20 Must-Read Nonfiction Sports Stories to Immerse You in the Games You Love

For fans of the gymnastics and ice-skating segments of the Olympics, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes is for you. Delving into the horrors that lurk behind the scenes, this expose brings to light the rigorous and at times abusive training regimens young girls face when trying to make it big in the gymnastic and ice skating world. Injuries, eating disorders, and exhaustion are rampant, and this book captures the reality of it all.

Sports journalist Howard Bryant gets back to his Boston roots in this examination of racism in Boston through the lens of the Red Sox. From Jackie Robinson’s tryout, the first Red Sox’s black player, Pumpsie Green, and Mo Vaughn’s time in Boston. Bryant captures a larger trend of racism through interviews and research into the baseball players of Boston.

Through short chapters on everything from the origins of the sport to the players, rules, fans, and beyond, readers get to appreciate the beautiful game of soccer and Galeano’s beautiful writing to match. Anecdotes about the longest penalty shootout, journalists on the brink of execution, scathing critique of modern commentators, and death bed wishes inspire and delight in turn. Soccer lovers are sure to feel the love for the game shining through in Soccer in Sun and Shadow.

Oxenham played for women’s soccer Santos FC, the team having to hitchhike to practice, share their field with a horse, and take hand-me-down uniforms from the men’s team. If this is the reality of women’s soccer for her, what about the rest of the world? Oxenham documents just that in Under the Lights and in the Dark, from homelessness to refugee camps and everything in between. Readers will learn more about women’s soccer and feel the love for the game radiating off the pages.

Pulling from research in various countries, publications, interviews, and more, Burgos delves into the history of Latino players in the major leagues. Stretching back to the 1880s, this book navigates the ever-changing “color line” of baseball and how pioneers like Roberto Clemente struggled to find their place. This academic, thorough capture of Latino history is chock full of information you’ve never heard before.

Through newspaper accounts and club archives, Debra A. Shattuck reconstructs the women throughout baseball’s history. She shares the stories of women who organized their own baseball clubs, found places amongst men’s rosters, and found financial exploitation from the society around them while tying it into the women’s rights movement and the perception of women athletes of the past.

Sports fans far and wide have opinions. A lot of them. Serrano and Torres capture disputes between fans from basketball history from the best disrespectful dunk of all time to how many points should each shot be worth to the real rules of a pick-up game and everything in between. With stunning illustrations and hilarious debates, Basketball (and Other Things) is a witty and fun sports book for fans new and old.

Louis Zamperini worked hard to compete in the 1936 Olympics in track and field. When World War II came, he became an airman, flying B-24s across the sky. That is, until his plane was downed in the Pacific Ocean. Zamperini had only a life raft to keep himself alive. Unbroken is a story of perseverance against all odds and the resilience of the athletes we live amongst.

In the 1930s, deep in the financial crisis and drought of the Depression-era, basketball coach Sam Babb recruited farm-working young women to play on his basketball team in exchange for a college education. The Cardinals were born. Amidst declarations that women’s sports were unladylike and unhealthy, the team of women discovered a love for the game and started to win. And win. And win.

Tony Dungy is the first African American to coach a football team, The Colts, to a victory at the Super Bowl. He was a safety himself, a coach for the NFL for 13 seasons, and is now a sports analyst for NBC. His book, Quiet Strength, delves into his life, coaching, and his faith that supported him through it all. You’ll learn what it means to be strong and have integrity through the challenges of football and the challenges of grief at the same time.

George Plimpton was an American journalist. Using his communication skills, he talked his way into trying out for the Detroit Lions. Documenting his time in training camp, living with 60 guys, and playing in a preseason exhibition game, Plimpton uncovers the realities of making it to the big leagues. Simultaneously hilarious and insightful, Paper Lion is a must-read and also set the scene for “participatory” sports journalism.

Did you know there was a team of Black Jewish baseball players called the Belleville Grays, the only Jewish team in the history of Black baseball? If not, this read is for you! Alpert dives into the intersection of Jewish history, the Negro Leagues, and racism in America’s favorite game. Readers will also learn about the impact of Jim Crow laws, comedy baseball reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters, and the journalists covering African American and Jewish players alike.

Craig Hodges was a world-champion basketball player. He led the NBA in three-point shooting percentage not once but twice. That is, until the Chicago Bulls star handed President George H.W. Bush a handwritten letter demanding more action on racism. Hodges also spoke out against police brutality and initiated a boycott against Nike. Because of his activism, after ten seasons of the NBA, he was blackballed. This memoir details Hodges life of sports and justice and everything in between.

Journalist and amateur women’s boxer Mischa Merz recounts her time traveling across the U.S. competing in women’s boxing tournaments. She meets idols in the women’s boxing world like Lucia Rijker, explores femininity in this masculine sport, and sheds insight on the subculture of the sport. Merz also takes the time to discuss some of the new and upcoming athletes in the field trying to make the 2012 Olympic Games.

In Brownsville Brooklyn, a youth football team lives called the Mo Better Jaguars. Around them in the mostly black neighborhood, is poverty, gentrification, and violence. The young boys on the team find refuge in football from the hardships of growing up inner city, and could open doors to college, and scholarships, if they can win under the leadership of unpaid, but dedicated, coaches. Samaha captures the realities of how sports change lives, and what it would mean if they disappeared from neighborhoods like Brownsville.

The Hurricanes, a girls’ high school basketball team from Western Massachusetts, just missed making it to their championship five years running. Through the story of these girls and their coaches, readers learn more about the community that surrounds them and the support they give to their girls. In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle is a love letter to basketball, girlhood, and Amherst too.