February 21, 2010
Pantheon
Available 05/11/10 in Hardcover
The first definitive biography of Henry Aaron — baseball’s great home-run champion and one of its most enduring legends.
As the steroid controversy has increasingly tarnished baseball’s image, Hank Aaron’s achievements have come to seem all the more remarkable: the first player to pass Babe Ruth in home runs, Aaron held that record for thirty-three years while shattering other records (RBIs, total bases, extra-base hits) and setting new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times). But his achievements run much deeper than his stats. Chronicling the social upheavals of the years during which Aaron played (1954 to 1976), Howard Bryant shows us how the dignity and determination with which he stood against racism — on and off the field, and as one of the first blacks in baseball’s upper management — helped transform the role and significance of the professional black athlete and turn Aaron into an national icon.
Eloquently written, detailed, and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of both the great ballplayer and the complicated private man.
February 20, 2010
By HILLEL ITALIE,
AP National Writer
Fri Feb 12, 7:39 am ET
NEW YORK – Once again, it’s Willie Mays vs. Hank Aaron.
This time, in the book world.
Long, and long-awaited, biographies of the two iconic baseball sluggers come out this year, within three months of each other: James S. Hirsch’s 600-plus page “Willie Mays,” just released, and Howard Bryant’s 600-plus page book on Aaron, “The Last Hero,” scheduled for May.
Mays, who spent much of his career with the New York/San Francisco Giants and Aaron, a longtime star for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, are still endlessly compared, with Mays celebrated as the more dynamic on-field presence and Aaron honored for overtaking Babe Ruth as baseball’s home run king.
Both books are sympathetic accounts that cover not just Mays and Aaron but the era in which they played, especially how they responded — or didn’t — to the civil rights movement. Mays and Aaron, each of whom have published autobiographies, agreed to be interviewed by their respective biographers, although the relationships differed.
Mays was involved from the start and will share in the revenues from the Scribner release, billed as “authorized.” Aaron had not yet agreed to speak to Bryant when the author signed with Pantheon, in 2006. Aaron is not being paid and, Bryant said, didn’t even see the book before it was finished.
“Luckily, it turned out all right,” said Bryant, a senior writer for ESPN.com who has written books on steroids and the Boston Red Sox. “Had he not cooperated, it would have been a very different book.”
Biographies of living people generally are either authorized — written with the subject’s involvement and to the subject’s taste — or “Unauthorized,” written without the subject’s permission and often against the subject’s wishes. The most famous unauthorized biographies are Kitty Kelley’s best sellers about such celebrities as Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan. A Kelley book on Oprah Winfrey is due in April.
But in between stands a category you could call “cooperative,” in which the subject is available, but otherwise disengaged. “Cooperative” biographies in recent years have included Gerald Martin’s “Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life” and Peter Biskind’s “Star,” about Warren Beatty. The Mays book fits partly because Hirsch says he was granted full editorial freedom and “The Last Hero” does entirely because Aaron’s participation was limited to talking to Bryant.
For more, see Yahoo News.
February 7, 2010
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend
by James S Hirsch
Scribner
Available 02/09/10 in Hardcover
Authorized by Willie Mays and written by a New York Times bestselling author, this is the definitive biography of one of baseball’s immortals.
Considered to be “as monumental — and enigmatic — a legend as American sport has ever seen” (Sports Illustrated), Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball’s bold expansion to California. With 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, and 338 stolen bases, he was a blend of power, speed, and stylistic bravado that enraptured fans for more than two decades. Now, in the first biography authorized by and written with the cooperation of Willie Mays, James Hirsch reveals the man behind the player.
Willie is perhaps best known for “The Catch” — his breathtaking over-the-shoulder grab in the 1954 World Series. But he was a transcendent figure who received standing ovations in enemy stadiums and who, during the turbulent civil rights era, urged understanding and reconciliation. More than his records, his legacy is defined by the pure joy that he brought to fans and the loving memories that have been passed to future generations so they might know the magic and beauty of the game. With meticulous research, and drawing on interviews with Mays himself as well as with close friends, family, and teammates, Hirsch presents a complex portrait of one of America’s most significant cultural icons.
January 1, 2010
Harper
Available 05/01/09 in Hardcover
Red Auerbach, one of the greatest coaches in sports history, died on October 28, 2006. Bill Russell, the five-time MVP and star center on the Auerbach teams that won eleven championships in thirteen years, said little in public at the time. His relationship with his coach had been so deeply personal that he could not express it with a brief comment. In fact, little known to the public, Auerbach and Russell — one a short, brash Jew from Brooklyn, the other a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland — were far more than just coach and player. Through thirteen years of building a sports dynasty together, one that remains among the greatest of all time, their relationship evolved into a rare, telling example of deep male friendship: confident, supportive, understanding, founded in common goals, even as their feelings remained largely unspoken.
They stayed close for the rest of Auerbach’s life, despite physical distance and far fewer chances to be together. True male friends are always there for each other, whenever the need or occasion arises. Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach, showing how he produced results unlike any other; an inspiring story of mutual success, in which each man gave his all, and gained back even more; above all, it may be the best depiction of male friendship ever put on the page. Who would have guessed that such different men could have become such a tightly bonded pair? Few did guess it. Now Russell tells it.
November 15, 2009
Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played
by Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, and Lonnie Wheeler
Doubleday
Available 09/22/09
Reggie Jackson and Bob Gibson offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to understand America’s pastime from their unique insider perspective.Legendary. Insightful. Uncompromising. Candid. Uncensored. Mr. October and Hoot Gibson unfortunately never faced each other on the field. But now, in Sixty Feet, Six Inches, these two legends open up in fascinating detail about the game they love and how it was, is, and should be played. Their one-of-a-kind insider stories recall a who’s who of baseball nobility, including Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron, Albert Pujols, Billy Martin, and Joe Torre. This is an unforgettable baseball history by two of its most influential superstars.
November 1, 2009
Shooting Stars by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger
Penguin Audio
Available 09/08/09
Audio CD — Unabridged 7 CDs, 9 hours
From the ultimate team-basketball superstar LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Friday Night Lights and Three Nights in August-a poignant, thrilling tale of the power of teamwork to transform young lives, including James’s own.
October 28, 2009
Knopf
Available 10/13/09
From the author of the critically acclaimed In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr., comes another illuminating socio-historical narrative of the twentieth century, this one spun around one of the most iconic figures of the fight game, Sugar Ray Robinson.
Continuing to set himself apart as one of our canniest cultural historians, Wil Haygood grounds the spectacular story of Robinson’s rise to greatness within the context of the fighter’s life and times. Born Walker Smith, Jr., in 1921, Robinson had an early childhood marked by the seething racial tensions and explosive race riots that infected the Midwest throughout the twenties and thirties. After his mother moved him and his sisters to the relative safety of Harlem, he came of age in the vibrant post-Renaissance years. It was there that — encouraged to box by his mother, who wanted him off the streets — he soon became a rising star, cutting an electrifying, glamorous figure, riding around town in his famous pink Cadillac. Beyond the celebrity, though, Robinson would emerge as a powerful, often controversial black symbol in a rapidly changing America. Haygood also weaves in the stories of Langston Hughes, Lena Horne, and Miles Davis, whose lives not only intersected with Robinson’s but also contribute richly to the scope and soul of the book.
From Robinson’s gruesome six-bout war with Jake “Raging Bull” LaMotta and his lethal meeting with Jimmy Doyle to his Harlem nightclub years and thwarted show-biz dreams, Haygood brings the champion’s story, in the ring and out, powerfully to life against a vividly painted backdrop of the world he captivated.
October 13, 2009
The Original Johnson, Volume 1
by Trevor Von Eeden
IDW Publishing
Available 12/29/09
At last – The Original Johnson, Trevor Von Eeden’s personal and heartfelt graphic novel biography of Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world, international celebrity, and the most controversial American of his time. This is the artistic achievement of Trevor’s career (Batman, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Green Arrow), more than four years in the making and worth every moment.
October 12, 2009
Hit Man: The Thomas Hearns Story
by Brian Hughes
Milo Books
Available 12/10/09
Thomas Hearns ranks as one of the greatest fighters of all-time. From his explosion onto the pro boxing scene with seventeen straight knockouts, he struck fear into opponents and awe into spectators. He went on to feature in some of the most thrilling bouts ever and became the first champion to win six titles at different weights. He will forever be known by his chilling nickname: The Hit Man.
Growing up in the blighted urban wasteland of inner-city Detroit, Hearns learned to defend himself at the notorious Kronk gym. There he came under the tutelage of master trainer Emanuel Steward, who turned a lanky boxer into the deadliest puncher in the game. From his destruction of Pipino Cuevas to his now-legendary fights with fellow greats Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfred Benitez and Roberto Duran, Hearns carved out a reputation for skill, courage and stunning power. His epic 1985 challenge against middleweight champion Marvin Hagler, billed as ‘The War’, has gone down as the most exciting three rounds in boxing history.
Defeats only seemed to make Hearns stronger, and he achieved the extraordinary feat of winning titles in every weight category from welterweight to cruiserweight, defying time and the critics. Latterly he has devoted his energies to his promotions company, Hearns Entertainment, yet still toys with the idea of winning ‘one more belt’. Hit Man delves inside this complex, charismatic character to present a compelling portrait of a modern sports legend.
September 1, 2009
On the Line
by Serena Williams (Author), Daniel Paisner (Contributor)
Available 9/15/09
One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. Her 2009 Australia Open championship earned her the #1 world ranking for the third time in her illustrious career – and marked only the latest exclamation point on a life well and purposefully lived. As a young girl, Serena began training with an adult-sized racquet that was almost as big as her. Rather than dropping the racquet, Serena saw it as a challenge to overcome-and she has confronted every obstacle on her path to success with the same unflagging spirit. From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women’s player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been without struggle: being derailed by injury, devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister, and criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis. Yet somehow, Serena always manages to prevail. Both on the court and off, she’s applied the strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.
