Johnny Mize, a top home-run hitter in a turbulent time for baseball and North America, never got a complete biography in his lifetime.

Author Jerry Grillo, who lives in the same region of rural Georgia where Mize hailed from, has remedied that by examining Mize’s baseball life and his effect on the sport.

Mize (1913-1993, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981) played in the majors during an era marked and marred by segregation, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. The lefty-hitting slugging first baseman won four league home run titles, still has some unmatched batting feats, and shares the record for most career three-home run games. And he was almost forgotten by the keepers of baseball history.

Grillo began researching a Mize bio in 2000. It is his second book, following, “The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography.”

New investment and enthusiasm are pouring into women’s sports.

In “The Price She Pays: Confronting the Hidden Mental Health Crisis in Women’s Sports— from the Schoolyard to the Stadium,” lead authors Dr. Tiffany Brown and Katie Steele call for changes to the athletic hierarchy women compete under. As lead authors, along with co-author Erin Strout, they propose that the expanding popularity and financial clout of women’s sports must be commensurate with an athlete-centred mental health approach

The book is a candid guide to all stages of the sporting life, from introductory activities up to U.S. major-college athletics and the pros. It is unsparing of the traumas, but always optimistic, which meshes with 2024’s breakouts such as new leagues that are gaining traction, and the WNBA rookie class featuring the likes of Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Kingston, Ont., native Aaliyah Edwards. “The Price She Pays” is both timely, and telling about what fault lines need to be filled in.

Brown and Steele are both licensed marriage and family therapists based in Oregon. Strout, who has written and freelanced for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Runner’s World, Women Running, and ESPN-W, is based in Flagstaff, Arizona. “The Price She Pays” was released by Little, Brown, and Spark on June 18, 2024.

Sport ecologist Dr. Madeleine Orr is pitching a ‘green game plan’ for sports fans.

In “Warming Up,” Orr pairs her academic curiosity and storytelling to stir optimism (or “hopeium”) about using the power of sport to explain climate adaptation. The University of Toronto professor’s début book reminds readers sports are a bigger social connector than politics, arts, and pop culture — and the loss of them can have significant mental health effects.

As such, sports is a rallying point to push for a world that must burn about five times less fossil fuels to avert worst-case outcomes from climate change.

Whether it is children learning a new game, or globetrotting pros, athletes need breathable air, drinking water, and relief from the ‘big bad’ of extreme heat (and winter sport athletes need snow, too). Far from a doom-and-gloom finger-wag, Orr shows that many athletes and sports organizations are on Team Green, and outlines the next steps.