Total Sports Publishing
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Book publishing |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | John Thorn, Michael Gershman |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Kingston, New York , United States |
Key people | John Thorn (head of publishing division), George Schlukbier (CEO, Raleigh office), Michael Gershman (Manhattan branch director) |
| Products | Sports encyclopedias, autobiographies, sports reference books |
Total Sports Publishing was a book publisher headquartered in Kingston, New York that operated between 1998 and 2002. Throughout its entire duration, the division was overseen by distinguished author John Thorn.
Total Sports
Since the late 1980s, Thorn and Michael Gershman had collaborated on packaging books for various publishers, most notably their baseball reference work, Total Baseball. Their enterprise was known as "Baseball Ink."
In 1998, they joined forces with the internet news firm KOZ, Inc. to establish Total Sports. The company’s headquarters were located in Raleigh, North Carolina under the leadership of George Schlukbier, while Thorn managed the publishing division from Kingston, New York. Gershman directed the Manhattan branch situated on Park Avenue.
Following the collapse of the dot-com bubble, the partnership dissolved within two years. In the summer of 2000, Thorn executed a management buyout of the publishing arm. Meanwhile, Quokka Sports of San Francisco acquired the Raleigh-based online business.
By 2002, both Thorn’s independent enterprise and Quokka Sports had filed for bankruptcy.
Staff
The editorial team at TSP featured prominent sports reference editors including Thorn, David Pietrusza, Pete Palmer, Bob Carroll, Gary Gillette, Sean Lahman, Dan Diamond, Mike Meserole, Beau Riffenburgh, Kenneth Shouler, and Matthew Silverman.
Encyclopedias
TSP gained recognition for producing extensive sports encyclopedias often surpassing 2,000 pages, such as Total Baseball, Total Football, and Total Hockey. These comprehensive volumes were regularly updated and officially endorsed by organizations like Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. They represented a significant milestone in sports reference publishing.
Total Sports Illustrated
A collaboration with Sports Illustrated led to the creation of the "Total/Sports Illustrated" imprint, which published best-selling titles including autobiographies like that of Don Zimmer and works authored by magazine contributors such as Rick Reilly and Peter King.
The TSI imprint also became noted for its "Classics" series, which reissued important works by authors like Frank Deford, Leonard Koppett, Lawrence Ritter, Robert Creamer, W. C. Heinz, Peter Gent, and Lee Allen.
A Life in Pictures series
The publisher released pictorial autobiographies capturing the lives of iconic athletes including Henry Aaron (with co-author Dick Schaap), Ted Williams (with David Pietrusza), and Wayne Gretzky (with John Davidson). These editions featured personal photo archives and bore the subtitle "A Life in Pictures."
Books published
- Arenafootball 2 Official Record and Fact Book 2001
- The Babe: The Game That Ruth Built (Lawrence Ritter and Mark Rucker)
- Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (Matthew Silverman, Michael Gershman, David Pietrusza)
- Coach K's Little Blue Book: Fire, Fact and Insight from College Basketball's Best Coach (Mike Krzyzewski, Barry Jacobs)
- The Commissioners: Baseball's Midlife Crisis (Jerome Holtzman)
- Coolest Game on the Road: A Travel Guide to NHL (Mike Brehm, Mark Paddock)
- East Side, West Side: Tales of New York Sporting Life, 1910-1960 (Lawrence Ritter)
- Gladiators: 40 Years of Football (Walter Iooss, Roy Blount, Jr.)
- Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century (Tim Crothers, John Garrity)
- Greatest Quarterbacks (Peter King)
- Havana Heat: A Novel (Darryl Brock)
- The Hidden Game of Football: The Next Edition (Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer, John Thorn, David Pietrusza)
- Home Run: My Life in Pictures (Hank Aaron with Dick Schaap)
- The Hot Stove League (reprint) (Lee Allen)
- The Insider 2000 (USA Today Baseball Weekly the Insider) (Gary Gillette, et al.)
- Life of Reilly (Rick Reilly)
- McGoorty: A Pool Room Hustler (Danny McGoorty, Robert Byrne)
- The National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2002 (Dan Diamond)
- 99: My Life in Pictures (Wayne Gretzky, John Davidson and Dan Diamond)
- No More Bad Shots: Shot by Shot, Round by Round - A Foolproof Guide to Better Golf (Hank Haney, John Huggan)
- North Dallas Forty (reprint) (Peter Gent)
- Now Pitching for the Yankees: Spinning the News for Mickey, Billy and George (Martin Appel)
- Smoke: The Romance and Lore of Cuban Baseball (Mark Rucker, Peter C. Bjarkman)
- The Spy: Baseball '98 (Gary Gillette, Stuart Shea)
- Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures (Ted Williams with David Pietrusza)
- They Said It: 200 Of the Funniest Sports Quips & Quotes Collected from the Pages of Sports Illustrated (David Fischer)
- The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball 3rd Ed. (Leonard Koppett)
- Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (John Thorn, Pete Palmer, Michael Gershman, David Pietrusza)
- The Total Baseball Catalog (David Pietrusza, Lloyd Johnson, Bob Carroll)
- Total Browns (Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, David Pietrusza, Beau Riffenburgh, Matthew Silverman, John Thorn)
- Total Browns: The Official Encyclopedia of the Cleveland Browns (Bob Carroll, et al.)
- Total Football (Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, John Thorn)
- Total 49ers (Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman, David Neft, David Pietrusza, Beau Riffenburgh, Matthew Silverman, John Thorn)
- Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League (Dan Diamond et al.)
- Total Packers (Bob Carroll, Michael Gershman,David Neft,David Pietrusza,Beau Riffenburgh,Matthew Silverman,John Thorn)
- Total Quarterbacks (Bob Carroll,Michael Gershman,[ [David Neft]],[ [David Pietrusza]],[ [Beau Riffenburgh]],[ [Matthew Silverman]],[ [John Thorn (baseball historian)|John Thorn]])
- The Total Sports Illustrated Book of Boxing (W. C. Heinz and Nathan Ward)
- Total Stanley Cup: Official Publication of the National Hockey League (Dan Diamond)
- Total Steelers (Bob Carroll,[ [Michael Gershman (publicist)|Michael Gershman]],[ [David Neft]],[ [David Pietrusza]],[ [Beau Riffenburgh]],[ [Matthew Silverman]],[ [John Thorn (baseball historian)|John Thorn]])
- Total Super Bowl (Bob Carroll,[ [Michael Gershman (publicist)|Michael Gershman]],[ [David Neft]],[ [David Pietrusza]],[ [Beau Riffenburgh]],[ [Matthew Silverman]],[ [John Thorn (baseball historian)|John Thorn]])
- Total Teams Series 2000 (all 30 MLB teams as individual titles) (Gary Gillette,[ [Stuart Shea]])
- Trading Paint: Dale Earnhardt Vs. Jeff Gordon Classic Photos from a Classic Rivalry(Mark Bechtel,[ [George Tiedemann]])
- The 12 Leadership Principles of Dean Smith(David Chadwick)
- The World According to Dean: Four Decades of Basketball(Barry Jacobs)
- Years of Glory: The Six Team Era(Dan Diamond)
- Zim: A Baseball Life(Don Zimmer,[ [Bill Madden (sportswriter)|Bill Madden]])