What sports books are you reading this summer?

Have your tried "Scorecasting?"

Got too technical for me.

Bill White's memoir was pretty good.

I want to read Bill Reynolds' followup on the Herren kid.

 

Must have been an interesting day at the track today. I am thinking Sunday if it cools down.

 

Awesome read. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I'm also a huge basketball fan.

I recently just finished the ESPN book and "56" by Kostya Kennedy on DiMaggio's streak.

The ESPN book was, largely, a waste of time, IMO. Maybe 300/700+ pages I found to be worthy. I could have done without it.

"56" is brilliant. Extremely well done, and covers the streak from all possible angles. Kennedy does outstanding work.

I'm reading "Friday Night Lights" now. Yes, I know, terribly late. But better late than never.

 

Need to hear more about this. I'm aware of most of the bizarre historical racing books out there, and haven't heard about this one. More details, please.

 

Reading K2. Keeps me nice and cool on hot days. Screw guys in the NFL. Guys who climb 8K mountains are studs.

 

Baseball in the Garden of Eden by John Thorn

 

Here's the most fun baseball book of this year or most years:



The book is quite large, like nearly a foot long. So it stands out. Once it's got your attention it doesn't let go. It's based on a blog called http://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/ by Englishman Craig Robinson. It's filled with neat charts that illustrate the game in ways you never thought about. One example is a map of the US with a baseball infield on it that illustrates how far the players would have run if you added up every base advanced during last season. It's right in the middle of the country and runs from southern Oklahoma up through Nebraska. There's also a few essays in there.

A winner in every sense.

 

Wow, I bought that book as a paperback ages ago and it had sat on the shelf until I pulled it out about a month ago. Terrific, very underrated book and an amazing look at what the game was like before ESPN, the internet, blogs, 'roids (I'm guessing they weren't very widespread then), seamheads and moneyball. Definitely worth looking for.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Read it when it came out but I think the criticism of the time stands: "Too much Me, not enough DiMaggio."

YHS, etc

 

Mercifully, it's gorgeous today after being miserably steamy the first two days. Of course, I can just sit in the pressbox AC like a wimp all day if I want to.

 

He took a hiatus from his riding career to drive an ambulance during WWI.

Hung with the King of Spain, who quelled a potential political shitstorm by walking into a belligerent town square and saying, "Hey, you want me, you got me."

Boarded with a guy in Europe who got hauled in for murder.

The riding anecdotes are amazing. He was New York-based but spent many years in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1956.

I was lucky to snag this book at Lyrical Ballad in Saratoga. If you've ever been there, you know what sort of gems you can unearth.

 

True, that . . . you've got a shot at that place, though it does get picked over during this and every season . . .