This book provides stories from journalists who were articulate and didn’t need bluster to tell a story. Many of them had to have been poets at heart.
High Point: The investigative story about Jackie Robinson by Stanley Woodward of the New York Herald-Tribune.
Low Point: An occasional article that’s simply too dated to be interesting.
Editors: Irving T. Marsh and Edward Ehre
Publication Date: 1948
Genre: Sports
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Before we had 24-hour sports talk radio and TV’s talking heads, we had sports journalists who graced the pages of newspapers and magazines. Unlike many of today’s so-called “analysts”, these people were articulate and didn’t need bluster to tell a story. Many of them had to have been poets at heart.
A prime example is Best Sports Stories 1948. The book gathers some of the best newspaper stories and magazine articles from 1947. While it may not be aimed at a 21st century audience, it’s a solid example of sports journalism at its finest.
To begin with, there’s a then-current investigative piece by Stanley Woodward from the New York Herald Tribune about Jackie Robinson’s debut in major league baseball—a milestone, of course, not only for baseball, but for race relations in the US.
There are also intriguing articles about sports personalities in boxing, hockey, and even skiing. Some certainly aren’t household names today, but they are fascinating stories nonetheless.
What really stands out, though, is the way these people used the language. I remember having a high school English teacher who encouraged us to read the sports section in the local newspaper. She talked about the way the writers could be creative and eloquent in the way they portrayed something as simple as a baseball game. This book proves her point again and again.
We don’t see this kind of writing much anymore—maybe from Jeff Passan at ESPN or occasionally from Levi Weaver of The Athletic. Best Sports Stories 1948 is a reminder of what great sports writing once was, and of what we’re missing today.
