Red Smith's writing is recognized as the best in the field. Here is a selection of his most memorable columns-175 of them, from 1941 to 1981. His prose...offers lasting lessons about matters journalistic and literary. -Robert Schmuhl, University of Notre Dame. The most admired and gifted sportswriter of his time.... Red Smith's work...tended to be the best writing in any given newspaper on any given day. -David Halberstam, New York Times Book Review

"Yesterday's heroes are today's storytellers in this first-rate book that celebrates the excitement, the drama, the humor, and the sheer joy of big-league baseball."--Larry Ritter, author of The Glory of Their Times. "Honig has a knack for eliciting choice anecdotes from his subjects, and their attitudes and feelings about baseball come through clearly. Baseball between the Lines makes a first-rate contribution to the lore of baseball and fans can't afford to miss it."--Library Journal "Those with a yen for baseball nostalgia will have a field day with this book."--Publishers Weekly. Here is the exciting story of baseball during and after World War II--when clubs still traveled by train, when night games and artificial lighting began to replace hot afternoons at the ball park, when the major leagues finally took on the talent that had been restricted to the Negro leagues, and when baseball started to become big business. In this companion volume to Baseball When the Grass Was Real, also available as a Bison Book, Donald Honig collects the reminiscences of nineteen players, including Robin Roberts, Raph Kiner, and Enos Slaughter, who lay their careers on the line and also talk about the likes of Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams.

From The House that Ruth Built to the grass courts of Wimbledon, from the opening tip to the 19th hole, Red Smith always had the best seat in the house. Even when we couldn't be ther in person, Red Smith and the generation's best writers he helped inspire gave hungry fans a bird's eye view of the great moments in sports history. Here are 18 of his favorite great sports stories.