In the tradition of Pulitzer Prize nominated, Positively Fifth Street, here is a riveting account of a high stakes shoot-out between pool’s two most famous personalities. It was Valentine’s Day, 1978, and Howard Cosell was hosting the long-awaited show-down between the best-ever tournament player, Willie Mosconi, and the game’s most famous hustler, Minnesota Fats. This was The Great Pool Shoot-Out, one of the most highly rated televised sporting events of the year, exceeding even World Series games and basketball championships. R.A. Dyer, author of the best-selling Hustler Days, which recounts the rise of pool during the 1960s, writes of the acrid, but mutually beneficial rivalry between Fats and Mosconi, and how the televised shoot-outs came to embody that rivalry, which was nothing less than a bitter rift within the soul of American pocket billiards. Fats and Mosconi were born the same year, but were vastly different characters: one stood for artistry, the other for show business; one brought dignity to pool, the other made it fun. They are without a doubt the two most important players ever to hold a cue. This is the ultimate tale of American sportsmanship. R.A. Dyer is a columnist for Billiards Digest, and lives in Austin, Texas.

America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic.

A rollicking portrait of the kings of the cues

The third of five volumes of new scholarship on American movie conventions. The 19 essays explore cinematic representations of such material items as food, weapons, clothing, tools, technology, and art and literature. Not illustrated. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $13.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

A Buckeye Boyhood is a collection of anecdotes which span the twentieth century beginning with Mae and Acy's early 1900's migration from the subsistence of tenant farming to the relative good times of working for wages in the city. The author credits their courage as his model for always taking action to find a better life. A series of transparently autobiographical vignettes trace our Buckeye boy's path from his dusty childhood playground to a first job on the assembly line and then to the practice of law. He takes us to Ohio farms and job shops, a 1950 pool hall, the 1956 U. S. Open golf tournament, the 1959 Pennsylvania state bar exam and a 1980 Pennsylvania county court room. A great variety of unforgettable characters come to life including a Mom of steely resolve, an irrepressible Dad, a golf hustler, a heavy weight champion, a law school dean and more than one lost love. A Pacifist the author describes his moment of true epiphany in 1950 on the threshold of a Marine recruiting office, followed decades later by his public opposition to the horrific waste and futility of the wars in Viet Nam and now, Afghanistan and Iraq.

“If Hemingway had the passion for pool that he had for bullfighting, his hero might have been Eddie Felson” (Time). The novel that inspired the classic film starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, The Hustler tells the story of Fast Eddie Felson, a young pool player who hustles suckers in small towns, looking for stake money so he can reach his goal: a marathon match in Chicago against Minnesota Fats. An exploration of guts, stamina, and character, and of the difference between winners and losers, this tense, gritty tale is “a wonderful hymn to the last true era when men of substance played pool with a vengeance” (Time Out).

SABR 50 at 50 celebrates and highlights the Society for American Baseball Research’s wide-ranging contributions to baseball history. Established in 1971 in Cooperstown, New York, SABR has sought to foster and disseminate the research of baseball—with groundbreaking work from statisticians, historians, and independent researchers—and has published dozens of articles with far-reaching and long-lasting impact on the game. Among its current membership are many Major and Minor League Baseball officials, broadcasters, and writers as well as numerous former players. The diversity of SABR members’ interests is reflected in this fiftieth-anniversary volume—from baseball and the arts to statistical analysis to the Deadball Era to women in baseball. SABR 50 at 50 includes the most important and influential research published by members across a multitude of topics, including the sabermetric work of Dick Cramer, Pete Palmer, and Bill James, along with Jerry Malloy on the Negro Leagues, Keith Olbermann on why the shortstop position is number 6, John Thorn and Jules Tygiel on the untold story behind Jackie Robinson’s signing with the Dodgers, and Gai Berlage on the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s team in the 1990s. To provide history and context, each notable research article is accompanied by a short introduction. As SABR celebrates fifty years this collection gathers the organization’s most notable research and baseball history for the serious baseball reader.