Trent Frayne's Allstars: An Anthology of Canada's Best Sportswriting

Hugh Oliver is the former editor-in-chief of the OISE Press.

This anthology’s 40 or so pieces, varying in length from two to 20
pages, are either culled from newspapers or excerpted from books. The
origin is listed at the end of each piece, but generally the date is
omitted—it shouldn’t have been. The emphasis is on hockey, but there
are also pieces on track and field, golf, Canadian football, baseball,
horse racing, auto racing, boxing, sailing, tennis, wrestling, swimming,
and soccer. The authors include well-known sports reporters (such as
Scott Young and Milt Dunnell), novelists (such as Mordecai Richler and
Barry Callaghan), and athletes (such as Ken Dryden and Jane O’Hara).
Some of the pieces profile individual athletes, some describe great
moments in sport, and others explore techniques of play. Some emphasize
the drama of sport, others the humor. For example, Kenneth Whyte’s
“Nobody’s Fifteen Feet Tall” is a sympathetic portrait of Wayne
Gretzky that left me with a better opinion of him after I had read it;
Lorne Rubenstein’s “Springtime in the Divots,” is about the
nostalgic wintertime anticipation of the Canadian golfer (those who have
not fled to Florida); and Earl McRae’s “Harold the Terrible” is
about the late and notorious Harold Ballard.

All in all, Trent Frayne’s Allstars is an interesting and
representative collection, and every sports fan, depending on his or her
interest, will find something here that appeals.