A sampling of the chapter titles indicate what Butler has in store: ""Gene Beardon. . . war casualty on the mound,"" ""Pete Gray. . . case of the one-armed outfielder,"" ""Jackie Robinson. . . the man who broke the color barrier,"" ""Johnny Unitas. . . the football player nobody wanted,"" ""Conn McCreary. . . the man with the boy's legs,"" etc. Perhaps it's cynical to wish that someone would write about sports heroes who would quit, but these very earnest testimonials -- which err chiefly in their unabashed overselling of their subjects' abilities (viz, ""Gordie Howe. . . greatest hockey player of all time"") -- may stick a bit even with those who haven't yet had their inspirational reflexes dulled by the ubiquity of the genre.