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"Iconoclastic and irreverent, Stan Isaacs was part of a generation that bucked the sports establishment with a skepticism for authority, an appreciation for absurdity, and a gift for placing athletes and events within the context of their tumultuous times. Isaacs draws on his trademark wink-and-a-grin approach to tell the story of the long-ago Brooklyn that formed him and a career that placed him amidst the major sporting events of his era. Mixing reminiscences with column excerpts, Isaacs recalls antics like stealing a Brooklyn Dodgers pennant after the team moved to Los Angeles and his many writings on Paul Revere's horse. But Isaacs also reveals the crusading and humanist instincts that gave Black athletes like Muhammad Ali a rare forum to express their views and celebrated the oddball, unsung Mets over the straitlaced Yankees. Insightful and hilarious, Out of Left Field is the long-awaited memoir of the influential sportswriter and his adventures in the era of Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe, and the Amazin' Mets"--
List of contents
Introduction Aram Goudsouzian
A Note on Terminology
Prologue: The Shots Heard ’Round the World
- The Chipmunks
- Chipmunkery
- Family Ties
- School Daze
- Sportswriter
- The Daily Compass
- A Wayward Pressman
- Joining Newsday
- The Early Mets
- The Alvin Dark Controversy
- Cassius Clay Was a Grand Old Name
- Jim Brown and Me
- Race Matters
- Hitler, Stalin, and O’Malley
- The Purloined Pennant
- Baseball Characters
- Olympic Hypocrisy
- Perfect Games
- Fighters and Writers
- The Sporting Hemingway
- Naked Romances
- Mea Culpas
- Righties and Lefties
- Triple Threats
- Newspaper Lore
- Forgive Us Our Press Passes
- Inside Stuff
- Flights of Fancy
- Stuntsmanship
- Leaving Newsday
- Life in Isaacstan
- A Craft and a Life
Index
About the author
Stan Isaacs. Edited and with an Introduction by Aram Goudsouzian
