Gary Cartwright on sports writing and sportswriters:

“Let me make one thing plain: most sportswriters have no business in journalism. They are misfits looking for a soft life. The worst sportswriters are frustrated athletes, or compulsive sports fans, or both. The best are frustrated writers trapped by circumstances. . . . The New York Times’ John Kieran was a sportswriter, but he was much more. When students at Yale protested that a sportswriter had been invited to address them, Kieran addressed them in Latin.”

One helluva team of writers has produced a book you’ll be dipping into for years.” — Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four

"In all these situations, and hundreds of others, a man either comes through or he doesn't. He is alone out there, naked but for his ability, which counts for everything. Something there is elemental about this, and something greatly satisfying." - Joseph Epstein in "Obsessed with Sport."