Sports Audiobooks | Biography & Memoir

Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14

"Hangdog Days vividly chronicles the era when rock climbing exploded in popularity, attracting a new generation of talented climbers eager to reach new heights via harder routes and faster ascents. This contentious, often entertaining period gave rise to sport climbing, climbing gyms, and competitive climbing—indelibly transforming the sport. Jeff Smoot was one of those brash young climbers, and here he traces the development of traditional climbing 'rules,' enforced first through peer pressure, then later through intimidation and sabotage. In the late '70s, several climbers began introducing new tactics including 'hangdogging,' hanging on gear to practice moves, that the old guard considered cheating. As more climbers broke ranks with traditional style, the new gymnastic approach pushed the limits of climbing from 5.12 to 5.13. When French climber Jean-Baptiste Tribout ascended To Bolt or Not to Be, 5.14a, at Smith Rock in 1986, he cracked a barrier many people had considered impenetrable. In his lively, fast-paced history enriched with insightful firsthand experience, Smoot focuses on the climbing achievements of three of the era's superstars: John Bachar, Todd Skinner, and Alan Watts, while not neglecting the likes of Ray Jardine, Lynn Hill, Mark Hudon, Tony Yaniro, and Peter Croft."

Jeff Smoot (Author), Danny Campbell (Narrator)

Audiobook

They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever

"They Bled Blue is the rollicking yarn of the Los Angeles Dodgers' crazy 1981 season, a watershed campaign that cemented the team's place and reputation as fitting thoroughly within the surrounding LA culture. That it culminated in an unlikely World Series win—during a split season demarcated by a strike, no less—is not even the most interesting thing about this team. The Dodgers were led by the garrulous Tommy Lasorda, whose office hosted a regular stream of Hollywood royalty. They had Steve Garvey, the first baseman with the movie-star good looks. Garvey was teamed with Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and Bill Russell in the most durable infield in major league history, with 1981 presenting their final chance to win a championship as a unit. The difference maker was entirely unexpected twenty year old and nearly straight out of Mexico, with a wild delivery and a screwball as his flippin' out pitch. Fernando Valenzuela didn't speak much English, but his baseball ability broke down cultural barriers and helped fill Dodger Stadium to the brim with a Southern California Latino population that had been thirsting for just such a success story."

Jason Turbow (Author), Jason Turbow (Narrator)

Audiobook

Muhammad Ali - Spiritual Warrior

"When we lost Muhammad Ali, we lost not only a great athlete, but also a beacon of hope for the dispossessed, forgotten, and isolated. As great as he was as a fighter, Ali was arguably even a greater humanitarian. In this one-of-a-kind audio biography, the champ tells his own story with an expansive script by best-selling author Geoffrey Giuliano and an inspirational narration by actress Jan Ferrington. A must-listen for all true fans and lovers of sport and truth. With unpublished interviews."

Geoffrey Giuliano (Author), Jan Ferrington (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun

"This devastating book illuminates America’s gun culture—its manufacturers, dealers, buffs, and propagandists—but also offers concrete solutions to our national epidemic of death by firearm. “One of the most readable anti-gun treatises in years.”—Washington Post Book World It begins with an account of a crime that is by now almost commonplace: on December 16, 1988, sixteen-year-old Nicholas Elliot walked into his Virginia high school with a Cobray M-11/9 and several hundred rounds of ammunition tucked in his backpack. By day’s end, he had killed one teacher and severely wounded another. In Lethal Passage Erik Larson shows us how a disturbed teenager was able to buy a weapon advertised as “the gun that made the eighties roar.” The result is a book that can—and should—save lives, and that has already become an essential text in the gun-control debate."

Chief Joseph (Author), Richard Poe (Narrator)

Audiobook

Roger Federer: Portrait of an Artist

"Chris Jackson's new thoughtful and brilliantly written study of Federer as a man, player, and aesthetic and moral figure of our times, outplays even Foster Wallace's magisterial writing on this greatest of all tennis champions. Updated for its audio release, here is the most profound, insightful and elegant book ever written about the greatest sportsman of our time."

Christopher Jackson (Author), Simon Johns (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Bond: Two epic climbs in Alaska and a lifetime's connection between climbers

"WINNER: Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature WINNER: Mountain and Wilderness Literature Award, Banff Mountain Book Competition 'Man, the only – only – good thing about that climb was that you were tied on to the other end of the rope.' Simon McCartney was a cocky young British alpinist climbing many of the hardest routes in the Alps during the late seventies, but it was a chance meeting in Chamonix in 1977 with Californian ‘Stonemaster’ Jack Roberts that would dramatically change both their lives – and almost end Simon’s. Inspired by a Bradford Washburn photograph published in Mountain magazine, their first objective was the 5,500-foot north face of Mount Huntington, one of the most dangerous walls in the Alaska Range. The result was a route so hard and serious that for decades nobody believed they had climbed it – it is still unrepeated to this day. Then, raising the bar even higher, they made the first ascent of the south-west face of Denali, a climb that would prove almost fatal for Simon, and one which would break the bond between him and climbing, separating the two young climbers for over three decades. But the bond between Simon and Jack couldn’t remain dormant forever. A lifetime later, a chance reconnection with Jack gave Simon the chance to bury the ghosts of what happened high on Denali, when he had faced almost certain death. The Bond is Simon McCartney’s award-winning story of these legendary climbs."

Simon McCartney (Author), Robert James Bayley (Narrator)

Audiobook

No Easy Way: The challenging life of the climbing taxman

"‘If we were guaranteed success in everything we tried then life would be pretty boring.’ Mainstream news reports about climbing are dominated by action from the world’s highest mountains, more often than not focusing on tragedy and controversy. Far removed from this high-altitude circus, a group of visionary and specialist mountaineers are seeking out eye-catching objectives in the most remote corners of the greater ranges and attempting first ascents in lightweight style. Mick Fowler is the master of the small and remote Himalayan expedition. He has been at the forefront of this pioneering approach to alpinism for over thirty years, balancing his family life, a full-time job at the tax office and his annual trips to the greater ranges in order to attempt mountains that may never have been seen before by Westerners, let alone climbed by them. In No Easy Way, his third volume of climbing memoirs following Vertical Pleasure and On Thin Ice, Fowler recounts a series of expeditions to stunning mountains in China, India, Nepal and Tibet. Alongside partners including Paul Ramsden, Dave Turnbull, Andy Cave and Victor Saunders, he attempts striking, technically challenging unclimbed lines on Shiva, Gave Ding and Mugu Chuli – with a number of ascents winning prestigious Piolets d’Or, the Oscars of the mountaineering world. Written with his customary dry wit and understatement, he manages challenges away – the art of securing a permit for Tibet – and at home – his duties as Alpine Club president – all the while pursuing his passion for exploratory mountaineering."

Mick Fowler (Author), Christopher Knight (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nine Lessons I Learned from My Father

"A GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER As a child, Murray Howe wanted to be like his father. He was an adult before he realized that didn't necessarily mean playing hockey. Gordie Howe may have been the greatest player in the history of hockey, but greatness was never defined by goals or assists in the Howe household. Greatness meant being the best person you could be, not the best player on the ice. Unlike his two brother, Murray Howe failed in his attempt to follow in his father's footsteps to become a professional athlete. Yet his failure brought him to the realization that his dream wasn't really to be a pro hockey player. His dream was to be his father. To be amazing at something, but humble and gracious. To be courageous, and stand up for the little guy. To be a hero. You don't need to be a hockey player to do that. What he learned was that it was a waste of time wishing you were like someone else. When Gordie Howe passed away in 2016, it was Murray who was asked to deliver the eulogy. Nine Lessons I Learned from My Father takes the reader through the hours Murray spent writing the words that would give shape to his father's leagcy--the hours immediately after his hero's death, as he gathers his thoughts and memories, and makes sense of what his remarkable father meant to him. The result is nine pieces of wisdom, built out of hundreds of stories, that show us the man behind the legend and give us a glimpse of what we can learn from this incredible life."

Murray Howe (Author), Murray Howe (Narrator)

Audiobook

The World According to Harry

"Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The World According to Harry by Harry Redknapp, read by David John. 'While the beautiful game has taught me a lot, becoming King of the Jungle got me thinking … I’ve had quite a life outside of football too. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HARRY is my take on the important things – from what makes true team spirit and not forgetting your East End roots, to the joys of jam roly-poly and knowing how lucky I am to have met a girl like Sandra. I can’t claim to be clued up on showbiz, but I’m certainly not short of a story or two. I went from causing mayhem at school to the heights of the premiership to lying in a coffin with a load of rats on national television. Life has its high points and there are always rough patches, but I’m still loving every minute. These are my lessons, laughs and legendary tales from my time in football but also as an ordinary bloke who can’t even work a pressure washer properly.'"

Harry Redknapp (Author), David John (Narrator)

Audiobook

All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters

"The NFL icon who first brought show business to sports shares his life lessons on fame, fatherhood, and football. Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, Joe Namath promised the nation that he would lead the New York Jets to an 18-point underdog victory against the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts. When the final whistle blew, that promise had been kept. Namath was instantly heralded as a gridiron god, while his rugged good looks, progressive views on race, and boyish charm quickly transformed him - in an era of raucous rebellion, shifting social norms, and political upheaval - into both a bona fide celebrity and a symbol of the commercialization of pro sports. By 26, with a championship title under his belt, he was quite simply the most famous athlete alive. Although his legacy has long been cemented in the history books, beneath the eccentric yet charismatic personality was a player plagued by injury and addiction, both sex and substance. When failing knees permanently derailed his career, he turned to Hollywood and endorsements, not to mention a tumultuous marriage and fleeting bouts of sobriety, to try and find purpose. Now 74, Namath is ready to open up, brilliantly using the four quarters of Super Bowl III as the narrative backbone to a life that was anything but charmed. As much about football and fame as about addiction, fatherhood, and coming to terms with our own mortality, All the Way finally reveals the man behind the icon."

Joe Namath (Author), Joe Namath (Narrator)

Audiobook

Son of Havana: A Baseball Journey from Cuba to the Big Leagues and Back

"Luis Tiant is one of the most charismatic and accomplished players in Boston Red Sox history—a cigar-chomping maestro who was the heart and soul of Boston's teams in the 1970s. In his white polyester uniform, with a paunch in his belly and a Fu Manchu mustache on his face, Tiant looked like a guy rolling out of bed for a Sunday-morning beer league. But nobody was a tougher competitor on the diamond, and few were as successful. There may be no more qualified pitcher not yet enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His big-league dreams came at a steep price—racism in the Deep South and the Boston suburbs, fifteen years separated from a family held captive in Castro's Cuba. But baseball also delivered World Series stardom and a heroic return to his island home after a half-century of forced exile. The man whose name—'El Tiante'—became a Fenway Park battle cry has never fully shared his tale in his own words, until now. In Son of Havana, Tiant puts his huge heart on his sleeve and describes his road from fields strewn with rocks and rubbish in Havana to the pristine lawns of Major League ballparks. Ballplayers, family, and media also weigh-in—including a foreword by fellow 1975 hero Carl Yastrzemski and the first in-depth interview ever with Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk on the magic behind the Boston batterymates."

Luis Tiant (Author), Leon Nixon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mind Over Batter

"'[An] honest and courageous book' Mike Brearley 'Engrossing...it looks back and thinks ahead, jumps between wit and woe' Lawrence Booth, Mail on Sunday Following the critical and commercial success of Absolutely Foxed, Graeme Fowler returns with a stunning new book that takes the reader inside the mental side of cricket. Few sports can be played as much in the mind as cricket. When bowlers are hurling the ball down at your head at 90 mph, or fielders are crowded round the bat waiting to snap up an edge, only the most resilient can thrive. In Mind Over Batter, former Test batsman, commentator and coach Fowler looks into all facets of the game to assess the mental aspect of cricket. What is mental strength? And how can you improve it, or why do some people suddenly lose it? Can the environment in a dressing room have any impact on both mental strength and mental health? When a game builds up to a dramatic climax - how do you train yourself to cope? Can pressure really lead to catastrophic decision-making and even lead players to bend the rules? Told with his familiar mix of brilliant insight, hilarious anecdotes and moving personal experience of his own mental demons, Fowler delivers a superb portrait of the game. Mind Over Batter will not only shed light on the top echelons of cricket, but it will also provide the reader with many useful ideas on how they can improve their own game and performance - in cricket or in other walks of life. Finally, having resisted for many years despite his own mental health issues, Fowler decides to take a closer look inside his own mind and for the first time undergoes therapy to see if he can work out what makes him tick. What he discovered surprised even him. "

Graeme Fowler (Author), Graeme Fowler (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sports Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir