What becomes a legend most?

That used to be, among other things, a tag line for a print campaign featuring models wearing fur coats.

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But today I’m applying it to those periodic lists that purport to offer the “best,” “greatest,” “essential,” etc., books on the game. I can’t speak to the expertise of the writers or what criteria they use in making their assessments. As you know, in my 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die, I make no claim that these are the “best” books, just important ones that will give even those who are not fans of the sport an idea of the game’s importance in American culture.

That said, here’s one list I came across today: “The 25 best non-fiction sports books of all time,” courtesy of Yardbarker.com.

According to the contributor, Chris Morgan

In a way, every sporting event tells a story. However, most of us are ultimately more interested in watching athletes in action trying to win while doing cool stuff than reading about it. Fortunately, though, some people have taken to expanding the stories of the sports world. Over the years, literally hundreds of non-fiction books have been written about the world of sports. Whether they are the works of great writers or particularly impressive autobiographies (admittedly often handled with a ghostwriter or co-writer), here are the best non-fiction sports books of all-time.

Of the 25 books, only three are about the national pastime,

Moneyball (#1)
Ball Four (#4)
Bottom of the 33rd (#17, and a real dark horse, albeit a great book)
The Boys of Summer (#19)
Veeck as in Wreck

Aside from Dan Barry’s Bottom of the 33rd, these are are perennial classics; Moneyball and Ball Four frequently appear on my weekly “Baseball Best-Sellers” lists. But as I said, I don’t know what Morgan’s criteria are and everyone is entitled to an opinion.