SPORTSWRITER

Stanley Woodward, the late sportswriter for the New York Herald Tribune, has bequeathed a how-to and why book about his profession. So you want to write sports. Mr. Woodward shows you the ropes, details the fundamentals of good baseball, football, racing, boxing, and ""almost anything"" reporting: ferreting out the background, giving the biggest punch of the action, eliciting a good interview even if the subject can only say ""yes"" and ""no."" Life with a deadline, the importance of a nice layout, it's all there, put across with reminiscence, anecdote, quotes from the bigtime reporters, quotes from some bigtime gaffs. More than a handbook, more than the history of one man's work, more than entertainment, more than the sum of all these parts--a direct, honest, vital, introduction.