The Top of His Game
A Library of America Special Publication
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The Top of His Game
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Narrated by:
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Bill Littlefield
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By:
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W. C. Heinz
About this listen
Bill Littlefield (NPR's Only a Game) presents the second installment in the Library of America series devoted to classic American sportswriters, a definitive collector's edition of the pathbreaking writer who invented the long-form sports story.
Like his friend and admirer Red Smith, W. C. Heinz (1915-2008) was one of the most distinctive and influential sportswriters of the last century. Though he began his career as a newspaper reporter, Heinz soon moved beyond the confines of the daily column, turning freelance and becoming the first sportwriter to make his living writing for magazines. In doing so, he effectively invented the long-form sports story, perfecting a style that paved the way for the New Journalism of the 1960s. His profiles of the top athletes of his day still feel remarkably current, written with a freshness of perception, a gift for characterization, and a finely tuned ear for dialogue. Jimmy Breslin named Heinz's "Brownsville Bum" - a brief life of Al "Bummy" Davis, Brooklyn street tough and onetime welterweight champion of the world - "the greatest magazine sports story I've ever read, bar none". His spare and powerful 1949 column, "Death of a Race Horse", has been called a literary classic, a work of clarity and precision comparable to Hemingway at his best.
Now, for this essential writer's centennial, Bill Littlefield, the host of NPR's Only a Game, presents the essential Heinz: 38 columns, profiles, and memoirs from the author's personal archive, including 18 pieces never collected during his lifetime. Though Heinz's great passion was boxing - the golden era of Rocky Graziano, Floyd Patterson, and Sugar Ray Robinson - his interests extended to the wide world of sports, with indelible profiles of baseball players (Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio), jockeys (George Woolf, Eddie Arcaro), hockey players, football coaches, scouts and trainers, and rodeo riders.
©2015 W. C. Heinz (P)2015 Library of AmericaListeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
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Didn’t want it to end.
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-
Story5 out of 5 stars 155
The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions - for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music - O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Buck O’Neil fan!!
- By scott on 04-24-20
By: Joe Posnanski
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Nigger
- An Autobiography
- By: Dick Gregory, Dr. Christian Gregory - introduction, Robert Lipsyte
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Dr. Christian Gregory
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,265
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,128
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,120
Fifty-five years ago, in 1964, an incredibly honest and revealing memoir by one of the America's best-loved comedians and activists, Dick Gregory, was published. With a shocking title and breathtaking writing, Dick Gregory defined a genre and changed the way race was discussed in America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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PLEASE don't pass this book up!
- By D on 05-06-20
By: Dick Gregory, and others
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Golden Arm
- By: Carl Deuker
- Narrated by: Nick Walther
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story5 out of 5 stars 26
Lazarus "Laz" Weathers has always been shy, and his issue with stuttering when he speaks hasn't helped. Stuck in a Seattle trailer park, Laz finds baseball helps him escape from the world of poverty and drugs. When he gets an opportunity to pitch for the rich kids across town, he has a chance to get drafted by the major leagues. But playing for the other team means leaving behind his family, including Antonio, Laz's younger brother, who more and more, seems to be drawn to the dark world of the Jet City's drug ring.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Didn’t want it to end.
- By Christa on 12-20-22
By: Carl Deuker
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The Last Boy
- Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
- By: Jane Leavy
- Narrated by: Jane Leavy, John Bedford Lloyd
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Drawing on more than 500 interviews with friends and family, teammates, and opponents, she delivers the definitive account of Mantle's life, mining the mythology of The Mick for the true story of a luminous and illustrious talent with an achingly damaged soul.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Man Behind the Myth
- By Ray on 11-12-10
By: Jane Leavy
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Twelve Mighty Orphans
- The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football
- By: Jim Dent
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 260
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 233
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Story5 out of 5 stars 231
In the 1930s and 1940s, there was nothing bigger in Texas high school football than the Masonic Home Mighty Mites - a group of orphans bound together by hardship and death. These youngsters, in spite of being outweighed by at least 30 pounds per man, were the toughest football team around. They began with nothing - not even a football - yet in a few years were playing for the state championship on the highest level of Texas football. This is a winning tribute to a courageous band of underdogs from a time when America desperately needed fresh hope and big dreams.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story!!
- By Damian McKeon on 06-14-21
By: Jim Dent
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Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 279
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
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Story4 out of 5 stars 240
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
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Molina
- The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty
- By: Bengie Molina, Joan Ryan
- Narrated by: Henry Leyva
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story5 out of 5 stars 86
A baseball rules book. A tape measure. A lottery ticket. These were in the pocket of Bengie Molina's father when he died of a heart attack on the rutted Little League field in his Puerto Rican barrio. The items serve as thematic guideposts in Molina's beautiful memoir about his father, who, through baseball, taught his three sons about loyalty, humility, courage, and the true meaning of success.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A book about life
- By P. Griswold on 06-11-15
By: Bengie Molina, and others
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Tex
- By: S. E. Hinton
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 155
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story5 out of 5 stars 128
At 15, Tex is spirited as a wild mustang and good-natured as a pup. He and his 17-year-old brother Mason have been on their own since Pop left for the summer rodeo tour. Come October, the money has run out and still no Pop. None of this bothers Tex much - until Mason sells Tex's horse to pay the bills. After that things turn sour between the brothers. Tex is constantly getting into trouble, but he resents Mace acting like a parent. Friends like Johnny and his gorgeous sister Jamie help Tex forget his problems.
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5 out of 5 stars
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forest gumpy
- By Ruben borboa on 11-24-16
By: S. E. Hinton
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The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 172
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
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The Sweet Science
- By: A. J. Liebling
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 172
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 144
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 142
This collection of A.J. Liebling's classic New Yorker pieces on the "sweet science of bruising" brings vividly to life the boxing world as it once was. It depicts the great events of boxing's American heyday: Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback, Rocky Marciano's rise to prominence, Joe Louis' unfortunate decline. Liebling never fails to find the human story behind the fight, and he evokes the atmosphere in the arena as distinctly as he does the goings-on in the ring.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Liebling is a master wordsmith, Gardner an incredible narrator
- By Josh on 03-29-16
By: A. J. Liebling
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Pete Rose
- An American Dilemma
- By: Kostya Kennedy
- Narrated by: Ben Bartolone
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4 out of 5 stars 122
Pete Rose played baseball with a singular and headfirst abandon that endeared him to fans and peers, even as it riled others--a figure at once magnetic, beloved and polarizing. Rose has more base hits than anyone in history, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame. Twenty-five years ago he was banished from baseball for gambling, then ruled ineligible for Cooperstown; today, the question "Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame?" has evolved into perhaps the most provocative in sports, a layered, slippery and ever-relevant moral conundrum.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, not so good production.
- By david d. on 05-01-14
By: Kostya Kennedy
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The Fireballer
- A Novel
- By: Mark Stevens
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4 out of 5 stars 93
Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He’s being heralded as a game-changing pitcher. But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just Wonderful
- By Mars on 01-05-23
By: Mark Stevens
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Head On
- A Memoir
- By: Larry Csonka
- Narrated by: Phil Thron
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story5 out of 5 stars 49
Larry Csonka ran the football with audacity and authority. He lived his off-the-field life with equal abandon. As part of the NFL's 100th Anniversary, he and his undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins teammates were named the best team in NFL history. In Head On, Csonka shares how they achieved their legendary Perfect Season. From quitting football at a young age, to his often-combative relationship with Coach Don Shula, to brazen exploits with his NFL pals, Csonka narrates a life that is colorful, unbridled, and thrilling.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My Childhood Hero
- By Amy MacDougall on 01-28-23
By: Larry Csonka
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His Ownself
- A Semi-Memoir
- By: Dan Jenkins
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
The colorful, sentimental, funny, affectionate, cantankerous memoir by the most colorful, funniest, most cantankerous-- and probably the most revered-- sportswriter of the last fifty years. Dan Jenkins is accepted as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) golf writer of all time, wrote beloved bestselling novels and abused more corporate expense accounts than anyone who ever lived. It's a touching, laugh-out-loud tribute to the romanticism of old-time sportswriting-- and the glory days of sports.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this book!
- By Flannery Abrahamson on 05-23-19
By: Dan Jenkins
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What It Takes
- The Way to the White House
- By: Richard Ben Cramer
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 54 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 128
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Story5 out of 5 stars 129
An American Iliad in the guise of contemporary political reportage, What It Takes penetrates the mystery at the heart of all presidential campaigns: How do presumably ordinary people acquire that mixture of ambition, stamina, and pure shamelessness that makes a true candidate? As he recounts the frenzied course of the 1988 presidential race, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer comes up with the answers, in a book that is vast, exhaustively researched, exhilarating, and sometimes appalling in its revelations.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great political book
- By Hebern on 09-11-20
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Instant Replay
- The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer
- By: Jerry Kramer, Dick Schaap
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Story5 out of 5 stars 109
This classic sports book takes listeners inside the 1967 season of the Green Bay Packers, following that storied team from training camp to their dramatic victory in Super Bowl II. Candid and often amusing, Jerry Kramer describes from a player's perspective a bygone era of sports, filled with blood, grit, and tears. No game better exemplifies this period than the classic "Ice Bowl" conference championship game between the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, which Kramer, who made the crucial block in the climactic play, describes in thrilling detail.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Time capsule
- By Michael Ingarra on 01-21-24
By: Jerry Kramer, and others
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Memories of Another Day
- By: Harold Robbins
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 15 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 116
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Born to a life of violence and tragedy, Dan becomes one of the most powerful and dangerous labor organizers in the country - at the expense of his personal relationships. He's a man who embraced violence, fierce ambition, lust and a deep hunger for justice even as he accumulated personal wealth, fame, and power.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good story too much unnecessary sex
- By J. Veinot on 08-14-17
By: Harold Robbins
What listeners say about The Top of His Game
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Marsh
- 04-28-23
Great!
Really enjoyed the stories snd the narration was outstanding. Heinz was amazing, never read sport articles like that before
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