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Given the overall vigor and volume of sports writing in America throughout the 20th century, the idea of compiling a single collection dubbed the "best" requires a daring balancing act of boldness and delicacy. And that's just what it is. Sports fans--but why limit this sparkling, spirited, passionate prose to just sports fans?--will revel in the equilibrium of David Halberstam's and Glenn Stout's wide range of selections. Their tribute to the knights of the keyboards is Hall of Fame-level from cover to cover.
Halberstam and Stout don't waste any time. They lead off with one of the great tours de force of American nonfiction, Gay Talese's stunningly poignant, 1966 profile of a moody Joe DiMaggio, "The Silent Season of a Hero." Then, before you can finish digesting it, they loudly switch gears to Tom Wolfe's "The Last American Hero," a razzle-dazzle look at Junior Johnson and the world of stock-car racing. By the time Best takes the checkered flag nearly 800 pages later, it has covered a remarkably rich and varied course that runs through the pens of such remarkable talents as Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Frank Deford, W.C. Heinz, Jim Murray, Murray Kempton, Ring Lardner, John Lardner, Jimmy Breslin, Al Stump, John Updike, John McPhee, Hunter Thompson, Norman Mailer, Jon Krakauer, Tom Boswell, Roger Angell, and David Remnick. Whew!
Like the best sportswriting, of course, Best is much more than fun and games, though there's plenty of that in its pages. Best is history captured on the fly through the games we play and the memorable players--Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Mohammad Ali, Secretariat, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Red Grange--who play them. From selection to selection, writes Halberstam in his introduction, "we watch the country change." Certainly, sports--and sportswriting--have provided America a marvelous box seat for the contemplation of its own metamorphoses. --Jeff Silverman
From Publishers Weekly
Stout, editor of the Best American Sports Writing series since its inception nine years ago, and Halberstam, author most recently of Playing for Keeps, a biography of Michael Jordan (Forecasts, Jan. 18), have compiled a strong collection that will send readers on a captivating trip through the diversity of styles and subjects that developed as sports became big business and big news. Theres the direct address of Bob Considine (Listen to this buddy, for it comes from a guy whose palms are still wet, from Louis Knocks Out Schmeling) and the unique voice of Tom Wolfe (Ggghhzzzzzzzeeeeeong! from The Last American Hero, about racecar driver Junior Johnson). Although there are pieces about mountain climbing, tennis and chess, fully half of the selections are about two sports: baseball and boxing. The book begins with a Best of the Best section led by Gay Taleses 1966 profile of Joe DiMaggio, The Silent Season of a Hero. In the next two sections (which encompass deadline articles, columns, features and longer works), the strongest pieces, following Taleses lead, are penetrating profiles of the famous and difficult (e.g., Richard Ben Cramer on Ted Williams)as well as the largely forgotten (a run-of-the-mill boxer named Bummy Davis). The final section is a special six-piece tribute to man who himself claimed to be the best of the best Muhammad Ali. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
YA-Only 100 years ago, sports writing did not even exist. Stout makes this point in the foreword, where he notes that athletic events, if covered at all by newspapers, were reviewed as performances by theater critics. Today, some of the very best writers of any kind have turned to sports for subject matter. Stout and Halberstam have selected the best of the best for this centennial volume. And what an all-star lineup it is. Teenagers who were born long after most of the subjects of these articles were active will still recognize the timeless legends: Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Joe DiMaggio. Many of these selections require no former knowledge: readers can fully enjoy Tom Wolfe's profile of Junior Johnson without any familiarity with stock-car racing; nor is knowledge of chess necessary for a full appreciation of Brad Darrach's account of super eccentric Bobby Fischer. Some of the most memorable writings come from newspapermen on tight deadlines: Jim Murray, en route to Zaire for the heavyweight title fight in 1974, wrote, "All right, my good man, hand me my jodhpurs and pith helmet and polish my monocle...Fire up the African Queen." The victor of that bout is the subject of the book's final, six-piece section, "The One and Only," Muhammad Ali. A fat volume of great writing for all collections.Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Boston Sunday Globe
...there is much to surprise and delight the sports reader among the 59 pieces here.
From Booklist
Making the choices for the annual edition of this series is daunting enough; picking the century's best seems impossible. However, what's here is universally excellent. There's late Chicagoan Mike Royko's jingoistic review of a book by a reviled New York Met; Al Stump's now-infamous, still disturbing account of baseball legend Ty Cobb's last days; Gay Talese's revealing mid-sixties profile of recently deceased icon Joe DiMaggio; and a 1975 remembrance of Casey Stengel by Wells Twombly that reveals more about the baseball manager than a half-dozen biographies. Other highlights include Hunter S. Thompson's predictably outrageous take on the Kentucky Derby; an insightful portrait of boxer Billy Conn by Frank Deford; and Jimmy Breslin's 1960 profile of jockey Billy Hartack. In addition, a section on Muhammad Ali offers some great writing by Dick Schaap, Murray Kempton, Norman Mailer, Jim Murray, and Davis Miller. Biographical sketches of each contributor as well as a list of the century's other notable sportswriters are included. This wonderful, delightfully eclectic volume is a must for every library. Wes Lukowsky
From Kirkus Reviews
paper 0-395-94514-3 This fine collection of sportswriting honors the genre's ability to create word pictures not only of athletes and their achievements but also of their individual era. Pulitzer Prizewinning author Halberstam (Playing for Keeps, 1999, etc.) and series editor Glenn Stout take a slight detour from the annual edition to cull what they believe to be the century's best sportswriting from newspapers and magazines. Because all the prominent sports figures are not coveredand, unfortunately, none of the 59 articles has a female athlete as its main subjectthis anthology fails as a definitive study of sports in the 20th century. Nevertheless, the chosen articles are examples of excellent storytelling and feature more than 40 of the best sports journalists, among them Red Smith, Frank Deford, Murray Kempton, and Grantland Rice, as well as writers such as Gay Talese (on Joe DiMaggio), Tom Wolfe (on racer Junior Johnson), John Updike (on Ted Williams), and Norman Mailer (on Muhammad Ali). Baseball and boxing are the sports most widely covered; also included are football, hockey, tennis, golf, racing (stock-car and horse), fly-fishing, mountain climbing, bodybuilding, and chess. Some articles touch on issues such as racism, steroid abuse, and being gay in the sports world. The most enlightening pieces humanize the athlete, showing ``the man out there is no longer just another great athlete, an idealized hero, but only a manonly ourself'' (a line from Roger Angell's 1975 article about the pitcher Steve Blass). Everyone, not just sports fans, will admire Sal Maglie's grace after his difficult loss, be fascinated by Bobby Fischer's extraordinary fears, and be moved by the fates of athletes such as Ali, Tony Conigliaro, Steve Michalik, and even Secretariat. An enjoyable volume of quality sportswriting. Readers who want to read more will be aided by the participating writers' biographical notes and the list of additional selected notable works and sportswriters. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Buffalo News
Make room on your bookshelf for this anthology. It isn't necessary to be a sports enthusiast. Anyone interested in the popular culture of America since the turn of the century is likely to treasure it.
Review
"Make room on your bookshelf for this anthology. It isn't necessary to be a sports enthusiast. Anyone interested in the popular culture of America since the turn of the century is likely to treasure it."
Playboy
...an anthology that can be savored like a hole in one.
Boston Magazine
All the entries in this oversize volume are choice.
Arizona Daily Star
Superb Sportswriting.
American Way
David Halberstam has done yeoman work in collecting The Best American Sports Writing of the Century, and anyone who loves the American idiom should clear space on his bookshelf for this anthology...The book, in short, is a winner.
Seattle Times
For those who love sports, and care about good writing, this is your collection.
Review
"Make room on your bookshelf for this anthology. It isn't necessary to be a sports enthusiast. Anyone interested in the popular culture of America since the turn of the century is likely to treasure it."
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Halberstam selects the fifty best pieces of sports writing of this century. The Best American Sports Writing of the Century showcases the best sports journalists of the twentieth century, from Jimmy Cannon, Red Smith, William Mack, Gary Smith, and Frank Deford to A. J. Liebling, Tom Wolfe, and Hunter S. Thompson, and includes such classics as "What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?" by Richard Ben Cramer, "Louis Knocks Out Schmeling" by Bob Considine, and "The Rocky Road of Pistol Pete" by W. C. Heinz. This outstanding collection captures not only the century's greatest moments in baseball, boxing, horseracing, golf, and tennis, but some of the finest writing of our time. Guest editor David Halberstam is the author of The Reckoning, The Summer of Forty-Nine, The Breaks of the Game, and, most recently, The Children. Series editor Glenn Stout has written biographies of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Jackie Robinson.
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