The Top 100 Sports Books of All Time

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Sports Illustrated, 100 Books

This list showcases a curated selection of sports books by the editors of Sports Illustrated, highlighting their favorite works that transcend traditional sportswriting by offering incisive, witty, and stylistically rich prose. The selection criteria focus on books that display the traits of great literature and capture the passion and drama inherent in sports. Compiled with love and reason, and born from intense and sometimes unruly discussions among the editors, this list reflects a critical examination of sports literature. The list includes books that have been best-sellers, were made into movies, are out of print, or are by authors with other noteworthy titles, emphasizing the literary and cultural impact of these works.

This list was originally published in 2002 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3942 The Sweet Science A. J. Liebling 1956 American English
14131 The Boys Of Summer Roger Kahn 1972 American English
3100 Ball Four Jim Bouton 1970 American English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
15727 You Know Me Al Ring Lardner 1916 American English
17161 A Season On The Brink John Feinstein 1986 American English
17161 Semi Tough Dan Jenkins 1972 American English
17161 Paper Lion George Plimpton 1966 American English
17161 The Game Ken Dryden 1983 Canadian English
3204 Fever Pitch Nick Hornby 1992 British English
8920 A River Runs Through It Norman Maclean 1976 American English
4077 Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand 2001 American English
17161 Loose Balls Terry Pluto 1990 American English
15856 Bang The Drum Slowly Mark Harris 1956 American English
17161 Heaven Is A Playground Rick Telander 1976 American English
17161 Levels Of The Game John McPhee 1969 American English
17161 The Breaks Of The Game David Halberstam 1981 American English
17161 The Summer Game Roger Angell 1972 American English
17161 The Long Season Jim Brosnan 1960 American English
14864 Instant Replay Jerry Kramer, Dick Schaap 1968 American English
17161 Everybody's All American Frank Deford 1981 American English
14230 Fat City Leonard Gardner 1969 American English
17161 The City Game Pete Axthelm 1970 American English
10611 The Natural Bernard Malamud 1952 American English
17161 North Dallas Forty Peter Gent 1973 American English
14985 When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi David Maranis 1999 American English
17161 Babe Robert Creamer 1974 American English
17161 The Golf Omnibus P. G. Wodehouse 1966 British English
17161 About Three Bricks Shy Of A Load Roy Blount Jr. 1974 American English
10104 A Fan's Notes Frederick Exley 1968 American English
17161 Joe Di Maggio Richard Ben Cramer 2000 American English
17161 The Game They Played Stanley Cohen 1977 Unknown English
17161 Veeck As In Wreck Bill Veeck, Ed Linn 1962 American English
17161 Ben Hogan's Five Lessons Ben Hogan, Herbert Warren Wind 1957 American English
979 The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922 British English
8374 Beyond A Boundary C. L. R. James 1963 British English
14985 A False Spring Pat Jordan 1975 American English
17161 Life On The Run Bill Bradley 1976 American English
17161 The Red Smith Reader Red Smith 1982 American English
14985 An Outside Chance Thomas McGuane 1980 American English
17161 The Unforgettable Season Gordon H. Fleming 1981 Unknown English
17161 The Celebrant Eric Rolfe Greenberg 1983 American English
17161 Big Red Of Meadow Stable William Nack 1988 American English
17161 The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract Bill James 1985 American English
14968 End Zone Don DeLillo 1972 American English
17161 Foul! The Connie Hawkins Story David Wolf 1972 American English
14985 Shoeless Joe W. P. Kinsella 1982 Canadian English
2425 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
17161 Eight Men Out Eliot Asinof 1963 American English
17161 Baseball's Great Experiment Jules Tygiel 1983 American English
14985 Laughing In The Hills Bill Barich 1980 American English
17161 Dollar Sign On The Muscle Kevin Kerrane 1984 American English
17161 The Bronx Zoo Sparky Lyle, Peter Golenbock 1979 American English
14899 The Professional W. C. Heinz 1958 American English
17161 The Baseball Encyclopedia Macmillan 1969 American English
17161 A Savage Business Richard Hoffer 1998 Unknown English
17161 The Glory Of Their Times Lawrence Ritter 1966 American English
17161 The Complete Armchair Book Of Baseball John Thorn 2004 American English
17161 Among The Thugs Bill Buford 1990 American English
17161 Lords Of The Realm John Helyar 1994 American English
3483 The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. Robert Coover 1968 American English
17161 Days Of Grace Arnold Rampersad, Arthur Ashe 1993 American English
17161 Out Of Their League Dave Meggyesy 1971 American English
17161 Golf Dreams John Updike 1996 American English
17161 In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle Madeleine Blais 1995 American English
17161 They Call Me Coach John Wooden, Jack Tobin 1972 American English
17161 Cosell Howard Cosell 1973 American English
16841 Down The Fairway Bobby Jones, O.B. Keeler 1927 American English
17161 Big Game, Small World Alexander Wolff 2002 Unknown English
5847 The Last Shot Darcy Frey 1994 American English
17161 Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger, Douglas Kent Hall 1979 Unknown English
17161 Out Of The Bunker And Into The Trees Rex Lardner 2013 Unknown English
2409 The Fight Norman Mailer 1975 American English
17161 Only The Ball Was White Robert Peterson 1970 Unknown English
17161 Harvey Penick's Little Red Book Harvey Penick, Bud Shrake 1992 American English
17161 Whatever Happened To Gorgeous George? Joe Jares 1974 Unknown English
7765 Annapurna Maurice Herzog 1951 French French
17161 The Great American Novel Philip Roth 1973 American English
17161 Soccer In Sun And Shadow Eduardo Galeano 1995 Uruguayan Spanish
17161 The Story Of American Golf Herbert Warren Wind 1975 American English
17161 Inside Edge Christine Brennan 1996 American English
17161 Farewell To Sport Paul Gallico 1970 American English
17161 Muhammad Ali Thomas Hauser 1991 American English
17161 Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? Jimmy Breslin 1963 American English
17161 The Complete Book Of Running James Fixx 1977 American English
17161 The Science Of Hitting Ted Williams, John Underwood 1971 American English
17161 Only A Game Robert Daley 1967 American English
17161 The Joy Of Sports Michael Novak 1976 American English
17161 The Lords Of The Rings Vyv Simson, Andrew Jennings 1992 Unknown English
17161 Road Swing Steve Rushin 1998 American English
17161 Golf In The Kingdom Michael Murphy 1976 American English
17161 Game Misconduct Russ Conway 1995 Unknown English
17161 No Cheering In The Press Box Jerome Holtzman 1974 American English
17161 Beer And Circus Murray Sperber 2000 American English
17103 The Harder They Fall Budd Schulberg 1947 American English
17161 The Tumult And The Shouting Grantland Rice 1954 American English
17161 Sports World Robert Lipsyte 1975 American English
17161 The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars And Motor Kings William Brashler 1973 American English
17161 The Miracle Of Castel Di Sangro Joe McGinniss 1999 American English
17161 Little Girls In Pretty Boxes Joan Ryan 1995 American English