The very best sports books are not really about sports at all; they use a game to tell you something about ambition, character and being human. These ten are the greatest ever written, spanning tennis, rowing, baseball, football and business, from the most honest athlete memoir in print to a Depression-era racehorse who lifted a nation. Whether or not you follow the sport, these will move you.
Quick picks:
- Best memoir: Open by Andre Agassi. View on Amazon
- Best narrative: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. View on Amazon
- Most influential: Moneyball by Michael Lewis. View on Amazon
Unforgettable true stories
Open by Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi is a former world number one. Andre Agassi's astonishingly honest memoir, widely called the best sports autobiography ever written. Raw, beautiful and unforgettable.
Best for: The best sports memoir.
→ View on AmazonThe Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Daniel James Brown is a narrative historian. The stirring true story of the 1936 US Olympic rowing team. A beloved, deeply moving underdog tale told with warmth.
Best for: The great underdog story.
→ View on AmazonSeabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Laura Hillenbrand is a narrative historian. The Depression-era racehorse who lifted a nation, told with novelistic sweep. One of the great narrative nonfiction books.
Best for: A Depression-era legend.
→ View on AmazonFriday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger
Buzz Bissinger is a Pulitzer-winning journalist. An unflinching year inside Texas high-school football, revealing a whole town through its team. A journalism landmark.
Best for: Sport as American life.
→ View on AmazonWhen Pride Still Mattered by David Maraniss
David Maraniss is a Pulitzer-winning biographer. The definitive biography of Vince Lombardi and, through him, a portrait of American ambition. Masterful and humane.
Best for: The Lombardi biography.
→ View on AmazonLandmarks and classics
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis is a bestselling journalist. The story of how data upended baseball and business everywhere. The book that changed how we think about sports and talent. Journalist-authored.
Best for: Data changes the game.
→ View on AmazonBorn to Run by Christopher McDougall
Christopher McDougall is a journalist and runner. The modern classic that launched the barefoot-running craze, chasing the secrets of the Tarahumara. Wildly entertaining. Journalist-authored.
Best for: The running phenomenon.
→ View on AmazonBeyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James
C.L.R. James is a historian and cricket writer. Often called the greatest sports book ever written, it weaves cricket, colonialism and culture into a masterpiece that transcends the game entirely.
Best for: The all-time classic.
→ View on AmazonThe Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
Roger Kahn is a celebrated sportswriter. Roger Kahn's elegiac classic about the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers and the men they became. One of baseball's great books.
Best for: The baseball elegy.
→ View on AmazonBall Four by Jim Bouton
Jim Bouton is a former major-league pitcher. The bawdy, groundbreaking baseball diary that changed sports writing forever by showing players as they really are. A landmark memoir.
Best for: The book that broke the rules.
→ View on AmazonHow we chose these
We looked for the sports books that last: player memoirs with something real to say, credentialed sports scientists and psychologists and the acclaimed journalists and historians who turn a game into a story. A few iconic novels earn a place too and we label them as fiction. We describe and compare these books to help you choose your next read.
