New York Sports

While not a 'picture book' in the traditional sense. This Day in New York Sports is a bit of a family photo album. It is the album of the family of New York sports over more than 150 years as expressed by a series of daily entries on each day of the year. Within the book you'll find famous members of the family and also those little noted nor long remembered. Day by day as you scroll through the years, you will be introduced (or may be re-introduced) to the names who made New York sports one of the most interesting and compelling dramas in the social history of America for the last century and a half.

New York has long been both America’s leading cultural center and its sports capital, with far more championship teams, intracity World Series, and major prizefights than any other city. Pro football’s “Greatest Game Ever Played” took place in New York, along with what was arguably history’s most significant boxing match, the 1938 title bout between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. As the nation’s most crowded city, basketball proved to be an ideal sport, and for many years it was the site of the country’s most prestigious college basketball tournament. New York boasts storied stadiums, arenas, and gymnasiums and is the home of one of the world’s two leading marathons as well as the Belmont Stakes, the third event in horse racing’s Triple Crown. New York sportswriters also wield national influence and have done much to connect sports to larger social and cultural issues, and the vitality and distinctiveness of New York’s street games, its ethnic institutions, and its sports-centered restaurants and drinking establishments all contribute to the city’s uniqueness. New York Sports collects the work of fourteen leading sport historians, providing new insight into the social and cultural history of America’s major metropolis and of the United States. These writers address the topics of changing conceptions of manhood and violence, leisure and social class, urban night life and entertainment, women and athletics, ethnicity and assimilation, and more.

Jeffrey A. Kroessler's comprehensive and entertaining time line stretches from the pastoral entertainments of the Dutch to the corporate captivity of professional sports. He chronicles events ranging from the truly heroic to the heartbreaking, from moments of municipal greatness to inescapable social change. Through it all he plants the world of sport at the very center of New York's story. Fully illustrated, The Greater New York Sports Chronology covers the spectacle of blood sports like bullbaiting to the birth of baseball, the now-forgotten six-day pedestrian contests, and today's New York City Marathon. Alongside great moments like the Mets' "amazin'" World Series win in 1969, Joe Louis's historic bouts with Max Schmeling, Jackie Robinson's breaking of baseball's color line, and Secretariat's remarkable Triple Crown win at Belmont, we encounter the point-shaving scandals of college basketball and the corrupting influence of organized crime in professional boxing. Beyond immortals like Lou Gehrig and Joe Namath, we also find such once well known figures as Joe Lapchick, Marty Glickman, Gertrude Ederle, and Toots Shor. Year by year, this chronology recounts chess matches, America's Cup races, dog shows, golf tournaments, polo matches, tennis games, and more. Kroessler describes the historic venues, boxing arenas, gyms, stadiums, ballparks, and racetracks that have come and gone, yet made New York the undisputed capital of American sport. Witnessing it all, of course, are the greatest fans in the world.

Two New York sportswriters offer a spirited overview of the fifty most contentious issues in New York athletics, engaging in a heated debate over such topics as Is George Steinbrenner good or evil?, Which athlete is the biggest villain in New York?, and Can a New Yorker like both teams? Original. 35,000 first printing.

"Radio is purely the announcer's medium. Accordingly, most of the best sports broadcasting has been done not on television, but on radio. David Halberstam writes from the knowledgeable and nuanced perspective of one who practices, respects, and understands the craft and its history." --Bob Costas NBC Sports "Some of my friends and associates do not believe there was civilization before television, but I assure them that listening to Red Barber on radio from Ebbets Field or to Marty Glickman from Madison Square Garden was better than watching television. It was magic. "Sports on New York Radio" brings back memories of that magic. Reading about the many gifted radio voices who covered the Dodgers, Yankees, Giants, Rangers, Jets, the fights, and so much more reinforces my early conviction that I would never be a broadcaster. How I made it to even the brink of such company still baffles me." --Dick Schaap ABC News "The Sports Reporters," ESPN "I grew up with Red Barber, Mel Allen, and Marty Glickman. They were warm, friendly, great voices. Through the radio they brilliantly linked the fan with the game. David Halberstam captures the colorful history and many great memories of sports on the radio." --Robert Merrill #1-1/2 New York Yankees New York Metropolitan Opera "The next best thing to sports on radio is reading about the perfect marriage of sports and radio. Halberstam takes us there. The information is riveting, the anecdotes hilarious. Radio lives in these pages." --Vic Ziegel Columnist "New York Daily News" "Sports radio in New York has spawned many broadcast legends, and David Halberstam has captured them in his thoughtful book." --David W. Checketts President and CEO Madison SquareGarden

New York City sports history, like the city itself, is noisy, confident, and endlessly fascinating. This is the city where Joe Louis struck a blow against the Nazis, where major league baseball was integrated, and where marathons and professional tennis came into their own. The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports, Updated Edition, recounts New York’s greatest sporting moments, from Jackie Robinson integrating baseball to the Ali-Frazier fight to the New York Giants stunning the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. It covers dramatic sporting events involving the likes of Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, Reggie Jackson, Dr. J, Joe Namath, and many more. This updated edition features a new, chronological approach to highlight the remarkable history and development of sports in the city and the nation. It also includes many new moments, an updated ranking, and a single list that incorporates events that took place outside the city but involved New York teams. Pick a sport—baseball, football, basketball, boxing, tennis—and in every case New York has had front-row seats for the sport’s major developments and most memorable events. The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports illuminates how important sports are to the life of New York and the city’s preeminent place in American sports history. It’s about all the “firsts” that occurred here, the many titles that have been won, and all the drama in between.

Can you guess the most memorable sports moments to happen in the Big Apple? Collected together for the first time, The 20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports History chronicles the most memorable sporting events to be held in New York, ranking them based on importance and effect on the sport (and city). Broken down into four parts, each event will include the storyline that led up to the moment, original materials from the media coverage of the event, a column from a local journalist to lend perspective, and finally first-person accounts from the men and women that made these moments happen. Veteran journalists Todd Ehrlich and Gary Myers dive deep into each of these moments, sharing why they are so special and the reason we still talk about them today. Including original interviews and information previously unreleased, The 20 Greatest Moments in New York Sports History is not only for the New York sports fan, but anyone who appreciates the amazing effect that baseball, basketball, football, hockey, tennis, golf, boxing, and numerous other sports can have on our cities and country as a whole. So...which event will be at the top? Roger Maris breaking The Babe's Home Run record? Willis Reed hobbling onto the count before game seven against the Lakers in the 1970 NBA Finals? David Tyree's "Helmet Catch" in Super Bowl XLII? Mark Messier's guarantee before the 1994 Stanley Cup? Tiger Woods dominating on Bethpage's "Black Course" to win the 2002 US Open? Or perhaps the bout at Madison Square Garden between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier? There's only one way to find out!

Here are 50 of America's greatest sports figures, vividly captured in incisive biographical essays, on-the-scene coverage of their triumphs and defeats, and evocative reminiscences--by the New York Times reporters who covered them. 50 black-and-white photos.