Gitlin, Martin. Kyrie Irving: Uncle Drew, Little Mountain and Enigmatic NBA Superstar. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Pp. 224. 16 illustrations. $26.95 hardcover and ebook. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski During a fall 2018 fan event at the TD Garden, the home of the Boston Celtics, former Celtics player Brian Scalabrine asked the best player on the team,…
Peter C. Bjarkman. Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. 364 pp. Reviewed by Michael T. Wood Peter C. Bjarkman was a giant in the field of sport history. Over the course of his prodigious career, Bjarkman authored over 40 books and contributed chapters and articles to edited collections. The Society…
Approximately one year after ‘The Last Dance’ captivated sports’ fans across the globe, guest contributor Łukasz Muniowski revisits the docuseries and deconstructs its mythologies. By Łukasz Muniowski Much has already been written about The Last Dance, the award-winning ESPN/Netflix documentary miniseries by Jason Hehir. As such, there is hopefully no need to explain in detail multiple…
Douglas, Andra. Black and Blue: Love, Sports, and the Art of Empowerment. New York: BookBaby, 2019. Pp. 310. $18 USD paperback. Reviewed by Russ Crawford Andra Douglas owned the New York Sharks, a women’s semi-professional football team, from 1999 to 2018. The Sharks began as a flag football team and won a national championship in that…
Stueve, Spencer, and Johnson, Marques (forward). UCLA Basketball Encyclopedia: The First 100 Years. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2019. Pp. 281. Photos, black & white. No index. $26.99 paperback. Reviewed by Richard A. Macales Before the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA became global phenomena, there was the UCLA Bruins collegiate men’s basketball team. The Bruins recruited…
Bike, William S. The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow. The History Press, 2021. Pp. 144. Acknowledgments, bibliography, epilogue, end notes, index, photographs, preface, prologue, $21.99 paperback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo It still stings 52 years later. The Chicago Cubs won a World Series title in 2016 to snap a 108-year drought, but 1969 will always…
By Russ Crawford The Women’s Football Alliance (WFA), the largest and longest running professional women’s tackle football league in the United States will be holding their national championships at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio the weekend of July 23-24. Since women’s professional football arguably started in Ohio in the 1930s, it…
Stephen R. Wenn and Robert K. Barney. The Gold in the Rings: The People and Events that Transformed the Olympic Games. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2020. Pp. 360. Photographs, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95 paper, $14.95 ebook. Reviewed by Nicholas E. Sarantakes In the historiography of American sport, there are many sub-fields and topics. Most sport historians…
Abel, Allen. The Short Life of Hughie McLoon: A True Story of Baseball, Magic and Murder. Sutherland House, 2020. Pp. 211. Acknowledgments, dedication, epilogue, end notes, photographs, $22.95 hardback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo Baseball mascots today are cheery, funny and engaging figures, interacting with crowds and providing comic relief. The San Diego Chicken and the Phillie…
McClearen, Jennifer. Fighting Visibility: Sports Media and Female Athletes in the UFC. Urbana: The University of Illinois Press. 2021. Pp. 232. Acknowledgements, appendices, notes, references, index, introduction, photographs. $110 cloth, 24.95 paper, $14.95 ebook. Reviewed by Russ Crawford A common challenge that women’s sports faces is a lack of visibility. Numerous academic and popular books and…
Mitchell, Lincoln A. The Giants and Their City: Major League Baseball in San Francisco, 1976-1992. The Kent State University Press. 2021. Pp. 251. Acknowledgments, end notes, index, introduction, photographs, $25.95 paperback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo. The Giants are a proud baseball franchise. With 23 pennants and eight World Series championships, the team is second only to their…
By Scott Myers With the recent announcement (December 16, 2020) by MLB that it will now recognize the Negro Leagues for the period of 1920-1948 as ‘Major League’, it is apparent that MLB should be thoroughly embarrassed for taking so long to do so. Thousands of MLB careers were denied to worthy African American and…
Sport in American History supports critical sport studies scholar in their public engagement and denounces and opposes all attempts to harass, doxx, or otherwise intimidate them into silence. We believe in the free exchange of ideas rooted in civility, facts, and productive public pedagogy. The blog stands behind Drs. Mellis and Kalman-Lamb as well as…
By Andrew McGregor The Dallas Mavericks chose not to play the national anthem before their first thirteen homes games. This decision flew under the radar until the team welcomed fans back to the American Airlines Center on Monday. No one missed the anthem, until it suddenly became controversial yesterday. The immediate question many fans and…
Surgent, Scott. The Complete World Hockey Association 11th Edition. CreateSpace, 2018. Pp. 536. Photos (black & white). $29 softcover. Reviewed by Richard A. Macales “Well, pioneers always suffer. I don’t care [who has] been the first to embark upon things… but it had to be done.” –Bobby Hull, 82, Hall of Fame hockey player Scott…
