Harvey Frommer on Sports
The Book
Review:
Keepers from Bison Books
and other Reads
The hits keep coming from University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books
– fine sports books given a new package and a new life. There is much
to savor, to enjoy and to definitely keep in your sports bookshelf. All are
a bit pricey for paperbacks, but they are nicely
produced.
“Invisible
Men” by Donn Rogosin ($24.95, 283 pages) originally published in
1983 is still relevant, perhaps more relevant than ever
as it recounts in telling detail life in baseball’s
Negro Leagues.”
“Paper
Tiger” by Stanley Woodward
originally published in 1963 ($17.95, 286 pages) is not as relevant
as the Rogosin tome but if you are into the sporting scene as recalled by
an old sportswriter and editor of the “New York Herald-Tribune”
– this is a book for you.
“Players
and Pretenders” by Charley Rosen ($18.95, 324 pages), originally
published in 1981, is as its sub-title states about “the basketball
team that couldn’t shoot straight.” If you are into college sports
and a well told humorous narrative, pick up this book.
And finally from University of Nebraska Press comes a new title
“Level
Playing Fields” by Peter Morris ($24.95, 184 pages). This slim volume
focuses on the family Murphy, groundskeepers and their
unique contributions to the
shaping of the national pastime.
“Professor
Baseball” by Edwin Amenta (University of Chicago Press, $25.00,
231 pages) is all about the competitive and insular world of softball as
played for real in New York City’s Central Park. The title is a tip
of the cap to the author’s status as a real life
prof.
From Dutton there is
“The
Baseball Economist” by J.C. Bradbury ($24.95, 336 pages) a book
that gives Bill James a run for his money and all of us new awarenesses and
insights into baseball treating as it does “the real game exposed”
and looking at the game behind the game. Recommended
reading.
MOST NOTABLE:
Beautifully
produced, carefully crafted, priced right for the package one gets, this
is the ultimate gift book for the golfer - -
“CLASSIC
SHOTS: THE GREATEST IMAGES FROM THE UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION: by
Marty Parkes (National Geographic Books, $35.00, 345 pages). Pulled from
the USGA’s archive of more than half a million images – the range
and style and substance of the images is something to
savor.
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Harvey Frommer, now in his 33rd consecutive year of writing
sports books, is the author of 39 of them including the classics:
"New
York City Baseball,1947-1957" and
"Shoeless
Joe and Ragtime Baseball." His
FIVE
O'CLOCK LIGHTNING: BABE RUTH, LOU GEHRIG AND THE GREATEST TEAM IN BASEBALL
HISTORY, THE 1927 NEW YORK YANKEES will be published by Wiley fall 2007.
Frommer is at work on REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori
and Chang) an oral/narrative history.
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