Full Description
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 Gehrig's farewell speech, and Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World." 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. 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. Despite cable television'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.
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Game in Words and Sound
Part I. The Formative Years, 1920-36
1. Early World Series Coverage
2. The Local Game Begins
3. Inventing a New Craft
4. The Baseball-Radio War
5. The World Series Triggers a National Obsession
6. Advertisers Expand Baseball Coverage
Part II. The Age of Acceptance, 1937-60
7. Re-Creating Baseball
8. Baseball Reluctantly Embraces Radio
9. An Explosion in National Coverage
Part III. The Television Years, 1961-Present
10. Radio in the Age of Television
11. The Modern Baseball Announcer
12. Baseball Broadcasts in the Digital Era
Epilogue
Appendix: Number of Team Radio Stations by Year, 1936-2001
Notes
Index
