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Everything They Had
What made David Halberstam a great sportswriter, indeed a great writer, was perhaps best expressed in what he called his "backup catcher theory": "Most other people doing a book want the top guy. My belief is, you probably learn more from the backup catcher on a baseball team than from the star. Because the backup catcher's smart. He watches the game, he's into the game, he always has to be read, and when it's over, twenty years later, he has a lot of time to talk because not a lot of other people come to see him." In this posthumous collection of his sports pieces, the author of The Best and The Brightest, The Coldest Winter, and Breaks of the Game writes about baseball, football, basketball, soccer, fishing, and the Olympics.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
67 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
David Halberstam
109Ìýbooks809ÌýfollowersDavid Halberstam was an American journalist and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and later, sports journalism. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1964.
Halberstam graduated from Harvard University with a degree in journalism in 1955 and started his career writing for the Daily Times Leader in West Point, Mississippi. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, writing for The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, he covered the beginnings of the American Civil Rights Movement.
In the mid 1960s, Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times. While there, he gathered material for his book The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era. In 1963, he received a George Polk Award for his reporting at the New York Times. At the age of 30, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the war. He is interviewed in the 1968 documentary film on the Vietnam War entitled In the Year of the Pig.
Halberstam's most well known work is The Best and the Brightest. Halberstam focused on the paradox that those who shaped the U.S. war effort in Vietnam were some of the most intelligent, well-connected and self-confident men in America�"the best and the brightest"—and yet those same individuals were responsible for the failure of the United States Vientnam policy.
After publication of The Best and the Brightest in 1972, Halberstam plunged right into another book and in 1979 published The Powers That Be. The book provided profiles of men like William Paley of CBS, Henry Luce of Time magazine, Phil Graham of The Washington Post—and many others.
Later in his career, Halberstam turned to the subjects of sports, publishing The Breaks of the Game, an inside look at the Bill Walton and the 1978 Portland Trailblazers basketball team; an ambitious book on Michael Jordan in 1999 called Playing for Keeps; and on the pennant race battle between the Yankees and Red Sox called Summer of '49.
Halberstam published two books in the 1960s, three books in the 1970s, four books in the 1980s, and six books in the 1990s. He published four books in the 2000s and was on a pace to publish six or more books in that decade before his death.
David Halberstam was killed in a car crash on April 23, 2007 in Menlo Park, California.
Halberstam graduated from Harvard University with a degree in journalism in 1955 and started his career writing for the Daily Times Leader in West Point, Mississippi. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, writing for The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, he covered the beginnings of the American Civil Rights Movement.
In the mid 1960s, Halberstam covered the Vietnam War for The New York Times. While there, he gathered material for his book The Making of a Quagmire: America and Vietnam during the Kennedy Era. In 1963, he received a George Polk Award for his reporting at the New York Times. At the age of 30, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the war. He is interviewed in the 1968 documentary film on the Vietnam War entitled In the Year of the Pig.
Halberstam's most well known work is The Best and the Brightest. Halberstam focused on the paradox that those who shaped the U.S. war effort in Vietnam were some of the most intelligent, well-connected and self-confident men in America�"the best and the brightest"—and yet those same individuals were responsible for the failure of the United States Vientnam policy.
After publication of The Best and the Brightest in 1972, Halberstam plunged right into another book and in 1979 published The Powers That Be. The book provided profiles of men like William Paley of CBS, Henry Luce of Time magazine, Phil Graham of The Washington Post—and many others.
Later in his career, Halberstam turned to the subjects of sports, publishing The Breaks of the Game, an inside look at the Bill Walton and the 1978 Portland Trailblazers basketball team; an ambitious book on Michael Jordan in 1999 called Playing for Keeps; and on the pennant race battle between the Yankees and Red Sox called Summer of '49.
Halberstam published two books in the 1960s, three books in the 1970s, four books in the 1980s, and six books in the 1990s. He published four books in the 2000s and was on a pace to publish six or more books in that decade before his death.
David Halberstam was killed in a car crash on April 23, 2007 in Menlo Park, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 17, 2008
There are some great stories in this collection, but also a few bad selections that probably would not have been re-published if Halberstam were still alive. He was also more of an insidery New York magazine guy than I realized, which was disappointing. I suppose this is a good book for anyone who wants to know what it was like to eat steak sandwiches and watch the Jets with Gay Talese.
August 28, 2022
He would have gotten five stars except for the interminable fishing story at the end between me and boosting my book count. Seriously, these short articles covering a variety of sports made this very interesting.
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February 5, 2021A funny thing happened while I was reading this book. I was reading a book of poems at the same time. Several times I set down the poetry, and picked up the Halberstam, and the transition seemed seamless. Halberstam's sentences were rhythmic, complex, vivid. It felt like I was still reading poetry. Almost.
So, #1 thing I liked about the book: Halberstam writes beautifully. #2: He has a rare and refreshing broad view of sports. He loves sports (baseball, basketball, football, boxing, fencing, hockey, rowing, and fishing are represented here), but with the perspective of a man who has devoted most of his life to history and politics and war. Sports are only games. They are not of life-or-death importance. Enjoy them, by all means, but lighten up a little. For Halberstam, discipline, character, and the pursuit of excellence are more important than winning.
Some of his best writings place sports in the larger context of culture and cultural change. "The Education of Reggie Smith" compares the different styles of American and Japanese baseball. "The Basket-Case State" describes the lonely, rural landscape that turned Indiana into a basketball powerhouse, and the changes brought by urbanization and electronic media. Numerous essays address the relationship between sports and race relations, and the effect of celebrity culture and big-time money on sports.
If this book has one serious flaw, it is repetition. Several essays overlap in content. Several times we hear how he used to gather with his buddies to watch Sunday football games (and how they were better in those days, before expansion), several times we hear how he used to gather at the bar named Rotiers, several times how he used to fish on his uncle's lake, how he left the fishing in Patagonia to watch the Super Bowl on TV. I wondered, along with some other reviewers, if this book had been rushed to publication to "cash in on" Halberstam's death, if the editing process had been given short shrift.
I also agree with other reviewers that Halberstam's longer pieces are the best, and that the more journalistic articles are better than the personal reminiscences. This book was my introduction to Halberstam, and it was fine, but I suspect that if you like sports, and you like Halberstam's writing, the most satisfying experience would be to read his full-length books, of which there are plenty.
So, #1 thing I liked about the book: Halberstam writes beautifully. #2: He has a rare and refreshing broad view of sports. He loves sports (baseball, basketball, football, boxing, fencing, hockey, rowing, and fishing are represented here), but with the perspective of a man who has devoted most of his life to history and politics and war. Sports are only games. They are not of life-or-death importance. Enjoy them, by all means, but lighten up a little. For Halberstam, discipline, character, and the pursuit of excellence are more important than winning.
Some of his best writings place sports in the larger context of culture and cultural change. "The Education of Reggie Smith" compares the different styles of American and Japanese baseball. "The Basket-Case State" describes the lonely, rural landscape that turned Indiana into a basketball powerhouse, and the changes brought by urbanization and electronic media. Numerous essays address the relationship between sports and race relations, and the effect of celebrity culture and big-time money on sports.
If this book has one serious flaw, it is repetition. Several essays overlap in content. Several times we hear how he used to gather with his buddies to watch Sunday football games (and how they were better in those days, before expansion), several times we hear how he used to gather at the bar named Rotiers, several times how he used to fish on his uncle's lake, how he left the fishing in Patagonia to watch the Super Bowl on TV. I wondered, along with some other reviewers, if this book had been rushed to publication to "cash in on" Halberstam's death, if the editing process had been given short shrift.
I also agree with other reviewers that Halberstam's longer pieces are the best, and that the more journalistic articles are better than the personal reminiscences. This book was my introduction to Halberstam, and it was fine, but I suspect that if you like sports, and you like Halberstam's writing, the most satisfying experience would be to read his full-length books, of which there are plenty.
June 18, 2022
I really enjoyed this compilation of sports articles written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Halberstam. I enjoy most sports, so that may have increased my enjoyment. Essays on various sports heroes, relaying the good with the their not so good tendencies. Sports have been and still a great influence on our society. The integration of baseball with the entrance of Jackie Robinson was a beginning of change, but it was not really total integration. At the time and later, not enough discussion of the terrible segregation he felt off the ball field. At that time and even later, most of the sports writers were the old guard white guys. Those writers then and for a long time afterwards could not understand the culture and attitudes of Black players. The rise of TV across the nation and thus the NFL, included info about Pete Roselle, the money man that directed the NFL for so long was very interesting. The fishing essays were not my favorite. My fishing experience came with my Daddy. I caught a frog, that was all. The worst part was I had to be quiet, not a strong point of mine! I did learn how fishing enthralled Mr. Halberstam and so many others. A great read if you like sports stories!
July 5, 2009
I am a huge fan of Halberstam, especially his sports writing, but this book really disappointed me. After reading his larger opus, I saw all the repetition in his writing -- the jokes, the anecdotes, etc. -- primarily in his baseball writing, some of which were almost repeated word for word. I wanted to be blown away, and I was just mildly impressed.
August 8, 2015
Great sportswriting. Different athletes portrayed in their endeavors.
June 24, 2022
Ho, hum. Pedestrian material from someone who had unparalleled access to the sporting world's most famous figures for 4 decades. The writing is flat, and the subject matter is pretty obvious most of the time. There's a lot of historical review and little that's current with whatever time he's working. Tellingly, the longest piece is a very dull history of US sports written in 1999 for ESPN or Sports Illustrated (I don't remember which), that would serve as a primer for anyone who liked sports and had forgotten social studies class in 8th grade. Overall, there's nothing wrong with the material, but it's not great either.
I recognize David Halberstam's greatness in books such as "Best and Brightest." I realize he broke new ground both as a reporter and as an author of policy-history books about Vietnam, the Supreme Court, and other major institutions. And I realize that he thinks he's bringing the same depth of insight to sports, which he considers one of the major institutions in the nation. But he just doesn't do it well enough.
One of Halberstam's books about baseball covered the 1964 season and the World Series between the Cardinals and Yankees. In baseball, it's considered a bit of a watershed year because it was the end of the Yankee dynasty that dated back to Babe Ruth in the early 1920s. And the reason that the Yankees lost their way for a decade is that they refused to integrate their team with the same commitment to Black players as the National League did beginning in 1947 and most of the American League a decade later. The Cardinals were a prime example, as the team that beat the Yankees in 1964 was led by Black players such as Bob Gibson, Bill White and Lou Brock. Halberstam wrote about that situation and emphasized the changing racial nature of the game, as well as the impact television was starting to have. But he got a bunch of facts wrong, a lot of facts, which was pointed out in essays by actual baseball historians. Quite simply, he didn't exercise the care that he did with other subjects.
The superficiality that plagued that book is obvious in this book of essays. Repeatedly, Halberstam falls back on cliches that are either dull -- baseball parks as green cathedrals, the grace of Joe DiMaggio, the silly significance that people attach to sports. Saying DiMaggio is "the most graceful big man I ever saw" makes me wonder if Halberstam was paying attention at all those basketball games he watched with Dr J, Walt Frazier, or hundreds of other NBA stars.
And he makes mistakes, such as referencing baseball's "pastoral roots," when the game was spawned and formalized in New York City and Brooklyn, not in the rural countryside (and why would it be rural, when you needed 18 players and the luxury of time to play?). Or he makes blanket statements that seem brave at first, but then simplistic when you think about it, such as George Steinbrenner being the worst owner in sports. Really, when Nazi Marge Schott owned the Cincinnati Reds at the same time?
There are a few nuggets that enlightened me, a tribute to Halberstam's willingness to challenge myths. He describes Yogi Berra as less kind than expected (yelling obscenities out bus windows as young girls, refusing to talk with Japanese reporters), and he shares the seamy side of rowing on the Charles River in Boston in a nice-turned piece. One more thing in his favor is that he realizes he's living in a charmed slice of life and that he can't speak for the experiences of people outside his realm, though he tries to learn from them. I'm sure in that sense he was a great reporter and writer, and it's why everyone in sports seemed to trust and befriend him. But the strength of those relationships just doesn't come through in this book.
I recognize David Halberstam's greatness in books such as "Best and Brightest." I realize he broke new ground both as a reporter and as an author of policy-history books about Vietnam, the Supreme Court, and other major institutions. And I realize that he thinks he's bringing the same depth of insight to sports, which he considers one of the major institutions in the nation. But he just doesn't do it well enough.
One of Halberstam's books about baseball covered the 1964 season and the World Series between the Cardinals and Yankees. In baseball, it's considered a bit of a watershed year because it was the end of the Yankee dynasty that dated back to Babe Ruth in the early 1920s. And the reason that the Yankees lost their way for a decade is that they refused to integrate their team with the same commitment to Black players as the National League did beginning in 1947 and most of the American League a decade later. The Cardinals were a prime example, as the team that beat the Yankees in 1964 was led by Black players such as Bob Gibson, Bill White and Lou Brock. Halberstam wrote about that situation and emphasized the changing racial nature of the game, as well as the impact television was starting to have. But he got a bunch of facts wrong, a lot of facts, which was pointed out in essays by actual baseball historians. Quite simply, he didn't exercise the care that he did with other subjects.
The superficiality that plagued that book is obvious in this book of essays. Repeatedly, Halberstam falls back on cliches that are either dull -- baseball parks as green cathedrals, the grace of Joe DiMaggio, the silly significance that people attach to sports. Saying DiMaggio is "the most graceful big man I ever saw" makes me wonder if Halberstam was paying attention at all those basketball games he watched with Dr J, Walt Frazier, or hundreds of other NBA stars.
And he makes mistakes, such as referencing baseball's "pastoral roots," when the game was spawned and formalized in New York City and Brooklyn, not in the rural countryside (and why would it be rural, when you needed 18 players and the luxury of time to play?). Or he makes blanket statements that seem brave at first, but then simplistic when you think about it, such as George Steinbrenner being the worst owner in sports. Really, when Nazi Marge Schott owned the Cincinnati Reds at the same time?
There are a few nuggets that enlightened me, a tribute to Halberstam's willingness to challenge myths. He describes Yogi Berra as less kind than expected (yelling obscenities out bus windows as young girls, refusing to talk with Japanese reporters), and he shares the seamy side of rowing on the Charles River in Boston in a nice-turned piece. One more thing in his favor is that he realizes he's living in a charmed slice of life and that he can't speak for the experiences of people outside his realm, though he tries to learn from them. I'm sure in that sense he was a great reporter and writer, and it's why everyone in sports seemed to trust and befriend him. But the strength of those relationships just doesn't come through in this book.
March 3, 2019
Few books I give a 100% standing ovation type of review but this is one of them. This book I just couldn’t put down. The way the author weaves each word, sentence, and paragraph together is like poetry. It is no secret I love sports, but I’m very, very picky in sport books-usually they are poorly written, over-hyped, or just plain boring. This book was absolutely brilliant. I truly could not find one thing wrong with this collection of stories.
Okay, for a quick review this book is technically not a book, a collection of articles and stories David Hablerstram wrote throughout his career that spanned half a century. The articles cover everything from football, baseball, fencing, fishing, and everything in between.
What is excellent about this collection is the way it brilliantly gives the reader the story of David’s life-through his own writing.
Also I can’t say this enough but there are so many wonderful quotes throughout each story.
What pulled me toward this book was the sports. But what resonates with me after reading was the way that David was able to connect sports to anything-race relations in the 1960’s, gender boundaries in sports through the century, classism through worldwide competitions, and even politics to a ballgame.
This is a book everyone should read at some point soon because it’s message breaths new ideas and hope for even the most dreadful and scary times.
Okay, for a quick review this book is technically not a book, a collection of articles and stories David Hablerstram wrote throughout his career that spanned half a century. The articles cover everything from football, baseball, fencing, fishing, and everything in between.
What is excellent about this collection is the way it brilliantly gives the reader the story of David’s life-through his own writing.
Also I can’t say this enough but there are so many wonderful quotes throughout each story.
What pulled me toward this book was the sports. But what resonates with me after reading was the way that David was able to connect sports to anything-race relations in the 1960’s, gender boundaries in sports through the century, classism through worldwide competitions, and even politics to a ballgame.
This is a book everyone should read at some point soon because it’s message breaths new ideas and hope for even the most dreadful and scary times.
January 4, 2020
halberstam is one of the most skilled long-form nonfiction writers i've ever read. so far, i've read The Children (about the 1960 Nashville sit-ins), Playing For Keeps (about Michael Jordan and the changing media landscape of sports in the 1990s), and in my opinion his best work The Breaks of the Game (about the 1979-80 Portland Trail Blazers). i have several more books of his on my shelf. i found this collection of shorter pieces of his, compiled from sources as disparate as Playboy, ESPN.com, Parade Magazine, Vanity Fair, GQ, and the Harvard Alumni Bulletin (just to name a few). to be frank, i thought i would like it a lot more than i actually did! halberstam's style is far better suited to long-form. in reading a lot of his shorter pieces, especially when they are about similar topics, he relies on a lot of the same anecdotes from his own life. it gets a bit repetitive. the pieces hold up on their own, but all compiled together it can be a bit of a chore to get through. however, there are some truly fantastic pieces in here. not to mention, this is as close to an autobiography as you can get from him. you learn a lot about his life and upbringing, his love for baseball and fishing, and his perspective as a reporter during the 1960s. it's definitely a worthwhile read if you, like me, enjoy his other work. i wouldn't recommend it to someone reading him for the first time, however.
July 16, 2023
David Halberstam carved out a long and distinguished career as a reporter and writer. He dealt with weighty, historic subjects like the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and the military-industrial complex. He also had an interest in sportswriting. This subject was not slumming for him but one he took seriously, seeing it as an important part of 20th century American culture; civil rights, for instance, matters greatly in his book October 1964, which covers that year's World Series. A wide variety of Halberstam's writings on sports comprise this volume. The results are a bit uneven (I am not a fisherman and found his essays on his love for angling as boring as most fish stories. When he has a subject of interest to me (baseball, football), he displays the strong writing skills that helped propel his books up the bestseller lists. His portrait of Muhammad Ali alone make this a solid read. Overall, the book deserves raves for showcasing its subject's writings in an area not his specialty.
July 10, 2019
Lots of good essays/articles in here, but a lot of the repeated themselves, especially the baseball and football pieces. For a collection of what is supposed to be Halberstam’s best writing, it was surprising to see so many ideas and sentences show up almost word for word. Still, very enjoyable.
February 24, 2021
The book is comprised of several articles that David Halberstam Road during his career. I did not particularly enjoy the book but did enjoy a couple of the articles. I have enjoyed several of his books however. He is one of my favorite authors.
July 7, 2019
I've always enjoyed Halberstam's work. His reflective style could make a sports fan out of just about anyone.
December 10, 2009
Sports are important because they matter to people.
... arrogance of power...
Memory is often less about truth than about what we want it to be. 126
Athletic maturity: sheer ability and willingness to accept responsibility.
Torre/Steinbrenner: difference between tough and strong
...ferocious, aggressive intelligence ...
Oscar Robertson: His game was never fancy. In fact, some people compained that it was almost machinelike, as free from mistakes as it was of excess. It was as if Oscar and had reduced it to its fundamentals. Slowly that came through to the fans. 176
Showtime Lakers... on occasion sacrificing control for tempo...
Reggie Smith - He was trying to be a good ambassador, a good baseball player and a good teammate, but it was getting harder all the time. 75
The Chrysantemum and the Bat (baseball in Japan)- Robert Whiting - the foreigners can always be blamed if a team does poorly
R. Smith: Sometimes I think the most paralyzing thing in this game-probably in this country-is the fear of failure. They would rather not try at all than try and fail. But to be an athlete, I mean a real athlete, you have to have to courage to try, which means the courage to fail. 89
Forget everything you thought you knew about baseball and strike zones and strategy... 95
And I rooted as well for Tom Seaver, carried in this season as much by a feral instict to compete as by natural skill, awesome if not in talent anymore then in toughness of mind. 105
(Torre) is quietly strong-a strength that comes form a healthy sense of accureately appraised self-value, and a willingness, if need be, to walk away from any situation which might be unacceptable difficult or abusive. 141
During that time out, Plump (Milan HS - 'Hoosiers' basis) sensing the crowd, and the noise and the tension, almost fifteen thousand people engulfed in their own madness, felt nervous for the first time. But th moment he stepped back on the court and the ball came to him, he felt oddly calm; all he had to do was play. 172
It is one thing to have tremendous athletic ability and quite another to discipline it, master it and apply it with great skill in situations of constant and enormous pressure. 188
That was it. They are what they do. Which trikes me as wise and as good a definition for measuring an athlete as we have. 219
In the great days of pro football, the game spoke for itself; the rise of the broadcaster is a sure sign of the decline on the field. 231
It is this fear of failure more than anything else, I think, that deters us from taking on our secret adventures as we get older. 271
Zoran Tulum: Every day you don't practice all out is like losing three days: the days you lose by slipping just a little, the day you lose by not getting just a little better, and the day you lose because your opponent gets better. 295
If it is true adversity breeds strength... 304
Sometimes you can win but lose, and lose but win, I guess. 325
I fear trading innocence for excellence, that in the process some of the sheer pleasure of the doing will be lost, although I am aware that my attitude remains something of an affront to the purist. 346
the videotape, a marvelous teaching instrument showing us how we row, not how we think we row 378
... arrogance of power...
Memory is often less about truth than about what we want it to be. 126
Athletic maturity: sheer ability and willingness to accept responsibility.
Torre/Steinbrenner: difference between tough and strong
...ferocious, aggressive intelligence ...
Oscar Robertson: His game was never fancy. In fact, some people compained that it was almost machinelike, as free from mistakes as it was of excess. It was as if Oscar and had reduced it to its fundamentals. Slowly that came through to the fans. 176
Showtime Lakers... on occasion sacrificing control for tempo...
Reggie Smith - He was trying to be a good ambassador, a good baseball player and a good teammate, but it was getting harder all the time. 75
The Chrysantemum and the Bat (baseball in Japan)- Robert Whiting - the foreigners can always be blamed if a team does poorly
R. Smith: Sometimes I think the most paralyzing thing in this game-probably in this country-is the fear of failure. They would rather not try at all than try and fail. But to be an athlete, I mean a real athlete, you have to have to courage to try, which means the courage to fail. 89
Forget everything you thought you knew about baseball and strike zones and strategy... 95
And I rooted as well for Tom Seaver, carried in this season as much by a feral instict to compete as by natural skill, awesome if not in talent anymore then in toughness of mind. 105
(Torre) is quietly strong-a strength that comes form a healthy sense of accureately appraised self-value, and a willingness, if need be, to walk away from any situation which might be unacceptable difficult or abusive. 141
During that time out, Plump (Milan HS - 'Hoosiers' basis) sensing the crowd, and the noise and the tension, almost fifteen thousand people engulfed in their own madness, felt nervous for the first time. But th moment he stepped back on the court and the ball came to him, he felt oddly calm; all he had to do was play. 172
It is one thing to have tremendous athletic ability and quite another to discipline it, master it and apply it with great skill in situations of constant and enormous pressure. 188
That was it. They are what they do. Which trikes me as wise and as good a definition for measuring an athlete as we have. 219
In the great days of pro football, the game spoke for itself; the rise of the broadcaster is a sure sign of the decline on the field. 231
It is this fear of failure more than anything else, I think, that deters us from taking on our secret adventures as we get older. 271
Zoran Tulum: Every day you don't practice all out is like losing three days: the days you lose by slipping just a little, the day you lose by not getting just a little better, and the day you lose because your opponent gets better. 295
If it is true adversity breeds strength... 304
Sometimes you can win but lose, and lose but win, I guess. 325
I fear trading innocence for excellence, that in the process some of the sheer pleasure of the doing will be lost, although I am aware that my attitude remains something of an affront to the purist. 346
the videotape, a marvelous teaching instrument showing us how we row, not how we think we row 378
February 3, 2017
I love the writing of David Halberstam. I have read many of his books, from The Powers That Be to The Fifties, from The Children to his two baseball books following the seasons of 1949 and 1964. The man was one of our great writers. That is why I was so disappointed in this collection of,some of his sports writing. Now, in truth, it probably was better than a two star review, but, held against me expectation for writing from him, I was just not impressed.
Divided into different sports with a few stories under each topic the book certainly did contain some writing that was very special. As clearly as Halberstam loved baseball the only story in this section which stood out for me was a piece on Reggie Smith that was originally published in Playboy. A short piece on Ted Williams was very good, but it was also too short to merit huge consideration.
The pieces on basketball might be the strongest set of those included. A piece entitled " The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of " about an NBA Finals matchup of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson is writing at its best. Looks at Michael Jordan and Alan Iverson are also very worthy of attention. To see, however, a picture perfect piece of writing, not just sportswriting, but any writing one just needs to read his piece called " The Basket Case State " in which the author examines the love affair of the state of Indiana and high school basketball.
The football writing was nothing special and it actually contained one of the worst, what I would call mistakes. Reading a few different pieces in this book it becomes apparent that, for whatever reason, Halberstam often cannibalized his own work. We are not talking about scraps not used in an original project and then placed in something else. In at least three different pieces in the book we read the same anecdotes and storylines of how the author, and the country, came to love football. It seems likely that whoever put this collection together could have found enough writing of his to not make this habit of his so apparent in a " Best of Collection "
After specific sports there is a section called fishing and otherwise. Unless your Hemingway I just cannot be interested in fishing stories so several were eliminated right away. The piece on his seasonal ( every four years ) love of The World Cup was a winner as was his piece about a young woman attempting to make the U.S Women's Olympic hockey team.
Another interesting piece was one in which he salutes his recently fallen colleague Dick Schaap. This is made even more interesting by his, earlier in the book, savaging one of Schaap's books from the sixties. A story about Patriot coach Bill Bellicheck's Father works well as well does a short piece about Ali's late in life apology to Joe Frazier.
All in all not a bad collection, just one I expected more out of.
Divided into different sports with a few stories under each topic the book certainly did contain some writing that was very special. As clearly as Halberstam loved baseball the only story in this section which stood out for me was a piece on Reggie Smith that was originally published in Playboy. A short piece on Ted Williams was very good, but it was also too short to merit huge consideration.
The pieces on basketball might be the strongest set of those included. A piece entitled " The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of " about an NBA Finals matchup of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson is writing at its best. Looks at Michael Jordan and Alan Iverson are also very worthy of attention. To see, however, a picture perfect piece of writing, not just sportswriting, but any writing one just needs to read his piece called " The Basket Case State " in which the author examines the love affair of the state of Indiana and high school basketball.
The football writing was nothing special and it actually contained one of the worst, what I would call mistakes. Reading a few different pieces in this book it becomes apparent that, for whatever reason, Halberstam often cannibalized his own work. We are not talking about scraps not used in an original project and then placed in something else. In at least three different pieces in the book we read the same anecdotes and storylines of how the author, and the country, came to love football. It seems likely that whoever put this collection together could have found enough writing of his to not make this habit of his so apparent in a " Best of Collection "
After specific sports there is a section called fishing and otherwise. Unless your Hemingway I just cannot be interested in fishing stories so several were eliminated right away. The piece on his seasonal ( every four years ) love of The World Cup was a winner as was his piece about a young woman attempting to make the U.S Women's Olympic hockey team.
Another interesting piece was one in which he salutes his recently fallen colleague Dick Schaap. This is made even more interesting by his, earlier in the book, savaging one of Schaap's books from the sixties. A story about Patriot coach Bill Bellicheck's Father works well as well does a short piece about Ali's late in life apology to Joe Frazier.
All in all not a bad collection, just one I expected more out of.
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November 22, 2011I love this author. I had the opportunity to meet/have dinner with him back in college and ever since then I have read everything by him that I can. His sports books are particularly good when you consider that I don't even like sports all that much, but I'm fascinated by his writing style and his ability to make the nuance and artfulness of sports come to life. I'm looking forward to this one.
Having now finished this book, it is clear to me why I return--time and time again--to a topic that, at least ostensibly, I don't really have much interest in; namely, Sports. The thing is, I don't read books by other authors, I only read Halberstam's take on sports.
When Halberstam writes...er, wrote, he died in a car accident a few years ago, about sports, he writes about sports in a much more interesting and significant context; that is, he writes about sports as a cultural barometer. When he writes about baseball in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, he writes about how race factored in to the "politics" of baseball, and when he writes about football in the 60's he writes about how television really changed the face of pro ball as well as pro ball changing the way we spent time in relation to other people. An essay about Muhammad Ali becomes a discussion of his stance3 on Viet Nam which in turn leads to a discussion of Halberstam's own views on the way, which are uniquely his own, having spent years covering the way far away from the United States.
Halberstam's other books, namely "The 50's" and "The Children" are captivating looks at a decade of massive change and a group of people loosely knit together who came together to bring about massive change. In this book, Halberstam describes sports in a much more exciting way, one in which sports becomes a catalyst for change in a grand way.
Having now finished this book, it is clear to me why I return--time and time again--to a topic that, at least ostensibly, I don't really have much interest in; namely, Sports. The thing is, I don't read books by other authors, I only read Halberstam's take on sports.
When Halberstam writes...er, wrote, he died in a car accident a few years ago, about sports, he writes about sports in a much more interesting and significant context; that is, he writes about sports as a cultural barometer. When he writes about baseball in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, he writes about how race factored in to the "politics" of baseball, and when he writes about football in the 60's he writes about how television really changed the face of pro ball as well as pro ball changing the way we spent time in relation to other people. An essay about Muhammad Ali becomes a discussion of his stance3 on Viet Nam which in turn leads to a discussion of Halberstam's own views on the way, which are uniquely his own, having spent years covering the way far away from the United States.
Halberstam's other books, namely "The 50's" and "The Children" are captivating looks at a decade of massive change and a group of people loosely knit together who came together to bring about massive change. In this book, Halberstam describes sports in a much more exciting way, one in which sports becomes a catalyst for change in a grand way.
June 5, 2017
David Halberstam is a delightful writer. I was looking forward to this collection - I was a fan of his columns on ESPN.com back in the "Page 2" days (RIP), and a couple more of his works are on my "to-read" list. And a couple of the columns - specifically the Playboy story about Reggie Smith playing baseball in Japan and the column about Ali's apology to Joe Frazier - are fantastic. But his work suffers when consumed en masse; a collection like this is not well-suited to his talents, because the tropes he leans on as a storyteller percolate relentlessly. After the fourth or fifth mention about how he was a Yankees fan on Nantucket, you're about ready to hit him upside the head with a fly rod.
This would be perfectly suited to the bathroom, or a medical waiting room, where it can be swallowed in small doses. Otherwise, stick to his long-form work.
This would be perfectly suited to the bathroom, or a medical waiting room, where it can be swallowed in small doses. Otherwise, stick to his long-form work.
May 15, 2013
Halberstam was a prize-winning journalist and historian for many years, winning a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam reporting. He was killed in 2007 in a car accident while on his way to interview Y.A. Tittle for his book about football in the early NFL.
So one other thing at which Halberstam excels is sports writing, as displayed in this book.
A meeting with baseball great Ted Williams in "My Dinner With Theodore". Stories about hard-hitting football intermingle with reflections on fly fishing. An incredible garden of literary variety.
I especially liked the essay "Baseball and the National Mythology." Reveres the game, but points out that a few of our heroes had feet of clay. Also great is "Why Men Love Baseball."
Of the non-baseball essays, I liked "Why I Fish" the best.
So one other thing at which Halberstam excels is sports writing, as displayed in this book.
A meeting with baseball great Ted Williams in "My Dinner With Theodore". Stories about hard-hitting football intermingle with reflections on fly fishing. An incredible garden of literary variety.
I especially liked the essay "Baseball and the National Mythology." Reveres the game, but points out that a few of our heroes had feet of clay. Also great is "Why Men Love Baseball."
Of the non-baseball essays, I liked "Why I Fish" the best.
October 14, 2013
This collection left me wanting. Too many of the pieces felt redundant (his dilemma as a Red Sox/Yankees fan & the advent of pro football were each dissected at least 3 times), too many were personal (sometimes I just want to read about DiMaggio without having to hear about Halberstam's first trip to Yankee Stadium), and there were too many about fishing (I don't think most people pick up a collection of sportswriting hoping to read 5 fishing articles totaling some 55 pages). My lack of enthusiasm for this book has more to do with the selection of pieces than Halberstam's keen eye and clean prose.
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July 16, 2010An assemblage of Halberstam's articles from over the decades that appeared in Vanity Fair, Atlantic, and many others. A great introduction to his writing for those who may not be acquainted. I particularly loved (and somehow missed it when it appeared in the 80's) his article on Indiana high school basketball. It touched briefly on the "Hoosiers" Milan H.S. story that everyone's familiar with. But this article told the moving story of Oscar Robertson and my old school, Crispus Attucks in Indy. It's a joy to read someone so articulate on sports, especially baseball and basketball.
January 5, 2014
A great collection of short stories, feature articles and essays from Halberstam that demonstrate terrific storytelling and journalism can go hand in hand. This isn't the sometimes shallow, sophomoric writing you experience with today's sports bloggers - this is when guys like Plimpton, Royko, DeFord and Jimmy the Greek ruled along with Halberstam. 5 out of 5 stars.
April 8, 2014
Another solid book from David Halberstam. This edition contains writings from various publications over the years on three main subjects: pro baseball, pro basketball and pro football.
The only complaint I have is the author's love for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. I didn't know that was allowed.
The only complaint I have is the author's love for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. I didn't know that was allowed.
July 17, 2008
LOVING this book! The loss of Halberstam was a crushing blow, not only to sports writing, but to the literary world as a whole. To have the abililty to read sports pieces he wrote through the years is an amazing gift.
November 22, 2008
for me this book was a disappointment. repetitive, overly boston/new york centric, and halberstam's tone often seems patronizing (e.g. struggling not to sound like an elitist as he sprinkles details from a dinner party with washington power brokers). altogether not a very enjoyable read.
January 26, 2009
If you like sports writing -- from football to fishing to fencing -- you have to read this book. It's a collection of Halberstam's writing from sources like ESPN.com to Slate magazine. What a writer. We'll miss him.
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January 4, 2009This was a non-renewable library book, so I picked several articles that appealed to me. I recommend "Why Men Love Baseball," "Sunday, Boring Sunday," and "Ali Wins Another Fight." I will definitely find a time to read the entire book.
January 8, 2010
I've (shamefully, I now understand) never read Halberstam before, so this collection of sports stories over the course of his career is a great introduction to the writer. As any good collection should do, this gives me the impetus to dig in to Halberstam's work over the years.
January 31, 2013
My first time reading Halberstam. A collection of magazine / online articles and essays. I found some to be very self-indulgent, but others to be interesting and incisive. Can see why we has a large literary following.
December 2, 2008
Nice, light reading from David Halberstam. Short sports pieces from 1955 thru 2005. Easy reading
December 19, 2017
The master.
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