Tony Silvia

Ever since baseball held the first World Series night game in 1971, sports pundits have complained that the late starting times dictated by avaricious television broadcasters would preclude kids with early bedtimes from becoming future fans. James R. Walker and Robert V. Bellamy Jr. take a deeper look at this sometimes-stormy marriage in Center Field Shot: A History of Baseball on Television (Nebraska). It’s hard to believe that there once was a time when team owners didn’t want their “product” shown on TV for fear it would keep fans from buying tickets. Little did they know how rich they would become from network and cable contracts.

Of course, a previous generation said the same thing about broadcasting on the radio. In Baseball Over the Air: The National Pastime on the Radio and In the Imagination (McFarland), Tony Silvia chronicles how that medium made countless fans out of those who heretofore had no way of accessing the game in “real time.” Radio, an aural enterprise, allowed listeners to use their imaginations, as the title suggests. Both books pay homage to the pioneers and personalities—such as Mel Allen, Red Barber, Harry Caray, and their broadcast descendants—who brought baseball into kitchens, living rooms, and cars, and helped extend the lineage of fans.… (plus d'informations)