Voices of the Game: The First Full-Scale Overview of Baseball Broadcasing, 1921 to the Present: The First Full-Scale Overview of Baseball Broadcasing,

This exhaustive study, written by the author of America's Dizzy Dean, etc., is monumental. It is surely the definitive work on the subject, with profiles of virtually all the major broadcasters in the history of the national pastime and mentions minor ones, as well. Each section begins with an overview of political and social events in a given era, then turns to significant developments in baseball, thus placing the broadcasters in context, starting with Harold Arlin, who announced the first game over KDKA in Pittsburgh on August 5, 1921. Here are Grantland Rice airing the initial World Series play-by-play in 1921; the golden age, personified by Red Barber in Cincinnati and Brooklyn, and Mel Allen at Yankee Stadium; figures like Byrum Saam in Philadelphia, Harry Heilmann in Detroit and Curt Gowdy in Boston; TV and the era of the jockocracy, with the likes of Phil Rizzuto and Joe Garagiola. Impressive. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (June 1)