Zander Hollander

Sports statistics are practically unavoidable today. They are available on your television, your computer, even in the palm of your hand. Not so long ago, that was far from the case. When Zander Hollander’s first Complete Handbook guide was published in 1971, it was a revelation for voracious sports fans. Contained in its many pages were statistics, records, team rosters and predictions. Hollander, who died on April 11 at age 91, edited at least a half-dozen of the tomes each year covering sports that included baseball, football, basketball, soccer and hockey.

Hollander’s prolific output inspired Sports Illustrated to declare him “the unofficial king of sports paperbacks” in 1997, the year his final collection was published. Never was that more apparent than in the first years of the Complete Handbook, when sports tidbits and trivia were rarely found outside of newspaper pages. Hollander’s yearbooks inspired countless competitors, but none proved able to match his unique blend of abundant detail and biting wit. For a generation of sports-crazed youngsters, his pages were more than facts and figures–they were scripture.

–ERIC DODDS