“Sports have the capacity to create moments. The kinds of moments I’ve had the great fortune to broadcast throughout a career I dreamed of since I was six years old,” reminisces Al Michaels in this sparkling memoir of gratitude, written in collaboration with the acclaimed Sports Illustrated journalist L.Jon Wertheim.

In his distinctive voice, Michaels gives readers the play-by-play of his storied life, beginning with his early years growing up in New York City (“Brooklyn is my DNA”) and first memory watching the Dodgers play in Ebbets Field. Of that splendrous summer in 1950, Michaels fondly writes, “I can still see the colors vividly in my mind’s eye. The grass a stunning shade of green. The red-brown infield dirt. The uniforms seemed too white to be real.” He recalls watching Jackie Robinson practicing on the infield, Pee Wee Reese leaving the dugout, and announcers Red Barber, Connie Desmond and Vin Scully working above the field in the Dodgers’ broadcast booth.

"YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP is a buoyant celebration of one man’s legendary successful path in sports broadcasting and a deep personal appreciation for his life’s good fortunes."

“All I could think was that had to be the best job in the world. A job where you’d go to the ballpark every day, and get in for free,” Michaels says, adding, “A job where you’d get to meet the players, travel with the team, and I assumed, get paid. That’s what’s originally got me thinking about broadcasting. Most kids dream of playing Major League baseball. I dreamed of announcing Major League baseball.”

In the succeeding decades, the young man who grew up being transported to the big cities of Chicago and Detroit while listening to baseball games over the radio (following “every play, every anecdote, every insight”) kept his eyes on the prize, rolled up his sleeves and fully committed himself to his dreams.

While attending Arizona State University at Tempe, Michaels called the majority of the Sun Devils baseball team’s home games on the campus radio station and edited a sports column for the school newspaper. After graduation and a brief stint working on “The Dating Game,”Michaels eagerly accepted a job as a radio color announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers (“Jerry West! Elgin Baylor!”), then later pursued several golden opportunities, calling games in baseball (for the Hawaiian Islanders, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants), hockey (including the remarkable 1980s Winter Olympic match-up between the United States and Soviet Union aka “The Miracle on Ice”), basketball (UCLA Bruins under the venerable coach John Wooden), ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and “Monday Night Football.”

Over the years, Michaels continued to perfect his craft, learning from the “best of the best” in the industry. He gives kudos to John Madden, Cris Collinsworth and Tim McCarver, praising their deep understanding art of communication (of storylines, perspective, strong sense of timing, proper dissemination of information). He also credits legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who gave him the most valuable piece of professional advice: “Don’t ever get jaded.”

“I’m always remembering how lucky I’ve been. And I have this crazy, unscripted drama known as sports to thank for it all,” relates Michaels. Filled with absorbing behind-the-scenes stories and inspired portraits, YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP is a buoyant celebration of one man’s legendary successful path in sports broadcasting and a deep personal appreciation for his life’s good fortunes.