The Golden Voices of Baseball
Sports Book Review

by Harvey Frommer

The price is right and the project is just superb. The Golden Voices of Baseball by Ted Patterson ($39.95, 200 pages. Sports Publishing L.L.C.) including two audio CD's is a sports fans dream. In words, pictures and sound Mel Allen, Curt Gowdy, Harry Wismer, Red Barber, Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Russ Hodges, Byrum Saam and many others come back to us. This is the baseball nostalgic trip of all baseball nostalgia trips.

The Golden Voices of Baseball is many things. It is a primer on whose these announcers were, a history of baseball on the radio, a unique view and an even more unique hearing of the national pastime.

We are there listening to Russ Hodges and "THERE'S A LONG DRIVE, I BELIEVE. THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT, THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT."

We are there for Mel Allen's storied game accounts and his "How About That!" We are there enjoying baseball history page after page in one of the more impressive baseball books in years. Speaking about impressive baseball books - Sandy Koufax A Left's Legacy by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins, $23.95, 304 pages) is one of the most impressive sports bios to come along in many a moon. Leavy, an award-winning former sportswriter and feature writer for the Washington Post, was able with the cooperation of her subject to interview about 400 people and create a broad tapestry of insights into one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. The book is highly readable, remarkable for its depth and, interesting for its sometimes quaint anecdotes.

From the University of Missouri Press comes Before They Were Cardinals by Jon David Cash ($29.95, 272 pages) and Elston and Me by Arlene Howard with Ralph Wimbish ($24.95, 208 pages). Elston Howard was the first black baseball player to wear Yankee pinstripes and his wife and Wimbish bring back his time - lovingly and with passion. For those with a specific interest in major league baseball in 19th century St. Louis - the Cardinal book is the one for you. Well researched, it has all kinds of interesting information.

Robert Skead's Hitting Glory ($6.99, 119 pages, paper) is a moving story about an 11-year-old who finds an old wooden bat in the basement of his school. That school was P.S. #132, New York City, where Lou Gehrig attended. The rest is for you to read - - and when you do - you will have a most enjoyable reading experience. Incidentally, this is a great gift book for a youngster.

The New York Yankees: The First 25 Years by Vincent Luis (Arcadia Publishers, $19.99, 128 pages, paper) is part of the publisher's Images of Sports series. A slim volume, it nevertheless is winning entry in the growing list of books focused on the Yanks. Images are alone worth the price of admission.

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