To Absent Friends

Sportswriter Walter "Red" Smith (1905-1982) is increasingly forgotten today, but he was the top of his craft. A newspaperman and sportswriter from the 1920's until his passing, Smith also wrote a daily column for 43 years. Here are some of his most moving remembrances for various figures as they passed away. We hear about Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Lefty Grove, Connie Mack, Pop Warner, and many others figures, some famous, some not. Consider his account of Babe Ruth's 1948 funeral on a sweltering summer day, after that baseball great had struck out against cancer. "I'd give my right arm for a beer," said one teamate/pallbearer. "So would the Babe," answered another. Smith was a superb wordsmith with a touching feel for humanity. This book plus THE RED SMITH READER compile some of his best columns from the seven decades that he wrote wisely and productively.