Red Smith on Baseball: The Game's Greatest Writer on the Game's Greatest Years

Red Smith was one of New York's premier baseball writers. His career spanned the period from 1941 to 1981. He was in his prime in the 1950s and 1960s when I was a avid baseball (Yankee) fan and I read all the sports columns particularly those in the New York Times or the Herald Tribune. The very first column about Mickey Owen's dropping Heinrich's third strike is a gem and a great choice to start out with. The articles are in a chronological order by decades. While there is some coverage of the 1970s and 1980s over half the book covers articles from the 40s and 50s and well over two thirds of it covers through the 60s. He likes to quote Casey Stengel who had many gems to include. This is great for Yankee fans as brings back memories of the teams of the 50s and the way they were managed.

This is a collection of columns by Red Smith, one of the greatest sports reporters who ever lived. He wrote in an unusual style, telling a story in his colorful way, rather than reporting the highlights of the game and throwing in some quotes from the players. You need to pay closer attention to his columns than to the average sports story you'll see in a newspaper today, but you'll not only find out what happened the previous day, you'll also be entertained by his writing.I've been a huge fan of Red Smith's ever since I heard his classic line about the horrible Packers team that finished a season with one win, ten losses and a tie. He wrote that they overwhelmed one team, underwhelmed 10 and whelmed one. If you got a kick out of that line, you'll enjoy this collection of baseball columns.It also gives you a good glimpse of New York baseball in the 40's and 50's.

If you are a fan of baseball and of good writing, then you already have this book. If for some reason it's escaped your attention, it's the perfect antidote for post-World Series withdrawal. There is no need to repeat all the good things said about this man as a writer, so I'll limit myself to a few observations. The choice of columns documents Red's contributions to the cults of Dimaggio and Stengel. There are also several columns about the last game of a WS, and it's interesting to see how much space he used in short columns to come up with new descriptions of the pile-up on the mound after the last pitch. Finally, two quibbles: this book was not proof-read, it was spell-checked. That's a disgrace to a writer as careful as Red. And the cover photo appears to be Dodger Stadium, which, considering the columns inside the book about Walter O'Malley's abandonment of Brooklyn, is ironic to put it mildly. These are just irritations, though. Overall, this is a must-have in a baseball collection.

The subtitle indicates for whom this book will have the greatest appeal: "The Game's Greatest Writer on the Game's Greatest Years." Included are 167 of Smith's best columns (written during the years 1941-1981) which were syndicated in almost 300 newspapers throughout the United States. How good was Smith? In the Foreword, Ira Berkow notes that a "blue-ribbon panel" was commissioned to select the 25 most influential newspaper people of the Twentieth Century. The final list included numerous publishers (eg Pulitzer, Ochs, and Graham) and writers (eg Mencken, Lippmann, and Pyle) but only one sportswriter: Red Smith. I thoroughly reading every single column and especially appreciated Smith's comments on Hall of Famers, of course, but also on dozens of others who had but one brief moment of glory. For example, Floyd ("Bill") Bevens, Al Gionfriddo, and Cookie Lavagetto. For those who share my passion for what was once the "national pastime", Smith was more than a great baseball writer or (as the blue-ribbon panel concluded) a great writer, period. He was also an anthropologist who examined a unique culture with style and grace as well as precision. Also with delicious wit. I would love to share Smith's thoughts about Major League Baseball today. Alas, that is a book he cannot write...and a book no one else could write better than he. Period.

Except for Ken Smith's National Baseball Hall of Fame (1947), this work rates at the top of the baseball list. It is so good that I have given copies to the various Frick & Spink awardees with whom I have corresponded. Best described as shorties: selected daily writings by the dean of baseball writers. Get to know the players as they really existed, not as today's fables want you to believe. You can't go wrong here.