By Kim J. Harmon

If you’re heading to the beach this summer, don’t forget to pack some SPF 500 sunscreen (in case it actually gets sunny) and a book.

The No. 1 pastime at the beach – besides getting sunburned – seems to be reading, but the key is knowing just what to read. War and Peace or The Grapes of Wrath may be right for a dreary day on the front porch, but at the beach you want something relatively mindless and easy to read.

For sports fans, there are a lot of new volumes in that kind of mold. From The Mad Dog 100 by Chris Russo to Me And My Dad by Paul O’Neill, here are some suggestions on what you can bring to the beach this weekend.

Or any weekend, for that matter.

Read on –

THE MAD DOG 100: The 100 Greatest Sports Arguments of All Time (©2003 by Chris Russo and Allen St. John, published by Doubleday, 304 pages, $22.95) – Sure, listening to him on WFAN can be infuriating at times, but Chris Russo does know his sports.

So like he does on the radio, he argues.

And argues.

And argues.

Was Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak a more impressive accomplishment than Ted William’s .406 batting average? Which was the most dominant team of all time – the Boston Celtics (1966-67), Los Angeles Lakers (1971-72) or Chicago Bulls  (1995-96)? Could Tiger Woods take Ben Hogan?

The greatest center ever, the greatest quarterback ever, the greatest hockey dynasty of all time – these are just some of the arguments that Mad Dog tackles from the perspective of the common fan.

The only trouble is, if you disagree with one of his arguments, there is no phone number to call.

WHO’S YOUR CADDY: Looping for the Great, Near Great and Reprobates of Golf (©2003 by Rick Reilly, published by Doubleday, 272 pages, $24.95) – One of the great things about picking up the new issue of Sports Illustrated is flipping to the back to read Rick Reilly’s column.

Sometimes poignant, sometimes emotional, Reilly – with a clever use of the language – is almost always funny. In Who’s Your Caddy, Reilly hauls the bags of 11 players and media personalities (and one infamous gambler) and demonstrates in hilarious fashion how little he understands the game.

John Daly came up with a nifty nickname – nifty, but unprintable.

Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, Donald Trump, comedian Bob Newhart, Tom Lehman, Jill McGill, Bob Andrews (who is blind) and Dewey Tomko (the legendary gambler) all subjected themselves to Reilly’s bumbling caddying and what we got out of it is a hilarious account on the game of golf.

“I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx

MONEYBALL: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (©2003 by Michael Lewis, published by W.W. Norton & Company, 288 pages, $24.95) – The Oakland Athletics used to be such a nice story in major league baseball (managing to be successful year in and year out without spending the mega millions that teams like the New York Yankees do) … until this book came out.

The story focused on Athletics general manager Billy Beane, who refrains from spending the big bucks by using carefully interpreted statistical data (players with high on-base percentages and pitchers who get a lot of ground outs stand out in his mind) to build his teams.

Unfortunately, Beane – a major league player with some modest success – comes off a little holier than thou in Moneyball, infuriating a lot of other owners, general managers and coaches in major league baseball.

Find out for yourself if the man knows what he is talking about or just blowing smoke.

ROB NEYER’S BIG BOOK OF BASEBALL LINEUPS: A Complete Guide to the Best, Worst and Most Memorable Players to Ever Grace the Major Leagues (©2003 by Rob Neyer, published by Fireside, 352 pages, $16) – Baseball is about the names and the numbers, so that is how Rob Neyer attacks the subject.

Writing in a ‘lineup’ format, Neyer illustrates what he believes are the all-time best lineups from each team and then what he feels are the All-Rookie, All-Defensive, All-Traded Away (those who became stars after being traded from their original team), and All-Bust (the ones who never lived up to their hype).

Of course, the game is more than the lineups. It is about arguments and – almost like The Mad Dog 100 – Neyer brings up some interesting ones when he discusses some of the greats and near greats of the game.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

INSIDE THE ROPES AT BETHPAGE BLACK (©2003 by John Feinstein, published by Little Brown & Company, 416 pages, $25.95) – When the PGA held its U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in New York last year, the course – public, inexpensive and enormously difficult for the amateur golfer – received an enormous amount of notoriety.

Amateur golfers go through near mythic efforts (en entire foursome forced to sit in their car for hours the night before) just to get a tee time at Bethpage Black, but instead of going into that Feinstein takes the reader inside the ropes and discusses many of the behind-the-scenes ministrations that made the U.S. Open what it was.

THE TEAMMATES (©2003 by David Halberstam, published by Hyperion, 217 pages, $22.95) – David Halberstam penned one of the most amazing books ever written about baseball (Summer of ’49) and returns to the diamond to take a look at four teammates from the legendary Boston Red Sox teams of the 1940s.

Ted Williams.

Dom DiMaggio.

Johnny Pesky.

Bobby Doerr.

According to Publisher’s Weekly, “Halberstam’s story is less of a biography and more a reverie for men of a certain generation, born right at the end of World War I, who had seized on baseball as their one chance to get ahead in America.”

Even fans of the New York Yankees could enjoy a book like this.

“Outside of a dog, a book is your best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” – Groucho Marx

ME AND MY DAD: A Baseball Memoir (©2003 by Paul O’Neill and Burton Rocks, published by William Morrow, 256 pages, $25.95) – In the span of just six short years, through hard work and with an amazing competitive fire, Paul O’Neill earned his place among the all-time great New York Yankees.

To anyone who saw him play, it seemed as if Paul O’Neill cared about nothing except winning. But he was devoted to his father, Chick, whom O’Neill describes as “my childhood hero, my pal, my mentor.”

Chick died in 1999 and this book is a memoir of Paul O’Neill and his life and how his father influenced him.

THE NEW YORK YANKEES: 100 Years, The Official Retrospective (©2003 by Ballantine, Rare Air Ltd., and Steinbrenner III, 256, $50) – The New York Yankees have their own channel (YES), but apparently that isn’t enough exposure because now they have their own book.

According to Publisher’s Weekly, “This coffee-table book includes 175 exceptional photos from throughout the century, with stills of the greats (both posed and in action): Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, Lou Gehrig and Don Mattingly.”

So if you can’t get enough of John Sterling and Yankeeography on the YES channel, pick up this book and relive some of the greatest New York Yankees moments from the last 100 years.

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr Seuss

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE NASCAR SOUL (©2003 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Matthew E. Adams, Kirk Autio, and Jeff Aubery, published by Health Communications, 304 pages, $14.95) – There is a Chicken Soup book for just about every soul imaginable, so why not for the NASCAR soul?

After all, NASCAR is the most popular sport in America. And in this volume, there are 101 stories about speed, courage, dedications, and overcoming adversity. Drivers like Jeff Gordon and Bobby LaBonte offer uplifting stories for all fans of NASCAR.

TRUE BELIEVERS: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans (©2003 by Joe Queenan, published by Henry Hold & Company, 256 pages, $23) – Joe Queenan is a certifiable nut. Anyone who has read one of his columns or listened to him on the IMUS IN THE MORNING show can attest to that.

He writes, “To me, the Phillies and Eagles are exactly like nicotine…a preposterously noxious, semi-hallucinogenic substance capable of giving great pleasure for brief periods of time, but that will ultimately destroy your health.”

Queenan has spent much of his life hammering other people and institutions, but he takes on some self-flagellation here in a personal quest to find out what is wrong with himself and my he has to be such a rapid sports fan.

In a review, John Moe said, “This is a lively and entertaining read that should appeal to any sports fan except those incomprehensible jerks who root for the Lakers and Yankees.”

“The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television.” – Andrew Ross

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS (©2003 by John McEnroe and James Kaplan, published by Berkley Publishing Group, 352 pages, $14) – Most sports fans have long come to the conclusion that John McEnroe is a loudmouthed jerk. The way he berated judged and linesmen is almost legendary.

Well, instead of spewing words out of his mouth he spews them out of his computer keyboard. Publishers Weekly sees this book as merely a justification for his boorish behavior on the court and, at the same time, the tone is a little bit dull compared to the type of personality McEnroe has.

“One wishes a little more of (his) boldness would have crept in here,” PW says.

But most tennis fans would still love to read what is on John McEnroe’s mind.

BUD, SWEAT & TEES: Rich Beam’s Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour (©2003 by Alan Shipnuck, published by Simon & Schuster, 288 pages, $13) – No one knew who Rich Beam was…until he defeated Tiger Woods and won the 2002 PGA Championship.

He had the personality – with the one-liners and the way he danced on the 18th green – and people have been clamoring to find out more about him. Shipnuck takes care of that, having started following Beam since 1999 when he was a rookie on the tour and only a couple of years removed from a job selling cell phones.

While Shipnuck takes a measure of Beam and his caddy, Steve Duplantis, he also takes a measure of professional golf and puts together an ‘insider’ book that all golf fans should read.

“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” – Dorothy Parker

THE HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF BASEBALL (©2003 by Paul Dickson, published by Walker & Company, 192 pages, $22) – One of the most intricate (and controversial) aspects of baseball are the signs.

From catcher to pitcher.

Pitcher to catcher.

Third base coach to batter.

Shortstop to second baseman.

Dickson, a baseball historian, takes a close look at the history of signs – why they came about, who first used them (the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869) and who first stole them (the Hartford Dark Blues in 1876).

It is a fascinating look at such things as Bob Feller and his sign-stealing telescope, the way the Giants stole signs in 1951, and Casey Stengel’s method of signaling to his bullpen. And there is more, lots more, a fine smorgasbord for baseball fans everywhere.

PRO FOOTBALL GUIDE 2003: The Ultimate 2003 Season Reference (©2003 by The Sporting News and Stats, Inc., published by McGraw-Hill, 456 pages, $17.95) – Let’s face it: Even though this is baseball season, most football fans laying out on the beach in July and early August will need to be preparing themselves for their 2003 Fantasy League drafts.

The Pro Football Guide 2003 is the perfect reference book to do that. Sure, you can be reading any of the other books listed in this column, but there is no excuse for being unprepared for the draft.