The Hardy Boys: Good Sports

[P. Walker]

Dont forget fencing in Casefiles 117 "Blood Sport".

Off-topic but does anyone know if all of the Casefiles have the blue spine? Or did at some point between 108 and 115 they stopped with the blue spine and went with scenes from the then-current TV show? My copies of 115 and 117 both have scenes from the TV show with a greenish colored and reddish colored spine respectively. I wish they wouldnt have switched overs, it makes my collection look weird and those two books out-of-place.

[tomswift2002]

Starting with Casefiles #105 "Law Of The Jungle" in November 1995 and running till #121 "Absolute Zero" in March 1997 the Casefiles featured publicity photos from the 1995 TV series with a sunburst alerting people to the "New" TV series.  (The Nancy Drew Files also had covers during this time featuring photos from the 95 series as well.). Starting with I believe 115 the "New" was dropped from the sunburst.

[MacGyver]

Right. And #122-127 was a completely different design for The Hardy Boys Casefiles as well.

[SkyWarp]

Does Karate equal a sport for this discussion.  There were mentions of the Frank having a brown belt in Karate.

[Hardy Sleuth]

Does Karate equal a sport for this discussion.  There were mentions of the Frank having a brown belt in Karate.

Sure!

I like this quote from The Jungle Pyramid

The boys whirled in the defensive stance of karate experts. The sound came directly toward them in the darkness! The Hardys had a strategy for such confrontations. They counted silently to three, then Frank snapped on his light.

and this favorite from Hide and Sneak

"Martial Arts 101," Frank said, pushing him away. "How to deal with loudmouths waving knives."

Lol! Nice one, Frank! Plus many more times in the books. And there's The Karate Clue that I would like to read.

[MacGyver]

Does Karate equal a sport for this discussion.  There were mentions of the Frank having a brown belt in Karate.

definitely- The Shadow Killers is another great reference for this as it talks about Frank's dojo. Frank and Joe are also both mentioned as being familiar with judo in various books.

[SDLagent]

Depending on what book you read Frank and Joe know quite a few martial arts.

[MacGyver]

Dont forget fencing in Casefiles 117 "Blood Sport".

Can't believe I hadn't mentioned fencing yet. Yep, Frank and Joe are both familiar with fencing, as seen both in Blood Sport [though only Frank is shown as taking lessons in that book] and way before that in one of my favorites of the Original Series- The Clue of the Broken Blade (revised version). And in that one, Frank, Joe, Chet, Biff, Phil and Tony are all taking fencing lessons.

[MacGyver]

I don't think soccer has been mentioned at all on this thread yet and Frank and Joe have definitely had experience with this sport too. In The Hardy Boys Casefiles #101, Peak of Danger, they are both on the school soccer team.

[MacGyver]

And if chess counts, Frank in particular is shown to be pretty skilled at the game, as evidenced in The Hardy Boys Casefiles #43 Strategic Moves and #62 Final Gambit. I don't think Joe is generally quite as keen on it, but I'm pretty positive some of the Original 58 Grossett & Dunlap books have mentioned Frank and Joe playing a game of chess at some point. I think they actually showed The Hardy Boys playing a chess match in one of the episodes of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries as well.

[MacGyver]

Have we not mentioned baseball on this thread yet? Frank and Joe definitely are seen playing this in a number of books- I do believe they are mentioned as being on the school team as well. Some good books for baseball mentions include: Foul Play #46 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles, True Thriller #100 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles, Danger on the Diamond #90 in The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (Digests) and The Missing Mitt #2 in The Hardy Boys: Secret Files series.

[MacGyver]

Frank and Joe also participate in the athletic events of Field Day at their elementary school in Sports Sabotage, #8 in The Hardy Boys: Secret Files.

[MacGyver]

Frank and Joe also participate in a bike race in The Bicycle Thief, #6 in The Hardy Boys: Secret Files. Other books that feature them either participating in cycling or solving a mystery involving it (or both) include: Mystery of the Silver Star #86 in The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (Digests) and Racing to Disaster #126 in The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (Digests) and Street Spies #21 in The Hardy Boys Casefiles. They also ride bicycles in The Mystery of the Flying Express, #20 in The Hardy Boys Original Series (original text; possibly revised text as well.)