Have you ever wondered how your favorite sport began? Basketball got its start when a physical education instructor invented a new game for bored students. The original soccer ball might have been a skull! The history of other sports is just as surprising--bowling was part of an early religious ritual; lacrosse games used to stretch for miles and last for days; and the king of France once outlawed tennis because it was a gambling game!

Alice Low's witty poems, vividly ilustrated by John O'Brien's uproarious cartoons, hit a true home run for readers.