Pucks and ice, sticks and nets, cheers and boos, ice hockey is one of the most popular sports in the world. Since the game was created in the 1800s in Canada, there have been many talented players who have risen to the top of the ranks. In this high-interest book, readers will learn about some of the greatest athletes ever to wield a hockey stick. Full-color photographs of the sport's greats will grab fans' attention. Stimulating facts about hockey, from its role in the Winter Olympics to the long history of the National Hockey League, will thoroughly appeal to all levels of readers.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of "The Hockey News, a committee of fifty of the most respected observers of the game - including Dick Irvin, Bob McKenzie, Harry Neale, Jim Matheson, Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, Glen Sather, and Roger Nielson - selected the top 50 NHL players of all time. The identity of the player who received the most votes was no surprise: Wayne Gretzky. The names of the next four might also have been predicted, although the order in which they were ranked - Bobby Orr, followed by Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux and Maurice Richard - has caused heated argument. Without question, however, the names that make up the rest of the list, and the order in which they are ranked, could keep all true hockey fans engaged in debate for years. When the original list was published in "The Hockey News, it inspired every possible reaction, from enthusiastic approval to indignant rage. Each great player has his own fans eager to make the case for higher placement. Now, in this splendid full-colour collector's book, the list has been expanded to include the top 100 NHL players of all time and the debate can be renewed again with vigour.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year “An instant sports classic.” —New York Post * “Stellar.” —The Wall Street Journal * “A true masterwork…880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.” —BookPage (starred review) * “This is a remarkable achievement.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A magnum opus from acclaimed baseball writer Joe Posnanski, The Baseball 100 is an audacious, singular, and masterly book that took a lifetime to write. The entire story of baseball rings through a countdown of the 100 greatest players in history, with a foreword by George Will. Longer than Moby-Dick and nearly as ambitious,? The Baseball 100 is a one-of-a-kind work by award-winning sportswriter and lifelong student of the game Joe Posnanski. In the book’s introduction, Pulitzer Prize–winning commentator George F. Will marvels, “Posnanski must already have lived more than two hundred years. How else could he have acquired such a stock of illuminating facts and entertaining stories about the rich history of this endlessly fascinating sport?” Baseball’s legends come alive in these pages, which are not merely rankings but vibrant profiles of the game’s all-time greats. Posnanski dives into the biographies of iconic Hall of Famers, unfairly forgotten All-Stars, talents of today, and more. He doesn’t rely just on records and statistics—he lovingly retraces players’ origins, illuminates their characters, and places their accomplishments in the context of baseball’s past and present. Just how good a pitcher is Clayton Kershaw in the 21st-century game compared to Greg Maddux dueling with the juiced hitters of the nineties? How do the career and influence of Hank Aaron compare to Babe Ruth’s? Which player in the top ten most deserves to be resurrected from history? No compendium of baseball’s legendary geniuses could be complete without the players of the segregated Negro Leagues, men whose extraordinary careers were largely overlooked by sportswriters at the time and unjustly lost to history. Posnanski writes about the efforts of former Negro Leaguers to restore sidelined Black athletes to their due honor and draws upon the deep troves of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and extensive interviews with the likes of Buck O’Neil to illuminate the accomplishments of players such as pitchers Satchel Paige and Smokey Joe Williams; outfielders Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin, and Cool Papa Bell; first baseman Buck Leonard; shortstop Pop Lloyd; catcher Josh Gibson; and many, many more. The Baseball 100 treats readers to the whole rich pageant of baseball history in a single volume. Engrossing, surprising, and heartfelt, it is a magisterial tribute to the game of baseball and the stars who have played it.

A guide for sports fans on how to watch and appreciate the game of hockey More and more fans are watching the NHL each week, but many of them don't know exactly what they should be watching. How does an offense create shooting lanes for its best sniper? When a center breaks through and splits between two defensemen, which defender is to blame? Why does a goalie look like a Hall of Famer one week and a candidate for the minor leagues the next? This guide for sports fans on how to watch and appreciate the game of hockey takes you inside a coach's mind as he builds a roster or constructs a game plan, to the chaos of the goalie's crease, and deep into the perpetual chess match between offense and defense. Discussing topics such as what to look for when a team goes on the power play and why playing center might be the most grueling job in sports, Take Your Eye Off the Puck shows fans how to get the most out of watching their favorite sport.

The hockey stars of the 1950s and '60s--Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Dave Keon, Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau, Terry Sawchuk, Tim Horton, and others--were some of the most passionate players in National Hockey League history. These skillful and often colorful athletes played exhilarating hockey and were national heroes in a time when only six teams and fewer than 150 players battled for the Stanley Cup. Hockey's Original Six celebrates the most dynamic players and exciting moments of the era in more than 120 photographs from the legendary Harold Barkley Archives, including a number of never--or rarely seen--images. From 1942 until the early '70s, Barkley was the Toronto Star's leading sports photographer. He pioneered the use of electronic flash to capture stop-action hockey, and his dramatic work--both black and white and vibrant color--define the pre-expansion period. Two informative essays by Mike Leonetti-hockey historian, archivist, and prolific sportswriter--set Barkley and the photos in context, and short image captions illuminate the players and their feats. Jean Béliveau--hockey legend and elder statesman--provides a personal and insightful foreword. Combining iconic images and hockey lore, Hockey's Original Six is the perfect gift for sports fans, history buffs, and art collectors.

Among the "Original Six" National Hockey League clubs to survive the Great Depression, the Boston Bruins have a vibrant history. Entering the 2019-2020 campaign, the team ranked fourth all-time, with six Stanley Cup championships. Some of the most gifted players in NHL history have skated for the Bruins over the years. This detailed survey tells the individual stories of the players and coaches, past and present, who have helped make the Bruins perennial contenders for close to a century.

In this sports memoir, Wayne Gretzky weaves memories of his legendary career with an inside look at professional hockey and the heroes and stories that inspired him. From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One,” he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has—but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw. For the first time, Gretzky discusses candidly what the game looks like to him and introduces us to the people who inspired and motivated him: mentors, teammates, rivals, the famous and the lesser known. Weaving together lives and moments from an extraordinary career, he reflects on the players who inflamed his imagination when he was a kid, the way he himself figured in the dreams of so many who came after; takes us onto the ice and into the dressing rooms to meet the friends who stood by him and the rivals who spurred him to greater heights; shows us some of the famous moments in hockey history through the eyes of someone who regularly made that history. Warm, direct, and revelatory, it is a book that gives us number 99, the man and the player, like never before.