Curt Smith

This extraordinary look at both baseball and the presidency, and how the two are intertwined, starting with Teddy Roosevelt to the present, could well be my favorite book of the year.

Amazing and fascinating detail of how the presidents related to the game. Smith didn't just explore whether the president's threw out first pitches, as presidents are known to do, but rather delved further into whether they were fans, played the game, which teams they liked, even the extent to which their wives and/or families were baseball fans, all put into historical context. Some of the details are already pretty well known, like FDR's "green-light letter" allowing the MLB to continue during World War 2, or George W. Bush and the return of baseball at Yankee Stadium after 9/11. Other portions were not nearly as well known.

I've read more than 300 baseball books thus far and Curt Smith is among the very best authors on our National Pastime. I used to think that Mead and Dickson's Baseball: The President's Game was the definitive book on the subject, but not anymore. This is it.

Highly recommended!! An outstanding book that is meant to be savored.

(received via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honesty review)… (meer)

Curt Smith is an extraordinary chronicler on myriad aspects of the game. He has written about ballparks (STORIED STADIUMS: Baseball's History Through Its Ballparks and OUR HOUSE: a Tribute to Fenway Park) and broadcasters (VOICES OF THE GAME). In his new book, WHAT BASEBALL MEANS TO ME, he takes on the sport as a whole, via this collection of anecdotes from a wide variety of devotees. He blends these misty-eyed tales with pictures meant to represent the everyman quality associated with the national pastime.

Smith has amassed the sentimental views of over a hundred famous and semi-famous people, from politicians, musicians, actors, athletes (and not just baseball players) and journalists. Among those giving their voice to WHAT BASEBALL MEANS TO ME are such notables as George Bush and George W. Bush, Dan Rather, Tim Russert, Marvin Hamlisch, Dave Barry and Billy Bob Thornton. Their memories might consist of a single Little League at bat, or something much deeper, such as how baseball brings people together socially.… (meer)

Seems as if I'm the only person on here who has this book. For fans of baseball broadcasting, this is an indispensable book. From Red Barber to Curt Gowdy, Vin Scully to Mel Allen, Joe Garagiola to Dizzy Dean, this is a loving tribute to the men who broadcast baseball over radio and TV. The various blackout restrictions in the 50's and 60's are explored, and the impact of Dizzy Dean as a broadcaster was a revelation to me. I was too young to remember his heyday, but he was the man who captured the heartland with his folksy rambles.… (meer)