Here are 50 of America's greatest sports figures, vividly captured in incisive biographical essays, on-the-scene coverage of their triumphs and defeats, and evocative reminiscences--by the New York Times reporters who covered them. 50 black-and-white photos.

Baseball's Natural is John Theodore's true account of the slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and the Phillies in the 1940s and became immortalized in baseball lore as the inspiration for Bernard Malamud's The Natural. Eddie Waitkus grew up in Boston and fought in the Pacific theater in World War II. Following the war, Waitkus became one of the most popular players of his era. In 1949, with his career on the rise, his life changed dramatically in a Chicago hotel when a nineteen-year-old shot him in the chest. Waitkus's dramatic recovery the next year inspired his teammates as...

Best-selling New York Times writer Ira Berkow presents a unique look at America's premier sport and its fans through interviews with a remarkable cross section of widely known and extraordinarily accomplished individuals in a variety of fields, who explain what the lure of basketball is for them. Berkow talked with Chris Rock, Woody Allen, Tom Brokaw, Saul Bellow, Johnnie Cochran Jr., Walter Matthau, Nikki Giovanni, Donald Trump, Julia Child, Frank Stella, Erica Jong, Grover Washington Jr., Seiji Ozawa, and Sharon Stone, among others, to uncover fresh, funny, controversial, and often...

Ira Berkow presents a potent account of the life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish ballplayer to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Red Smith's writing is recognized as the best in the field. Here is a selection of his most memorable columns 175 of them, from 1941 to 1981. His prose...offers lasting lessons about matters journalistic and literary. Robert Schmuhl, University of Notre Dame. The most admired and gifted sportswriter of his time.... Red Smith's work...tended to be the best writing in any given newspaper on any given day. David Halberstam, New York Times Book Review"

"August Adolphus Busch Jr., the new president of the Cardinals, is a chubby gentleman called Gussie, about the size of a St. Louis brewer. He has horn-rimmed glasses, a zillion dollars and an air of pleased bewilderment. He rides to the hounds and travels by bus." It's not hard to pluck a memorable passage from the sportswriting of Red Smith. In more than fifty years as a newspaperman, notably with the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times, he earned a reputation as the best writer ever to confront the game of baseball astute, clever, witty, and stylish. In this bountiful selection...

When Rod Carew retired in 1985, following twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins and seven with the California Angels, he had amassed seven batting titles, more than three thousand hits, and eighteen All-Star selections and was considered one of the best pure hitters to ever play the game. While his baseball career is well documented--Rookie of the Year in 1967 and a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1991--this compelling chronicle of Carew's life extends far beyond the baseball diamond. Carew is the candid autobiography of a baseball legend--from his years growing up in a...

For millions of basketball fans in the 1970s, Walt "Clyde" Frazier defined the word "cool." An iconic piece of basketball history and sports journalism, this meticulously documented account tells the story of one of the greatest point guards in NBA history and how he led the Knicks to their only two championships with a style and flair that was wholly his own. Now, three decades later, "Rockin' Steady "is back with an all-new introduction, afterword, and everything that made it one of the most unusual sports books of all time.

Casey Stengel is unquestionably one of the great characters and showmen in the history of baseball. What is less well known about him is he was also one of the greatest strategists and managers the game has ever known. No book demonstrates both sides of The Ol' Perfesser's genius better than The Gospel According to Casey. Chapters cover Stengel's philosophies on batting, pitching, fielding, base running, and managing. "A Discourse on Stengelese" collects dozens of hilarious and sometime profound quotes. Also included are Casey's views on ballplayer attitude and ego, his all-time favorite...