forty. Haven’t read any of them in 30 years, so my memory may be a bit fuzzy, but I remember all of them being very plain-spoken on what it was really like to be a pro player in those sports. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/5 "2011-03-28T23:09:23Z")
[Moneyball](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/6 "2011-03-28T23:37:35Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > [Moneyball](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball) The OP has already read Moneyball. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/7 "2011-03-28T23:41:06Z")
Caesars Palace. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/8 "2011-03-29T00:20:25Z")
Monday Night Mayhem.very good. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/9 "2011-03-29T00:33:06Z")
If you’re any kind of baseball fan, you need to read [The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America](http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Baseball-Through-ONeils-America/dp/0060854030) by Joe Posnanski. Joe was a columnist for the Kansas City Star at the time and spent a year traveling with Buck near the end of his life. _sniff_ I miss old Buck. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/10 "2011-03-29T00:37:06Z")
I’ll cast another vote for Bouton’s _Ball Four_, and for similar tales of life in the NFL, try Conrad Dobler’s _[They Call Me Dirty](http://www.amazon.com/They-Call-Me-Dirty-Dobler/dp/0399133992/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)_. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/11 "2011-03-29T00:44:58Z")
Among those not listed Baseball: _Veeck as in Wreck_ - By Bill Veeck w/ Ed Linn \*Why Time Begins on Opening Day \*- by Thomas Boswell _The Politics of Glory: Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame_ - by Bill James Football: _Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer_ - by Jerry Kramer w/ Dick Schaap _PB: The Paul Brown Story_ - by Paul Brown \*That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory \* by John Eisenberg Basketball _Second Wind: The Memoir of an Opinionated Man_ by Bill Russell w/ Taylor Branch _Loose Balls: The Short Wild Life of the American Basketball Association_ by Terry Pluto Hockey: _The Game_ by Ken Dryden ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/12 "2011-03-29T00:47:39Z")
_Semi-Tough, Life Its Ownself, Rude Behavior_ - The Billy Clyde Puckett trilogy - Dan Jenkins _The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist, Slim and None, The Franchise Babe_ - The Bobby Joe Grooves trilogy - Dan Jenkins \* You Gotta Play Hurt\* - Dan Jenkins I’m sensing a theme… For those who enjoyed _North Dallas Forty_, you need to read _The Franchise_ by the same author. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/13 "2011-03-29T01:12:58Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > Monday Night Mayhem.very good. I agree, it was pretty good. Do you know if they’ll update it? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/14 "2011-03-29T01:19:57Z")
My favorite is the long out-of-print **The Great American Sports Book** by George Gipe. A comprehensive look at US sports starting in the 1870s. Though it’s a children’s book (and also out of print), I still love **Porko Von Popbutton** (aka **[Beat the Queen](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1081939/index.htm)**. It’s a delightful and wildly entertaining hockey story. Jim Brosnan’s **The Long Season** is still a classic. Brosnan was a pitcher for the Reds who kept a diary of his season; it was the first “warts and all” baseball books, and still one of the best. He wrote a second one, **Pennant Race** a couple of years later. Joel Oppenheimer’s **The Wrong Season** (yes, the title is a nod to Brosnan) is probably the best account ever written about being a fan. Oppenheimer was a well-regarded poet and also kept a diary of following the New York Mets in 1972. You don’t have to be a Mets fan to understand the angst. Also out of print, alas. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/15 "2011-03-29T01:40:53Z")
I really enjoyed [Three Nights In August](http://www.amazon.com/Three-Nights-August-Strategy-Heartbreak/dp/0618710531/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301362756&sr=1-1) (though that may reflect my Cardinals bias). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/16 "2011-03-29T01:44:37Z")
[Fantasyland: A Sportswriter’s Obsessive Bid to Win the World’s Most Ruthless Fantasy Baseball](http://www.amazon.com/Fantasyland-Sportswriters-Obsessive-Ruthless-Baseball/dp/B00403NG9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301362818&sr=8-1)by Sam Walker. This guy joins a fantasy league and plays as if he owns a real team. He goes to the winter meetings, hires two statisticians (one of whom previously worked for NASA), awards a weekly MVP trophy, gives jerseys to his players (some of whom wear them) and notifies them when they have been traded (some of whom get really upset). This book made me fall out laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Fred\_Garvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c67d28/32.png) [@Fred\_Garvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred_Garvin)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/17 "2011-03-29T01:58:27Z")
\*Win It For… \* Before the seventh game of the 2004 ALCS between the Red Sox and the Yankees, a post was created on the “Sons of Sam Horn” message board imploring the Red Sox to win it for Sox’ fans past Sox’ greats including Ted, Yaz and Tony. And what followed was a deluge of responses that went well into the thousands beseeching the Sox to win it for everyone from “Sox fans living in Yankeeland” to a brother lost on 9/11 to a deceased or ailing family member. The post was eventually inducted into the HOF in Cooperstown and selected postings were used to make this book with all proceeds split between the Jimmy Fund and Curt Schilling’s charity to help Lou Gehrig Disease research. Of all the books I’ve ever read on the Sox (or baseball) nothing comes close to showing the love, angst, heart broke and most of all, loyalty, of being a fan for a team. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/18 "2011-03-29T09:52:32Z")
Fever pitch is pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/19 "2011-03-29T12:38:40Z")
If you liked Moneyball, you should like its soccer equivalent, [Soccernomics](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Soccernomics/Simon-Kuper/e/9781458771100/?itm=2&USRI=soccernomics), by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski (the original title is _Why England Lose_). Other recommendations for soccer are: [The Damned Utd](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Damned-Utd/David-Peace/e/9780571224265/?itm=1&USRI=damned+utd) by David Peace and [The Miracle of Castel di Sangro](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Miracle-of-Castel-Di-Sangro/Joe-McGinniss/e/9780767905992/?itm=1&USRI=miracle+of+castel+di+sangro) by Joe McGinness (yes, that Joe McGinnis). ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305/20 "2011-03-29T12:47:23Z")
_The Blind Side_ by Michael Lewis [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sports-books/576305.md?page=2)