I think we're just about there with this, but I'll keep it open up until the end of the week, so any more submissions, send 'em in.
The original starting point of a dozen titles can be found here, then there were some more here, and author/rock star/hockeyist Dave Bidini's favourites are here.
Now for the latest adds, first one from Garth Woolsey, who does an annual roundup of the year's best in sports books for the Star:
Sunday Money, by Jeff MacGregor. Garth: "My choice for MVB (Most Valuable Book) of 2005. Outrageously entertaining. Shades of Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, gone gonzo on gas fumes."
Here's a foursome from Ken Owen I inadvertently missed out on adding before, with his comments:
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn. Obvious, I guess, but still excellent.
Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville, by Stephen Jay Gould. A collection of Gould's writings on baseball, that is wide-ranging and very enjoyable. The fact that they are article length makes it easy to dip in and out of, too.
The Bases Were Loaded (And So Was I), by Tom Callahan. Some chapters are absolutely stupendous, I particularly enjoyed his portrait of Pete Rose.
Addicted, by Tony Adams. Former England captain and Arsenal star writing about his battle with alcoholism. Much better than your run-of-the-mill autobiography.
I've got these three to go up, one of 'em not really a book, but a gift subscription:
Wilt, 1962, by Gary M. Pomerantz. I just picked this up at a book sale, an utterly engrossing read on Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point night, and how it saved the NBA.
The Rivalry, by John Taylor. Chamberlain's duels with Bill Russell are an essential part of NBA lore, and this is a natural snuggled up next to Wilt, 1962 on the shelf.
When Saturday Comes. 'Zine has been around for 20 years or so, and is a lot slicker than it used to look, but it still delivers good commentary from real fans of the game.
Got more? We've got the major sports covered pretty good. But no golf. Fine with me, actually, but it seems a shame given the quality of literature on the game -- which brings us, in closing, to the late George Plimpton's small ball theory of sports literature, and Herbert Warren Wind.
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