Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement

by Jim Platt, James Buckley Jr., AshleyNicole, et al.

Book Overview

Spanning more than a century of athletic achievement, this collection of memorabilia features photos of everything from uniforms and gear to autographs, artifacts, tickets, and programs, and stories of over 100 inspirational and immortal athletes, from Honus Wagner and Jack Johnson to Roberto Clemente and Muhammad Ali.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572434600
• ISBN13: 9781572434608
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Triumph Books (IL)
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 10.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

An athlete's book

"Sports Immortals" is a fantastic nonfiction novel writen by Jim Platt. Sports Immortals has the best collection of sports items ever.If you look in the book and see all the valuable items, they are all owned by one person, his name is Joel Platt. He started collecting them when he was in the hospital and Babe Ruth came to visit him. Some items were Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves, Oscar Robinson's basketball jersey, and Bade Bruth's baseball jersey. There are many different characters who were the best athletes in the world. Sports Immortals is a collection of stories about some of the greatest sports times and athletes of all time and discribe the lives and challenging times they had to go through. For example, when Michael Jordan won his forth NBA title he cried because his father had been killed that summer. I also liked when it talked about the 1980 U.S. hockey team and how their whole team was made up of collage players, and then they won the gold metal in Lake Placid, NY. This is a great book because it shows all the things that athletes have to go through to achieve their goals and accomplishments. I would recommend this book to people who want to learn about sports history. I loved this book because it showed how hard it is to be an athlete and what difficuties they have to conquer. This book was a fantastic book that I loved and I think you would too.

Awesome

Wow! What a great book. Inspiring stories from the greatest athletes in the world. The stories are well written and enjoyable to read. It is quite evident that the book is a result of many years of hard work, dedication and a labor of love. The layout is awesome and the pictures are even better. It is a great gift for all ages.

The perfect coffee table book

Truly an exceptional gathering of sports legends and their respective histories, Sports Immortals takes us on a tour that even sports-phobic individuals will love. From baseball and football, to skating and NASCAR, the pages capture the essence of the cultural phenomenon that we take for granted today. Unexpectedly, most interesting are the pages which highlight not the obvious modern-day heroes, but rather the legends of yester-year, such as Jack Johnson (1910 African-American prize fighter) or Don Budge (1930's tennis champion). Although some of the accompanying pictures are seemingly boring at first glance, they take on new life when you realize that these are actual items in Joel and Jim Platt's museum collection. And that, of course, is the point of the book--to make us realize that these individuals are real and not simply the intangible "stuff of legend." In particular, the photos and supplemental annotations at the end of the book illustrate not only the diversity and amazing progress of the sports world (check out the 1864 ice skates!), but also the incessant controversies that accompany it (must-see letter of Jack Johnson's confession of throwing the big fight).I now display the book proudly on my coffee table for all to view. What more can I say....the only thing better is to go to Boca Raton, FL to see it for real.

Great for the sports lover

I received a copy of this book from my friend. This book is full of great stories and photographs of the greatest athletes of all time. The book goes beyond the typical information you have seen in the past and opens the door to interesting stories about the author's father, who has collected an amazing amount of incredible memorabilia. The photographs of the items in Joel Platt's collection amazed me. His story and moments with these athletes is also very inspirational. I recommend this book and hope to one day see Joel realize his dreams of opening his Sports Immortals museum so that I can enjoy the full extent of his collection.