Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 10/12/2007

10/12/1920:
The great Man o' War finishes his career with a seven-length victory over 1919 Triple Crown winner Sir Barton in a match race at the Kenilworth Racetrack in Windsor, Ontario. Leading all the way, Big Red is never really tested over the mile-and-a-quarter distance on turf as he sets a new course record of 2:03 flat. He'll retire with 20 wins and one loss.

Birthdays:
Joe Cronin b. 1906
Jaroslav Drobny b. 1921
Tony Kubek b. 1936
Jack Marin b. 1944
Charlie Ward b. 1971

“The best memoir of its kind since Mary Karr wrote The Liar’s Club.”—The New York Times

“Moehringer lovingly and affectingly toasts a boyhood spent on a bar stool.”—Vanity Fair

“The Tender Bar will make you thirsty for that life—its camaraderie, its hilarity, its seductive, dangerous wisdom.”—Richard Russo

A memoir of the highest quality by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Moehringer explains his life and his boyhood through the lens of a pint glass from his local watering hole. Brilliant and inspired.

THE TENDER BAR, by J. R. Moehringer (Hyperion, 2005)