“It appears that when the papers doubled in the number of pages, they doubled the size of the sports section,” said Harry Heath in How to Cover, Write, and Edit Sports. The genre only grew after Pulitzer hired the first sports editor in 1883. Other major newspapers followed and soon everyone had an editor for the genre. Then basketball was born in 1891 and sports journalism took off even more. Pioneers in the genre emerged. Grantland Rice started covering college football teams in 1925. Henry Chadwick was known as the father of baseball. And Leonard Koppett received awards from both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame for his writing. The world was obsessed with reading, and writing, about sports. And that trend has only continued to this day. You can’t open a newspaper or click on a news site without finding a sports section. For those more inclined to longer sports journalism, here’s a list of 20 must-read nonfiction sports stories sure to teach you something about the games we know and love.
Outstanding Sports Nonfiction for Your TBR
Whether you’re a fan of the game or a player yourself, I hope you liked this list of must-read nonfiction sports stories! If you’re wanting more of your bookish sports fix, try these 25 of the best sports books for kids. Or these five autobiographies of U.S. Olympians!
