The Best American Sports Writings 1996 - Hardcover

With a solid, self-assured, reliable veteran such as Dick Schaap compiling the lineup, the millennial edition of sports writing's best was bound to be a success, and it also includes a few surprises. You want baseball? Here's Robert Huber's stunning profile of Joe DiMaggio--no, not that Joe DiMaggio, but the troubled son saddled with the same name, but gifted with none of the talent. You want football? Here's former NFL defensive end Pat Toomay's deliciously jaundiced chronicle of working on Oliver Stone's football movie Any Given Sunday. You want eclectic? How about Mark Levine's profile of Tony Hawk, skateboarding's acknowledged grand master; Jeanne Marie Laskas on bull riding; Burkhard Bilger on cockfighting; and Bryan Burrough's harrowing account of the storm that wreaked havoc on the 54th Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race? They all widen the playing field that defines sports and sports writing. Now add to that selections from David Halberstam, Rick Telander, Craig Vetter, and Garrison Keillor, and the annual collection of The Best American Sports Writing finds itself once again leading the league. --Jeff Silverman

Glenn Stout has been the series editor of The Best American Sports Writing since its inception and has written three illustrated biographies with Richard A. Johnson: Ted Williams: A Portrait in Words and Pictures, Joe DiMaggio: An Illustrated Life, and Jackie Robinson: Between the Baselines. He is a columnist for Boston Baseball, and the acclaimed author of Red Sox Century, Yankees Century, and The Dodgers. His work has appeared in many regional and national magazines and newspapers.