Synopses & Reviews
A sports journalist pays tribute to great moments in New York sports history in an illustrated survey that ranks the top one hundred events that transformed American sports, from an 1823 horse race that pitted the North against the South, to Lou Gehrig's farewell speech, to the Ali-Frazier fight at the Garden, covering all of the city's storied franchises and more.
Review
With another wait-till-next-year finish to New York baseball season...Miller has devised a perfect antidote to our long winter of discontent.
Review
"It's a well written, well thought out, debate-worthy book. I highly recommend you buy it." – Max Kellerman, ESPN Radio
Review
With another wait-till-next-year finish to New York baseball season...Miller has devised a perfect antidote to our long winter of discontent.
The New York Times
"It's a well written, well thought out, debate-worthy book. I highly recommend you buy it.and#8221; and#150; Max Kellerman, ESPN Radio
Synopsis
"Pick a sport -- baseball, professional or college football or basketball, horse racing, boxing, or tennis -- and in every case New York has consistently had front-row seats for every major development and many of the most memorable events in sports history." -- from the introduction
It's every New York sports fan's dream: a chance to analyze, debate, and rank the top 100 sports events in New York history. A list to settle all arguments. What would you choose?
First of all, where to start? Babe Ruth hitting the first home run in Yankee Stadium? Arthur Ashe winning the first U.S. Open? Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden? Over the years, New York has been at the center of seemingly every major sporting event. From the integration of baseball to the heyday of boxing and horse racing to the rise of professional sports -- it all happened in New York.
The journalist Stuart Miller, a native New Yorker and sportswriter, guides us through the pivotal events with illuminating analysis and colorful detail. Based on extensive research, this richly illustrated book is filled with vivid and authoritative prose. Highlights include:
* Willie Mays makes "the Catch" in the 1954 World Series * Jimmy Connors turns back the clock at the 1991 U.S. Open * Willis Reed rescues the Knicks in the 1970 NBA Finals * Joe Namath and the Jets win the 1968 AFL Championship * Mookie Wilson's slow grounder to first is a Mets miracle in the 1986 World Series
All of the celebrated franchises are here, from the Yankees and the Mets to the Knicks and the Giants, as well as sports ranging from horse racing to tennis to boxing to the New York City Marathon. There are additional lists and analyses, such as "On the Road: The Top 25," featuring events such as Bucky Dent's 1978 homer over the Green Monster in Fenway Park. "Fearsome Foes" highlights epic performances by the opposition, like Michael Jordan's 55-point night at the Garden in 1992. Miller also gives us the bad side of sports, in "Worst Days," such as when Benny Paret died in the ring at the hands of Emile Griffith.
Exhaustively researched and endlessly entertaining, The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports is a book destined to be on the shelf of every New York -- and every American -- sports fan.
About the Author
STUART MILLER is a fourth-generation Brooklynite and a contributing writer for the Sporting News. His sportswriting has appeared in Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Sports Business Journal, and Street and Smith's annual sports issues. He is also the author of a book on football, Where Have All Our Giants Gone?
Table of Contents
Introduction VI Foreword by Tom Seaver X
Greatest Days The Top 100 1 On the Road: The Top 25 339
Fearsome Foes The Top 10 401 On the Road: The Top 5 431
Worst Days The 5 Worst Days 437 The Worst Day on the Road 446 More Days to Forget 447
Extra Innings Wheeling and Dealing 511 Schoolboy Heroics 517 Movinand#8217; Out 518 Timeline: The Best of Each Year 519 Calendar: The Best of Each Day 521
Acknowledgments 526 Index 527 Illustration Credits 532