Sports Illustrated Great Baseball Writing
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When SPORTS ILLUSTRATED was launched in 1954, baseball was, indisputable, the national pastime, its stars America's epic heroes, its rivalries the era's mythology. As baseballs fortunes rose and fell over the next 50 years--and then rose again to new heights, drawing more than 65 million fans to ballparks in 2004 - the game never failed to produce great drama and inspired storytelling. This collection is a virtual Hall of Fame from the pages of SI, bringing together the stories of baseball's greatest heroes (Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax) and villains (Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Denny McLain) and characters (Casey Stengel, Max Patkin, Yogi Berra); its legendary quests (the home run chases of Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds; the thrilling pennant races, from the Dodgers-Giants in 1951 to the Yankees-Red Sox in 1978); its world-class writers (Frank Deford, Mark Kram, George Plimpton, Peter Gammons, and Tom Verducci) and its own players writing from the inside about their game (Ted Williams, Jim Brosnan, and Jim Bouton). In the wake of SI's acclaimed Fifty Years of Great Writing comes this baseball anthology worthy of Cooperstown.
This special edition includes bonus digital-only content.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When Sports Illustrated first arrived in August 1954, its focus was fringe pursuits like yachting, bowling and dogs yet it struck a nerve. America was in a postwar economic boom and at the dawn of the TV age. "Sports was suddenly so much more visible, so much more important," says veteran sportswriter Frank Deford in his introduction. This book shows how SI has continued to foster sports' visibility, offering an engaging celebration of the last 50 years of American sports (and of SI's own history), flush with fabulous photos: a toothless Jack Lambert; Muhammad Ali's wrinkled masseur, Luis Sarria; the Pittsburgh Pirates' Dave Parker enjoying a smoke after winning the 1979 World Series. What puts this book a notch above the average coffee-table book are the thoughtful sportswriting excerpts pulled from the magazine's archives. In one piece, up-and-comer Howard Cosell chastises the wimps and pretty boys who populate his profession. Another profiles former Chicago White Sox president and huckster Bill Veeck, who once sent a midget up to the plate to pinch-hit as a publicity stunt. Further chapters feature SI paintings many of them caricatures, like the one of disenchanted fans pelting a bug-eyed Bud Selig with baseballs and thumbnails of all 2,585 SI covers.
