New Releases by Sports Illustrated

Everything You Need to Become a Hardball Know-It-All The next book in the Fanbook series from Sports Illustrated Kids, The Baseball Fanbook has all the nerdy-cool insider knowledge that fans ready for next-level, in-depth stats need to know to impress their friends, family, coaches, and any season ticket holders they may meet. Tailor-made for baseball fanatics ages 8 and up who know the basics of the sport they love, may play it, and are looking to become super fans, this new fanbook is filled with fun trivia, unique lingo, and illustrated behind-the-skills how-to''s. Chapters include Team Tidbits (salient baseball facts about every MLB team), Think Like a Manager (essential strategies to understand), He Reminds Me Of (compares current players to legendary greats of America''s favorite pastime), and much more!

SI''s team of experts answer once again tackle the questions pro football fans have been debating since the pigskin started flying. Who''s the greatest quarterback of all time? The most dominant linebackers? In 2012, Sports Illustrated sought to answer this question in Football’s Greatest. In the past five years, new players have come on the scene, coaches have come and gone and great games have been played. Through it all, SI has been there, analyzing, tracking, photographing and reporting on every game as only SI can. Now, in Football’s Greatest: Revised and Updated, an all-new team of experts comes together to debate everything that makes football, football – whether it’s the best players, the best on the defensive line, the cheerleaders, or the stadiums, our team of experts have ranked them. Additionally, for this revised and updated edition, we’ve added a “Roundtable with the Stars” that includes some of the most legendary NFL Hall of Famers discussing whom they consider to the greatest. We’ve also added two new categories to the rankings: “Rivalries” and “Most Entertaining Players,” that makes Football’s Greatest: Revised and Updated an essential addition to any football fan’s library. Once again, this is the book that''s sure to end many arguments, and help start some new ones.

So you''ve become a football fan and now you want to take your passion for the game to the next level? Then The Ultimate Football Fan Handbook is just what you need. Filled with fun facts to dazzle your friends, important numbers and milestones, the unique lingo of the game, the strategies that teams employ, and much, much more, this book will have its readers sounding like experts and dazzling their friends with their knowledge.

The definitive tribute that celebrates the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali, an American original. From his unlikely transformation from Louisville Golden Gloves winner to Olympic gold medalist to three-time heavyweight champion, civil rights hero and at one point, the most famous person on earth, Muhammad Ali and his journey were always chronicled and celebrated by Sports Illustrated''s writers and photographers. Now, all of those moments and memories are collected in Muhammad Ali: The Tribute, a deluxe fully-illustrated gift book that celebrates the life and legacy of this iconic athlete and champion. He shook up the world and became the boxer who went from the sports page to the front page. As a young fighter he revolutionized boxing as the fleet-of-foot dancer who took the crown from Sonny Liston; his rivalry with Joe Frazier was legendary; he grew up into one of the toughest heavyweights of all time, winning The Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manilla. He was then able to parlay that fame into a role as elder statesman and inspiration to decades of athletes who would come behind him. All of those moments are captured here in distinct chapters that take you from Rise to Rumble, Exile to Return, Greatest, and Statesman. Written with the keen insight that only Sports Illustrated can bring, with a special gatefold that features stats and images from every one of this legendary bouts, and hundreds more black and white and full-color photographs that have become as iconic as the man himself, Muhammad Ali: The Tribute will stand as the companion piece to a legendary man and athlete.

For the past 49 years Sports Illustrated magazine has been putting fans on the sidelines of the greatest, flashiest spectacle in sports - The Super Bowl. Now, as the game approaches its 50th anniversary, and what promises to be its biggest and most-marketed ever, Sports Illustrated celebrates the grandeur and spirit of the Big Game in a way only they can - in a deluxe edition featuring the magazine''s iconic photography, summaries from each game, never-before-told anecdotes from players and coaches, and classic stories from the magazine''s legendary writers: Super Bowl Gold. Along with overviews of each championship, this deluxe gift book includes a ranking of every Super Bowl from worst to best, based on SI''s unique insight, weighing the quality of the game, context surrounding the matchup, closeness of the score, upset factor, stirring performances, and overall excitement. Also included will be year-by-year game summaries, commentary from players on every winning and losing team, reviews of every halftime show, with special attention paid to what we all really love the most - the commercials, and pictures of every ticket stub and champion ring. This will be the ultimate examination of the ultimate sports event. Bringing every Super Bowl back to life by diving into the legendary SI archives, Super Bowl Gold is essential for every football fan, no matter what team.

Sports Illustrated Kids reveals the coolest and most rarely seen parts of the sports world in ALL ACCESS. Kids get an inside look at state-of-the-art locker rooms, star athletes'' houses, and their amazing collections. Readers will be awed by how a stadium transforms from a baseball diamond to an ice rink, as well as how a football starts as a piece of hide to becoming game-ready. Sports fans of all ages will love the lift-and-look features that allow them to literally peel back the layers for behind-the-scenes access that only SI Kids can provide.

See how all aspects of football have evolved in this highly visual book filled with history and trivia about the game. You''ll see a football transform before your eyes from a melon-like ball crudely stitched together to the aerodynamic pigskin it is today; or watch as a quarterback evolves from a scrawny helmetless player of the 1930s to a hulking play caller of the modern era. From rules to equipment to the all-time greats, this book is a journey through the game spanning the years

America''s best-selling sports almanac, now in its 23rd year, is as fact-filled and fun as ever. Packed with stats, standings and historical data from Sports Illustrated''s award-winning staff, this is the essential reference book for every fan. From pro and college football to Major League Baseball and the NBA to NASCAR, Sports Illustrated Almanac 2014 features all-time records and year-by-year statistics, including: The 2013 baseball playoffs and World Series An 88-page pro football section with year-by-year NFL standings and game recaps for Super Bowls I to XLVII Complete results from every major tournament in golf and tennis Year-by-year and 2013 statistics from NASCAR, IRL and Formula One Annual results from many professional and amateur sports, including Little League baseball, lacrosse and volleyball It''s the ultimate argument-ender.

Starting with his jump from the Oshawa Generals to the NHL''s Boston Bruins, Sports Illustrated began in-depth coverage of the career of Bobby Orr, a player who remains, over thirty years after his retirement, one of the greatest hockey players of all time. Orr completely changed the way hockey was played, taking it from a game of grinding defence to a rushing, high-scoring affair. Along the way, Orr set scoring records, won individual awards, and led his Bruins to two Stanley Cups before a bad knee began costing him games. He tried two major comebacks in the late seventies, showing a perseverance and dedication unmatched in the game, but ultimately was forced into an early retirement at the age of thirty. Number Four, Bobby Orr brings together the stories and photographs behind the career. The media-shy Orr rarely opened up to reporters, hiding his charitable works and his loyalty to his friends and teammates and letting his play speak for itself. This anthology brings together all SI''s reporting on Orr, from the 1960s to his new career as a player agent in the 2000s, to form a comprehensive biography of one of the greats of the game.

Celebrate the championship heritage, great players and passionate fanbase that make Titletown, U.S.A. the most coveted address in football Green Bay has a history like no other city in the National Football League. Here the passion runs deep and true through generations of fans, and the success has been unparalleled: 13 championships, 22 Hall of Fame players, a past festooned with grand names such as Lambeau and Lombardi and Nitschke. Not surprisingly, the Packers have won the admiration of fans the world over, and Sports Illustrated celebrates the franchise with this collection of new and classic stories and photographs. The great players are all here, from Johnny Blood to Clay Matthews, and so is every title game, featuring moments such as Bart Starr''s sneak in the Ice Bowl and Desmond Howard''s kickoff return in Super Bowl XXXI. SI also salutes, in words and pictures, the most dedicated fans in sport. From cover to cover, this is a tribute any cheesehead would cherish.

Sports Illustrated followed The Great One''s career right from the very beginning. Starting in 1978, when Gretzky was a young phenom playing for the Soo Greyhounds, they had their best writers cover his rise to fame and subsequent dominance of the sport. His staggering career stats tend to overshadow the struggles he faced in his career -- the early days in Edmonton, when he was establishing himself as the greatest player, but could not lead his team to a cup. The years after the trade that shook the hockey world he spent years trying to lead a new team to glory, only managing to reach the final once more, in 1993, and losing in five games. Covered as well are his forgotten goal-droughts, the thoughts that he had lost his touch in the early nineties. His struggles with injury and playing though his father''s near death. The Great One reads not like a sports book, but a biography of one of the greatest athletes of all time. Sports Illustrated''s greatest writers all contribute articles, EM Swift, Michael Farber, Jack Kalla, to tell the complete story of Wayne Gretzky''s career.

When Sports Illustrated was launched in 1954, baseball was, indisputable, the national pastime, its stars America''s epic heroes, its rivalries the era''s mythology. As baseballs fortunes rose and fell over the next 50 years - and then rose again to new heights, drawing more than 65 million fans to ballparks in 2004 - the game never failed to produce great drama and inspired storytelling. This collection is a virtual Hall of Fame from the pages of SI, bringing together the stories of baseball''s greatest heroes (Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax) and villains (Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Denny McLain) and characters (Casey Stengel, Max Patkin, Yogi Berra); its legendary quests (the home run chases of Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds; the thrilling pennant races, from the Dodgers - Giants in 1951 to the Yankees-Red Sox in 1978); its world-class writers (Frank Deford, Mark Kram, George Plimpton, Peter Gammons, and Tom Verducci) and its own players writing from the inside about their game (Ted Williams, Jim Brosnan, and Jim Bouton). In the wake of SI''s acclaimed Fifty Years of Great Writing comes this baseball anthology worthy of Cooperstown.

For more than 50 years, Sports Illustrated has been the gold standard of sports writing, and during that time, football—once a popular college pastime but only a rag-tag professional game—has moved to center stage, taking its unquestioned place as America’s most popular sport. This book brings together dozens of football classics from the pages of SI, featuring the work of such esteemed writers as John O’Hara and Jack Kerouac, Dan Jenkins and George Plimpton, Don DeLillo and John Undrwood and John Ed Bradley. And, of course, the collection includes many of the longtime favorites of SI readers: Frank Deford and Rick Reilly, Steve Rushin and Gary Smith, Peter King and Rick Telander and the inimitable Dr. Z, Paul Zimmerman. Covering more than half a century of the game at every level from high school to the Super Bowl, this volume will be indispensable reading for serious football fans.

In the half-century since its birth, as Sports Illustrated grew from a struggling start-up to America''s preeminent sports magazine, one thing has remained constant: the commitment to great storytelling. That part of the magazine''s mission has always been easy to define: Identify the most compelling sports stories of our time and get the best writers in the business to tell them. This book brings together a lineup of writing talent worthy of the Hall of Fame and the classic stories they produced for Sports Illustrated over the past 50 years. Many of the writers whose work is collected here are longtime favorites of SI readers (Frank Deford, Rick Reilly, Steve Rushin, Gary Smith). Others are former SI staffers or contributors who left the fold, but not before making an indelible mark on SI''s history (Dan Jenkins, Rick Telander, Mark Kram, Roy Blount Jr., William Nack). There are celebrated journalists (A.J. Liebling, Jimmy Breslin, George Plimpton), screenwriters (Budd Schulberg and Kenny Moore), renowned novelists (Thomas McGuane, Pete Dexter, Wallace Stegner, Don DeLillo) and even a couple of Nobel Prize winners in literature (William Faulkner and John Steinbeck). The stories themselves are a mirror of our times. Included in this volume are accounts of some of the most memorable athletic feats of our era (Secretariat''s Belmont victory, the Thrilla in Manila, and Bobby Thomson''s shot heard round the world). Profiles of the towering athletic figures of our time (Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, Ted Williams and Johnny Unitas). Good guys (Yogi Berra and Harry Caray) and bad guys (Sonny Liston and Mike Tyson). The fast (Roger Bannister) and the furious (Dick Butkus). The ridiculous (Howard Cosell) and the sublime (Josh Gibson). And the stories that simply touch our hearts and inspire us (Frank Deford''s masterpiece on light heavyweight champ Billy Conn). This is the very best of the world''s best sports magazine ¾ and it just doesn''t get any better than that.

America''s Team? These days it''s the Pittsburgh Steelers. Want to argue? The six-time Super Bowl champions are the favorites of network television programmers, have the broadest and most impassioned fan base-the Steelers outsell all other NFL teams in merchandise, and at some stadiums Steel City fans outnumber the home team''s faithful-and embody a winning spirit that have made them the model franchise in the most popular sport in the U.S. Founded in 1933 by the beloved Rooney family in the gritty heartland of industrial America, the team suffered through nearly four decades of futility until the arrival of brilliant, laconic coach Chuck Noll in 1969, followed by a host of players who would etch their names in the history of the game. Behind future Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert and Mel Blount, the Steelers teams of the ''70s won four Super Bowls in six years and captured the imagination of a nation with their style-dashing on offense, devastating on defense. The love affair has endured ever since, through the hard-nosed era of Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis to today''s team, with crossover stars such as Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu. This book from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED tells the extraordinary story of the Steelers through the eyes of SI''s renowned writers and the world''s most accomplished sports photographers. As the Steelers embark on their 80th anniversary, there''s no better way to celebrate football''s best.

As Fenway Park gets set to mark its centennial anniversary in 2012, Sports Illustrated celebrates America''s oldest and perhaps most-storied ballpark on the occasion of its 100th birthday. In beautiful photography and stirring prose from SI''s finest writers, the book tells the story of Fenway from its birth on a winter''s day in Kenmore Square to its current handsome incarnation. Readers will travel from the early days of Babe Ruth, through the years of Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemskiand right up to the 2000s, when the hometown Red Sox won not one but two championships with stunning Fenway Park shining as it rarely has. The book explores the incomparable features that define Fenway: See Manny Ramirez peer out of the green door by the manual scoreboard and Dwight Evans reach to pluck a would-be home run out of Williamsburg. See a ball glance off Pesky''s Pole and members of Red Sox Nation seated atop the great Green Monster as dusk falls behind the Citgo Sign. In these dazzling oversized pages ballplayers like Williams and Johnny Pesky and Jim Rice will come alive, but the book''s exquisite images and fresh words go beyond the Red Sox to honor the park itself. Here, games of pro soccer and football have been played since the1930s. This was the sporting home of another Babe, quarterback Babe Parilli and his Boston Patriots in the 1960s. FDR spoke at Fenway. The Rolling Stones lit up a night. The NHL unveiled its 2010 Winter Classic before a soldout crowd. Soon Fenway Park will be officially designated a National Historic Landmark, but truly it has been that for decades-the baseball field that no fan should miss, a park that has been at the heart not only of a great American city but also of American sports and sports culture.

America''s favorite sports almanac since its introduction 21 years ago, the Sports Illustrated Almanac now has 2011 covered, from football to fencing, hockey to handball, and everything in between. The Sports Illustrated Almanac features essays by top Sports Illustrated writers; all-time stats and records; and ticketing and venue information for pro baseball, basketball, football and hockey. It''s the ultimate argument-ender.

From the leader in sports writing comes a collection of stories that examine just about every aspect of the game: the players, the league and what it means to the fans. For true hockey fans, there is no sport as great, as fast, as competitive, or as important as their beloved hockey game. The teams, the organizations, and the players are a part of their family and Saturday night is better known as hockey night. As children, we hockey fans would wake at 6am, jump into the back of a cold station wagon and head off with Dad or Mom at the wheel to our hockey games. Sleep deprived, cold and tired - it didn''t matter how low we felt because as soon as those skates were laced, it was game-on! We traded the cards, we followed the players, and we watched as our team fought through the regular season to earn their rightful place in the post season. There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your team go all the way, seeing them hoist that cherished Cup that Lord Stanley so kindly gifted to the Dominion of Canada, seeing the tears in the eyes of these grown men, these ice warriors. We love this game of ours, and we can''t get enough, so thank you Sports Illustrated for bringing us more. In this book, Sports Illustrated''s most prolific hockey writers give us the honest goods on hockey. They tell us about the players, the infractions, the best series, the most contentious of battles and the most glorious of victories. This is hockey in its truest form. This is hockey writing for hockey lovers and with an array of Sports Illustrated photos throw in for added benefit. This is just about the best damn book available on hockey, anywhere, period.

Enjoy countless hours of fun as you learn all about the NFL and its and biggest stars while flexing your thinking muscles in Sports Illustrated Kids'' Football Playbook. This is the ultimate activity book for football fans of all ages. You''ll be challenged to conquer NFL trivia; solve football-themed puzzles, word searches and mazes; design your own logo, helmet and uniform - and much more! This 80-page book combines amazing Sports Illustrated photography with classic Sports Illustrated Kids games.

It''s the ultimate supermodel yearbook. Join the four photographers whose work was featured in the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue on a behind-the-scenes account of their travels, revisiting their experiences through never-before-seen images and exclusive commentary. In this large-format, 176-page collection, Swimsuit Portfolio: Fantasy Islands showcases 17 of the world''s most exquisite bodies at four exotic beach locations-Turtle Island in Fiji, Sentosa Island in Singapore, Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands and Boracay Island in the Philippines. Grab your passport and take the tour with Brooklyn Decker, Irina Shayk, Hilary Rhoda, Esti Ginzburg and Christine Teigen (among others) as your guides. With dozens of previously unpublished swimsuit shots, it''s an expanded look at the making of the magazine''s best-selling issue.

The history of college basketball is a tale of giants (Mikan, Russell, Alcindor), mammoth personalities (Wooden, Knight, Krzyzewski) and larger-than-life moments (N.C. State''s upset in 1983, Laettner''s shot in 1992 and, just last year, Butler''s near-miss at a championship miracle). With over a half-century of experience covering the game, Sports Illustrated is uniquely positioned to tell that story, and in 256 super-sized pages, continuing in the tradition of its annual sport-specific coffee-table series, it has found just the right format to capture the enormously entertaining wonder of it all. Hall of Fame writers, including Frank Deford, Curry Kirkpatrick, Alexander Wolff and Gary Smith, have covered all the great back-door plays, morality plays and passion plays of perhaps our most emotional sport. They were there for North Carolina''s triple overtime takedown of Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957, for Texas Western''s historic upset of Kentucky in 1966 and for Villanova''s brilliant upending of Georgetown in 1985. Having chronicled all the madness from the fall (Midnight) through the spring (March) year after year, SI''s award-winning photographers have captured the indelible images of buzzer-beating shots, of court-storming celebrations and of some of the world''s largest men bawling over heartbreaking defeats. Those memorable stories and pictures are presented here as never before in this magnificent, must-have book for any college hoops fan.

Visit the ultimate dreamland as 18 swimsuit models and five world-class photographers create an exclusive portfolio of more than 230 on-location shots and behind-the-scenes images. It''s paradise found.

For more than half a century Sports Illustrated has put its best face forward every week with one iconic image-the cover. The work of some of the world''s greatest photographers and illustrators, there are now nearly 3,000 examples of this magazine art, all curated here in book form for the first time. The greatest moments in sports history are celebrated, as they happened: Ali''s defeat of Liston, the Miracle on Ice, Dwight Clark''s Catch, Doug Flutie''s Hail Mary, Mark Spitz''s golds and then Michael Phelps''s. Virtually every important athlete in the world-from Roger Bannister in 1955, to Roger Maris in ''61, to Roger Staubach in ''78 and Roger Federer in 2009-has appeared there, and those are just the Rogers. It''s the one arena in which Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Jack Nicklaus have all competed together, for the distinction of having the most SI covers. These images are now unique cultural artifacts, and taken together they add up to a delightful and entertaining chronicle of the sporting scene like no other.

Fans of Alabama football will treasure this compendium of Crimson Tide lore from the editors of Sports Illustrated. Featuring the brilliant photography and insightful writing that they are known for, Sports Illustrated Alabama Football allows fans to relive ''Bama''s glorious history on the gridiron, from the earliest years of the program through its first 12 national titles and all the way up to the 2009 national championship team. This book contains classic Sports Illustrated coverage of all the Crimson Tide greats, including stories featuring Bear Bryant and Nick Saban; rare photographs of Alabama football as seen through the lenses of SI photographers; a retrospective of the Iron Bowl, one of the greatest rivalries in college football; introduction by Eli Gold, the voice of Alabama football; and full coverage of this year''s title run. Plus, as a special bonus, this collector''s edition also boasts a sure-fire argument starter: Sports Illustrated''s selection of the All-time Alabama Team. If crimson is your favorite color, Sports Illustrated Alabama Football is for you.

America''s favorite sports almanac, now in its 19th year, is as fact-filled and fun as ever. Packed with stats, standings, and historical data from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED''s award-winning staff, this is the essential reference book for every fan. Includes the 2009 baseball playoffs and World Series. 88-page pro football section incudes year-by-year NFL standings back to 1920 as well as game recaps for Super Bowls I to XLIII. Year-in-review calendar revisits the highlights and low points of 2009. Annual results from many professional and amateur sports, including Little League baseball, lacrosse, volleyball, and many more. Year-by-year and 2009 results from NASCAR, IRL, and Formula One. AND MUCH MORE

With more than 250 photographs and behind-the-scenes images, Swimsuit Portfolio: The Explorers Edition offers an exclusive tour with models and photographers seeking adventure in the world''s most luscious locales.

The NFL has never been hotter--witness the $21.4 billion it will rake in on the TV-rights deals now in place (not to mention its own network), the proliferation of football news and information and the game''s booming popularity among sports fans, including the 23 millioin who read SPORTS ILLUSTRATED every week. These 320 pages capture, in breathtaking words and pictures, the essence of America''s game: the players and performances, the crucial moments and classic matchups, the enduring dynastics and unique characters that have made pro football the new national pastime.

As the University of Texas Longhorns begin their 117th football season, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED pays tribute to this Lone Star treasure with a book that draws on 55 years of award-winning magazine coverage. SI tells the Longhorns'' story with excerpts from classic articles and with vintage photographs, as well as rare images from the team''s earliest years. Inside you''ll find our selections of 20 great moments in Longhorns history (including the opening of Memorial Stadium) and10 of the program''s most historic victories, as well as profiles of five giants of University of Texas football. In addition, you''ll get an all-access pass that takes you behind the scenes of coach Mack Brown''s current program. Legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins introduces the book, which includes contributions from SI''s Walter Bingham, Tim Layden, Austin Murphy, Bruce Newman, Pat Putnam, Roy Terrell, John Underwood and Jenkins himself. James Street, the former quarterback, provides the valedictory. This hardbound edition also includes a bonus 16-page section with some of the most vivid Longhorns images that have appeared in SI. This is Texas football.

If every picture tells a story, every slide tells an even deeper one. Tucked away in Sports Illustrated''s photo archive sits 50 years worth of film, a frame-by-frame depiction of the history of sports over the last half a century. The stickers and scribbles along a single slide''s border are like tags on a streamer trunk, telling the story of that photo''s journey from the playing field to the magazine. This book selects the most colorful of these slides and presents the mounts as objects of art in an oversized 176-page collection, complete with behind-the-scenes vignettes of how the shots came to be. Some slides capture classic SI cover images (Dwight Clark''s catch in the 1982 NFC Championship Game or Brandi Chastain ripping her shirt off at the 1999 World Cup) while others are simply great photos (Pete Rose running at full speed or Joe Namath lounging poolside before Super Bowl III). The images themselves are iconic, but by seeing them as slides you get that extra step back. You can see the history that has been made from these flashes of an instant.

Providing a complete review of the year in sports, this authoritative reference provides statistical reports, photographs, histories, previews, and special features on the world''s major sports.