Exploring the imagination of sports in books, history and culture
Also In This Issue: Lionel Messi’s Last World Cup Hurrah; College Athlete NILs and Book Publishing; The Architect of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue; Larry Farmer; Brittney Griner; ‘Ball Four’ Hits the Stream; Clair Bee Novels; Grant Wahl; Rick Hummel; Remembering Nick Bolliteri, Mike Leach, Curt Simmons and Billie Moore
To read the full newsletter, please click the link title link. Gmail cuts off after so many words (don’t know how many) if you’re reading in your e-mail template.—Wendy
The Year That Was in Sports Books
Your List of Lists: Sports Collectors Digest has compiled a list of its favorite/best baseball books of 2022 to start off our roundup. At The Financial Times, Simon Kuper has a list with a global view. If you’re still doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, the Scotsman staff has put together its recommendations. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s list is heavily regional, not surprisingly. Here’s a handful of favorites from The New York Times in its assessment of the best books of the year. And in the land of the True North, the CBC serves up its books for sports fans in Canada.
The Maker of a Magazine Legend
Remembering Jule Campbell: For all the controversy the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has generated, it’s easily forgotten—or perhaps not known much at all by critics— that architect of what became an iconic brand was a woman. Jule Campbell, who died Nov. 19 at 96, was a fashion reporter and editor who cut her teeth at Glamour and later was put in charge of developing a pick-me-up issue for SI’s mostly male readership during the winter months. That debuted in 1964 and Campbell stayed on until 1996, with the magazine becoming standalone in 1987. Her daughter-in-law is working on a documentary film of Campbell to be released in 2024.
A Few Good Reads
Is Lionel Messi soccer’s GOAT?—The Athletic
France gunning for first World Cup repeat in 60 years—The Guardian
Thanks to NIL, college athletes are now publishing books—Front Office Sports
A longtime lawyer’s passing for scouting for thoroughbreds—Bloodhorse
The Klein Chocolate Company Baseball Team’s Remarkable 1919 Season—Society for American Baseball Research
Cliff Kachline Chapter unveils historical baseball exhibit in Gloversville, New York—Society for American Baseball Research
Former UCLA player, coach Larry Farmer guides girls high school team—Classical Chicago
A young baseball research star battles Lou Gehrig’s Disease—New York Post
Inside the Prisoner Swap That Freed Brittney Griner—The New York Times
‘We were pioneers’: Long before WNBA, San Francisco had trailblazing pro team—San Francisco Chronicle
Film
Sports documentary filmmaker Jon Leonoudakis (“Hano! A Century in the Bleachers”) has recently released a cinematic examination of Jim Bouton’s baseball classic “Ball Four.” You can stream “Ball Four Turns 40” at Patreon for $8 on-demand. It stemmed from an exhibit in 2010 at a library in Burbank, Calif., where Bouton was flown by the Baseball Reliquary project. More on how the film came to be and a piece as the exhibit got started.
As the World Cup got underway, the Criterion Collection released a collection of 11 soccer-related films to download. The topics in “The Beautiful Game: International Football Films” explore the game against backdrops of social, political and cultural variety around the world.
Filmmaker Larry Foley, chairman of the journalism department at the University of Arkansas, was interviewed recently about sports books that have influenced his career. His extensive collection includes several books written by legendary college basketball coach Clair Bee, including his full set of 23 novels for young readers, the Chip Hilton Sports Series.
Media
I’m still trying to get over the shocking news of the death of Grant Wahl, 48, perhaps America’s best-known soccer writer, at the World Cup in Qatar. He collapsed in the press tribune during the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal match and rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death as an aeortic aneuryism, and he had checked in with doctors in Qatar previously to complain of not feeling well. Wahl covered soccer and college basketball for Sports Illustrated for many years before cuts there prompted him to start his own Substack newsletter last year.
His last post was a scathing attack on Qatari officials for migrant worker deaths, and he was deeply critical of the Arab nation’s hosting of the World Cup. He caused a stir at an early game for wearing a gay pride shirt (his brother is openly gay and homosexuality is officially illegal in Qatar). His wife, Céline Gounder, a noted infectious disease physician with a high public profile during the COVID-19 pandemic, posted message this on his Substack, handling a raw tragedy with such grace.
That’s how I also remember Wahl, whom I met covering the World Cup in 2002, already a star in the making. More tributes: The New Yorker | Financial Times | Front Row Soccer | Order Book
A few days after Wahl’s death, Alex Yannis, a longtime soccer reporter for The New York Times, died at the age of 84. He covered the North American Soccer League and Pelé’s arrival to the New York Cosmos and pitched coverage of the 1974 World Cup to the Times, which gave him a front-page story and reimbursed his expenses in West Germany.
Joe Donnelly, 87, covered the New York Mets and New York Yankees for 33 years for Newsday in a career that spanned from Sandy Koufax to Pedro Martinez. He started out at the New York World-Telegram and The New York Sun, and as Sports Illustrated baseball writer Tom Verducci remembers, “there was no hype in his game. He did not sell himself, his work or his subjects.
Retirements:
Rick Hummel, 51 years as a baseball writer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jay Posner, 34 years as reporter, copy editor and sports editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune
Passings
Nick Bollitieri, 91, “the Michelangelo of Tennis,” was the teacher to some of the legendary tennis players of the last 40 years, including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, the Williams sisters, Boris Becker and Martina Hingis. He opened the Bollitieri Tennis Academy in Florida to help train and motivate lesser players, capitalizing on his communications skills. He never played competitive tennis beyond high school, but as former WTA pro Mary Pierce said, “He knew how to bring out the best in you.” | Tennis World remembrance | Order Book
Mike Leach, 61, aka “The Pirate,” was the head football coach at Mississippi State, Washington State and Texas Tech, a disciple of the “Air Raid” offense and colorful (perhaps flaky?) character with an endless curiosity for the wider world around him. He was clever and quick with a quip, and his rants—sometimes good-natured, some dead serious, were legendary. Not many coaches can go off on dinosaurs and wide receivers in a few breaths, and post-game press conferences tended to be more colorful after his teams lost. Leach’s offensive innovations have been credited for the rise of more than a few college and professional stars, including Patrick Mahomes. “He has made football far more fun,” longtime Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland wrote of Leach. | Official Miss. State obituary | Order Book
Curt Simmons, 93, was an All-Star pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies’ 1950 National League champion, and the last of the surviving Whiz Kids. He won 193 games, 17 coming in that 1950 season. He’s fifth on the all-time Phillies’ victory list with 115.
Billie Moore, 79, was the head coach of the U.S. women’s basketball team when the sport debuted at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, and was one of the leading figures in the early years of women’s college basketball. She coached Ann Meyers and UCLA to the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championship in 1978 and compiled a 436-196 record there and at Cal State-Fullerton. Moore was as a mentor to many, especially the late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt, a member of the 1976 Olympic team. Moore was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1999, and Summitt the following year.
The Sports Biblio Reader e-mail newsletter is delivered on Sunday. You can subscribe here and search recent archives. The full archives for Sports Biblio Digest can be found here. This is issue No. 255, published Dec. 18, 2022.
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