Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time

[Rupert Patrick]

I hope that The League, the 1986 book by David Harris that dealt with the power struggles between Pete Rozelle and the owners between the mid-70's and mid-80's, makes the list.

[JWL]

Who's taking bets that INSTANT REPLAY will be #1?

#40.

To me, that is appropriate. It was a good book, influential and popular, but not great. My opinion, of course.

[BD Sullivan]

Who's taking bets that INSTANT REPLAY will be #1?

#40.

To me, that is appropriate. It was a good book, influential and popular, but not great. My opinion, of course.

It helped that Kramer was the focal point of getting Bart Starr in the end zone--legally or illegally, depending on who is commenting. Had they failed to score and ended up losing, I suppose the book still would have been published, but it would have been long forgotten.

[Jay Z]

Who's taking bets that INSTANT REPLAY will be #1?

#40.

To me, that is appropriate. It was a good book, influential and popular, but not great. My opinion, of course.

It helped that Kramer was the focal point of getting Bart Starr in the end zone--legally or illegally, depending on who is commenting. Had they failed to score and ended up losing, I suppose the book still would have been published, but it would have been long forgotten.

Was there ever anyone else that complained about Kramer being offsides/in motion? I thought that was Kramer himself that dredged that up years later, doing his publicity hound bit.

The play is available on film. I have never seen any penalty that would be called in 1967 or 2016.

The one in question is whether Donny Anderson scored three plays earlier. The angle we see isn't ideal, so I could never say for sure. Players from the Cowboys thought he scored at the time. That play would have made the whole sequence somewhat less memorable, though I think the game would still be remembered for the temp and the Packers' three straight.

[JohnH19]

I've read 15-20 of the first 60 books listed but on the 21-40 list I've read nine plus a few PP&K editions. I'm looking forward to the top 20.

[Jay Z]

The top 20 is up now.

I will probably go through my own collection to see if there's anything I would add, BUT this list was excellent! My personal choice for #1, The Golden Age Of Pro Football by Mickey Herskowitz, made the top 20.

[JWL]

Last night, after numbers 40-21 were posted, I made a list of what books I figured would make the top 20.

The two that did not make Chris Willis's top 20-
The Pro Style
The Football Encyclopedia

[Jay Z]

Last night, after numbers 40-21 were posted, I made a list of what books I figured would make the top 20.

The two that did not make the list-
The Pro Style
The Football Encyclopedia

What two did you miss that were on the list?

The Football Encyclopedia, was that the one that came out in the 1970s, with the starting lineups for every playoff game? Maybe they wanted to limit the number of encyclopedias. Frankly, I used the Sports Encyclopedia - Pro Football books far more than I ever used Total Football. Total Football just wasn't out that long until the Internet made it obsolete. For a long time, Sports Encyclopedia was the best around. I still used that more after Total Football came out because I looked at teams more often than the careers of individual players.

There were a couple of books that came out in the 1980s, Running Wild and The Great Ones, that were the same theme as the earlier Murray Olderman books on running backs and quarterbacks respectively. I use those more often because they're more up to date and the pictures are better. But I suppose the Olderman books were earlier and more innovative. Olderman had a third book I believe, called The Defenders, that I prefer to the Running Back and Quarterback books.

[JWL]

Last night, after numbers 40-21 were posted, I made a list of what books I figured would make the top 20.

The two that did not make the list-
The Pro Style
The Football Encyclopedia

What two did you miss that were on the list?

I edited my prior post. I see how I may have caused confusion.

The Pro Style and The Football Encyclopedia (the Neft & Cohen books) were the two that didn't make the list.

My list of last night had those two plus The Pro Football Chronicle, When Pride Still Mattered, The New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football, The Hidden Game of Football, America's Game, Finding the Winning Edge, Total Football II, Pigskin, Run to Daylight!, and The Game That Was. Then there would be another eight spots.

[Rupert Patrick]

One I would have found a place for were the Football by the Numbers 1986 and 1987 editions by Ignatin and Barra. I wished they had continued with them after 1987 but I guess they just weren't selling enough. Also, those paperback books for kids which had four different 30-40 page mini-biographies in them, and would be titled: Staubach Tarkenton Stabler Bradshaw. Those were big during the 70's; there was a entire series of those. I pick those up at book sales and flea markets whenever I see them and must have a dozen of those in my library.