biography sports

Hardcover. New York, Moffat, Yard and Co, 3rd, 1916, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 463 pages. Contains black & white photographs. Light soiling to covers.

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. Hoboken NJ, John Wiley & Sons, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. The biography of one of the most controversial figures in sports: New York Yankees owner George SteinbrennerFor 34 years, he berated his players and tormented Yankees managers and employees. He played fast and loose with the rules, and twice could have gone to jail. He was banned from baseball for life--but was allowed back in the game. Yet George Steinbrenner also built the New York Yankees from a mediocre team into the greatest sports franchise in America. The Yankees won ten pennants and six World Series during his tenure. Now acclaimed sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author Peter Golenbock tells the fascinating story of "The Boss," from his Midwestern childhood through his decades-long ownership of the Yankees-the longest in the team's history. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Kansas City MO, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. A portrait of one of the world's most famous boxers chronicles the life and career of Oscar de la Hoya, from his poverty-stricken childhood, to his Olympic glory, to his celebrity world of multimillion-dollar contracts, spicy romances, and turbulent personal life and professional career. 313 pages, b&w illustrations. Clean.

Hardcover. Boston/NY, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 326 pages, b&w illustrations, Elgin Baylor's memoir of an epic all-star career in the NBA--during which he transformed basketball from a horizontal game to a vertical one--and his fights against racism during his career as a player and as general manager of the LA Clippers under the infamous Donald Sterling, Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 254, b&w illustrations. A veteran of seven decades of professional baseball reminisces about his days in the Negro Leagues, offers an intimate portrait of Satchel Paige, and reveals his current work scouting for the Kansas City Royals at age eighty-two. Buck O'Neil was a former all-star player and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs; he also has the distinction of being the first black to hold a coaching position in major league baseball. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Charlotte Harbor FL, Tabby House Books, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, pictorial glazed boards with matching dust jacket. 301 pages, Illustrated with color and b&w photos. The career of the international rally race champion, as told by his navigator and co-driver. Scarce. Small repaired tear to edge of dust jacket, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 192 pages. Isaac Murphy, born enslaved in 1861, still reigns as one of the greatest jockeys in American history. Black jockeys like Murphy were at the top of the most popular sport in America at the end of the nineteenth century. Black jockeys were internationally famous - the first African American superstar athletes--and with wins in three Kentucky Derbies and countless other prestigious races, Murphy was the greatest of them all. At the same time, he lived through the seismic events of Emancipation and Reconstruction and formative conflicts over freedom and equality in the United States. And inevitably he was drawn into those conflicts, with devastating consequences. Katherine C. Mooney uncovers the history of Murphy's troubled life, his death in 1896 at age thirty-five, and his afterlife. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, large format, pictorial boards, 160 pages. The definitive collection of comics and illustration from 1892 to 1942 by James Swinnerton, one of the founding fathers of the American comic strip. This sumptuous volume covers Swinnerton's six-decade career in comics, from his beginnings as a sports/editorial cartoonist for William Randolph Hearst in San Francisco to his years in the America's Southwest desert, where his love for the land and its people came through in his comics and illustration. Jimmy! includes an illustrated biography and essays by co-editor Michael Tisserand and Eddie Campbell. The comic strips in this volume are carefully restored to their original colors and printed at near-full size. Swinnerton lovers will be delighted by the richness and variety of the works seen here. Those new to this uniquely American artist will likely join the growing numbers who appreciate his important role in the history of the comics. Clean, bright copy. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. In a stunning feat of meticulous reportage, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ben Cramer ultimately puts to rest the "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" question with iconoclastic bravura. In Cramer's evaluation, the hero America held onto so desperately for so long was really a creation of a nation's communal imagination. The Joe DiMaggio that America tried so hard to believe in was never really here at all. There was, of course, a Joe DiMaggio, and he had a splendid career in Yankee pinstripes--once hitting safely in an unimaginable 56 consecutive games--and a troubled marriage with Marilyn Monroe, each augmenting the other in our national mythology. But myths tend to be skin-deep, and Cramer's biography thrives in an internal geography well below the surface. The map he charts is of a cold, small, often nasty, uncaring, resentful, self-centered man, a man of public grace and private misery who broke friendships, shunned family, and chased money with the same focused energies he once harnessed to run down fly balls.

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.

Hardcover. Urbana IL, University of Illinois Press, 2nd pr., 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 465 pages, index, biographical essay, b&w photos and illustrations, Biography of Catholic Irish-American boxer John Lawrence Sullivan. Clean, bright copy in a similar dust jacket.

Hardcover. New York , Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 7th printing, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 306 pages, b&w photos. Light wear, rubbing and sunning to dust jacket. Book itself is very good.

Hardcover. NY, Random House, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 233 pages, b&w photos. The greatest basketball player in history tells the dramatic story of his final seasons in the game. A revealing self-portrait by one of the most intriguing sports heroes. This richly detailed book describes the 1988-89 NBA season (his last).

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. US, Good Morning Publishing Co., na, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 320 pages, numerous b&w photos. INSCRIBED by author on front end paper. Clean, tight copy. You may have seen "Hoosiers" ... But you've never hear the real story!. It was a shot that changed the game of basketball, captivated people from all walks of life, and inspired one of the most beloved films of the 20th century. It was the shot made by Bobby Plump in the 1954 Indiana High School Athletic Association boys' basketball championship. And it's the centerpiece of one of the greatest sports stories of all time.

Hardcover. NY, Ballantine Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Daughter Vernona Gomez honors her late father with a well-researched biography of Yankee great Vernon "Lefty" Gomez. From the time he was a child Lefty wanted to be a baseball player. His strength was in his determination to achieve his goal while at the same time being a willing learner from those who had knowledge to pass on to him. In other words he was coachable and aware of his limitations. Gomez played during the heyday of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and later Joe DiMaggio. Lefty was The Yankee Clipper's roommate for several years, and taught the quiet DiMaggio life in the big leagues. The book provides numerous anecdotes of the Yankee greats of this time period which enrich the book a great deal. Gomez was there when Ruth supposedly called his "shot" in Wrigley Field during the 1932 World Series. He was also there when Gehrig was stricken with illness and had to prematurely retire from the game. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 302 pages. Celebrated Author Roger Angell has warmly Inscribed to an friend and signed on the title page ("For Carl - All best, Roger Angell ". The book contains the childhood baseball recollections from America's premier observer of the world of baseball and life. Angell was the long time contributor to The New Yorker. Clean, bright 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. Draws on hundreds of new interviews and previously unpublished letters to present a comprehensive account of the life of the Hall of Fame ballplayer whose career was cut short by the disease now named for him, in a portrait that shares background details about his rivalry with Babe Ruth, the onset of his illness, and the final years of his life. 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, Doubleday, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 553 pages. The compulsively readable and sometimes jaw-dropping story of the life of a notorious madam who played hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star and Cafe Society swell worth knowing, and who as much as any single figure helped make the twenties roar--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America. Simply put: Everybody came to Polly's. Pearl "Polly" Adler (1900-1962) was a diminutive dynamo whose Manhattan brothels in the Roaring Twenties became places not just for men to have the company of women but were key gathering places where the culturati and celebrity elite mingled with high society and with violent figures of the underworld--and had a good time doing it. B&w illustrations, clean copy.

Hardcover. Maryland, Scarecrow Press, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 167 pages. Hardcover with laminate covers. Clean, tight copy. Black and white photographs throughout.

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.

Hardcover. Syracuse NY, Syracuse University Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 142 pages, b&w illustrations. In 1950, future Hall of Famer Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association game. A warm and gracious man, widely loved and respected, Lloyd has lived what he describes as an 'incredible journey' and has spent eighty years gathering passionate lessons from that experience. He was born in Virginia, a state he describes as 'the cradle of segregation', only sixty-two years after the end of the Civil War. Nicknamed 'Moonfixer' in college, Lloyd led West Virginia State to two CIAA Conference and Tournament Championships and was named All-American twice. One of three African Americans to enter the NBA at that time, Lloyd played seven games for the Washington Capitals before the team folded. He joined the Syracuse Nationals for six seasons and later played for the Detroit Pistons before he retired in 1961. Throughout his career, he quietly endured the overwhelming slights and exclusions that went with being black in America. Yet he has also lived to see basketball - a demonstration of art, power, and pride - become the black national pastime and to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. In a series of extraordinary conversations with Sean Kirst, Lloyd reveals his fierce determination to succeed, his frustration with the plight of many young black men, and his sincere desire for the nation to achieve true equality among its citizens. CLEAN COPY.