How Could They Leave Out Moby Dick?

Dr. Ink is a bibliophile, a sportsophile, and a listophile, so he was delighted when the Dec. 16 edition of Sports Illustrated contained a list of the top 100 sports books of all time. First on the list was “The Sweet Science” by A.J. Liebling (1956): “Pound for pound the top boxing writer of all time, Liebling is at his bare-knuckled best here, bobbing and weaving between superb reporting and evocative prose.”

Of these works, the book-wormy Doc has read most or all of 18 of them, listed below with the good Doctor’s capsule commentary:


#2: “The Boys of Summer,” by Roger Kahn (1971). Warm, charming narratives of the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950s written with a sense of the passing of time, and the loss of great things.

#3: “Ball Four,” by Jim Bouton (1970). Near the end of his pitching career, Bouton writes one of the first tell-all books about the baseball life, revealing the crude and funny underbelly of the beast.

#4: “Friday Night Lights,” by H.G. Bissinger (1990). A former newspaper reporter with great credentials, Bissinger reveals the dark side of high school football culture in Texas.

#7: “Semi-Tough,” by Dan Jenkins (1972). A crude, funny novel about a Texas football player who becomes a star in the Big Apple.

#8. “Paper Lion,” by George Plimpton (1965). This story, in which the author auditions for the Detroit Lions football team, set a high standard for participatory journalism.

#11. “A River Runs Through It,” by Norman Maclean (1976). A first novel written by an old man, an inspiration for us young codgers, this book makes fly-fishing in Montana a mystical experience.

#18. “The Summer Game,” by Roger Angell (1972). The son-in-law of E.B. White may be the most lyrical of baseball writers.

#30. “A Fan’s Notes,” by Frederick Exley (1968). Perhaps the greatest novel among this collection, this book tracks the insanity of a man obsessed by the brilliance of a young “Golden Boy,” Frank Gifford. (If he only knew that Frank would go on to be known as the wife of what’s-her-name.)

#31. “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life,” by Richard Ben Cramer (2000). Doc came away from this book thinking that DiMaggio was an even greater sports hero, but a terrible human being. He did love Marilyn, though.

#39. “The Red Smith Reader,” by Red Smith (1982). Perhaps the best sports columnist of all time, Smith wrote what he saw. A lost art.

#47. “Shoeless Joe,” by W.P. Kinsella (1982). A master of magical realism, Kinsella created the story that was to become the movie “Field of Dreams.” The book is better, especially since the protagonist kidnaps J.D. Salinger.

#52. “Dollar Sign on the Muscle,” by Kevin Kerrane (1984). Kevin is a good friend of Dr. Ink, so Doc was delighted when this definitive study of baseball scouting made the list.

#55. “The Baseball Encyclopedia,” Macmillan Publishing (1969). Doc learned to read by studying the backs of baseball cards, so this work was a natural.

#61. “The Universal Baseball Association, Inc” by Robert Coover (1968). This great novel tells the story of a fan who loses track of the line between a baseball fantasy game and real life. Anticipates virtual reality.

#65. “In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle,” by Madeleine Blais (1995). This Pulitzer-winning author follows a girl’s basketball team through a remarkable season. An inspirational book for sports-minded girls.

#81. “Inside Edge,” by Christine Brennan (1996). No writer owns her sport like Chris Brennan does Olympic figure skating.