Mark Harris, whose "Bang the Drum Slowly" was listed by Sports Illustrated as one of the top all-time sports books, died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 84.

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The retired Arizona State University English professor, who died Wednesday of complications from Alzheimer's disease, wrote 18 books, including four that follow the fictional New York Mammoths ball club.

"Bang the Drum Slowly," for which he wrote the screenplay for the movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, was the most popular of his baseball novels.

Although best known for his baseball writings, Harris wrote other novels "he felt were equally validating of what was important to him: He was a lifelong pacifist and proponent of racial justice," his son, Henry Harris, told The Los Angeles Times. Harris' first novel, "Trumpet to the World," about an interracial marriage, was published in 1946.

Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Harris' career included stints as a newspaper and wire service reporter, and as a writer for Negro Digest and Ebony magazines. He also taught English at several U.S. colleges and universities.

Besides Henry, Harris is survived by his wife, a daughter, another son, a sister and three grandchildren.