Sports Illustrated: Great Baseball Writing, ed. Rob Fleder

Sports Illustrated: Great Baseball Writing, edited by Rob Fleder, (Sports Illustrated Books, 2007), 557 pages.

From its first edition in August 1954, Sports Illustrated has been a weekly feature of many American sports fans’ lives.  To mark the fiftieth anniversary of its conception, Sports Illustrated published this collection of fifty-two articles, ranging from January 1956 to December 2004.  From the revealing portraits of some of baseball’s greats, to the vivid recollections of historic moments, there is a wealth of fantastic writing to enjoy. 

This collection offers a potted history of the game, one that is perhaps – if we have to be picky – a little heavy on the most recent years.  Half of the fifty-two articles are from 1991 onwards, with the 80s being represented only four times.  This doesn’t detract from the overall quality of book though.  The most recent article relates to the Red Sox’s 2004 World Series victory.  Virtually every man and his dog with a vague connection to Boston has written a book about their personal reaction to this triumph, so the prospect of yet another didn’t exactly fill me with excitement.  That it confounded my low expectations, and turned out to be the most moving article I have read on the topic, is testament to the level of writing on show.

While flicking through the articles, you are constantly reminded that this is not just a standard book about baseball.  From the differing writing styles to the subjects that are covered and the way they are approached, the fact that these articles were originally written for a weekly magazine has a clear impact on the content.

There are some enjoyable creative pieces here, such as Roy Blount Jr’s ode to triples (“the most exciting 12 seconds in sports”), Steve Rushin’s “epic nursery rhyme” about the first 112 men to play third base for the Mets, and George Plimpton’s account of the day he pitched at Yankee Stadium.  Alongside these lighter passages, the reader’s history lesson begins with an introduction to the Negro Leagues via the lives of Cool Papa Bell and Buck O’Neill.

Every sports magazine gravitates towards the stars and that’s no bad thing for a retrospective book, not least because the writers often approach their subjects in unique ways.  The chapters devoted to individual players tend to take a look at the person rather than their performances on the field.  The man that was Ted Williams, for example, is revealed during a fishing trip with the author, in this case John Underwood.    Tom Verducci’s profile of Sandy Koufax from July 1999 shows the respect that he still commands while living an understated, almost secretive life (“he cannot be pinned down any easier than a tuft of a dandelion blown free by the wind”).  The reader is taken into the worlds of Reggie Jackson, Roberto Clemente, Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds amongst many others, moving you beyond their statistics to show their personalities.

These articles sit alongside tales of players whose stars shone briefly before burning out, such as Dean Chance and Mark Fidrych.  Indeed Fidrych is a classic example of why this book is a great baseball history gap-filler for British fans.  His name will not come to your attention when reading about the game’s greats, but his incredible story should not be overlooked.

You would also only have a partial picture of the sport if attention fell exclusively on the players and managers.  Influential and colourful figures from around the game are given their share of the spotlight, from legendary commentators Jack Buck and Vin Scully to visionary owners like Bill Veeck.   Marge Schott, former part-owner of the Cincinnati Reds, defies explanation and Rick Reilly’s article will leave you shaking your head in astonishment at her – how shall we put it? – unusual behaviour.

Over the course of its history, Sports Illustrated has published many ground breaking articles and some are included in this collection.  Dan Okrent’s profile on leading sabermetrician Bill James helped to bring his ideas to a wider national audience in 1981, paving the way for other like-minded fans to publicly challenge conventional baseball wisdom.  In 2002, Sports Illustrated challenged the sport itself by revealing the extent to which performance enhancing drugs were being abused by players.  The frankest admissions are provided by Ken Caminiti, whose descriptions of the physical effect that his drug-taking had on his body showed just how dangerous their use could be.  That Caminiti died just two years later at the age of forty-one makes his words all the more poignant.

The reflective articles in this collection are great, but it is the passages written about current events that really make this collection worth buying.  They provide a snapshot of a moment in time.  Not merely a glimpse at the characters and moments from the history of baseball, but an insight into what baseball fans were reading and how baseball writers were recording the events.  Nowhere is that more apparent than in Rick Reilly’s piece from September 1998, written in the style of a letter to his granddaughter forty years in the future.  ‘Looking back’ on 1998, Reilly described it as “an odd time in this country.  Washington seemed to be filled with liars, cheats and scumbags, yet our games were as pure and shiny as I’d ever seen them”. That he was eulogising over Mark McGwire’s surpassing of Roger Marris’s home run record is a sad coincidence.  Having preserved his memories under the pretence that they could be recalled in forty years time, Reilly could not have predicted that barely ten years in the future they would be a painful reminder of how McGwire’s standing has plummeted so quickly. 

Whether you are a Cardinals fan longing to be reminded of 1998, or simply a baseball fan who enjoys reading lively articles about the sport, this is an excellent collection.  A wide range of subjects are covered, often in the sort of immediate and vibrant tone that you would expect from magazine writing.  The book’s subtitle is “Great baseball writing” and that’s a fair reflection on the content inside.

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