Vintage Football Reading Material

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

What have you guys read on this topic that you would recommend? I find that the reading and research really fuels my collecting interest. I have read a great deal of baseball history books, but now I want to fill in my knowledge gaps in football.

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[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Thanks to BigDaddy for inspiring this thread btw.

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[Hot Springs Bathers]

Robert as George Plimpton once said, "The smaller the big ball the better the book."

Football and pro football in particular suffered from that analysis for many years but I am happy to say that this has changed. There have been several great books released in the past few years.

Chris Willis of NFL Films has written a series of god one on the early days of the game including OLD LEATHER which is a nice overview. He has also done books on Joe Carr and Dutch Clark.

A fun read for the AFL fans is REMEMBERING THE AFL by Dave Steidel, not a typical history but very good.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Per BigDaddy's recommendation, I just purchased 75 Seasons for a whopping penny plus a little shipping.

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A steal for a penny

There has been an increase in coverage and analysis of pro football in the 1920's. However, I've been disappointed with the lack of semi-pro, company, and town team football coverage in the same era. It's primarily collegiate to the early formation of pro football after WW1 that is written about. I understand the Packers were/are a town team, but thinking much smaller scale. Or, perhaps I am not reading or looking for the right books.

[revmoran]

One book I enjoyed which captured the spirit of the era was Vagabond Halfback - Johnny Blood McNally. Also The National Forgotten League by Dan Daly is a great read.

[S_GERACE]

Robert,
With your interest in Bowman cards I would recommend the following two books. If you liked The Baseball book The Glory of their Times by Lawrence Ritter, you'll like these as they're written in the same format.

The Game that Was by Myron Cope (Longtime Steelers announcer)

What a Game They Played by Richard Whittingham

Finally, The Pro Football Historical Abstract by Sean Lahman is a good book as well. It ranks players by position and gives a short paragraph about each one, although I must say that I disagreed w/ many of the rankings (Dick Butkus was the 50th ranked LB). Still I found it to be pretty informative.

Take care,
Scott

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Thanks to everyone for the book recommendations! You all have compiled quite a list thus far. I believe that building a knowledge base really helps to fuel collecting love. With football, I have a pretty good grasp on matters back through the 1970s. I also am somewhat familiar with the AFL of the 1960s, but it starts getting fuzzy at that point and on back. So this reading list you guys are populating will be really helpful.

[jefferyepayne]

Gotta read "Breaker Boys" about the Pottsville Maroons! At one point they were trying to make this into a movie ... I wonder what happened with that?

My favorite reference book for pre-NFL pro football is "The Early History of Professional Football" by PFRA.

jeff

[BigDaddyBowman]

Another book I thoroughly enjoyed...

The Best Show in Football: The 1946-1955 Cleveland Browns-Pro Football's Greatest Dynasty by Andy Piascik

[BigDaddyBowman]

Another good one...

Last Team Standing: How the Steelers and the Eagles—"The Steagles"—Saved Pro Football During World War II by Matthew Algeo

[BigDaddyBowman]

Currently reading this one..

When Football Went to War by Todd Anton (Author)

My son wrote a history report on it too.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Thanks, BigDaddy!

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[TanksAndSpartans]

If I can only recommend one, I always go with: Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football by Robert W. Peterson because I think its a great jumping off point - I've used the bibliography to dig deeper into areas that interested me.

There was also a good discussion about books here: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=219942

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Wow, that link is pure gold! Thanks for letting me know about it.

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