Greatness is in the eye of the beholder and any measure of that greatness stirs debate, outrage and a passion that burns deep in the soul of any professional football fan. The beholder in this volume is a team of editors from THE SPORTING NEWS, the publication that has chronicled the rise of the professional game from its club-sport infancy to the multimillion dollar National Football League that exists today. Not only have the top 100 professional football players of the century been selected, but they have been recording to the talent, passion, and excitement they brought to the field and the emotion they stirred among generations of fans.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” —New York Post * “Stellar.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” —BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will. Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,? The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.
Filled with compelling photos of the most important teams, games, players and events as determined by the officials of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, this fascinating and in-depth book will enthrall sports fans.
The NFL's best players, all in one action-packed volume. Over a century after the formation of the American Professional Football Conference, the precursor to the National Football League, pro football continues to excite and captivate millions of fans across the globe. At the core of the NFL is its legendary players -- the incredible athletes who have thrown, caught, run, tackled and kicked their way into the annals of sports history. NFL Heroes presents the best of the best in pro football. From the pioneers, to the current stars, to the all-time legends that occupy the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, they're all here, including: Tom Brady Jim Brown Jerry Rice Dick Butkus Johnny Unitas Deacon Jones Reggie White Joe Montana Antonio Brown Walter Payton Bronko Nagurski Aaron Donald Dan Marino Terry Bradshaw Emmitt Smith Brett Favre Roger Staubach Rob Gronkowski LaDainian Tomlinson Deion Sanders. Featuring 100 riveting stories and over 120 photos of the game's best, this updated, second edition of NFL Heroes is a must-read for any fan of America's favorite sport.
Numbers conjure up vivid memories in sports. If you say "3" most sports fans would think of Babe Ruth; Green Bay Packer fans would remember Tony Canadeo. If you say "75" most football fans would think of Mean Joe Green, but Packer fans would recall Forrest Gregg. This unique book features 99 chapters one keyed to each uniform number. The history of each number provides a different slice of Packer history, representing a thematic rather than chronological approach to Green Bay's rich heritage. There is no other book like this that reviews a team history by its uniform numbers. A refreshing take on a most popular team!
