Jesse Peter Abramson, longtime sportswriter for The New York Herald Tribune, was known as "The Book" among his contemporaries for his profound knowledge of sports and his extraordinary recollection for detail. An encounter between him and a former Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A) track-and-field champion, recalled by Red Smith in his 11 June 1979 obituary for Abramson in The New York Times, illustrates the appropriateness of that nickname. As Abramson and other journalists were checking into the Poland Spring Hotel near Lewiston, Maine, to cover the 1965 rematch between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight boxing championship, he recognized James L. Reid, then a prominent Maine judge, in the hotel lobby. As a Harvard undergraduate Reid had won the IC4A two-mile championship in 1928 and 1929. Asked by one reporter his best time in that race, the judge proudly replied "about 9:20." Instantly, Abramson's authoritative voice...