April Highlights
Our round-up of the main releases for the month of April.
The traditional summer games get underway this month and we'll begin our round up with the sports of Cricket and Baseball.
Cricket
You can't start any cricket season without first mentioning Wisden. It's as essential as ever and with its combination of statistics and reflective essays, pretty much the perfect starting point for any new season. For those interested in such matters the cover features Shane Warne (and the keenness with which the publisher continues to guard the real cover until publication suggests they'd like us to be interested). It's ably supported, as ever, by Playfair and the Cricketers' Who's Who.
Beyond the annuals, what has the start of the season got to offer us? Well, in my opinion, not that much. There's yet another biography of Shane Warne, made only more tempting by the fact that it's by Simon Wilde, and Steve Waugh's doorstopper of an autobiography gets its paperback release. Let's hope that they've printed a few more copies than the hardback release last year which went out of print extremely quickly.
David Tossell adds an interesting looking title to his ever increasing portfolio with Grovel, an account of the 1976 West Indies tour of England, Paul Smith offers an account of self destruction and redemption in his autobiography Wasted, whilst the ever reliable Stephen Chalke at Fairfield continues to release interesting cricket biographies with his portrait of Tom Cartwright. And that, other than thes news of Virgin's hearse-chasing reissue of Bob Woolmer's autobiography, is about the sum total of the start to the cricket season.
I have to say that I think that's about as poor an offering as I've seen to start a cricket season. Admitedly there's one or two interesting titles scheduled for the coming months, but this year's starting point is definitely a damp squib.
Baseball
In contrast to the limited selection of our cricket offering, Baseball has a glut of titles. The 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers provides opportunity for celebration and reflection and Opening Day and After Jackie provide both. The Dodgers themselves are celebrated in Brooklyn Remembered and other team specific titles with a historical bent include The Gashouse Gang (the 1934 Cardinals) and The Kansas City A's.
One man who stradles both the Dodgers and Cardinals is Branch Rickey and he's the subject of a new biography by entitled (imaginatively enough) Branch Rickey. David Maraniss' excellent biography of Clemente gets a paperback release and Peter Golenbock's controversial Mickey Mantle novel 7, is released by Lyons Press who have picked it up following Murdoch's purge of Regan Press.
Money and statistics are favoured subjects in Baseball - even more so since Moneyball managed to combine both - and both Diamond Dollars and The Book delve into said topics. Seeing From Second is a nice looking anthology of baseball writing - and let's face it, few sports lend themselves so well to sports writing.
Two other slightly offbeat offerings. Professor Baseball tells the tale of a New York professor trying to bring order to his Central Park amateur softball team - a potential transatlantic Marcus Berkmann - and Level Playing Fields reveals the story of the game's first groundsmen, the Murphy brothers.
Golf
April, of course, means The Masters and the immaculate Augusta course. It's covered in hole-by-hole detail in The Masters. Phil Mickleson's One Magical Sunday also takes a similar approach when describing his breakthough winning Major at Augusta. Few players match Bobby Jones' association with Augusta and that association and his Grand Slam achievement is celebrated in Bobby Jones and the Quest for the Grand Slam.
Historical reflection looms in the form of Tommy's Honor, a biography of the Morrises and King of Swings, a portrait of legendary amateur Johnny Goodman. The excellent Preferred Lies (shortlisted for the 2006 William Hill) gets its paperback release as does Sir Walter.
Football
Corruption and scandal loom large in the football releases with both Foul and Broken Dreams raking through the detritus of the game. The original hardback of Broken Dreams was released in 2003 - it'll be interesting to see whether the author feels the need to revise any of his original remarks or whether they've been borne out by time.
David Winner returns to action with Around the World in 90 Minutes. I'm very much hoping it's closer in spirit to Brilliant Orange rather than the disappointing Those Feet.
If unauthorised biographies are your thing, you've got plenty to choose from with Peter Crouch, Michael Ballack, Roy Keane and Martin O'Neill all getting the treatment. I've never thought releasing a biography of a current player (or manager) in the middle of a season is a good idea - too much can happen to render it out of date too quickly - but maybe that's just a pet hate of mine. Both the Keane and O'Neill books have appeared before in various incarnations so I'm not sure there's going to be a whole lot of new material in those.
Books combining Football and Fashion (and dare one add, those with more than a passing nod to hooliganism) have gained significant popularity in recent years. There's another outing for the genre, this time in the guise of the Perry Boys of Manchester. Think wedges, Stan Smith's, rucking, Fred Perry's and a bit more rucking - you get the idea...
Horse Racing
Although it might well be the Nation's favourite race, the Grand National has never really been thought of as a serious punter's race. If you do feel like doing more than choosing your selection on the basis of the horse's name, the jockey's colours or closing your eyes and sticking a pin on the list, then the Punters' Guide to the Grand National might offer a few welcome pointers.
If it's betting you're after, two classic American betting manuals get updated releases. Beyer on Speed and The Winning Horseplayer are reissued. They've hardly rush released the updates - the originals were published in 1994!
Horseracing has long played a role in American society and The Great Match Race bills itself as a retelling of the legendary 1823 race off between Eclipse, representing the North, and Henry, the favoured horse of the South. The race offs may not be quite as grand as that occasion but the East Boston track of Suffolk Downs has plenty to say about the modern world of racing and betting. Longtime racing correspondent T.D. Thornton providers an insider's account of the track and its punters in Not by a Long Shot.
Boxing
Fight Town was originally published in late 2004. We managed to get hold of some copies whilst we were at Sportspages and having seen it in person I can honestly say it's an absolutley glorious publication. Beautifully presented, high quality photography and vidid, descriptive text - pretty much the ultimate coffee table boxing book. It's now scheduled to have a paperback release. It'll be interesting to see whether the book transfers well to the paperback format - I'm slightly doubtful - but if you've not come across it before, search out a copy. It's well worth it.
Another boxing book getting a long delayed paperback release is The Pussycat of Prizefighting. An examination of the life of Tiger Flowers and the role of celebrity. You've also had to wait a while for this paperback release - the hardback was also released in 2004 - but this will be worth the wait.
And Finally....
Mondo Lucha a Go Go. It nearly rivals Laptop Dancing and the Nanny Goat Mambo as my favourite title. No real idea what it's about - something to do with Mexican wrestling I believe - but with a title like that, who cares?
Happy reading.
About This Entry
‘April Highlights’ was posted by Liam Doyle on Wed, 28th March 2007 at 11:46:50 BST and filed under baseball, boxing, cricket, football, golf, horse racing, book reviews.
