On 12 February 1961, forty-one-year-old Jim Murray began the first of his sports columns for the Los Angeles Times. A comment in that first column about his own athletic history illustrates the penchant for humor and hyperbole that characterizes his writing: "I have been held up to you as somewhat of a joke athletically but I want you to know I had one superlative as a college freshman baseball player. I was the most nervous right fielder our team ever had. Our coach, Ralph Erickson, had only four fingers on his right hand and the prevailing theory was that he had the regulation five until he saw us and started biting his nails."

The following 1 September, an article in Time stated that "sports Columnist Murray has built a reputation and following that, in just six months, qualifies him as one of the best sportswriters in the U.S."

In 1965 Murray...