By Kim J. Harmon

If it ever becomes sunny again and a trip to the beach or laying out by the pool doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea, you will want to bring something to read and if it’s not the latest James Patterson or Janet Evanovich book, then why not a book about the worst golf course in America or one about home runs or a Spaceman.

Yes, here is out annual look at sports books for your summer reading pleasure.

SHANKS FOR NOTHING

By Rick Reilly

Doubleday Publishing

272 pages

Nothing has changed at Ponkaquogue Municipal Golf Club, the worst golf course in America, and Raymond “Stick” Hart couldn’t be happier. He has a sweet gig writing greeting cards and just happens to be married to the former assistant pro, a Cajun beauty.

But things change when the owner of Ponky announces he is selling the club to the snobs at the country club across town and moving to a nudist camp in Florida … when Stick’s buddy loses a $12,000 bet to a Russian mobster … when his wife gets the idea that Stick had been stepping out on her.

All of his problems could be solved, though, if Stick – with a $250,000 inheritance from his father on the line – qualifies for the British Open.

“The comically improbable quest to enter the British Open provides the novel its twist ’n’ turn plot, but what remains its chief delight is Reilly’s obsessive way of keeping the jokes coming. Crude and goofy but ultimately sweet.” – Kirkus Reviews

For years as the back-page columnist for Sports Illustrated, Rick Reilly has shown an irrepressible edge of zaniness to go along with humor that is often somewhat crude and sophomoric. These elements are even more wildly fleshed out in Missing Links and, now, Shanks For Nothing, two novels about the worst golf course on Earth, where the 150-yard markers weren’t 150 yards from anything in particular.

Golf seems to be a favorite topic for Reilly, who also penned Who’s Your Caddy, a non-fictional account of his trials and tribulations as a “professional” caddy. His humor is engaging and his characters more so and while you may not laugh out loud at some of the antics of Stick, Two Down, Crowbar or Froghair, you most certainly will be amused.

Dingers!: A Short History of the Long Ball

By Peter Keating

ESPN Publishing

176 pages

Has there ever been a single athletic accomplishment in sports that so captured the imagination as the home run?

A hole in one? Nope.

A goal in the World Cup? God forbid.

A touchdown? No way.

The home run is such a part of the American fabric that it has helped forge out very culture and language. Every day people talk about going yard, going downtown, dingers and taters and ESPN now provides a definitive history of the long ball.

It is an historical account or a reference guide and should appeal to all baseball fans.

Dick Vitale’s Living Dream: Reflections on 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House

By Dick Vitale and Dick Weiss

Sports Publishing LLC

316 pages

 

Has there ever been anyone as loud as Dick Vitale?

Sure, to some, listening to Dick Vitale on a college basketball broadcast – especially with the incessant and hysterical observations on diaper dandies, PTPers and Dipsy Do Dunkaroos – has become so grating that an alarm clock with 14 of his most frequent sayings is now being sold as a gag gift.

But who can fault the man for his knowledge and passion?

In Living Dream, Dickie V talks about his life from the best seat in the house including stories about Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Duke and the Cameron crazies, Coach K, Bobby Knight, and many others.

Have Glove, Will Travel: Adventures of a Baseball Vagabond

By Bill Lee and Richard Lally

Crown Publishing

320 pages

There is no question that Bill Lee – whose major league baseball career took him from Boston to Montreal – was almost certifiable. There had to be a reason everyone called him the Spaceman.

He was an average pitcher (119-90 with a 3.62 ERA in his career) who made more headlines with his antics off the field than with his performances on the field.

When the Red Sox sold him to Cleveland he refused to report and after Sox officials tracked him down they fined him $500, a day’s pay. He told them to make it $1,500 (“I’d like to have the whole weekend.”) In 1982, in his fourth year with the Expos, he went AWOL in protest of a management situation and was released, never to pitch in the majors again.

His journey after major league baseball is fascinating stuff, even for those who weren’t fans of the Red Sox or Expos. In Have Glove, Will Travel Lee writes about traveling anywhere he could find a game, beginning in the dank and dreary locker room of a Canadian hockey team (which later became a softball team) and moving on to pickup games, town tournaments, senior leagues, fantasy camps, and barnstorming tours around the United States, Canada, South America, China, Cuba, Russia.

“Have Glove, Will Travel is the story of his baseball life after his baseball death, an occasionally amusing and intermittently poignant account of what happens to a gifted athlete whose strong, eccentric opinions and inability to keep his mouth shut finally get the best of him.” – Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

The Wrong Stuff

By Bill Lee and Richard Lally

Crown Publishing

272 pages

 

Bill Lee’s life after major league baseball is as colorful as his life before and during major league baseball and that’s what The Wrong Stuff is all about.

In this memoir (re-issued after many years), Lee recounts the colorful story of his life-from the drugged-out antics of his college days at USC (where he learned that “marijuana never hammered me like a good Camel”) to his post-World Series travels with a group of liberal long-distance runners through Red China (where he discovered that conservatives don’t like marathons because “it’s much easier to climb into a Rolls-Royce”). Lee also describes his minor league days, joining the Reserves during the Vietnam War, his time with the Red Sox, and the 1975 World Series.

And he spares no detail while recalling his infamous falling-out with Red Sox management that led to his trade to Montreal.

Wicked Curve: The Life and Troubled Times of Grover Cleveland Alexander

By John C. Skipper

McFarland & Company Publishers

224 pages

 

Grover Cleveland Alexander – who won 373 games in his 20-year major league career – was one of the most enigmatic pitchers in the history of baseball.

Deeply troubled, even shell-shocked, after returning from World War I the pitcher battled alcoholism, epilepsy (possibly due to a beaning in his first season in pro ball) and his own personal demons. In one of his greatest moments, Alexander – as legend has it, badly hungover – relieved St. Louis Cardinals’ starter Jesse Haines in the seventh game of the 1926 World Series and struck out Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded.

His major league career ended in 1930 and he continued to play semi-pro baseball until 1938. This biography sheds new light on the pitcher and the man, focusing on Alexander’s personal life, and covering his Hall of Fame career, wartime service, and long decline.

The Slam: Bobby Jones and the Price of Glory

By Curt Sampson

Rodale Press

272 pages

Golf fans argue now about who is the greatest golfer in the world, Tiger Woods or Phil Michelson, but Bobby Jones may be the greatest of all time. While Woods may argue that winning four major championships in a row, over the course of two seasons, is a grand slam Jones was the first – and only – player to win all four in one calendar year.

Last year was the 75th anniversary of that magical summer of 1930 when Jones forever solidified his legend. The book focuses explicitly on Jones and 1930 and the private agonies he suffered and reveals some interesting tidbits – such as the help he received from George Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of two presidents.

Draft: A Year Inside the NFL’s Search for Talent

By Pete Williams

St. Martin’s Press

336 pages

All most people know about the National Football League draft is the few glimpses at the NFL Combine, the somewhat glamorous two-day proceedings at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and the inevitable contract holdouts in the days after.

Draft follows a handful of NFL hopefuls through the ups and downs of the 2004 college football season and the pre-draft process, culminating with the 2005 draft. Among the prospects are Virginia defensive end Chris Canty, who overcomes a devastating early-season knee injury to reestablish himself as a top draft hopeful, only to suffer a detached retina in a night-club skirmish; and Fred Gibson, a talented but rail-thin Georgia wide receiver who struggles to put on the weight needed to go over the middle in the NFL.

Danica: Crossing the Line

By Danica Patrick and Laura Morton

Simon & Schuster Publishing

240 pages

She is the most electrifying new member on the racing circuit – a lightning rod for inappropriate comments and controversy brought on my her male counterparts – and she writes about the challenges over competing in a man’s sport.

“For 14 years, I have had to prove my skill as a driver and earn the respect of my competition through hard work, determination, dedication, and perseverance. I want to show anyone trying to succeed that anything is possible and that, though being a woman might describe me, it doesn’t define who I am on or off the track.” – Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick is all of five-foot-two and weighs a shade over 100 pounds and as other drivers contend she has a distinct advantage because of her size, she has had to defend herself and her skill in the Indy Car circuit. She shares secrets and stories, tales from the track, and insights into her personal life that reveal the spirit and drive packed into this all-star athlete and woman.

Rivals: Chris Evert Versus Martina Navratilova Their Epic Duels and Extraordinary Friendship

By Johnette Howard

Broadway Books

304 pages

When it comes to women’s tennis, no one can question that Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were the greatest ever. And no one can question that their on-the-court rivalry (meeting 80 times – 60 of those in tournament finals – over 16 years) was the greatest ever.

Their first match was in 1973 in Akron, Ohio, when Evert was 18 and Navratilova 16 and from there transpired the journey – often intertwined – of two tennis legends. With women’s tennis as popular as it is today, examining the story of two of the game’s best players seems fitting.

Who’s Your Caddy?: Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Reprobates of Golf

By Rick Reilly

Broadway Books

272 pages

No one knows a golfer like his caddy.

On a long par 3, a question like, “What is this, a 5-iron” gets a “Not for my guy” response. A caddy is with a golfer every minute of every round. He sees him succeed and sees him fail and may also see his roll his ball over or take a preferable lie that the rules don’t allow.

Rick Reilly decided to take a different look at golf by becoming a caddy and for some reason guys like Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, Tom Lehman, John Daly and Casey Martin allowed the Sports Illustrated columnist to carry their bags in PGA tour events. Of course, he also caddied for author Deepak Chopra (“Is cheating in golf wrong?”) and Donald Trump.

What comes out of this “looping” is a hilarious look at a game that too often seems stuffy and snobby.