# The 15 Best Sports Memoirs of All Time

> Written to settle scores, to correct what the headlines got wrong, or because the advance was large. Ghostwriters, lawsuits and confessions included.

*By YPB Team · Published August 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-15-best-sports-memoirs-of-all-time*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Courage to Soar**
   Simone Biles' 2016 memoir about foster care, adoption and the road to Rio.
2. **Open**
   Andre Agassi's 2009 autobiography, which opens by admitting he hated tennis.
3. **Ball Four**
   Jim Bouton's 1970 season diary that broke baseball's clubhouse code of silence.
4. **Shoe Dog**
   Nike founder Phil Knight's memoir of selling running shoes out of a car boot.
5. **I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic**
   The striker's unfiltered account of Malmo housing estates, Ajax, Barcelona and after.
6. **The Greatest: My Own Story**
   Muhammad Ali's 1975 autobiography, written at the height of his second reign.
7. **I Never Had It Made**
   Jackie Robinson's account of integrating Major League Baseball and what it cost him.
8. **Days of Grace**
   Arthur Ashe's memoir, finished weeks before his death in 1993.
9. **Undisputed Truth**
   Mike Tyson's 2013 autobiography, as unsparing about himself as about anyone else.
10. **Rafa**
   Rafael Nadal's memoir with John Carlin, built around the 2008 Wimbledon final.
11. **Second Wind**
   Bill Russell's reflections on winning eleven titles and on race in 1960s Boston.
12. **On the Line**
   Serena Williams' 2009 memoir on Compton, Wimbledon and life between them.
13. **Beneath the Surface**
   Michael Phelps' autobiography, later revised after Beijing and after his time away.
14. **Keane: The Autobiography**
   Roy Keane's 2002 book, which triggered a suspension for what he admitted in it.
15. **It's Not About the Bike**
   Lance Armstrong's 2000 memoir, now read very differently than it was on release.

Tags: books, sports, athletes, all-time