Sports

Hardcover. Silver City NM, High-Lonesome Books, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 219 pages, b&w illustrations. There is abundant information in this book about catfishing and other outdoor sports. But there is much more. There is insight into people met along the way on the author's journey around the country, into the author himself and his family, into our society in the nineties and its apparently weakening ties to all things natural. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 306 pages, b&w photos. Chronicling the season that brought New York its first NBA title, the story of the New York Knicks, its players, general manager Eddie Donovan, and coach Red Holtzman follows their notable winning streak and difficult play-off challenges. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Urbana IL, University of Illinois Press, 2nd pr., 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 327 pages, b&w photos. An extraordinarily gifted athlete, Babe Didrikson Zaharias starred in track and field and won three Olympic medals in 1932. She picked up golf late yet quickly dominated the women's sport. She also competed in baseball, bowling, basketball, and tennis. Interviews with members of Babe's family, peers, and others inform Susan E. Cayleff's story of the athlete and the difficulties she faced as a woman trying to be her own person. The American public was smitten with Babe's wit, frankness, and "unladylike" bravado. But members of the press insinuated that her femininity, even her femaleness, were suspect. Cayleff looks at how Babe used her androgyny and athleticism to promote herself before crafting a more marketable female persona for golf. She also explores Babe's role as a cofounder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA); her marriage to George Zaharias and their partnership in shaping her career; her romantic relationship with fellow golfer Betty Dodd; and her courageous public fight against cancer. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2nd pr., 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Blending biography and social history, this portrait of one of the first Black Americans to win fame and respect in the twentieth century draws on new interview material and translations from German press coverage. 330 pages, b&w illustrations.

Hardcover. NY, A S Barnes & Co, 1st, 1954, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket. 312 pages, b&w drawings by Leo Hershfield. A history of Major League baseball's best outfielders. Paper is age-yellowed. Otherwise a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Long Beach CA, Safari Press, reprint, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 294 pages, b&w illustrations. Originally published in 1904, it chronicles a hunting trip to several locations in Alaska, including sheep, bears, moose and more. Captain Radclyffe was an English gentleman-hunter who visited Alaska in 1903. He bagged Dall sheep on the Kenai Peninsula, back then a relatively new destination for sport hunting. He shot excellent brown bear and moose, one a 57-incher on Kussiloff Lake on the Alaska Peninsula. On his final bear hunt, a sow charged him and his native guide abandoned him. He was arrested for game law violations that prematurely ended his hunt for sheep, adding another interesting dimension to this well-written story. The charges against Radclyffe were later dismissed since he had an off-season permit to collect for the British Museum, but the authors partner was not so lucky. Radclyffe writes of how the judge enjoyed rubbing the dismissal into the face of the arresting marshal, and he paints a vivid picture of the interactions of the hunters, guides, and authorities. After all his troubles, he lost most of his trophies because of shipping problems related to the Russo-Japanese War. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, William Morrow, 2nd pr., 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 256 pages, b&w illustrations. Hall of Famer Ford was the Yankee pitching ace in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the team frequently won the pennant. Raised in Queens, he was a quintessential New Yorker, and his well-publicized friendship with country boy Mickey Mantle made him seem the archetypal city slicker. Here he and New York Daily News columnist Pepe cover his diamond career, which was pretty much an uninterrupted triumph. Ford's lifetime winning percentage was .690, he played in 11 World Series and set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings in the series. There are also tales of his epoch-making carousing with Mantle and Billy Martin, his doctoring of baseballs and the greats he has known. Additionally, there is a warm introduction by pal Mantle. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Williams Book Store, reprint, 1946, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth with gilt lettering, 409 pages, b&w illustrations. A history of American firearms. Begins with a treatise advocating the personal possession of guns and rifles. Then describes hundreds of rifles with their images and technical details from the flint lock to carbines used against us. Also covers present manufacture and manufacturers, rifleman and much more. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, Masters Press, 3rd pr., 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 328 pages, b&w photos. Even without his masterful debut as coach of the 1997-1998 Indiana Pacers, Larry Bird's brilliant, gutsy career with the Boston Celtics--three NBA championship rings and a trio of Most Valuable Player trophies--cries out for celebration and reassessment. He was a dominant player, a thinking player who controlled the game as much with his leadership as his keen passing, tough "D," and the soft touch of his jumper. In Larry Legend, Shaw interweaves chapters of Bird's biography with chapters chronicling his Coach of the Year season to create a hybrid volume; rather than do both well, he does both adequately. Everything is here--Bird's French Lick, Indiana, childhood; why he left Bobby Knight and the Indiana University pressure cooker for lower profile Indiana State; the glory years with the Celtics; the rivalry with Magic Johnson; the back problems; and the ways he re-created the Pacers in his own court-burned image. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Minneapolis, Milkweed Editions, 1st, 2024, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 252 pages. Some color photos. When National Geographic Adventurers of the Year Amy and Dave Freeman marry, they set out on an unusual honeymoon: a three-year, 12,000-mile journey across North America. From Alaska's Inside Passage to Florida's Key West, they traverse the continent by kayak, canoe, dogsled, and skis, encountering wildlife, sublime landscapes, and harrowing challenges.Along the way, the Freemans also bear witness to environmental degradation and climate change--from plastic-covered beaches to forest fires to retreating glaciers. And as they engage with Native and rural communities most impacted by the changes resulting from modern industrial society and meet individuals and organizations dedicated to protecting the natural world, their adventure deepens in ways they never imagined. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Horowitz and Harkness, 1st Ltd. Ed., 1942, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 242 pages, red cloth covers with black and gilt design. SIGNED BY MARSHALL on limitation page, #461 of 500 copies. Marshall was United States Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936. B&W illustrations, clean, tight copy with a few minor scratches to front cover.

Hardcover. New York , Crown Publishers, Inc., 5th printing, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 184 pages. Preface by Joe Brooks. Hundreds of drawings, eight pages in full color. Black cloth cover, oversized, minor wear to edges. Dust jacket has some wear to edges and corners. Clean, unmarked copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, IL, NTC Publishing Group, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 256 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. A unique collection of photographs offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes visual chronicle of baseball players from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s

Hardcover. NY, A Mountain Lion Book / Hearst Books, 3rd pr., 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, b&w illustrations and photos, 223 pages. More than two hundred photographs comprehensively illustrate pitching technique from grip to follow through in a guide that details the Cy Young Award-winning pitcher's conditioning regimen and his ideas on mental preparedness. Includes contribution by Nolan Ryan, Steve Rogers, Steve Carlton, Mario Soto. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Lincoln NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 683 pages, b&w illustrations. He was not much of a player and not much more of a manager, but by the time Branch Rickey (1881-1965) finished with baseball, he had revolutionized the sport--not just once but three times. In this definitive biography of Rickey--the man sportswriters dubbed "The Brain," "The Mahatma," and, on occasion, "El Cheapo"--Lee Lowenfish tells the full and colorful story of a life that forever changed the face of America's game. As the mastermind behind the Saint Louis Cardinals from 1917 to 1942, Rickey created the farm system, which allowed small-market clubs to compete with the rich and powerful. Under his direction in the 1940s, the Brooklyn Dodgers became truly the first "America's team." By signing Jackie Robinson and other black players, he single-handedly thrust baseball into the forefront of the civil rights movement. Lowenfish evokes the peculiarly American complex of God, family, and baseball that informed Rickey's actions and his accomplishments. His book offers an intriguing, richly detailed portrait of a man whose life is itself a crucial chapter in the history of American business, sport, and society.

Hardcover. Lexington KY, Eclipse Press, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Patrick Smithwick has written an unusually moving memoir about growing up in the hell-bent-for-leather world of Thoroughbred racing as the son of Hall of Fame steeplechase jockey A.P. "Paddy" Smithwick. Racing My Father is the story of a son working alongside his father throughout summer mornings, and then hopping in a "hot car," windows up, heater blasting - so his father can sweat off a few more pounds - and driving his father to the track where the races will be held in the afternoon. Paddy Smithwick was a natural. He was a charismatic figure. He was the greatest steeplechase rider in America in the 1950s and '60s, winning all the big races, leading the country in raes won four times, dominating the sport with his style, ability, heart, and gentlemanly demeanor. Patrick Smithwick is also a natural. As a jockey, he won steeplechase races. As a writer, he's won awards. There are hints of the innocence of Huck Finn as Smithwick starts off his account of serving his apprenticeship with his father. The innocence ends when his father is paralyzed in a bad fall. Yet, the youthful Smithwick helps his father work his way back into racing, and the father-son, trainer-rider team ends up in the winner's circle at Saratoga Springs. Smithwick has recreated his own Yoknapatawpha County - with its gritty backsides and polished clubhouses, its knotty characters and sleek racehorses. Clean copy.

Brattleboro VT, Stephen Greene Press, 2nd pr., 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket. Essays on Boston's favorite athletes: Ted Williams, Bob Cousy, Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Hull and others. 248 pages, b&w illustrations. Short inscription on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, Simon and Schuster , 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 256 pages, b&w photos. This is the book that launched Phil Berger's career. Controversial upon its publication 30 years ago, it freezes in time that great Knicks team. Willis Reed in his glory, Holzman at his best, Bradley struggling with his own popularity. The nerdy young Phil Jackson envious of that popularity. There's enough wry humor, revelation and wisdom to qualify "Miracle" as a treasure. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, McGraw Hill, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 270 pages, b&w illustrations. This work has been prepared as a loving remembrance by the Brown Bomber's son. Joe Louis is known in history as the legend who knocked out Max Schmelling in round one of their fight in 1938. Joe's son gives full character to the man of myth and history with many details and recollections from the champ's contemporaries. There is a complete boxing record, list of contributors, bibliography, plus photographs. Clean copy.

NY, Rudolph Field, 1st, 1949, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket with light wear. Jimmy Powers was a famous Sports Columnist for the New York Daily News. Here are some of his stories about Feller, Berra, Hornsby, Paige, Ruth, Frisch, McGraw, Cobb, Rabbit Maranville, Lefty Gomez, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Mathewson, Wagner and many more. Owner's stamp on front fly leaf, otherwise tight and clean.

Softcover. South Bend IN, Icarus Press , 1st, 1983, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 176 pages. The Winning Ugly Sox were a scrappy team that captured the heart of the city of Chicago as its first champions in more than 25 years. Bob Logan's book gives a very detailed account of the season in "Miracle of 35th Street". Because the book was published shortly after the season, questions are left with an open end. It seemed as though the team would return to the playoffs. The pitching staff that seemed destined to prelude a dynasty dissolved with injuries and other problems. Several position players never reached their potential causing the Sox to plummet in the standings in the remaining years of the 80's. Light shelf wear, clean copy.

Softcover. Laurel MD, Den's Collector's Den, 1st, 1979, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 156 pages illustrated in b&w and color. Paper spine reinforced with clear tape. Otherwise clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Library of America, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 594 pages. W. C. Heinz (1915-2008) was one of the most distinctive and influential sportswriters of the last century. Though he began his career as a newspaper reporter, Heinz soon moved beyond the confines of the daily column, turning freelance and becoming the first sportwriter to make his living writing for magazines. In doing so he effectively invented the long-form sports story, perfecting a style that paved the way for the New Journalism of the 1960s. His profiles of the top athletes of his day still feel remarkably current, written with a freshness of perception, a gift for characterization, and a finely tuned ear for dialogue. Jimmy Breslin named Heinz's 'Brownsville Bum"a brief life of Al 'Bummy" Davis, Brooklyn street tough and onetime welterweight champion of the world'the greatest magazine sports story I've ever read, bar none." His spare and powerful 1949 column, 'Death of a Race Horse," has been called a literary classic, a work of clarity and precision comparable to Hemingway at his best. Remainder dot to bottom edge otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 316 pages. "A manager's-eye view of the agonies and ecstasies of the '85 Mets--from way inside!. 'Bats,' written with bestselling coauthor Peter Golenbock, reveals Johnson's stinging opinions on the state of the game, on umpires, opposing players, other managers, and the press." Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Flatiron Books, 2nd pr., 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 389 pages. Traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants-all members of Baseball's Hall of Fame. They were Bill Veeck, the eccentric and visionary owner of the team; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken hard-hitting pioneer who shattered stereotypes that many Americans had of black ballplayers; ace pitcher Bob Feller who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues too long excluded from professional baseball because of his skin color. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, Contemporary Books, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 227 pages. Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro (1939-2020) was THE face of the Atlanta Braves between the Hank Aaron and the Dale Murphy eras. Joe Niekro (1944-2006) pitched for the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster , 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 192 pages, b&w illustrations. Larry Brown was a running back who played for the NFL's Washington Redskins from 1969 to 1976. An eighth-round draft pick out of Kansas, Brown defied several odds to make the Redskins out of training camp, and then, suddenly, as the team's starting running back. Brown went on to post two 1,000-yard rushing seasons as an integral part of the Redskins' football revival, started with Vince Lombardi in 1969 and then, after Lombardi's 1970 death, carried on by George Allen in 1971. Small tape repair to dust jacket, clean copy.

Hardcover. Portsmouth NH, Dartmouth Outing Club/Peter Randall, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 253 pages, illustrated with b&w photographs. Foreword by David Bradley. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the half title page.

Hardcover. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2nd pr., 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. SIGNED BY BILL SMITH on title page. 194 pages. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. Greenwich, CT, New York Graphic Society Ltd. & Wallynn, Inc., 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcovers, 2 volumes in slipcase, 224 pages (each volume), illustrated in b&w and color. Green covers with gilt lettering. Small tear to slipcase. Very clean, tight copies.

Hardcover. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1st Edition, 1892, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 248 pages. Hardcover. B/w illustrations throughout. Light brown cloth cover boards, with 3 color plus gilt illustration on front cover, title in gilt on spine (slightly faded). Original owner's name on front flyleaf with date of acquisition (1893). Split at gutter at page after flyleaf. Binding still very good. Pages unmarked, with some slight tanning.

Softcover. np, self-published, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 32-page stapled booklet. A detailed report on the 1974 races in Scotland for the British American Cup.

Hardcover. Romney WV, self-published, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 460 pages. Large format with many color photos. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by author on title page. #314 of 1000 copies.

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 431 pages, b&w and color illustrations. For most of his life, Julius Erving has been two men in one. There is Julius, the bright, inquisitive son of a Long Island domestic worker who has always wanted to be respected for more than just his athletic ability, and there is Dr. J, the cool, acrobatic showman whose flamboyant dunks sent him to the Hall of Fame and turned the act of jamming a basketball through a hoop into an art form. In many ways, Erving's life has been about the push and pull of Julius and The Doctor. It is Dr. J who has stories to tell of the wild days and nights of the ABA in the 1970s, and of being the seminal figure who transformed basketball from an earthbound and rigid game into the creative, free-flowing aerial display it is today. He has a long list of signature plays - he's famous for winning the first dunk contest in 1976 with a jam on which he lifted off from the foul line, and he made a miraculous layup against the Lakers on which he soared behind the backboard before reaching back in to flip the ball in on the other side, with one hand. He inspired a generation of dunkers, including Michael Jordan, to express their improvisational talents. But Julius wasn't always as graceful and in control as Dr. J. Erving had a pristine image throughout his career and early retirement, but he was far from a perfect man. Here he gives detailed accounts of some of the personal problems he faced -- or created -- behind the scenes, including the adulterous affair with sports writer Samantha Stephenson, which led to the birth of his daughter, professional tennis player Alexandra Stephenson.Though his marriage survived that infidelity, the death of Erving's 20-year-old son Cory in 2000 in a tragic accident proved too much for the union to bear. Erving paints a raw, heartbreaking picture of the dissolution of his marriage, as his wife Turquoise began to blame him for his refusal to be paralyzed by grief for as long as she was. Their intense arguments came to a head when Erving stepped out of the shower one day to find his wife holding a lamp in one hand and a vase in the other, ready for a physical confrontation. "I knew somebody was going to get hurt, and it wasn't going to be me," he says. He packed a suitcase and he and Turquoise never lived under the same roof again.

Softcover. Thousand Oaks CA, Dragon Books, 3rd pr., 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 145 pages, b&w illustrations. This book, as well as being a practical training manual, is an attempt to inform the reader of the history of Aikijujutsu and it's masters. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Abrams Press, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Illustrations, 470 pages with index. A groundbreaking, timely history of the largely unknown early days of Black basketball, bringing to life the trailblazers, entertainers, gangsters, and supremely talented athletes who made the game From the introduction of the game of basketball to Black communities in 1904 to the integration of the NBA in 1950, there was a full era in the development of the game. It was a time when Black players were discriminated against and opportunities were limited, but entrepreneurial men and women nurtured the game and breathed life into a sport they loved. This period was known as the Black Fives Era (teams at the time were often called "fives"), and was akin to the golden age of the Negro Leagues. But despite fierce rivalries between big-city clubs, innovative managers, and star players, this period is almost entirely unknown to basketball fans. Claude Johnson has made it his mission to change that. An advocate fiercely committed to our history, for more than two decades Johnson has conducted interviews, mined archives, collected artifacts, and helped to preserve an important, culturally rich era that otherwise would have been lost. The Black Fives is the result of his work, a landmark narrative history that will braid together the stories of these forgotten pioneers and rewrite our understanding of the story of basketball.

Hardcover. NY, Grosset and Dunlap, 1st, 1966, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial cloth. 183 pages, 4 pages of b&w photos up front. light rubbing to covers.

NY, Random House, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. For Stanley Cohen, baseball is the prism through which he views the events of the last seventy years. His narrative spans four generations as he recounts in sparkling prose how, for his immigrant father, sports was a means of assimilation into life in the New World; the warmth of watching his son and, later, his grandson both fall heir to his devotion; and how the game of baseball has provided his life with its truest sense of continuity. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harper & Row, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket. INSCRIBED BY ZINSSER on the front fly leaf. A life-long baseball fan describes spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, Florida, in an account filled with interviews, baseball lore, and information on techniques. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY/Cleveland, World Publishing, 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in an edgeworn dust jacket, 223 pages, illustrated with photos. The story of a crucial nine-day stretch during the miracle season of the Amazin' Mets encompassing critical, controversial games with their arch enemy Chicago Cubs. Published in the middle of the magical 1969 baseball season which would see the Mets go on to win the World Series. No marking.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American football player at the Carlisle Indian School, the star of the first class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and played major league baseball for John McGraw's New York Giants. Even in a golden age of sports celebrities, he was one of a kind. But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe's life was a struggle against the odds. As a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, he encountered duplicitous authorities who turned away from him when their reputations were at risk. At Carlisle, he dealt with the racist assimilationist philosophy "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." His gold medals were unfairly rescinded because he had played minor league baseball. His later life was troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, and financial distress. He roamed from state to state and took bit parts in Hollywood, but even the film of his own life failed to improve his fortunes. But for all his travails, Thorpe did not succumb. The man survived, complications and all, and so did the myth. Clean, like new.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Potomac Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 270 pages, b&w illustrations. As the first great Jewish player in the major leagues and the first African American to play major-league baseball during the twentieth century, respectively, Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson are forever linked because of the barriers they encountered, the discrimination they endured, the athletic gifts they exhibited, and especially the courage and dignity they displayed. Both suffered ridicule and abuse as they participated in the national pastime. Nevertheless, each excelled. Greenberg became one of the preeminent sluggers of the 1930s and 1940s who took a break from baseball to serve in the war. Robinson, from the mid-1940s into the following decade, helped bring back speed and a thinking man's approach to the game, both of which had largely been discarded for a generation. Two Pioneers presents these remarkable players' experiences while competing in a nation that was deeply divided on social issues such as anti-Semitism and racism. Both men earned nearly as much attention off the field as they did on it. Greenberg called into question the idea of a "master race" as Adolf Hitler rose to power and gained supporters all over the world. Likewise, Robinson contested racial notions regarding the supposed inferiority of people of African ancestry, even though segregationists proved determined to maintain social barriers separating blacks and whites. It is only fitting that when Robinson finally crossed baseball's color line, Greenberg was one of the first players to welcome him publicly. Robert Cottrell's well-researched work shows how two baseball superstars became important figures in the civil rights crusade to ensure that all Americans, no matter their religion or race, are given equal opportunity. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Castel Di Sangro is a tiny town in the Abruzzo region of Italy, whose soccer team became an international sensation by winning promotion to the highest levels of national competition. For the team from this tiny village to be playing against the teams of Genoa and Venice was more than a dream come true, it was inconceivable. But the truth can be stranger than dreams, as Joe McGinniss discovered when he arrived in Castel Di Sangro. A recent convert to soccer, he wanted to experience life in a town turned upside down by the game. What he found was a cavalcade of euphoria, betrayal, grief, and euphoria again, an entire town living in an emotional frenzy unlike anything since the local battles of World War II. McGinniss lost himself totally to the team, a boisterous collection of characters whom readers will grow to love, and found a story whose depth and power enthralled him. Like Field of Dreams, Hoosiers, and The Secret of Santa Vittoria, this is a masterpiece of storytelling that transcends sports to embrace universal emotions. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Prentice-Hall, 1st, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn, unclipped dust jacket, 263 pages. A Seattle sports reporter follows the Seattle Supersonics through the tumultuous 1978-77 season, A team full of superstars, Bill Russell as coach and championship hopes, all go sour. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harper & Row, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket ($8.95 on flap), Stated "first edition" on copyright page, with complete number line on Page 442. Author Roger Kahn follows the history of the Brooklyn Dodgers through their 1955 season, which took them to the World Series. A nice copy of this timeless favorite. Mild discoloration to covers, hidden by dust jacket.

Hardcover. Middleburg PA, Middleburg Post Press, 1st, 1915, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth covers with cover title label. Two softcover books rebound together in one hardcover volume. First volume 60 pages, second volume is 120 pages, also published in 1915 by The Faust Printing Company in Reading, PA. Many b&w photos in both. Clean and bright copies of 1915 printings.

Hardcover. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, First Edition, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 241 pages. Hardcover. Full color & bw illustrations throughout. Dust jacket in very good condition. Clean, unmarked copy.

Hardcover. Manila , Manila Polo Club , 1st, 1984 , Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 152 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Extensive b&w and color photography throughout. Illustrated end papers and fly leaves. Blind stamp on front cover. Musty odor, otherwise clean, tight copy.