“If you’re a baseball fan, you’ll know the name Curt Smith.” That’s how David J. Halberstam leads off this nice piece, “Curt Smith continues his love for baseball on radio and television; He’ll never forget the 60s and 70s,” for SportsBroadcastJournal.com. I’ve had the pleasure of reading many of Smith’s books as well as chatting […]
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Curt Smith
Our old friend, Curt Smith, weighs in on the top contenders for the 2023 Frick Award, bestowed by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball,” in Sports Business Journal. Of course, I’m biased and am hoping that the Mets’ Gary Cohen gets the honor, but I’m sure the other […]
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Curt Smith
Curt Smith and I go way back, relatively speaking. My first interview with him came in 2012 when he published Mercy!: A Celebration of Fenway Park’s Centennial Told Through Red Sox Radio and TV. In The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House — the subject of this Conversation — he […]
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baseball and politics,
Curt Smith
I wonder if Curt Smith plans on issuing an updated version of his 2009 bio, Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story. Seems like it’s not only warranted, but given that Scully called it quits after the Dodgers’ final game of 2016 practically a necessity. Now Smith could include more tributes to the iconic […]
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Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
The late sports radio pioneer Graham McNamee has been named the recipient of the 2016 Ford Frick award for excellence in broadcasting. From the Hall of Fame press release: Graham McNamee, whose national play-by-play of the World Series in the earliest days of radio transformed the one-time opera singer into a household name, has been […]
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Curt Smith,
Graham McNamee
Curt Smith, author of several fine volumes about baseball broadcasters and broadcasting, offers this nostalgic essay on “Spring training: Baseball’s Brigadoon” in the Irondequoit Post. Publishers Weekly published their annual list of new baseball topics. Unfortunately, it’s only available to subscribers. I’ll see if I can find an end-around at some point. “Spring inevitably means […]
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Boston Red Sox,
Curt Smith,
Joe Black,
John Klima,
Mark Simon,
Nolan Ryan,
NY Mets,
Rob Goldman,
Sandy Alderson,
Steve Kettmann,
Who's Who in baseball
Curt Smith and Scott Pitoniak will launch a new weekly baseball radio show — A Talk in the Park — on WYSL 92.1 FM and 1040 AM, on Saturday, Jan. 12, at noon, The 60-minute series will be available outside of Western New York via the Internet on wysl1040.com. Pitoniak, left, recipient of more than […]
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Curt Smith,
Scott Pitoniak
Congrats to Zachary James of Searsboro, Iowa, winner of the RKBB Facebook fan drawing, Curt Smith’s new book is A Talk in the Park: Nine Decades of Baseball Tales from the Broadcast Booth. (Yeah, I know it’s “like,” but that just sounds stupid in context, so I’m gonna keep on going with “fan.”) The next […]
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Curt Smith,
John Thorn
As a former presidential speechwriter and current senior lecturer of English at the University of Rochester, it’s safe to say that Curt Smith loves the spoken (and written) word. His output as an author combines that enthrallment with baseball; he’s written several books that highlight not the players on the field, but the people who […]
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Curt Smith,
Fenway Park
Due to the vagaries of the publishing world, there are bound to be additional books on the Fenway Park and Mets anniversaries. Case in point, Curt Smith, who specializes in paying homage to the men and women who have brought the game to millions of fans over the years on radio and television, gives his […]
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Curt Smith,
Fenway Park
A day late, but with all due respect to Scully, who turned 84 yesterday. Curt Smith, the go-to writer on the history of baseball broadcasting, published Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story in 2009.
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baseball broadcasting,
Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
In this piece from the Hartford Courant, author Curt Smith (Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball’s 101 All-Time Best Announcers) recalls the classic days of baseball on the radio, replete with advertisements the broadcasters managed to squeeze in whenever they could. One of the neat things about minor league baseball is the advertising signage from local […]
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baseball radio,
Curt Smith
The American Spectator published this review of Curt Smith’s new book, emblematic of an increasing sentiment. Upshot: Unfortunately, Smith gives us a wealth of good information in a pedestrian writing style, clipped and choppy and occasionally incoherent. He sometimes changes subject in the middle of a paragraph. There are quotes where it’s hard to tell […]
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Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published this piece on the author of the new Vin Scully biography. The Amazon Report on Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story
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baseball broadcasters,
Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
Time to play a little catch-up: From Pressboxonline.com, a Baltimore-sports oriented site, a review of Bert Randolph Sugar’s new coffee table book about the Hall of Fame. “[The author] left nothing out and I can’t think of a better way to educate those whom are grasping for a better understanding of baseball’s history than to […]
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Alex Rodriguez,
baseball books,
Baseball Hall of Fame,
Brooklyn Dodgers,
Chicago Cubs,
Curt Smith,
Michael Shapiro,
Roger Clemens,
steroids,
Vin Scully
An audio interview, downloadable, as featured on Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest.
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Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
The Ventura County Star posted this review on Curt Smith’s new Vin Scully biography. Upshot: Some people say “God is in the details.” Others say “the devil is in the details.” With Smith’s writing both are present. Those of us who look forward to poring over every facet of Scully’s life won’t be disappointed; Smith […]
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Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
As reviewed in The Los Angeles Times. Upshot: …[T]hose seeking deeper insights into the redheaded announcer will be disappointed. Scully, now 81, is a humble man and has long said he does not want a biography written about him. He did not cooperate with Smith, and the result is an engaging yet uneven book. The […]
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Curt Smith,
Vin Scully
Keith Olberman writes the “Baseball Nerd” under the MLB.blogs banner. In this entry, he takes Curt Smith to task for an error in Pull Up a Chair, his new biography of legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Olberman, who makes his living being contrary, used to be a baseball book reviewer in a former life. “[O]ne […]
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Curt Smith,
Keith Olberman,
Vin Scully
* Bits and Pieces
June 17, 2009
Time to play a little catch-up: From Pressboxonline.com, a Baltimore-sports oriented site, a review of Bert Randolph Sugar’s new coffee table book about the Hall of Fame. “[The author] left nothing out and I can’t think of a better way to educate those whom are grasping for a better understanding of baseball’s history than to […]
Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, baseball books, Baseball Hall of Fame, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Curt Smith, Michael Shapiro, Roger Clemens, steroids, Vin Scully
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