Men in Sports: Great Sports Stories of All Time from the Greek Olympic Games to the American Wo Rld Series

Aymar ( Cruising Is Fun ) has assembled an anthology about equally divided between fiction and nonfiction, covering 34 sports (although not basketball) in 48 selections. He begins with the funeral games for Patroklos described by Homer in the Iliad and ends with ``Beyond the Divide,'' about wilderness walking, by Colin Fletcher, of 1988. There is fine reportage by Richard Harding Davis, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton and Maury Allen; there are autobiographical excerpts from racing driver Stirling Moss, hockey goalie Ken Dryen, swimmer Diane Nyad and soccer star Pele; there are short stories by Ring Lardner, Jack London and Rudyard Kipling; there are excerpts from novels by Sir Walter Scott, Lew Wallace, James Dickey and Alan Sillitoe. Sports fans will find much material to enjoy here and will lament the absence of a personal favorite. (May)