Hardcover. New York , Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 1965, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 144 pages. Hardcover. Author's first book. Pages are age toned. Black & white photo section with a degree of damp wrinkling to the upper third of pages. Stain at top edge of rear inside cover. Black cloth cover, spine cloth heavily faded. No dust jacket. Unmarked text. Good.
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. New York, Stein and Day, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 260 pages, b&w photographs. INSCRIBED BY GRAZIANO on front fly leaf, dated 1987. Very good in a bright dust jacket.
Hardcover. Boston, David R. Godine, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 273 pages, oblong hardcover illustrated in color and b&w. Frank Benson, a pivotal artist of the American Impressionist movement had three great loves in his long and productive life: his family, his art, and the sporting life. As a boy, Benson dreamed of being an ornithological illustrator. In mid-life, after an extremely successful career as a portraitist, he returned to the wildfowl and sporting subjects that were his lifelong passion. Over the next forty years, in etching, lithography, watercolor, and oil and wash, he portrayed birds beloved since childhood, scenes of his hunting and fishing expeditions, and still lives of incomparable delicacy. Whether painting a hunter setting out decoys, a wash of geese by moonlight, a watercolor of a companion poised to gaff a salmon, or an etching of a group of ducks silently gliding in for a landing, Benson conveyed the joy and beauty of a sportsman's life.
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.
Hardcover. New York, Persea Books, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 228 page. Hardcover with dust jacket. SIGNED BY AUTHOR BELTH ON TITLE PAGE AND DATED August 31, 2007. Otherwise, clean, tight copy with minor rubbing on dust jacket edges.
Hardcover. New York, Robert M. McBride & Company, First Thus, 1946, 162 pages. Hardcover. Green cloth covers with gilt titles to spine, light scuffing to boards, toning throughout. Previous owner's bookplate to preliminary pages. Black & white illustrations and photographs. Clean unmarked 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. Champaign IL, Sagamore Publishing, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 307 pages, b&w illustrations. SIGNED by all contributors on the front free endpaper - Kerry Keene, Raymond Sinibaldi, David Hickey, and Babe Ruth's granddaughter Linda Ruth Tosetti. The definitive work on his early years, The Babe in Red Stockings, represents not only a detailed study of his remarkable on-field achievements, but also delves into his happy-go-lucky, playful, and occasionally temperamental nature. Dozens of new pieces of information are added to further complete the portrait of one of America's most fascinating figures, the one and only Babe Ruth.
Hardcover. NY, Total Sports, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 296 pages, Foreword by Hank Aaron. In the crisp, evocative prose of Lawrence S. Ritter and in Mark Rucker's glorious selection of 350 rare photographs, this lavish gift book celebrates George Herman Ruth and the big-bang game he invented. Originally issued in 1988, this book created a new form of sports biography that has been widely imitated since, but never with such commercial success or critical acclaim. Includes unopened CD Rom game for Windows 95. (Will work on later Windows). DUE TO SIZE & WEIGHT, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.
Hardcover. NY, Rodale, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. While The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game will not disappoint basketball purists longing for Oscar Robertson's play-by-play of favorite games, the attraction of this autobiography is Robertson's perspective on the evolution of the sport and on the racial struggles that were the context of his formative years. Called by many basketball experts the greatest all-around player ever, Robertson earned an astonishing array of honors including an Olympic gold medal, 12 NBA All-Star appearances, the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and the 1964 NBA MVP award. Most remarkably, Robertson remains the only player in basketball history with a triple-double season (double-digit averages for scoring, rebounds, and assists). While Robertson could have easily candy-coated this impressive record for his retrospective, he devotes large sections of his book to the racial battles he faced off court, and his final chapters recount his controversial efforts as an NBA union leader to create free agency, a pension plan, and disability protection for players. In telling his life story, he lays bare the racism and mistreatment he suffered at the hands of individuals and institutions throughout his career, from the Mayor of Indianapolis and Cincinnati University to the NBA and CBS Sports. At times, his critiques can seem excessive (e.g. his discussions of the distortions in the film Hoosiers, while interesting, are repeated a bit too often), and some sections (like his attempts to compare himself to contemporary players) border on self-indulgence. Yet, he seems justified in arguing that his achievements--largely accomplished on second-rate teams, against a back-drop of unprecedented racial strife, and before the modern era of sports-media saturation--are easily underrepresented. In the end, The Big O offers a complex, human portrait to complement a spectacular sports career.
Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. A reminder of the time when America fell in love with a tall, lanky, curly-haired pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. For a time in the 1970s, the country was in thrall to Mark Fidrych, who came to be known as "The Bird" for his resemblance to Big Bird. Fidrych emerged in the summer of 1976 and became an unlikely but legitimate phenomenon. Wilson tells the Bird's story in this biography of the Massachusetts native whose antics included tending to his own pitching mound during games and allegedly talking to the baseball. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Abrams Press, 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 352 pages, b&w illustrations. The first full biography of the star Negro Leaguer and Hall of Famer James 'Cool Papa" Bell (1903-1991) was a legend in black baseball, a lightning fast switch hitter elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Bell's speed was extraordinary; as Satchel Paige famously quipped, he was so fast he could flip a light switch and be in bed before the room got dark. Wheeler recounts the life of this extraordinary player, a key member of some of the greatest Negro League teams in history. Born to sharecroppers in Mississippi, Bell was part of the Great Migration, and in St. Louis, baseball saved Bell from a life working in slaughterhouses. Wheeler charts Bell's ups and downs in life and in baseball, in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, where he went to escape American racism and MLB's color line.
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, Grosset & Dunlap, Revised Ed., 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket. 253 pages, b&w photos. Expanded with new material for this 1956 editon. Clean copy.
NY, Paul S. Eriksson, 1st, 1974, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with light edgewear. 174 pages, b&w photos. One of the NBA's great all-time guards tells his life story from the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant to coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Wiley, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 320 pages. Having signed the most lucrative contract in NHL history with the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin, at 24, is an undisputed hockey legend. In the mold more of a rock star than hockey player, Ovechkin courts the limelight, is never shy with his opinions, and, in a sport that thrives on the collective culture of the team-Ovechkin is an iconoclast who flouts convention, while loving the game. In The Ovechkin Project, veteran hockey writers Damien Cox and Gare Joyce trace his elite sports pedigree, his role representing Russia in the World Juniors, and how since entering the NHL, he's taken his team from worst to first in their division, and the hockey world by storm. Clean copy.
Hardcover. West Chester PA, Schiffer Publishing, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 128 pages illustrated in color and b&w. The story of the life and works of an American wildfowl artist. Lem's life is a tale of courage - of a man who overcame a withered arm, lack of formal education, cultural isolation, and severe illness to become one of the founders of American Wildfowl Art. This is a close look at how he and his brother, Steve, grew up together in the marshes along the Chesapeake Bay, how they subsisted as barbers and foragers, how they retained their independent spirits to create birds that pleased them - wildfowl art - while carvers around them were creating decoys just good enough for hunting ducks. Lem's work is described in pictures, accompanied by colorful comments and interesting insights by a collector who became one of the artist's closest friends. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 3rd pr., 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a nice dust jacket with light fading to spine, 216 pages. A view from behind the plate of baseball in the 50s, 60s,, and 70s. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Praeger Publishers, 1st, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 225 pages, b&w photos. Cobb is pictured as an explosive personality, a shrewd realist, and a great base stealer in this account of his life and career. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 449 pages, b&w illustrations. Ty Cobb is baseball royalty, maybe even the greatest player who ever lived. His lifetime batting average is still the highest of all time, and when he retired in 1928, after twenty-one years with the Detroit Tigers and two with the Philadelphia Athletics, he held more than ninety records. But the numbers don't tell half of Cobb's tale. The Georgia Peach was by far the most thrilling player of the era: "Ty Cobb could cause more excitement with a base on balls than Babe Ruth could with a grand slam," one columnist wrote. When the Hall of Fame began in 1936, he was the first player voted in. But Cobb was also one of the game's most controversial characters. He got in a lot of fights, on and off the field, and was often accused of being overly aggressive. In his day, even his supporters acknowledged that he was a fierce and fiery competitor. Because his philosophy was to "create a mental hazard for the other man," he had his enemies, but he was also widely admired. After his death in 1961, however, something strange happened: his reputation morphed into that of a monster--a virulent racist who also hated children and women, and was in turn hated by his peers. Clean copy.
Hardcover. New York, Times Books, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 259 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor dust jacket wear. Black and white images throughout. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR OFFEN ON FRONT FLYLEAF.
Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown, 1st, 1926, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. 238 pages. Introduction by E. K. Hall. Black & white illustrations. Corners a bit bumped. Spine sunned. Spine slightly cocked. Some markings to covers.
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.
 "Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson, Theby: Bedford, Faith Andrews")
 "Stepping Up: The Story of Curt Flood and His FIght for Baseball Player's Rights (SIGNED COPY)by: Belth, Alex")
 "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinsonby: Haywood, Will")
 "Swinging Into Golfby: Jones, Ernest/Innis Brown")
 "THE BIG O: My Life My Times My Gameby: Robertson, Oscar")
