Synopses & Reviews
The crack of the bat on the radio is ingrained in the American mind as baseball takes center stage each summer. Radio has brought the sounds of baseball into homes for almost one hundred years, helping baseball emerge from the 1919 Black Sox scandal into the glorious World Series of the 1920s. The medium gave fans around the country aural access to the first All-Star Game, Lou Gehrigand#8217;s farewell speech, and Bobby Thomsonand#8217;s and#8220;Shot Heard and#8217;Round the World.and#8221; Red Barber, Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Bob Uecker, and dozens of other beloved announcers helped cement the love affair between radio and the national pastime.
and#160;Crack of the Bat takes readers from the 1920s to the present, examining the role of baseball in the development of the radio industry and the complex coevolution of their relationship. James R. Walker provides a balanced, nuanced, and carefully documented look at radio and baseball over the past century, focusing on the interaction between team owners, local and national media, and government and business interests, with extensive coverage of the television and Internet ages, when baseball on the radio had to make critical adjustments to stay viable.
and#160;Despite cable televisionand#8217;s ubiquity, live video streaming, and social media, radio remains an important medium through which fans engage with their teams. The evolving relationship between baseball and radio intersects with topics as varied as the twenty-year battle among owners to control radio, the development of sports as a valuable media product, and the impact of competing technologies on the broadcast medium. Amid these changes, the familiar sounds of the ball hitting the glove and the satisfying crack of the bat stay the same.
Review
and#8220;At last an intensive analysis of this complicated and fascinating phenomenon has been produced. . . . Center Field Shot is at once a fun, engaging read that can be enjoyed in random five-minute snippets, and a serious full-length work of scholarship. Like the very best of television, it informs as it entertains.and#8221;and#8212;Steve Treder, The Hardball Times
Review
"Center Field Shot: A History of Baseball on Television successfully tells the story of how the sport made a huge breakthrough arriving in people's homes. . . . Walker and Bellamy provide perhaps the definitive history of the evolution of baseball on television without ever getting too scholarly or slipping into fanciful nostalgia."and#8212;Josh Marks, Variety
Review
"A well-told story of owners and networks, businessmen and merchandizing. The best part of this history of baseball on television is its revelation of how broadcasters learned a new craft, a new art form." S. Gittleman, Choice
Review
"More than just baseball history shot through a video lens, Center Field Shot is also a history of television shot through the lens of the national pastime."and#8212;Roberta Newman, NINE
Review
"Bellamy and Walker offer a cogent and sophisticated analysis of the consequences of television for baseball, both positive and negative. Their work contains much new information and synthesizes the old with the new in meaningful ways. . . . Center Field Shot is a must for anyone interested in the impact of television on American culture, and on baseball, an American sporting institution that once carried the designation of National Pastime."and#8212;Richard C. Crepeau, American Studies
Review
and#8220;Center Field Shot is a winner. Itand#8217;s smart, crisply written, and packed with eye-opening research and analysis. I learned something new on every page. Turn off the TV and start reading. I guarantee youand#8217;ll be glad you did.and#8221;and#8212;Jonathan Eig, best-selling author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinsonand#8217;s First Season
Review
and#8220;Once upon a time you had to go to a ballpark to experience a ball game. Today most of us enjoy baseball across several media, and almost always alone. A game on radioand#8212;or via television or Internet or news accountand#8212;is not as good as being part of the crowd at the ballpark, but what is? This book. James Walker traces the history of baseball on the radio with unmatched love and erudition.and#8221;
and#8212;John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden
Review
and#8220;A uniquely comprehensive and valuable account of baseballand#8217;s radio history, Crack of the Bat also reminds us just how compelling baseball broadcasts can be in the hands of its skilled announcers. Video may have killed other radio celebrities, but todayand#8217;s fans of the national pastime can listen to more and#8220;radio starsand#8221; than ever before.and#8221;and#8212;Pat Hughes, radio voice of the Chicago Cubs
Synopsis
In Baseball Weeklyand#8217;s list of things that most affected baseball in the twentieth century, television ranked secondand#8212;behind only the signing of Jackie Robinson. The new medium of television exposed baseball to a genuinely national audience; altered the financial picture for teams, owners, and players; and changed the way Americans followed the game. Center Field Shot explores these changesand#8212;all even more prominent in the first few years of the twenty-first centuryand#8212;and makes sense of their meaning for Americaand#8217;s pastime.and#160;Center Field Shot traces a sometimes contentious but mutually beneficial relationship from the first televised game in 1939 to the new era of Internet broadcasts, satellite radio, and high-definition TV, considered from the perspective of businessmen collecting merchandising fees and advertising rights, franchise owners with ever more money to spend on talent, and broadcasters trying to present a game long considered and#8220;unfriendlyand#8221; to television. Ultimately the association of baseball with television emerges as a reflection ofand#8212;perhaps even a central feature ofand#8212;American culture at large.
About the Author
James R. Walker is a professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Communication at Saint Xavier University. He is the coauthor of Center Field Shot: A History of Baseball on Television (Nebraska, 2008) and The Broadcast Television Industry. Pat Hughes has been the radio voice of the Chicago Cubs since 1996.