CowboyWay
If Coach would have put me in, we'd a won State
- Messages
- 4,445
- Reaction score
- 554
I'm always looking out for a good sports book. Particularly sports biographies. I don't like fluff pieces either. I've read a bunch, but the two best that I would recommend to anyone are
"Cobb" By Al Stump
and
"Joe Dimmagio" by Richard Ben Cramer.
The Cobb book was unbelievable. Cobb did stuff that would blow your mind on and off the field. He was quite possibly certifiably crazy. He once went without electricity in his Lake Tahoe home for a year because of a dispute of about 3 bucks with the local electric company. He was going to "show them", by doing without heat or lights even though he was a multi millionaire. What I admired about him though was his undisputed will to win. You always hear about how bad present day athletes want to win. But with Cobb, it wasn't just talk. He would kill you dead for a base hit, let alone for a win. Other men feared him, and rightly so. If I only had one sports book to read the rest of my life, this would be it. It was that good.
The Dimaggio book was outstanding as well. While not in Cobbs league, it was still a fascinating book. We all know that Cobb was a total **** head, but what I didn't know was that Dimmagio wasn't too far behind him. He was the cheapest man on the planet. He refused to pay for anything, in fact, he had a secret account set up and if he showed up at your restaurant or nightclub, you had to deposit a large fee into that account the next day, or he'd never show up again. At the end of his career, he had over one million dollars in it. He HATED the Kennedy's too because of the affairs with Marilyn Monroe. He destested those two.
Great book. If you happen to see it, pick it up, you won't be dissapointed.
What about you guys? Which sports books do you highly recommend and why?
"Cobb" By Al Stump
and
"Joe Dimmagio" by Richard Ben Cramer.
The Cobb book was unbelievable. Cobb did stuff that would blow your mind on and off the field. He was quite possibly certifiably crazy. He once went without electricity in his Lake Tahoe home for a year because of a dispute of about 3 bucks with the local electric company. He was going to "show them", by doing without heat or lights even though he was a multi millionaire. What I admired about him though was his undisputed will to win. You always hear about how bad present day athletes want to win. But with Cobb, it wasn't just talk. He would kill you dead for a base hit, let alone for a win. Other men feared him, and rightly so. If I only had one sports book to read the rest of my life, this would be it. It was that good.
The Dimaggio book was outstanding as well. While not in Cobbs league, it was still a fascinating book. We all know that Cobb was a total **** head, but what I didn't know was that Dimmagio wasn't too far behind him. He was the cheapest man on the planet. He refused to pay for anything, in fact, he had a secret account set up and if he showed up at your restaurant or nightclub, you had to deposit a large fee into that account the next day, or he'd never show up again. At the end of his career, he had over one million dollars in it. He HATED the Kennedy's too because of the affairs with Marilyn Monroe. He destested those two.
Great book. If you happen to see it, pick it up, you won't be dissapointed.
What about you guys? Which sports books do you highly recommend and why?