Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 04/25/2008

4/25/1977:
Scoring 6 runs in the first inning and 12 more in the fifth, the Big Red Machine puts a 23-9 hurt on the Braves at the Launching Pad in Atlanta. George Foster goes four for four with two homers, five runs scored and seven RBIs for Cincinnati., just a small portion of what turns into an MVP-winning campaign. He'll go on to lead the majors in homers (52), RBIs (149), total based (388) and slugging percentage (.631) while hitting a career-high .320.

Birthdays:
Johan Cruyff b. 1947
Vladislav Tretiak b. 1952
Darren Woodson b. 1969
Jacque Jones b. 1975
Tim Duncan b. 1976

1955:
Horse racing jockey Bill Hartack rode six winners in seven mounts at Laurel Race Course in Maryland.

"Courage is a vital requisite of a top rider, and Hartack has the heart of a lion. He will come through narrow openings on the rail time and again to save valuable ground, risking serious injury, intent on only one thing-winning the race." -Joe Hirsch, September 17, 1956

Packers Fact:
When rookie Matt Leinart started for the Arizona Cardinals in week 5 of 2006, he became the 196th other quarterback in the NFL to start in the same time frame that Brett Favre was the Packers' sole starting quarterback (beginning in 1992).

GET RICH PRETTY SOON

Greenblatt, a Columbia Business School professor and founder of a hedge fund firm, wanted to write a book about investing that even his kids could understand. The result is an accessible explanation of investing that includes a “magic formula” to help the reader recognize a valuable investment. The foreword is by Tobias, author of the classic The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need (Harvest Books, 2002), which offers a brilliantly clear and winningly readable account of what normal people need to know about a seemingly impenetrable subject. The two books together should keep the ordinary investor sane and stable in these unpredictable times.

THE LITTLE BOOK THAT BEATS THE MARKET, by Joel Greenblatt; foreword by Andrew Tobias (Wiley, 2005)