Harvey Frommer’s Sports Book Reviews: August Sporting Reads – Enjoy!

                                

          Dog days are upon us in August, most of the time. In publishing however there is always a curious mix of recently published baseball books and just published football tomes. This new edition of my ongoing sports books reviews, almost four decades and counting, is a case very much in point.

          The biggest and also the most expensive of the lot is “The Pro Football Hall of Fame 50^th Anniversary Book,” by Joe Horrigan and John Thorn (Grand Central Publishing, $34.99, 320 pages). If you are any kind of football fan, this marvelous looking effort is just for you. Horrigan, veep  of the HOF’s for Communications/Exhibits and Thorn, a legend in anyone’s book in the field of sports publishing, make a terrific team. They have produced a gem.  Chronologically organized, this anniversary book boasts hundreds of images, all kinds of memorabilia, superb writing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

From Abrams comes “Yankee Greats” and “Baseball Fantography.”The former  by Bob Woods ($19.95, 224 pages) is a compendium of 206 full color photographs of Bronx Bomber legends. The latter by Andy Strasberg, is almost 200 jam packed pages of images and stories. And finally from Abrams there is “The Classic Palmer” with text by John Feinstein with photos by Walter Loos. Priced at $19.95, this 140 page volume is a buy or gift for the legion of Arnold Palmer fans out there.

          From Globe Pequot Press comes “Hack’s 191”by Bill Chastain and “The Baseball Hall of Shame” by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo. The Chastain work focuses on Hack Wilson and his incomparable 191 RBI’s in 1930. The Nash and Zullo’s effort  is an ongoing look at what they call “the most outrageous moments of all time” in baseball. Oddball antics get the royal treatment.

          “The Most Memorable Games in Patriots History”  by Jim Baker and Bernard M. Corbett ($25.00, 360 pages) is a book told in the words of those who made the history. Tighter editing would have made the whole tighter but there are parts that truly sing especially to New England Pats faithful. 

          “Stillpower” by Garret Kramer (Atria, $22.00, 191 pages) is a slim product with a big message. It examines how to achieve excellence in sports and life through an inner source. Simply written, yet packing complex ideas, this Kramer quietly explains how all of us in this razzle dazzle world can obtain a clear and quiet state of mind.