Just finished reading Cyclone Taylor - A Hockey Legend by Eric Whitehead. This book is a fascinating look back in time to the origins of the professional game in Canada and the US. For those that collect prewar cards, the book contains plenty of references to players from the C55-57 sets, even players from the 20's and 30's. Highly recommended as a biography and a must for any prewar hockey collector.
For a deeper look into the origins of the game I would also recommend George and Darril Fosty's Splendid Is The Sun - The 5,000 Year History of Hockey.
Anyone else have recommendations of other good hockey books that look at the game's early beginnings?
I also read the Cyclone Taylor bio, and I agree that it was very informative. I have always been a Cyclone Taylor fan and this book gave me even more reason to respect what he accomplished.
Eric Whitehead also wrote a book called "The Patricks" which gives a detailed history of Frank and Lester Patrick. It tells of their family history, playing career, establishing the Pacific Coast Hockey League, and Lester's coaching career in the new NHL. It also includes info on Cyclone Taylor, Art Ross and the Patrick children. It's another great book for hockey historians!
I read a good biography of Tim Horton a while back, but I don't remember the name. Once I find it I'll post the name.
I glad I found this group through the PSA site. It is great to see some familiar names I have dealt with on ebay.
The Cyclone Taylor book is a great one. I would also recommend "Putting A Roof On Winter" by Michael McKinley. Althouf this book does go up to modern times, over the first half of the book deals with pre WWII. There are also a lot of great vintage photos.
Stan Fischler's book "Those Were The Days" is another good read about many early hockey players as well.
If I might be so bold as to expand on the original post, I recently finished a great hockey book, great book in general, called The Best Game You Can Name by Dave Bidini. Classic stuff. He interviewed a ton of hockey people, a few stars but mostly journeymen or less-than-star players and has come up with some really great and funny stuff. He doesn't go back as far as Taylor but seems to capture the spirit of the game quite nicely.
A fun book to add to your collection is "Howie Morenz - Hockey's First Superstar" by Dean Robinson. You will like the great pictures too.
For those of you like fiction with a significant touch of reality (ala Renfrew Millionaires); a good choice would be "Hockey Night in the Dominion of Canada" by Eric Zweic.
My favorite yard sale book find is "The Game" by Ken Dryden. The icing on the cake was opening the front jacket and seeing Ken's autograph. How much for this book ma'am.....
Hi, after reading the post I googled this book. Copies that were available to purchase were all in the $200-300 range with one on ebay for $150. Why is this book so much money? You can buy the Patricks book and the Taylor book for under $10.
Wow! I bought the Cyclone Taylor book on Half.com for around $12 less than a year ago. The cover had a little bit of wear, but nothing wrong with the book at all!
I can't believe that they have gone up in price that much over the past year! Maybe they are listed for that price, but I can't believe that people are paying that much for it.
I just checked on Half.com and you can actually buy a copy for as little at .75 plus shipping! That really is a good deal!
I don't know why that would be so high. It probably is out of print but there should still be enough reasonable priced copies floating around. I have seen this book a few times on dealers racks and know that they weren't asking that much. I paid $15 for my copy less than 3 years ago.
Be patient and I am sure one will turn up. I always have fun checking the different book sellers at Expo for instance...
