Sports books to help get you through the non-seasons

As the world looks for ways to stay sane and entertained indoors, perhaps no group is as starved for its normal diversions as sports fans, who saw all leagues grind to a halt during what is normally the most jam-packed part of the calendar. (Yes, we have Korean baseball, German soccer and fundraising golf, but ...) Many of those thrills of victory and agonies of defeat can be found in the beautiful world of books. Here's a great lineup that brings to life the sports we're missing now.

Basketball:

ESPN's "The Last Dance," a 10-part documentary love letter to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, has drawn millions of viewers. Though a welcome nostalgia trip, even this epic documentary series can't come close to the detail in Roland Lazenby's definitive book, "Michael Jordan: The Life," a 720-page saga that starts way, way back with Jordan's great-grandfather's birth in 1891 on the coastal plain of North Carolina. The book, released in 2014, is as thorough a look at what created and animated perhaps the most legendary athlete of the 20th century - and a welcome step onto the court, while games remain suspended. To dribble even further down the court into basketball literature, check out "Basketball (and Other Things)" by Shea Serrano, an illustrated and irreverent look at the sport; it's the only place you will find a full-page rendering of Larry Bird entangled with a giant squid. Kobe Bryant is sorely missed, and in "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play" the late NBA star shares insights into the drive that so often earned him comparisons to Jordan.

Baseball:

The slow burn of Major League Baseball's 162-game regular season was to have started in late March, but only by now in the calendar might it start to become clear which teams were defying preseason expectations by becoming early contenders. No book captures the promise, potential and peril of these early stages of the baseball season quite like "Moneyball," the Michael Lewis book that was turned into an Oscar-nominated 2011 film starring Brad Pitt. The successes of Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane - who used analytics to evaluate players in ways that defied deeply ingrained conventional wisdom - has been studied and implemented by many other teams since, but the story told by Lewis still holds valuable lessons that apply to all pursuits, particularly as the world collectively searches for answers and solutions in this time of global fear and paralysis. More recently, a memoir by Willie Mays titled "24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid" offers perspective and warmth, and New York Times baseball writer Tyler Kepner's "K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches" tells a story woven by hundreds of arms.

Tennis:

Julie Hellman's biggest on-court triumph came with her win at the 1969 Italian Open - one of the many May tennis tournaments that has already been canceled. Her 2018 memoir "Driven: A Daughter's Odyssey" pulls back the curtain on the nascent years of women's professional tennis. It also offers a candid look at Hellman's mother, Gladys Heldman, who was the publisher of the now-defunct World Tennis magazine. At a time when the wider world was still reluctant to embrace the idea that women could be successful professional athletes, Gladys Heldman's tireless pioneering and focus on equality helped get the women's professional game off the ground in 1970 by signing nine players - including her daughter and Billie Jean King - to symbolic $1 professional contracts, which ultimately became the foundation of the WTA Tour. Many celebrations were planned for later this year as the 50th anniversary of Gladys Heldman signing the "Original 9" to their symbolic $1 contracts approaches, most of which probably will not occur. But with renewed buzz about the men's and women's tennis tours combining into one organization, Heldman's work and the stories she shares have as much resonance now as ever. This summer we can look forward to two biographies of another great female player: 1930s icon Alice Marble. "The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery" by Robert Weintraub, and "Queen of the Court: The Extraordinary Life of Tennis Legend Alice Marble" by Madeleine Blais dig into the rich story of the prolific champ, who was also a singer and fashion designer and helped integrate tennis.

Auto racing:

NASCAR's journey, as detailed in "One Helluva Ride" by Liz Clarke, a Washington Post staff writer, shows how the sport evolved from bootleggers racing on dirt tracks in the South to a billion-dollar industry that's become a national product without losing its regional roots. Clarke expertly weaves the ecstasy of the thrilled and the agony of the killed, all while making it clear what has made the sport appeal to such a large audience. It can also serve as preparatory reading for what could be one of the first major sporting events held in the United States: NASCAR plans to hold races including the "crown jewel" Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, without any fans in attendance. For a look at the racing scene across the pond, dive into "Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best" by Neal Bascombe, which looks at the tensions on the racetrack as Europe hurtled toward World War II.