The Greatest Snooker Player You Never Saw & A Love Letter to Baseball.
Two recent reviews of some great new sports books
Welcome to the latest edition of All Sports Books Newsletter. This week I’m sharing two reviews I put out on the blog earlier in the week. Also looking at some of the books on the The List of Sports Books That Sports Writers Love and the usual list of new and upcoming releases to look out for. Happy Reading.
🎱 ‘The Natural: The Story of Patsy Houlihan, the Greatest Snooker Player You Never Saw’ by Luke Williams
I love learning why an author wrote a particular sports book. Finding out what motivated them to tell the story and why they felt like they were the right person to do it. Luke Williams’ fascination with Patsy Houlihan began with a reference in the great Jimmy White’s autobiography that named Houlihan among the 3 best players White had ever seen. This casual reference, that would have left most readers thinking Patsy Who? before forgetting about him altogether, was the initial catalyst that ultimately led years later to this fantastic book. I just love the combination of curiosity and passion that led Williams to write the book and these traits are reflected in the quality of the book.
Patsy Houlihan was a gifted snooker player who was desperately unlucky to miss out on turning his talents into fame and fortune. While he became a legendary figure on the amateur snooker scene, he was ultimately kept from turning professional during his peak by the powers that ran the snooker circuit. He spent much of his time hustling and seeking to win money in snooker halls across the UK at a time when such places played a much bigger part in British life.
As a work of biography, Williams has done a great job capturing the essence of Houlihan as a man, a friend, a father and a snooker player. It would have been easy to paint him as a caricature given his hustling – an Alex Higgins type but without the fame – but Williams avoids this by speaking to an extensive range of his friends and family. His humour, warmth, and generosity, despite his own frustrated ambitions shine through in the many stories told by his various peers and proteges. Arguably there is no better legacy to leave being so well remembered and fondly thought of by those left behind.
The book also stands out as a work of social history capturing the role that snooker halls and amateur snooker played in Britain. It also tells the early days of professional snooker and the closed shop mentality that prevented talented players from earning a living through the sport. It’s a history I was totally unaware of (other than childhood memories of pool halls and watching world championships with my Granny) and one that would have made a good book in it’s own right.
While Houlihan played some matches on TV, almost no recordings remain of Patsy playing which left Williams hunting for memories from those who witnessed Houlihan’s gifts. It is fitting in many ways as the book is ultimately about the importance of memories as we learn of Patsy through the recollections of his daughter and his peers. Williams has done a wonderful job in brining Patsy Houlihan to life in this entertaining, excellent book.
The Natural is published by Pitch Publishing and will be released on 3 April 2023.
⚾ ‘A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime’ by Joe Kelly & Rob Bradford
There are no shortage of books and articles lamenting the decline of baseball. The general thesis goes that as analytics have become widespread, teams have started optimizing how they play towards achieving the most valuable types of plays – home runs and strikes. This has led to a series of entirely rational actions that have cumulatively resulted in a fundamental shift in baseball with the ball ending up in play far less often. These rational actions by teams and individuals have resulted in an irrational outcome for the sport and the league as a whole – a much worse ‘product’ for fans and viewers. It’s fairly clear however that this isn’t the only issue affecting baseball’s popularity however with the length of games, poor TV access, and other issues playing their part.
What I haven’t seen much of is anyone asking ‘well how do we make baseball better then?’. Enter Joe Kelly, a 2-time World Series winning pitcher currently with the White Sox.
A Damn Near Perfect Game is Kelly’s love letter to the sport as it can (or should) be. Kelly is a passionate guy. He’s a baseball lover who wants everyone else to all love baseball too. A Damn Near Perfect Game is a lot of different things. It’s partly insider account of what it’s really like to play in the majors (and stand around in the bullpen). It’s partly an autobiographical tale and a way for Kelly to capture who he is as a player and a person at this point in his life. And it’s partly a call to action for changes to increase the popularity of baseball and the experience of fans. The book is packed with ideas for how to do this from encouraging players to speak out, to seeking out a new generation of innovate owners, to improving the fan experience in the ballpark.
The later part of the book includes a wide bunch of players, coaches, mangers and fans giving their perspective on what they love about the game. It’s an interesting approach to extending the conversation the books seeks to ignite in readers. While it can get a little repetitive, it’s a good device to show what baseball can mean to so many people and some common ideas on what can be done to improve it.
Overall, the book is an enjoyable read. The writing captures Kelly’s voice and enthusiasm well. Kelly’s passion is infectious, his anecdotes are entertaining and his calls to action are compelling. Whether baseball can ever regain it’s status as America’s pastime is debatable but Kelly certainty makes a passionate case that it should very much try to do so.
A Damn Near Perfect Game is out on February 28th.
Reading the List of Sports Books that Sports Writers Love
Slowly working through the books on The List of Sports Books That Sports Writers Love that I haven’t yet read. Each month will share thoughts on the ones that I read and do let me know if the list inspired you to read any particular books.
First up is Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding... It’s Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis by Sam Anderson. Recommended for the list by @uglygame and @JakeLFischer.
Boom Town is sensationally good. A gripping, brilliantly written account of the city’s bizarre history combined with an account of an NBA team dealing with the dramatically increased expectations following a run of remarkable draft picks. As good on urban decline as it is on NBA.
Second book read from the list is The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks by @bzcohen. Recommended for the list by @CleggJon. A really fascinating look at the concept of high-performance streaks - packed with entertaining stories on wildly different topics. Loved it!
Third book read from the list is It's Better to Be Feared by @SethWickersham. Recommended for the list by by @YaronWeitzman and @TyDunne. A brilliant account of the Patriots dynasty and Brady and Belichick in particular. Wickersham adds fascinating insight from his time covering the team during that era. Very interesting on Brady as a person and as a father grappling with living an extraordinary life. Also fascinating on challenges faced by Belichick's coaching protégés. A really really great book.
Next up will be This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own by the late great Jonathan Rendall.
You can keep up with my thoughts as I work through the list on this twitter thread.
Sports books out now or coming very soon:
⚽ The Match: The Story of Italy v Brazil by Piero Trellini. An in-depth look at the 1982 World Cup 2nd round match between the eventual winners and one of the greatest teams not to win the World Cup.
🏅 The Olympics that Never Happened: Denver '76 and the Politics of Growth by Adam Berg. The story of Denver’s successful Olympic bid which was then rejected by its own citizens.
🏈 Round Zero: Inside the NFL Draft by Andy Phillips. Draft insights from the former Green Bay Packer turned sportswriter.
🏈 Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith and the Remaking of Harvard’s America by Zev Eleff
🏇 No Snail: The Story of L’Escargot the horse that Foiled Red Rum by David Owens
🏏 This Too Was America: Philadelphia's Era of Cricket by Tom Melville.
⚾ Fans Called Him "Turkey," I Called Him Dad: A Daughter Remembers Baseball Hall of Famer Norman Thomas Stearnes by Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown
Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts, opinions, any improvements I can make etc. Catch me on Twitter. More books next week!