So many sports books, so little time

The Children’s Hospital Book Market will be held at the St. Vital Shopping Centre from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26. It’s hard to believe, but this year will be year 66 for the volunteer-run event that raises funds for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba through the sale of used books.

The book market always has a special section devoted to sports books, and this columnist will be staffing it from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. on April 24. Stop by to say hello and, more importantly, purchase books. As a reader, collector and historian, I have been adding to my much-to-large personal collection for several decades.

On the opening morning, several collectors will be waiting for the volunteers to uncover the sports books and allow the battles to begin for the treasures. One regular comes for Montreal Canadiens books he doesn’t have. Another goes to the golf section in the hope of finding instructional books that will help his game. Parents ask for recommendations of books that might generate more interest in reading for their athletic children.

The largest section is hockey, and I guarantee it will include at least one copy of Manitoba Hockey: A History, by Vince Leah that was published as a provincial centennial project in 1970 by the Manitoba Hockey Players Foundation. One year I found a copy signed by NHLers Bill Mosienko and Bill Juzda, as well as by the author. A signed copy of Cowboy on Ice, a biography of the colourful former pro Howie Young, often shows up, as it was published in Winnipeg.

Sticking with hockey, the gems I have found include Along the Hockey Highway by Lloyd Penwarden, about hockey in the Interlake; a history of the Hanover Tache League by Wes Keating; a dialogue between Dr. Gerry Wilson, a former NHL player, and local author Jack Countryman, and No Guarantees, by Deloraine native Don Dietrich, who made it to the NHL before dealing with health issues. Finding a book titled Olympic Hockey, by Maurice Smith, the former Free Press sports editor, was a surprise one year.

Manitoba Links: A Kaleidoscopic History of Golf, by J. Alan Hackett, and 100 Hundred Years at St. Charles Golf and Country Club: A Centennial History, by Barbara Huck and Doug Whiteway, usually can be found in the golf section. My golf reference collection also includes a 1914-2014 history of Elmhurst called The Home of Champions, by Donna Brownridge; a 50th anniversary yearbook of Glendale Golf & Country Club; and The Course of the Century, a celebration of Pine Ridge’s 100th anniversary, all of which I found at the book market. In addition to a few MCA yearbooks that I didn’t have in my curling library, I now have Fort Rouge Curling Club 1919-2019 and 1947 – 1997 Fiftieth Anniversary of the Pembina Curling Club.

Baseball books you might find include Jackrabbits in the Outfield, by former Winnipeg Goldeyes general manager John Hindle; Baseball in Manitoba, by Hal Duncan; and The ManDak League, by Barry Swanton. The Forgotten Tribe, about the 1948 Cleveland Indians, by local baseball and slo-pitch player Don Craw, is another to watch for. Kings of the Diamond, by Robert T. Diamond, is the fictionalized version of men’s softball in the North End in the late 1940s and early ’50s.

There is a very good chance you can find books about the Blue Bombers by Vince Leah, Jack Matheson, Nils Ling, Bob Irving and Roy Rosmus. Former quarterback Dieter Brock is remembered by Robert Allan Young. CFL referee Neil Payne tells his story in Crimes and Punishment: Life as a CFL Official.

The Jewish Athlete: A Nostalgic View, by Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame member Leible Hershfield, often turns up at the book market and I recommend it highly. The late Rupert Whitehead, a figure skater, instructor and promoter, tells his story in Unstoppable Energy, Unshakable Faith. Look for Ski Tracks: 100 Years of Skiing in Manitoba, Pan Am Proud: A Tribute to Champions, about the 1999 Games, and Thrashing Seasons, about Prairie wrestling in the general section. One of my favourite finds was The Best of Jimmy Robinson, a prominent outdoor writer, who had a lodge on Lake Manitoba.

Guy Simonis writes about water polo in our province, the Manitoba Sports Federation, and lotteries in his autobiography Kids! It’s a long story… and at times, interesting. Two local rugby football clubs, the Assassins and the Winnipeg Wasps, have produced histories. Watch for columns on Simonis and the rugby clubs. I also found a copy of A City at Leisure: An Illustrated History of Parks and Recreation Services in Winnipeg 1893-1993, by Catherine Macdonald, that should be worth a column.

A few years ago, the book market received a donation of the three-volume The Trail of the Stanley Cup, which published by the NHL and distributed to notable hockey people, including members of the Hall of Fame. The deluxe, limited-edition set probably tops the wanted list of most collectors. Rather than put it in the regular sale, book market boss Carol Irving agreed to let me see if there was interest from the members of the hockey books group on Facebook and how they valued it. The set sold to a journalist and collector in B.C. for a tidy sum.

I hope to complete my want list of hockey books written by Toronto’s Ed Fitkin, who authored eight paperback originals between 1950 and 1952. Footloose in Hockey was a find at last spring’s sale, so I now have five, including one titled Broda of the Leafs, about Brandon native Turk Broda. I will have to be at the hockey table when the sale opens if I hope to grab a copy of On the Hockey Beat, Detroit’s Big 3, or Max Bentley, Hockey’s Dipsy-Doodle Dandy.