Review of
Great Sports Stories From Sports Illustrated,
edited by Robert Vitarelli
Four out of five stars
Stories not great, but coverage is
There are
seventeen short stories in this book, none of which can be considered great. Three
of the stories cover some of the all-time greats, Babe Ruth, Red Grange and Joe
DiMaggio. Those stories are of average quality. What makes this book
interesting is in the coverage of other people in sports that most people have
never heard of.
There is
coverage of the day when journeyman golfer Lee Mackey Jr. shot a record 64 in a
U.S. Open tournament round, his only major achievement in golf. There is the
game in 1895 considered to be the birth of professional football, Madame Anderson,
a female marathon walker, Annie Smith Peck, mountaineer extraordinaire, the
first ever rodeo with prize money in 1883 and Frank Lockhart who died trying to
set a new land speed record.
Some people try
to restrict the definition of sports to those that are popular. One of the best
aspects of Sports Illustrated is that they cover many different sports as well
as both genders. This book demonstrates that characteristic.
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