NEW YORK — Ray Robinson, a longtime magazine editor who wrote well-received biographies of baseball stars from his youth including Christy Mathewson and Lou Gehrig, died Nov. 1 in New York. He was 96.

For many years Mr. Robinson made a living as an editor at magazines such as Seventeen and Good Housekeeping, but baseball and other sports were always his passion.

His biographies include “Matty, an American Hero: Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants’’ (1994), about the star pitcher of the early 20th century, and “Rockne of Notre Dame: The Making of a Football Legend’’ (1999), about the celebrated Notre Dame football coach.

His sportswriting, which mixed careful research with personal recollections, was more realistic than reverential.

“He could be trusted not to exaggerate a story or a fact; it was what it was, and you could trust Ray’s memory,’’ Marty Appel, the author of “Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees From Before the Babe to After the Boss’’ (2012) and other baseball books, said Tuesday.

One of Mr. Robinson’s favorite players, and subjects, was Gehrig — the Hall of Fame Yankee first baseman who long held the record for consecutive games played, with 2,130, and who died at 37 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

In many articles and in the book “Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time’’ (1990), Mr. Robinson portrayed the famously humble Gehrig as a human being instead of the mythical hero many see him as.