King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero

True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson

Kostya Kennedy

True is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's—and America's—most significant figures. For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball’s singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America

Joe Posnanski · 276 pages

Documents the author's cross-country travels at the side of Negro Leagues champion Buck O'Neil, a journey during which the pair sought to recapture their love of the game, remembered O'Neil's history-making career, and explored the numerous challenges that the sport has overcome.

Jackie Robinson: The Graphic Novel

Josh Bycel and Rich Korson; Illustrated by Tristan Roach

Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X

Randy Roberts, Johnny Smith · 362 pages

In 1962, boxing writers and fans considered Cassius Clay an obnoxious self-promoter, and few believed that he would become the heavyweight champion of the world. But Malcolm X, the most famous minister in the Nation of Islam--a sect many white Americans deemed a hate cult--saw the potential in Clay, not just for boxing greatness, but as a means of spreading the Nation s message. The two became fas

Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times

Thomas Hauser · 544 pages

A portrait of Ali's life and career, from his childhood in Louisville, his triumphs and tragedies, to the life he leads today.

The Boys of Summer

Roger Kahn · 445 pages

"A ... narrative of growing up within shouting distance of Ebbets Field, working for the Herald Tribune in the Jackie Robinson years ... and what's happened to everybody since."

The Greatest: My Own Story

Richard Durham, Muhammad Ali · 424 pages

Michael Jordan: The Life

Roland Lazenby · 708 pages

Traces the life of one of the most legendary basketball players in the history of the sport, drawing upon interviews with Jordan's friends, family, and teammates, and following his career from college to the NBA.

The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron

Howard Bryant · 616 pages

This book is the first definitive biography of Henry Aaron -- baseball's great home-run champion and one of its most enduring legends. As the steroid controversy has increasingly tarnished baseball's image, Hank Aaron's achievements have come to seem all the more remarkable: the first player to pass Babe Ruth in home runs, Aaron held that record for thirty-three years while shattering other record

Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life

Richard Ben Cramer · 553 pages

"In this biography, Richard Ben Cramer presents a stunning, often shocking portrait of the hero nobody knew. It is a story that sweeps through the twentieth century, bringing to light along the way not just America's national game, but her movie stars, mobsters, pols, writers...the birth (and the price) of modern national celebrity.". "This is the story Joe DiMaggio never wanted to tell - and nev

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever

John Feinstein · 375 pages

When a fistfight broke out between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers one night in 1977, All-Star Rudy Tomjanovich raced to break it up. He was met by Kermit Washington, a good player with a great reputation, and by an astonishingly ferocious punch, a single blow that has reverberated in both men's lives ever since. With his unerring insight into the deeper truths of professional sport

The Grand Slam

Mark Frost · 448 pages

In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, as the shadows of depression lengthened into every corner of American life, one ray of light emerged from the world of sports: Bobby Jones. THE GRAND SLAM covers the life of this amateur golfer who mounted his final campaign against the record books, and produced a legacy of excellence that has yet to be matched: In a period of four months, Bobby Jone

I Never Had It Made

Jackie Robinson, Alfred Duckett · 312 pages

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

Steve Sheinkin · 288 pages

An astonishing underdog sports story and more. It's an unflinching look at the US government's violent persecution of Native Americans and the school that was designed to erase Indian cultures. Native American Jim Thorpe became a super athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Indomitable coach Pop Warner was a football mastermind. In 1907 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they

Baseball's Leading Lady: Effa Manley and the Rise and Fall of the Negro Leagues

Andrea Williams · 336 pages

Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball—and America—Forever

Tim Wendel · 272 pages

In a year shaped by national tragedy, baseball was shaped by amazing pitching--culminating in a victory by a Detroit Tigers team that faced off against Bob Gibson's St. Louis Cardinals, the 1967 World Series defending champions.

Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King: The Turbulent Life of Eric Cantona

Philippe Auclair · 288 pages

Many have tried to persuade Eric Cantona to write his autobiography. He never will. Philippe Auclair has interviewed every key player in Cantona's life, from his family and first coach to his wife Isabelle, to produce a biography that reveals the heart and inner thoughts of this most extraordinary character.

Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game that made a Nation

John Carlin · 288 pages

Soon to be a major motion picture from Academy Award(r)—winning director Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: Use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodi

Secretariat: The Making of a Champion

William Nack · 362 pages

Wooden: A Coach's Life

Seth Davis · 607 pages

A provocative assessment of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden by the best-selling author of When March Went Mad draws on hundreds of interviews from all periods of his career to offer insight into his driving ambition, divided relationships and hard-won lessons.

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

Michael Lewis · 345 pages

Follows one young man from his impoverished childhood with a crack-addicted mother, through his discovery of the sport of football, to his rise to become one of the most successful, highly-paid players in the NFL.

Namath: a Biography

Mark Kriegel · 512 pages

Discusses the football star's upbringing as the son of a Hungarian immigrant in the steel country of Pennsylvania, his achievements at the University of Alabama, his career with the New York Jets, and his legendary status.

Football - Bloody Hell!: The Biography of Alex Ferguson

Patrick Barclay

Hedley Verity

Alan Hill · 184 pages

The name of Hedley Verity, the master bowler of unyielding menace, is one to be cherished more than 50 years after his death. Allan Hill tells the story of a magnificent sporting obsession in this reissue of the first full-length biography of a revered cricketer. Verity headed the English first-class bowling averages in his first season with Yorkshire and twice took ten wickets in an innings in co