16 hot new books for sports fanatics

Stories from the bleachers

Born Into It by Jay Baruchel

While most might know him as an actor (Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, Goon), you get the sense this Montreal native would much rather achieve global recognition for his calling as a Habs fan. Indeed, Baruchel has chosen to tell the tale of his life as a die-hard Canadiens superfan – of which he was once named honorary captain – in a funny, unexpectedly moving memoir that mixes prose, poetry and the occasional hate e-mail to the Boston Bruins.

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The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL by Sean McIndoe

Everyday Hockey Heroes by Bob McKenzie and Jim Lang

Tales of The Great Ones

Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault

There are very few lives, frankly, that justify a biography that clocks in at more than 700 pages – and thankfully, Arthur Ashe’s is one. A tennis prodigy who broke the colour barrier in the Jim Crow era, he won Wimbledon in 1975 and was at one point the No. 1-ranked player in the United States. This exhaustively researched book (more than a hundred interviews deep), however, is less about Ashe the athlete than it is Arthur: a brave, inspiring but very human man who died far too young.

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Bower: A Legendary Life by Dan Robson

Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time by Ian O’Connor

Tales By The Great Ones

All the Way by Joe Namath

Everything about Joe Namath’s life is drawn in big, dramatic strokes – the highs (most famous athlete in America, a Super Bowl by 26) and the lows (the on-field injuries and the off-field addiction to alcohol and tempestuous love life). Fifty years after he famously guaranteed that he’d lead the underdog New York Jets to win the 1969 championship (and delivered), the now 75-year-old “Broadway Joe” is finally telling the cinematic tale in his own words – and it’s a revelatory read that’s worth the wait.

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The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant

CuJo: The Untold Story Of My Life On And Off The Ice by Curtis Joseph and Kirstie McLellan

Alternative histories

The Last Good Year by Damien Cox

The titular year is 1993, and the Maple Leafs have made an unlikely run for the Stanley Cup, playing the Wayne Gretzky-led Kings in the conference final. It is, this book’s author contends, a series that defined an era – and marked its end. Told through seven pivotal games, and a cast of characters that includes (very controversial) referee Kerry Fraser, Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall and, yes, the Great One himself, it’s a tense, taut telling of a pivotal moment in hockey history.

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Football For A Buck by Jeff Pearlman

The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy

Don Cherry’s Hockey Greats & More by Don Cherry

Canadian Underdogs

Come on You Reds: The Story of Toronto FC by Joshua Kloke

This Major League Soccer season has been a reminder of the extreme ups and downs in the short history of Toronto FC, which has recently gone from the heights of a championship to crashing out of the playoffs. Burned fans should find solace in TFC reporter for The Athletic Joshua Kloke’s new book, a comprehensive look at the team from its conception as a crazy idea (culturally and financially) in a hockey-mad town to its current beloved status in Toronto’s crowded sports market. In between, there was lots of terrible soccer and off-field drama, and Kloke has put in extra time with a who’s-who interview list of witnesses to all the good, bad and uglier times.

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Open Look: Canadian Basketball and Me by Jay Triano