Talking to GOATs summary

The career home-run record of baseball player Babe Ruth, arguably the United States’ most celebrated sportsman, stood for 39 years. Then, on April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron broke that record. On that day, a 14-year-old Jim Gray realized the importance of records in sports.

Babe Ruth was such an icon that many people were disappointed when his record was broken. But as Gray eventually discovered, the truth was that some people simply didn’t like that the record had been broken by a Black man. 

The name Ben Johnson is synonymous with cheating in sport. 

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Johnson defeated his archrival, Carl Lewis, to win the most prestigious track and field event: the 100 metres. He even set a new world record with that gold medal. 

Tiger Woods emerged on the world stage in spectacular style in 1997, when he won his first major tournament, the US Masters, by an incredible 12 strokes. He was just 21.

Gray’s first meeting with Woods had been 12 years earlier. While working as a freelancer in Los Angeles, Gray saw a report in a local newspaper about a nine-year-old named Eldrick Woods who had hit a hole-in-one. Gray thought it must have been an error, so he followed up.

No player in the history of American football has played in more Super Bowls, or won more rings, than Tom Brady. No surprise, then, that he is considered by many to be the best quarterback ever to play the game. 

What drove Brady to reach nine Super Bowls, winning six of them, and to play well into his 40s? Well, having a great team around him helped. But as Jim Gray found out, it also involved Brady’s quest for perfection. 

When the author’s wife, Frann, asked what he wanted for his fortieth birthday, he requested an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev, then-leader of the Soviet Union. With the help of their friend, broadcaster Larry King, Frann was able to fulfill this request.

The interview took place in Gray’s hometown of Denver, Colorado. The Soviet leader related how he first became active in the Communist Party as a youth. He also revealed that traveling abroad transformed his mindset, and helped him realize that his country needed to change if it were going to reach its potential. 

One of the most memorable moments of the 1992 Olympic Games was the performance of the Dream Team, the star-laden US basketball team. Despite being a dominant global force in basketball, the country’s Olympic performances had been very much hit-and-miss. Why? Because USA Basketball had a rule prohibiting professionals from participating in international competitions. But this changed for the Barcelona Games.

The author had just switched networks, from NBC to CBS, so he didn’t get to cover the Games. But he still made it to Barcelona as the guest of his best friend and Dream Team coach, Chuck Daley. 

Jim Gray first met basketball megastar Kobe Bryant when he was just an infant. At the time, Gray was working as a scout for the San Diego Clippers, where Bryant’s dad, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, was a player. Kobe would become one of Gray’s closest friends in the sporting world.

Kobe was a high-school phenomenon, and he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers straight out of school. He had a fairy-tale start to his 20-year career – but there would be struggles to come.