The World's Tallest Midget: The Best of Frank Deford

If, as accepted wisdom has it, the sports department is the toy shop of journalism and sportwriters are the midgets of the literary world, Deford wants to be known as the world's tallest midget. And in this collection of his pieces from Sports Illustrated written during the past 15 years, he stakes a good claim to the title. The best essays, however, are about sports figures rather than about play: he writes about Jimmy Connors as the product of an upbringing exclusively by females and introduces readers to Bull Cyclone Sullivan, a football coach who made Vince Lombardi look like a wimp. Other entries concern boxer Billy Conn, who realized that love transcends sport, and a tragic boxing match in New Mexico, a heart-wrenching story. Less impressive are selections about Al McGuire and Tom Watson. (May 14)