Preferred Lies and Other Tales: Skimming the Cream of a Life in Sports

Whitaker, now a freelancer, was in on television almost at its start, debuting in Philadelphia in 1950 and spending the next four decades with CBS and then ABC. He is known to viewers primarily as a golf commentator, but he has also covered horse racing's Triple Crown events, the first Super Bowl, the Olympics and the Indianapolis 500. It is clear from this book, however, that his chief interest is the links, and he is at his best in his interviews with the greats of the game, including Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus, although he also provides charming reminiscences with baseballer Frankie Frisch and Martina Navratilova. New Yorkers will enjoy his memories of 52nd Street, when it was filled with famous bars where athletes and reporters met. There are dull spots, too: the passage on defunct TV golf shows like the Chrysler 18 Holes of Championship Golf is acutely boring, and the chapter on his own favorite courses is nothing that every other golf writer hasn't done. In short, hardly a great work of its type--a little less skimming the cream and a little more depth would have led to a richer book. (Oct.)