Monday, October 26, 2020

Sac Fly Book Club

My friend just published a reading list of sports books. I’ve read some of them, and will make a point to read or reread others, including The Jordan Rules, Moneyball, These Guys have all the Fun, and Phil Knight Shoe Dog. The book Fever Pitch is about soccer, but I may have to read it as well. 

https://www.grindcitymedia.com/2020/10/26/langs-world-a-gcm-sports-reading-list-201026/  

Some of my favorite books about sports: 

Miracle on the 17th Green: A Novel about Life, Love, Family, Miracles…and Golf (Travis McKinley #1) by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge. Sports fiction can often be droll, but Patterson’s Travis McKinley series are fun reads. As are John Grisham’s sports novels: Calico Joe, Bleachers, and Playing for Pizza.

The Swinger, by Michael Bamberger. More fiction, this about the supposed wild double life of the world’s top golfer. Based on a true story?

Shoeless Joe, by WP Kinsella. The novel that spawned the movie Field of Dreams. The many differences from the film make it a fun read.

A Drive Into the Gap, by Kevin Guilfoile. Truth or fiction? Whatever happened to the bat Roberto Clemente used to collect his 3000th (and final) hit? Depends on which story you believe. Short but sweet.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team, by Steve Sheinkin. David versus Goliath..

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight that Forever Changed Basketball Forever, by John Feinstein. Anything by Feinstein is good, including this account of how one split second in time changed two lives forever.

Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in his Time, by Ray Robinson. Besides his legendary consecutive games streak, Gehring put up numbers rarely matched in baseball history – while being a good guy in the shadow of his playboy teammate.   

Summer of 49, by David Halberstam. The American League MVP race between two icons: DiMaggio and Williams. Like Feinstein, anything by Halberstam is worth the time..

One More July: A Football Dialogue with Bill Curry, by George Plimpton. An unlikely lifetime friendship between player and scribe. 

Baseball is a Funny Game, by Joe Garagiola. As a kid I learned a ton about baseball by reading this book. 

Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King. A season-long conversation between two Sox fans. All the ups and downs, and the miracles along the way. So good that I read it twice, a rarity for me. 

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, by Jon Krakauer. Firsthand retelling of a tragedy very few knew about at the time.

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