I seem to recall that when was 11 or 12, I had a photographic memory for sports

facts and figures. Unfortunately, this gift didn t lend itself to the schoolhouse rigors of

math and Latin, but once out of class I could figure ERAs in my head and conjugate

the starting line-ups of any major league team you wanted.

These days I have to look everything up. Luckily, I have a lot of reference books.

From 1983-88, when I was working at ESPN, I had about 40 of them lined up at atten-

tion on my desk ready to jump start my failing memory at a moment s notice. En-

cyclopedias, almanacs, yearbooks, record books, guides, registers, directories. But a

surpnsin~ number of times they weren t enough. One reference book was missing. One

that would give a detailed account of the sports year ust passed and also prov de the

winners, losers and other vital statistics of years gone by.

Enter The 1990 Information Please Sports Almanac. Weighing in at slightly over

550 pages, this is the missing reference book. The year in review, from Nov.1, 1988

to Oct.31, 1989, and the century on record. Sport by sport and year by year. Plus

18 essays by many of the top sportswriters in the country on sports or topics they cover

closely.

Thumbing through these pages you ll notice information on everything from the just

completed 1989 Bay Area World Series to the upcoming 1990 World Cup in Italy.

The membership rolls of 15 Halls of Fame are in here along with a listing of every

ballfield, basketball court and hockey rink any current team in the AL, NL, NFL, NBA

or NHL has ever called home. There are even two special chapters that review the

outstanding sports personalities of this century and recount every Division I college foot-

ball season since 1936.

Like its big brother The Information Please Almanac, the Sports Almanac is for

looking things up. I hope what you re looking for is in here.