This list of the best sports books of all time covers a wide variety of sports and perspectives, from boxing to mixed martial arts to basketball and gymnastics and everything in between. The best books about sports capture the experience of athletics, whether you’re simply a die-hard fan, you’re the one up to bat, or you’re a sports journalist. In this roundup of the best nonfiction sports books, you’ve got an angle into athletics from multiple perspectives on a bevy of sports.
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And now for a list of the best sports books of all time…
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography, William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days is a gripping memoir about the author’s long-held admiration for surfing. Raised in Hawaii and California, Finnegan developed a fascination with surfing that would last him decades. Now, in Barbarian Days, he shares how chasing waves impacted his life. It’s a surfing book you won’t want to miss and one of the best selling sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Barbarian Days on Amazon
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
This memoir tells the story of the author’s childhood living within the shadow of Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1930s and 1940s. That team included such baseball greats as Jackie Robinson and Carl Erskine, among others. Later, Roger Kahn covered the 1950s Dodgers for The Herald Tribune. Told with sentimentality and detail that makes this history come alive, The Boys of Summer is one of the best sports books.
How to read it: Purchase The Boys of Summer on Amazon
The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey
This riveting read chronicles the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team that surprised the world in an upset win against the formidable Soviet Union. Known as the “Miracle on Ice,” this epic competition was a resounding defeat against the enemy in the heigh of the Civil War. Thanks to copious insider stories and peppered with details you won’t find anywhere else, The Boys of Winter is an engrossing tale of what became both legend and myth and for sure one of the best books about sports.
How to read it: Purchase The Boys of Winter on Amazon
Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay by Todd Zolecki
As a Philadelphia Phillies fan, I know all about pitching phenom Roy Halladay. I even had the good fortune to go to a game where “Doc,” as Halladay was affectionately known, pitched. I’ll never forget how tall and big he was. In this biography of Halladay, MLB.com Phillies journalist Todd Zolecki tells the story of Doc’s ups and downs in his professional career as well as his inner demons that tormented him, including a fight against addiction. Halladay famously died young in a tragic plane accident. Doc keeps his unparalleled career and undeniable legacy alive in what is one of the best sports biographies books.
How to read it: Purchase Doc on Amazon
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
This story behind Fever Pitch will be relatable to anyone who has ever dove headfirst into fandom. But not just fandom during the good times, but during the hard times, the losing seasons, the disappointing losses. In this case, author Nick Hornby is talking about his life’s passion, football (soccer to Americans), though any fan can relate. This is definitely one of best books about sports from a fan’s perspective. This book was adapted to a feature film in 2005.
How to read it: Purchase Fever Pitch on Amazon
Friday Night Lights by H. G. “Buzz” Bissinger
Friday Night Lights is maybe the best football book ever written and definitely one of the best selling sports books. Published in 1990, H. G. “Buzz” Bissinger’s story follows a high school football team in Odessa, Texas. What makes this book so great is the universal core story about the big dreams of small towns that strike through polarized social and racial boundaries and unite fans around a team that puts it all on the line with their game. It’s a book so influential that it inspired the acclaimed TV show, also called Friday Night Lights.
How to read it: Purchase Friday Night Lights on Amazon
The Game by Ken Dryden
Named one of Sports Illustrated‘s 10 best sports books of all time, The Game is one to add to your TBR (to-be-read list). This riveting memoir reveals the life and career of Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goalie and one-time president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dryden details life on and off the ice, giving readers an inside look at what it means to be a professional athlete, what that means for one’s personal life, family, and off-the-rink life, and the way those lines become blurred. This definitely tops any list of the best nonfiction sports books.
How to read it: Purchase The Game on Amazon
The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed the World by Jere Longman
I’m going to age myself here, but I remember when the U.S. Women’s Team won the 1999 World Cup. It was an exciting time to be a girl! You looked up to heroes like Mia Hamm, the dominating player for Team U.S.A. In The Girls of Summer, esteemed New York Times journalist Jere Longman pulls back the curtain on that win and looks at the forces that shaped the victory. Longman traces how gender, race, and class interplayed in the team, as well as the sexualization of the players and how the male and female teams differed in the world’s eye.
How to read it: Purchase The Girls of Summer on Amazon
A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour by John Feinstein
Widely considered one of the best sports books ever, John Feinstein’s A Good Walk Spoiled details life on the PGA Tour. As he traveled alongside golf greats like Nick Price and Paul Azinger, Feinstein came to understand the relentless pressure, the grueling pace, and the palpable glory that was for the taking for players on “The Tour.”
How to read it: Purchase A Good Walk Spoiled on Amazon
Heaven Is a Playground by Rick Telander
The best sports book don’t have to feature professional teams; in Heaven Is a Playground, the author profiles amateur basketball games in the summer of 1974 in Brooklyn. It’s definitely a classic. Read it and see why President Barack Obama called it “The best basketball book I’ve ever read” in 2005. This underrated read is surely one of the best nonfiction sports books.
How to read it: Purchase Heaven Is a Playground on Amazon
The Imaginary Girlfriend by John Irving
You might know author John Irving from his fiction books, like The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules. But Irving had another love, other than penning beloved bestselling books: wrestling. As a teen at the elite boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy, Irving was a dominant wrestler, a sport he participated in for twenty years, eventually becoming a referee and later a coach until he way forty-seven. This memoir that is both a coming-of-age story as well as a personal retrospective on how athletics left a lifelong impact on the author, certainly one of the best sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Imaginary Girlfriend on Amazon
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters by Joan Ryan
I remember checking this book out of my high school library during my freshman year and tearing through it. For many, gymnastics and ice skating are fun spectator sports we watch during the Olympics, a “Wow!”-filled experience. But in Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Joan Ryan looks at what goes on behind the scenes, away from the medal stands, to reveal what happens between commercials when the cameras are off. It’s a damning account of how gymnastics and figure skating is unbelievably dangerous and often puts young girls in the hand of emotional, physical, and sexual abusers. In the most recent edition of this book, there’s a new forward that addresses the most famous case of sexual assault in the USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. It’s no shocker that Little Girls in Pretty Boxes went on to become a feminist classic and one of the best nonfiction sports books.
How to read it: Purchase Little Girls in Pretty Boxes on Amazon
Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association by Terry Pluto
This funny, engaging read—certainly one of the best sports books of all time—shines a spotlight on the American Basketball Association (the ABA), which was the first effort to great a national basketball league in America. The ABA had six seasons which proved to be incredibly influential, with its groundbreaking features like the 3-point shot, on the eventaul NBA. Terry Pluto’s Loose Balls is an incredibly entertaining look at this short-lived league that left a long shadow on the sport. (For more on the ABA, check out the Wikipedia article.)
How to read it: Purchase Loose Balls on Amazon
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Adapted as a feature film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game profiles the Oakland A’s baseball team. Even though they had a small budget, the organization used key in-game statistics (also called sabermetrics) to assemble a winning team. Moneyball ranks high on any list of the best books about sports.
How to read it: Purchase Moneyball on Amazon
Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton by Walter Payton
In case you haven’t heard of football star Walter Payton, his life and remarkable career is definitely worth exploring. As the—to this day—leading running back in the NFL’s history and the star who led the Chicago Bears to their one and only Super Bowl championship, Payton became a famous icon in American sports. In Never Die Easy, Payton welcomes readers into his amazing career and life. It’s an autobiography that feels vivid and urgent and surely one of the best sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Never Die Easy on Amazon
The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death by Colson Whitehead
Author Colson Whitehead is perhaps best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad, but before that success, he was assigned a story from Grantland magazine to cover the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The result is The Noble Hustle, an investigative reporting work of narrative nonfiction in which the writer becomes part of the story. This book is funny, insightful, quirky, and a wild ride and one of the most unconventional and appealing best nonfiction sports books.
How to read it: Purchase The Noble Hustle on Amazon
Open by Andre Agassi
Surely one of the best sports books ever, Open is tennis star Andre Agassi’s deeply revealing autobiography. This memoir pulls you in and doesn’t let go, telling the astounding story of his rise to become perhaps the greatest male tennis player of all time. But behind the scenes of that amazing success, Agassi felt unfulfilled. In Open, he sheds light on his life away from the net, the good times, the bad times, and everything in between. Open is certainly one of the best selling sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Open on Amazon
Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback by George Plimpton
If you haven’t heard of the term “participatory sports journalism,” you’ll know it when you read George Plimpton’s Paper Lion. To write his book, Plimpton joined the Detroit Lions football team as an amateur quarterback. Plimpton practiced with the Lions during training camp. Although he didn’t make the roster, Plimpton had an extraordinary experience, which he details in his irreverent, quirky, and funny book, Paper Lion, definitely one of the most original books about sports.
How to read it: Purchase Paper Lion on Amazon
Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan & the World He Made by David Halberstam
Michael Jordan was perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time. And Playing for Keeps just might be the greatest book about Michael Jordan. In Playing for Keeps, Halberstam surveys the epic life, extraordinary career, and unmatched legacy of Michael Jordan, the star player for the Chicago Bears. Playing for Keeps is definitely one of the best sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Playing for Keeps on Amazon
Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss
This intriguing book surveys the 1960 Olympics set in Rome, Italy. Subtitled “The Olympics That Changed the World,” Rome 1960 explores the intersection of many forces that made this more than just your usual Olympics, including the influence of the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the dawning presence of female athletes. This book expertly untangles all of these strands to show how pivotal the Olympics of 1960 was radically different and incredibly influential.
How to read it: Purchase Rome 1960 on Amazon
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
The racing horse Seabiscuit was a sensation during his time; in 1938, he received more press coverage than Hitler, Mussolini, and FDR. Yet his stunning success was no fluke but rather the perfect convergence of three men who helped make the horse a decorated athlete and perhaps the greatest race horse of all time, including millionaire owner Charles Howard, mustang braker trainer Tom Smith, and quirky jockey Red Pollard. Together, the trio helped Seabiscuit become the horse no one could have predicted. Read all about it in Laura Hillenbrand’s compulsively readable book Seabiscuit, a top best selling sports books.
How to read it: Purchase Seabiscuit on Amazon
A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee
In A Sense of Where You Are, famed New Yorker writer John McPhee shines a light on the famed basketball player Bill Bradley in the years when he played for the Princeton Tigers. Bradley would later go on to play for New York Knicks and become a U.S. Senator, but, in this book, McPhee focus on the years before Bradley’s professional and political career took off. It’s a book about raw talent, incredible drive, and unbridled ambition and ranks high among this list of the best sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase A Sense of Where You Are on Amazon
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
In Shoe Dog, the creator of Nike tells of his awe-inspiring rise from a startup to becoming the leading athletic shoe company. This is a list of the best sports books, but sports would not be the force it was it without the Nike shoes that athletes use today more than ever.
How to read it: Purchase Shoe Dog on Amazon
The Sweet Science by A.J. Liebling
This collection of boxing essays by the great New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling covers pivotal moments in the history of the sport, including the comeback of Sugar Ray Robinson, the emergence of prodigy Rocky Marciano, and the decline of Joe Louis. With Liebling’s eye for finding the human moments among a brutally violent sport distinguish this collection as a must-read for any boxing, or sports in general, fan.
How to read it: Purchase The Sweet Science on Amazon
The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
I included this book in my roundup of the best football books, and I’m including it here because it brings a much-needed perspective on the industry of college football. And yes, I’m saying “industry” because college football is no longer just a more innocent version of pro ball. In The System, the the authors peel back the layers to focus on the athletes, their highly paid coachers, and the networks making billions off the sport. It’s a book that all football fans should read. The System is definitely up there with the best books about sports.
How to read it: Purchase The System on Amazon
Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by Andrew Miller and Tom Shales
Sports and ESPN go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. In Those Guys Have All the Fun, authors Andrew Miller and Tom Shales take a deep dive into the most-famous sports network. Drawing on more than 500 interviews with ESPN staffers past and present, plus renowned athletes, Miller and Shales expose ESPN for what it is: an undeniable force, albeit one with scandal, rivalries, and conflict. Those Guys Have All the Fun proves that the best sports books don’t have to be about what happens on the field but rather behind the camera.
How to read it: Purchase Those Guys Have All the Fun on Amazon
Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman
This book takes a hard look at how the Los Angeles Lakers became a legend and a dynasty. From Kobe to Shaq, the 1996-2004 years of success were marked by celebrity athletes, ruthless management, and unparalleled talent. Read all about it in Three-Ring Circus.
How to read it: Purchase Three-Ring Circus on Amazon
Thrown by Kerry Howley
In Thrown, Kerry Howley profiles two men in the mixed martial arts pantheon. Howley followed these fighters, one an established, aging, and tested athlete the other an up-and-coming prodigy. Mixed martial arts has never been so interesting than this emotionally visceral, compelling book and its unflinching look at the brutal mixed martial arts sport. This irreverent, gut-wrenching story is one of the best sports books of all time.
How to read it: Purchase Thrown on Amazon
Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict
Tiger Woods is undeniably the most famous golfer of all time. Yet scandal has followed his success. In this biography from Jeff Benedict, Woods is revealed for the prodigious, complicated, ambitious golfer—and man—that he is. This is for certain one of the best sports books for readers who want to understand the grit that follows the glamor of life as a professional athlete. This is certainly one of the best sports biographies books.
How to read it: Purchase Tiger Woods on Amazon
Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson
And now for the last installment in this roundup of the best sports books… Perhaps the most controversial yet successful boxer of our modern era is Mike Tyson, the dynamic and bombastic athlete who upended traditions of decor and performance to become the winner he was. In Undisputed Truth, Tyson tells all. It’s an unputdownable autobiography that any fan of sports will want to read.
