Review of "Sports Titans of the 20th Century," by Al Silverman

 Review of

Sports Titans of the 20^th Century, by Al Silverman

Four out of five stars

Should be “first half of 20^th century”

 This book is very typical of the short biographies of major sports figures that were written before the “tell all” premise took hold. The biographies are largely laudatory in nature, although they do mention on-field failures as well as a bit of the dirty laundry. Furthermore, the title really should be “Sports Titans of the First Half of the 20^th Century.”

 The people featured in the book are:

*) Jim Thorpe

*) Babe Ruth

*) Jim Brown

*) Jack Dempsey

*) Bob Cousy

*) Babe Didrikson Zaharias

*) Ty Cobb

*) Maurice Richard

*) Willie Mays

*) Jesse Owens

*) Bill Tilden

*) Red Grange

 No one can plausibly dispute that all 12 of these people were titans in their field of sports. In the cases of Babe Ruth and Red Grange, they literally made their sports into the mass phenomena that they became. The others also made major changes in their fields of endeavor.

 A book of sports history, this is a book that takes the reader back to a time when sports were popular, but nowhere near the financial powerhouse they are now.