Vintage & Collectible Sports Books - pg. 5 including The Miracle of Castel Di Sangroby: Joe McGinnis

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, Simon & Schuster, BC Ed., 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 349 pages, b&w photos. One of the most endearing of American heroes, Casey Stengel guided the New York Yankees to ten pennants in twelve seasons. Here is the brilliant manager stripped naked--the person underneath all the clowning, mugging, and double-talking. Robert Creamer shows us Casey at twenty-two, famous from his very first day in the big leagues. We see Casey's playing career fall apart as he is traded, shunted to last-place teams, hampered by injuries, considered finished--until he bats a glorious home run in the 1923 World Series. Here are Casey's managing successes and failures--dismissed by the Yankees, he returns to the limelight with his new and inept New York Mets, the team he single-handedly lifts into the nation's consciousness. Clean copy, like new.

Softcover. NY, W. W. Norton & Company, 1st US, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, Advance Reading Copy, 408 pages. The seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki is one of the greatest players in basketball history. The Dallas Maverick's legend revolutionized the sport, redefining the role of the big man in the modern game. Dirk moved differently: flexible and fast, confident and in control. He thought differently, too. On the court, his shots were masterful-none more venerated than his signature one-legged flamingo fadeaway, a move that lives on in the repertoire of today's most skilled NBA players. How did this lanky kid from the German suburbs become an all-time top ten scorer and NBA champion? How can a superstar stay so humble? Award-winning novelist and sportswriter Thomas Pletzinger spent over seven years traveling with Nowitzki. He witnessed Dirk's summer workouts, involving fingertip pushups and the study of the physics, and spent days discussing literature and philosophy with Holger Geschwindner, Dirk's enigmatic mentor and coach. Watching Nowitzki in empty gyms and in packed arenas with 30,000 fans, Pletzinger began to understand how Dirk and Holger's philosophical insights on performance, creativity, and freedom enabled his success and longevity. This proof edition lacks the photo section. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 4th pr., 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright. unclipped dust jacket, 340 pages. A compelling, up-close-and-personal portrait of basketball's most inimitable duo. It is also a rollicking ride through professional basketball's best times, the golden age of hoops for the boomer generation. This work tells the story of Magic and Larry from their vantage point and takes the reader inside their fascinating rivalry, with new insights and revealing details about two men who evolved from bitter competitors into lifelong friends. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, BC Ed., 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 268 pages. Illustrated with a section of black-and-white photographs. "In the poised, outspoken style that typifies his career as one of baseball's fiercest competitors and a superstar of the modern era, Frank Robinson recounts in this book his remarkable and dramatic experience as the first black manager in the history of the major leagues. Written in collaboration with Dave Anderson, the renowned sports columnist of The New York Times, Frank is both the essence of baseball and a document that transcends sports: an intimate, superbly detailed record of the business of managing men on the playing field and a revelation of one man on a spot no one ever occupied before him." Copyright page states first edition but lack of price on dust jacket tells us it's a Book Club. Embossed stamp on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

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. Chicago, Follett Publishing, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 305 pages, b&w illustrations. In this edition, Honig interviews player-managers Ossie Bluege, Roger Peckinpaugh, and Hall of Famers Burleigh Grimes and Al Lopez, among others. This time, you read the stories of a manager's point of view as well, which is very interesting. This book is about a rookie third baseman coming up the line to tag out a lumbering Ty Cobb. About Early Wynn just walking into a tryout camp and announcing himself. About how the Chicago White Sox didn't always play to win in 1919-20. One of the more memorable parts is Roger Peckinpaugh reflecting on how the illiterate Shoeless Joe Jackson had to listen to what his teammates ordered for dinner first because he could not read the menu. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Delacorte Press, 5th pr., 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, Has black & white photos scattered throughout. A wild ride inside the glowing head of Dennis Rodman--the NBA's greatest rebounder and America's most outspoken and outrageous athlete. At a time when most celebrities and professional athletes try to control their public persona like politicians and refrain from expressing their true beliefs, Dennis Rodman is a refreshingly unique, uncompromising individual who both transcends his world and refuses to conform to it. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Prentice-Hall, 2md pr., 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 176 pages. A behind-the-scenes portrait of Hall-of-Famer Bench, b&w photos by George Kalinsky. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 342 pages, b&w illustrations. In the spring of 1995, twelve extraordinary basketball players were chosen to represent the United States in the yearlong march to the 1996 Olympics. For Rebecca Lobo, Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and their teammates, winning the gold medal was only one of many goals. Around them swirled the dreams of the millions of young girls who played organized basketball, the hopes of the fans who sent the team an average of 125 pounds of fan mail each month, the multimillion-dollar bets of Nike, Champion, and other corporate sponsors, the promise of a new women's professional league, and not least, the hopes of female athletes across the country finally to gain the respect accorded male athletes.

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. NY, Mariner Books, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 374 pages, b&w photos. Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as "Coach K," is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski's best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian O'Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 298 pages. Roger Angell, the acclaimed New Yorker writer and editor, steps up with a selection of writings that celebrate a view from the tenth decade of an engaged, vibrant life. Whether it's a Fourth of July in rural Maine, the opening game of the 2015 World Series, editorial exchanges with John Updike, a letter to a son, or his award-winning essay on aging, 'This Old Man,' what links the pieces is Angell's unique perceptions and humor, his utter absence of self-pity, and his appreciation of friends and colleagues encountered over a fruitful career unlike any other. Includes essays about E.B. White, Harold Ross, Mark Twain, John Hersey, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Donald Barthelme, Vladimir Nabokov, V.S. Pritchett, William Maxwell, William Steig, John Updike, and others. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Bantam Books, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 305 pages, b&w illustrations. First Printing of the First Edition, with complete number row (0987654321) on the copyright page. Illustrated with 16 pages of photos. Appendix (career stats). Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 183 pages. Illustrated with photos. Basketball immortal Bill Russell provides this memoir of his deep friendship with Boston Celtics coach red Auerbach. Russell was the center on the Auerbach teams that one 11 championships in 13 years. At the time, he said little about his deeply personal relationship with his coach but Russell and Auerbach--one a short, brash Jew from Brooklyn, the other a tall, intense African American from Louisiana and Oakland--were far more than just coach and player. Through the 13 years of the Celtics dynasty together their relationship evolved into a rare, telling example of deep male friendship: confident, supportive, understanding, founded in common goals, even as their feelings went largely unspoken. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Knopf, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Halberstam, a lifeling fan of the game, explores the world of professional basketball as he spends the 1979-80 season travelling with the Portland Trail Blazers. Light fading to dj spine, remainder stamp to bottom edge.

Hardcover. UK, Sutton Publishing, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 244 pages, b&w photos. In 1908 talented black US fighter Jack Johnson won the heavyweight championship of the world from the Canadian Tommy Burns. There was an immediate storm of protest. Writers, including Jack London, and politicians feared the accession of the fearless and outspoken Johnson would threaten white supremacy. It was predicted that his reign would lead to civic unrest and race riots. Over the next seven years, more than 30 white fighters tried to beat Jackson, lured by the prospect of fame and a quick buck. It was not until 1915 that Jackson lost his crown, and during the years in between an extraordinary human drama was played out on the boxing world stage. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown & Co., 2nd pr., 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price clipped dust jacket, 342 pages, b&w illustrations. Paul W. (Bear) Bryant's story in his own words. Together with John Underwood a Sports Illustrated writer, Bryant tells of his years coaching football from his days at Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A & M, and Alabama where he coached for 28 years. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Birch Lane Press, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 216 pages, b&w illustrations. Recounts the 1969 New York Jets' upset victory over the Baltimore Colts in Superbowl III, a game that established the viability of the American League, in a study featuring interviews with the Jets' championship players and coaches. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Chapel Hill NC, Algonquin Books, 2nd pr., 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 436 pages, b&w photos. The author offers the reader a fascinating window into the Georgia Peach's life and times when the then, dying Cobb, hired him in 1960, to ghost write his autobiography. It was from those months that came "My Life in Baseball," a carefully sanitized justification for Cobb's life and career. This book, however, includes the darker side of Cobb's life in an authoritative and compelling account of this sports legend. Remainder X on bottom edge otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 306 pages, b&w photos. Don Baylor explores every facet of his career. In 1988, he became the first baseball player in history to go to the World Series for three consecutive years with three different teams. Fans know him as a frank, thoughtful man who speaks his mind about the game and his peers. In this book, he takes the reader onto the field and into the clubhouse with a rich blend of anecdotes and insights about the game he played - and studied - for more than twenty years. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Annapolis MD, United States Naval Institute, Revised Ed., 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, lightly worn dust jacket, 288 pages. First published in 1943, this is the 1950 Revised Edition. During World War II, the U.S. Naval Institute created this regimen after finding the sport of boxing uniquely suited to developing essential qualities such as quick reactions, cool judgment, coordination, and grit; skills invaluable not only in combat but also in countless other sports and physical activities. Many b&w instructional photos. Bright yellow cloth, 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. NY, Harper & Row, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 175 pages. For one full baseball season in 1976, Roger Kahn returned to his favorite sport to see how it was doing, talk to some of its practitioners and veterans, and try to find out whether it still the same old magic. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 1988, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 406 pages. Angell's absorbing collection traces the highs and lows of major-league baseball in the 1980s. Roger Angell once again journeys through five seasons of America's national pastime -- chronicling the larger-than-life narratives and on-field intricacies of baseball from 1982 to 1987. Angell's collected "New Yorker" essays, written in his unique voice as a fan and baseball aficionado, cover the development of the game both on the diamond and off. While diving into subjects such as Sparky Anderson's '84 Detroit Tigers, the legendary 1986 World Series and the Curse of the Bambino, and the increasingly pervasive issue of player drug use, Angell reveals the craft and technique of the game, and the unforgettable stories of those who played it. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 292 pages. Tough and witty, SportsWorld is a well-known commentator's overview of the most significant form of mass culture in America n sports. It's a sweaty Oz that has grown in a century from a crucible for character to a complex of capitalism, a place where young people can find both self-fulfillment and cruel exploitation, where families can huddle in a sanctuary of entertainment and be force fed values and where cities and countries can be pillaged by greedy team owners and their paid-for politicians. But this book is not just a screed, it's a guided visit with such heroes of sports as Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Joe Namath, who the author knew well, and with some he met in passing, like Richard Nixon, who seemed never to have gotten over missing the cut in college varsity football, a major mark of manhood. We see how SportsWorld sensibilities help elect our politicians, judge our children, fight our wars, and oppress our minorities. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in bright, unclipped dust jacket, 413 pages. His second collection after The Summer Game (1972). Five Seasons covers the baseball seasons from 1972 through 1976, described as the "most significant half decade in the history of the game." The era was notable for the remarkable individual feats of Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, and Nolan Ryan, among others. It also presented one of the best World Series of all time (1975), including still the greatest World Series game ever played (Game Six). Along with visiting other games and campaigns, Roger Angell meets a trio of Tigers-obsessed fans, goes to a game with a departing old-style owner, watches high-school ball in Kentucky with a famous scout, and explores the sad and astounding mystery of Steve Blass's vanished control. Angell's Five Seasons is a gem and a gift for baseball lovers of all ages. Super condition, clean.

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 298 pages, 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.

Softcover. Amherst MA, University of Massachusetts Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 323 pages, b&w illustrations. Award-winning sportswriter Marty Dobrow examines the lives of six minor leaguers-Brad Baker, Doug Clark, Manny Delcarmen, Randy Ruiz, Matt Torra, and Charlie Zink-all struggling to make their way to "The Show." What links them together, aside from their common goal, is that they are all represented by the same team of agents-Jim and Lisa Masteralexis and their partner Steve McKelvey-whose own aspirations parallel those of the players they represent. The story begins during spring training in 2005 and ends in the fall of 2008, followed by a brief epilogue that updates each player's fortunes through the 2009 season. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Library of America , 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 560 pages. Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith was the most widely read sports writer of the last century and the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. From the 1940s to the 1980s, his nationally syndicated columns for the New York Herald Tribune and later for The New York Times traversed the world of sports with literary panache and wry humor. "I've always had the notion," Smith once said, "that people go to spectator sports to have fun and then they grab the paper to read about it and have fun again." Now, writer and editor (and inventor of Rotisserie League Baseball) Daniel Okrent presents the best of Smith's inimitable columns--miniature masterpieces that remain the gold standard in sports writing. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Spanish Fork UT, Hillcrest Publications, 1st, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 160 pages. 212 black-and-white photographs, 76 fine color plates, 16 illustrations and 2 maps and 8 decoy profiles. SIGNED BY BOB WHITE who wrote the Foreword. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Hyperion Books, 5th pr., 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 217 pages. "In early October 2001, Dominic DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky begin a 1,300-mile trip by car to visit their beloved teammate Ted Williams, knowing that he is dying. Bobby Doerr, the fourth member of this close group - "my guys," Williams used to call them - is unable to be with them because he is back in Oregon tending to his wife of sixty-three years, Monica, who has suffered her second stroke." "At the core of the book is the friendship of these four very different but extraordinary men, the key players in a remarkable Boston Red Sox team, who stayed close to each other for more than sixty years." The Teammates is the story of two the final one that DiMaggio and Pesky are taking to see Williams, and another, a flight back in time, as they and Bobby Doerr recall the wonders of their years together and reminisce about a magical era. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Thomas Dunne/St. Martins, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket, 290 pages, b&w illustrations. Early in the twentieth century, fate thrust a young Babe Ruth into the gleaming orbit of Ty Cobb. The resulting collision produced a dazzling explosion and a struggle of mythic magnitude. At stake was not just baseball dominance, but eternal glory and the very soul of a sport. For much of fourteen seasons, the Cobb-Ruth rivalry occupied both men and enthralled a generation of fans. Even their retirement from the ball diamond didn't extinguish it. On the cusp of America's entry into World War II, a quarter century after they first met at Navin Field, Cobb and Ruth rekindled their long-simmering feud--this time on the golf course. Ty and Babe battled on the fairways of Long Island, New York; Newton, Massachusetts; and Grosse Ile, Michigan; in a series of charity matches that spawned national headlines and catapulted them once more into the spotlight. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Warner Books, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 290 pages. There was no big league pitcher more respected for his skill than David Cone. Smart. Articulate. Physically and mentally resilient. In his stellar career Cone won multiple championships and received countless professional accolades. However, along the way, the perennial all-star had to adjust to four different ballclubs, recover from a career-threatening arm aneurysm, cope with the lofty expectations that are standard practice for the game's highest paid players, and overcome a humbling three-month, eight-game losing streak in the summer of 2000. Cone granted exclusive and unlimited access to baseball's most respected writer--his long-time friend, Roger Angell of The New Yorker. The result is just what baseball fans everywhere would expect from Angell: an extraordinary inside account of a superstar who examines the technical aspects of pitching, the mental preparation needed to reach the top, and how Cone had to adjust to all the rewards and drawbacks that accompany fame and fortune in the major leagues. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday and Co., 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn, chipped dust jacket, $4.95 on the flap. 315 pages with b&w illustrations. Informal profiles by this former sportswriter of some of the stars of the "Golden Decade" of the 1920s - in boxing, tennis, baseball, football, golf - including Bobby Jones, Babe Ruth, Gertrude Ederle, Gene Tunney, Helen Wills, Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey, Knute Rockne and many more. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Regan Books, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 259 pages, b&w photos. There were few figures among America's media-saturated landscape that loomed larger than the National Basketball Association's undeniable superstar Allen Iverson. He was the first overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft, and the spotlight never left him since. Defiantly tattooed, with his hair in cornrows, the six-foot Philadelphia 76ers point guard was been vilified by a sports press still fawning over Michael Jordan's non-threatening, clean-cut visage. From Iverson's rap sheet to his rap album, from his on-court feats to his off-court antics, breathless fans and journalists alike seem determined to track his every move. Part sports star, part antihero, part hip-hop icon, Iverson managed to cross over into the mainstream of American culture -- without compromise. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 420 pages, b&w illustrations. Offers a fascinating and well-rounded portrait of Gehrig, from his dugout rituals and historic games to his relationships with his mother, wife, coaches, and teammates. His complex friendship with Ruth, who was the polar opposite to Gehrig in nearly every respect, is given particularly vivid attention. Take this revealing description of how the two men began a barnstorming tour together following their 1927 World Series victory: "Ruth tipped the call girls and sent them on their way. Gehrig kissed his mother goodbye." Eig also shares some previously unknown details regarding his consecutive games streak and how he dealt with ALS during the final years of his life. Rich in anecdotes and based on hundreds of interviews and 200 pages of recently discovered letters, the book effectively shows why the Iron Horse remains an American icon to this day. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 456 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. Award-winning sports writer Jane Leavy follows her New York Times runaway bestseller "Sandy Koufax" with the definitive biography of baseball icon Mickey Mantle. The legendary Hall-of-Fame outfielder was a national hero during his record-setting career with the New York Yankees, but public revelations of alcoholism, infidelity, and family strife badly tarnished the ballplayer's reputation in his latter years. In "The Last Boy", Leavy plumbs the depths of the complex athlete, using copious first-hand research as well as her own memories, to show why The Mick remains the most beloved and misunderstood Yankee slugger of all time. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 327 pages, b&w illustrations. This engaging collection of 11 interviews with some of baseball's best players from the 1950s and 1960s, whose salaries were often less than $10,000, might have been better subtitled, "And, Come to Think of It, We Did" (play for nothing, that is). But those guys could play. Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent just starts the tape and lets them talk. There's Ralph Branca, alternately bitter and philosophical about the Shot Heard 'Round the World that Bobby Thompson hit off him in 1951; Harmon Killebrew downplaying the monster homers he hit off everybody; Whitey Ford (236-106 lifetime) sharing great Yankee stories; and Brooks Robinson marveling more at his great peers than at his own illustrious career. Other interviewees include Bill Rigney, Duke Snider, Robin Roberts, Carl Erskine, Lew Burdette, Frank Robinson, and Billy Williams. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 278 pages, b&w illustrations. From the early days in Brooklyn to the champion Los Angeles Dodgers teams of the Sixties, Hall-of-Fame pitcher Don Drysdale's memoir recalls the great moments and players of Dodgers history. Verdi, Chicago Tribune columnist, has given Drysdale his own voice in this nostalgic look at Drysdale's career with the Dodgers organization, and the nature of the changes in the game. Drysdale's colorful anecdotes and opinions make for an informative, enjoyable book, as he describes his teammates (e.g., Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snyder), his bosses (Buzzie Bavasi, Walter Alston, Walter O'Malley), his style (including his "mean" nature in protecting the plate and his use of the spitball), and his broadcasting career. Clean copy.

Hardcover. West Nyack NY, Parker Publishing, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a edgeworn dust jacket with fading to spine, 241 pages. Over 200 b&w illustrations demonstrate all the fundamentals. Edwards was baseball coach at University of California, Riverside. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Verso, reprint, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 299 pages. This paperback edition of Dean Chadwin's widely-discussed book has been expanded to include the Yankee's World Series appearance in the 1999 season. The New York Yankees have won twenty-five championships, more than any other American professional sports franchise. The team's rich history includes a color bar, the towering home runs and bottomless appetites of Babe Ruth, the early and intensely lamented death of Lou Gehrig, frequent labor disputes between players and owners, and the free verse of Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto. A riveting and unconventional foray into the murky underworld of baseball, from the incipient sexual desire of young girls visiting the Derek Jeter on-line fansite to the boozy macho heart of the Yankee Nation in the now-endangered bleachers. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Random House, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket, 283 pages, b&w illustrations. An inside study of minor league baseball provides a portrait of the small cities and towns that house the teams and the colorful people--players, owners, coaches, and fans--who contribute to the baseball legend. The author decided to live out a fantasy by dumping his day job, outfitting a second hand pickup truck, camper and setting out on a great circle journey around backwaters of American baseball. Here he found that the hopes of prospects live on and that the game is self perpetuating. Fortunately for us, David Lamb is a first rate journalist whose sketches of the towns and teams are well written and detailed. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Birch Lane Press, 2nd pr., 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 407 pages, b&w photos. A biography of Mike Tyson traces the mismanagement of his career, his stormy marriage to actress Robin Givens, and his adventures with Donald Trump in an expose that portrays a man grappling with the burdens of fame and fortune. Illingworth does an exceptional job summarizing the life of Mike Tyson. Almost everything on Tyson is covered. From his troubled youth to his rise to stardom, and ultimately, his downfall; the shocking knock out loss to James "Buster" Douglas and later, his rape conviction of a beauty pageant. Illingworth also exposes the business side of Tyson's career. The contracts, the deals with ABC and HBO, the multi-million dollar figures, the lawsuits, etc... Other subjects include Tyson's self-destructive lifestyle, his marriage and divorce to Givens, and his conflicts with Don King. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Delta/Dell, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 275 pages. In his look at the role baseball plays in the lives of American men, the author recounts his own role as shortstop and discusses Bobby Thompson's home run, the 1969 Mets, and other events. By making baseball the focal point of his evocative memoir, the fifty-something Mayer can lay claim to spiritual kinship with all American males who ever aspired to major-league stardom and settled for the sidelines. Looking back on the pre-TV days when he roamed N.Y.C.'s rough diamonds as a scrawny shortstop, the author recalls the pleasures and pains of rooting for the Brooklyn Dodgers, an aberrant choice for a Bronx- born lad whose immigrant parents lived within walking distance of Yankee Stadium. Mayer's loyalty to the team did not survive the franchise's flight to Los Angeles; as a young newspaperman, however, he found it possible to transfer his allegiance to the Mets. Clean copy.

Softcover. Boston, Appalachian Mountain Club, 1st, 1926, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, pages 420-567. Bulletin for December, 1926.Articles on mountain climbing, b&w photos and 2 fold out maps,(Glacier Bay and The Fairweather Range, A Guide to Asnebumsket Hill), Winter Climbing in the Alps, Mt. Everest, others. Covers with light soil otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Lawsonville NC, Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine, 1st Ltd. Ed., 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 344 pages. Iiiustrated throughout in color. #108 of 1000 copies. SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS with AN INSCRIPTION BY SHARP on the title page.

Hardcover. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 385 pages, b&w illustrations. In this highly original history of the world's most famous bicycle race, Christopher S. Thompson, mining previously neglected sources and writing with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, tells the compelling story of the Tour de France from its creation in 1903 to the present. Weaving the words of racers, politicians, Tour organizers, and a host of other commentators together with a wide-ranging analysis of the culture surrounding the event including posters, songs, novels, films, and media coverage Thompson links the history of the Tour to key moments and themes in French history. He argues persuasively that this hugely popular sporting event has been instrumental in French attempts to grapple with the great challenges they have confronted during their tumultuous twentieth century from World Wars, political divisions, and class conflict to economic modernization, women's emancipation, and threats to public health. Name on half title page, otherwise clean.

Softcover. privately printed, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 524 pages, b&w illustrations. This book, from first-time author and avid canoe paddler and builder, Peter Macfarlane, is a travel journal laced with memoir. It recounts a pair of odysseys undertaken by solo canoe along the USA's longest marked inland water trail, the 740-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and much more. Clean, bright copy.