Books 'Tis the season to be giving, and here's an array of goodies for sports fans on your list

And the Fans Roared
by Joe Garner, with CD narrated by Bob Costas
Sourcebooks, Inc., $49.95

Here we have a sequel to Garner's best-seller of a year ago, And
the Crowd Goes Wild. (What's next? And the Rooters Go Bananas?
And the Mob Went Meshuga?) This is another collection of "sports
broadcasts that kept us on the edge of our seats." In the text
the reader finds Garner's recapitulation of 43 edge-of-seat
events, and on the two accompanying CDs, the listener may hear
not only Costas's tense narration but also snippets from the
emotional broadcasts themselves. Among these are Jack
Brickhouse's "optical illusion" call of Willie Mays's famous
catch in the 1954 World Series and Howard Cosell's typically
restrained description of George Foreman's winning the
heavyweight championship from Joe Frazier in 1973: "Down goes
Fras-eeuh! Down goes Fras-eeuh! Down goes Fras-eeuh!"

Uneven Lies
by Pete McDaniel/The American Golfer, $50

This thoughtful book traces the frustrating quest for
recognition and acceptance of African-American golfers from the
pre-Tiger Woods era such as Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder and
Calvin Peete. Their "souls...cry for someone to tell their
story," writes McDaniel, himself an African-American and a
senior writer for Golf Digest. Woods wrote the foreword.

Take Me Out to the Ballpark
by Josh Leventhal/Black Dog and Leventhal, $29.98

This history of baseball parks--major, minor and Negro league--is
noteworthy on at least two counts: The book is shaped like a
baseball park, and its publishers, exercising considerable
ingenuity, have kept the price under $30. This is not the only
book of its sort--see Michael Gershman's Diamonds, Philip J.
Lowry's Green Cathedrals or Lawrence S. Ritter's Lost
Ballparks--but with vivid photographs and illustrations it is the
most pleasing to the eye. Leventhal includes intriguing trivia on
such ballpark essentials as hot dogs, organists, mascots and
public-address announcers. He also somehow keeps track of the
ever-changing but always horrid corporate names of modern
stadiums, my personal favorite being Dunn Tire Park in Buffalo.

The Official NBA Encyclopedia
edited by Jan Hubbard/Doubleday, $50

This third, expanded edition does for pro basketball what similar
reference books have done for Major League Baseball and the NFL.
In addition to historical essays, there are complete records of
presumably everyone who has ever worn an NBA or even an ABA
uniform.

New York Rangers
by John Halligan/Tehabi Books, $40

Chicago Blackhawks
by Bob Verdi/Tehabi Books, $40

These separate histories celebrate the 75th anniversaries of two
of the National Hockey League's original 10 teams. Both feature
lively prose and an abundance of photographs.

Baseball's Best Shots
DK Publishing, Inc. $30

The subtitle, "The Greatest Baseball Photography of All Time,"
may exaggerate the quality of the contents, but this book does
have some memorable pictures among the 125 selected by Major
League Baseball photo experts Rich Pilling and Paul Cunningham.
The old black-and-whites--try the Babe's farewell at Yankee
Stadium--seem the most compelling. But V.J. Lovero's multiple
exposure in color of David Cone pitching can stand with the
classics.

Seven Summits
edited by Steve Bell/Bullfinch Press, $40

The newest challenge for ever-restless mountaineers is conquering
the highest peaks on the seven continents, even though the
climbers can't quite agree on whether the seventh peak is
Australia's tame 7,310-foot Mount Kosciuszko or Australasia's
craggy 16,024-foot Carstensz Pyramid. Strangely enough, the first
to accomplish the seven-summit feat (if you accept little
Kosciuszko) was an American businessman named Dick Bass, who
said, expressing my sentiments exactly, "I never planned to climb
anything except out of bed each morning--and that was tough
enough!"

Voices from the Summit
by The National Geographic/Adventure Press, $30

Just when you think the avalanche of mountain-climbing literature
has run its course, there is yet another rumbling overhead. Some
of the best writing in all of sports these days comes from those
adventurers on high. This collection is no exception, with the
authors including such household names among the piton set as Sir
Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner, Ed Viesturs and David
Breashears.

Maverick's
by Matt Warshaw/Chronicle Books, $29.95

If anyone is braver or perhaps loonier than a mountain climber,
he or she is probably a big-wave ocean surfer. In fact the waves
that thrash Maverick's Point, a narrow strip of beach south of
San Francisco, are called Everests, and the surfers there are men
who ride mountains. Maverick's was not, however, named for a
surfer but for a surf-loving German Shepherd. The dog did not
hang ten.

Champions by the Editors of Daily Racing Form/Daily Racing Form
Press, $75

Steeplechasing
by Peter Winants/The Derrydale Press, $75

Breeders' Cup
by Jay Privman/Moonlight Press, $40

What better place to complete your sports gift shopping than at
the finish line? Here, in fact, are three handsome, weighty and
expensive books that will make glad the hearts of track habitues
everywhere. Champions not only includes a history of thoroughbred
racing but, true to form, also lists the lifetime performances of
such legendary horses as Man o' War, Seabiscuit, Whirlaway,
Citation and Secretariat. The other two books chronicle the
166-year history of steeplechasing and the 16-year history of the
Breeders' Cup, the so-called Super Bowl of racing. All three of
these books are gloriously illustrated.

Gladiators: 40 Years of Football
photographs by Walter Iooss/Total Sports Illustrated, $45

The Life of Reilly
by Rick Reilly/Total Sports Illustrated, $22.95

Beyond the Game
by Gary Smith/Atlantic Monthly Press, $24

Finally, these three books by longtime SPORTS ILLUSTRATED staff
members reprise photographs and writing that have appeared in our
pages. Iooss has gathered more than 100 mostly color images of
football, from sandlot to the NFL, some of which have never
before been published. There is an accompanying essay by author
and humorist Roy Blount Jr. Reilly selected his favorites from
his weekly magazine column, as well as longer stories, including
one on former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott and another
about playing golf with President Clinton. The 15 selections by
Smith include stories about Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Pat
Summitt, Mike Tyson, Jim Valvano and the great home run chase of
1998.

COLOR PHOTO: DOUBLEDAY

COLOR PHOTO: THE AMERICAN GOLFER

COLOR PHOTO: DK PUBLISHING INC.

COLOR PHOTO: TEHABI BOOKS

COLOR PHOTO: CHRONICLE BOOKS

COLOR PHOTO: BULLFINCH PRESS

COLOR PHOTO: ADVENTURE PRESS

COLOR PHOTO: MOONLIGHT PRESS