Baseball in the Afternoon: Tales from a Bygone Era

Now 88, Smith ( Baseball ) here recalls sitting on the Boston Red Sox bench in the teen years of the century with the likes of Babe Ruth (then a pitcher), Stuffy McInnis and Wally Schang. He absorbed the tales told not only by these athletes but also by much older men who had played with 19th-century stars Cap Anson, A. G. Spalding and Charley Comiskey. Smith's diamond anecdotes reach back to the 1870s, a feast for readers along with his reminiscences of Waite Hoyt, Hal Chase, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and such non-players as Judge K. M. Landis, the sport's first czar. With this eyewitness account, Smith makes a valuable contribution to the history of baseball. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)