Martin Gitlin is the author of the new book The 50 Greatest Athletes in Boston Sports History. His many other books include The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Time Machine Book. He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Q: What inspired you to write The 50 Greatest Athletes in Boston Sports History?
A: Sports is my passion. I was a sportswriter for 23 years and I have authored many sports books. Plus I love ranking things – I authored books ranking the greatest American athletes of all time, as well as the greatest sitcoms and cartoon characters ever.
Boston has an incredibly rich sports history, so my first choice for a book like this was Boston.
Q: How did you choose the athletes to appear in the book, and was it difficult to rank them?
A: I based the rankings on athleticism, achievement, and impact. The first five athletes I ranked were easy but not the order in which they were ranked.
Six through 50 were more painstaking. There was some subjectivity involved and I’m expecting some debate over the rankings, which is great because that makes the whole endeavor more fun.
Q: Did you learn anything surprising in the course of your research?
A: I learned a bit more about some of the lesser known, old-school athletes. I knew about them but I enjoyed finding out more.
Q: What do you think distinguishes Boston sports fans from other cities’ fans?
A: Just the passion. Fans in other cities are passionate about their teams as well, but not sure to the same degree!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I will be promoting this book heavily. I also do presentations at libraries and senior centers (about 30 per month) on historical pop culture and sports, including one based on this book and others on Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics histories.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: If it’s possible to let folks know, they can get autographed and personalized copies of this book (as well as others, including my Ultimate Red Sox Time Machine Book) at etsy.com/shop/gitlinbooks. Hope you don’t mind sharing!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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