More baseball-
The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League Baseball, the eighth edition, published by Macmillan Publishing, edited by Rick Wolff (HC, 1990, 2781 pages, $7.50)
The book's binding is weak, but hey, wouldn't you be after 2781 pages and 21 years?
You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting (TPB, 1990, $2)
"Wa is a Japanese term meaning unity and team spirit. Every person playing baseball in Japan must have it. If Americans play baseball, the Japanese work it. Injured pitchers are urged to 'pitch through the pain.' Playing without rigorous pregame practice is unthinkable. Tie scores are encouraged: that way, nobody loses face. And the Japanese members of teams... don't miss games for anything- including deaths in the family or the births of their own children."
Americans and Japanese both play baseball, but there the similarity ends. I had no idea. Did you?
The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia, second edition, edited by Alex Sachare (HC, 1994, 842 pages, $2, as the back cover goes it's own way.)
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, by Divid Maraniss (winning author of the Pulitzer Prize) (HC, 1999, $3.50)
"This son of New York did not achieve fame until he took a job in remote Green Bay, Wisconsin. Before that, he had toiled anonymously for twenty years, first as a high school coach in NJ, then as an assistant at Fordham, at West Point..., and finally with the NY Giants. He was already 46 when he was finally hired to coach the hapless Packers in 1959, leading them in the most storied period in NFL history, winning five world championships in nine seasons. Is he to be admired because of the discipline, obedience, and teamwork he taught his players, or did his obsession with winning make him a failed hero?
Both encyclopedias are in the sport's section. The Wa and Lonbardi books are on the new non-fiction table.
