Baseball over the Air: The National Pastime on the Radio and in the Imagination »

Tony Silvia is Professor and Director of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

This narrative contains the documentation and interpretation of two imaginative pastimes (radio and baseball) and illuminates each in a unique manner. It integrates radio and baseball historically, sociologically, and culturally using the common themes of imaginative expression. This book is a unique approach into the magic of radio's imaginative power. Broadcasting baseball on the radio has brought many millions of Americans an imaginative link to a game that is built upon recollections of athletic achievement that ring far truer in our "sweet imaginations." Through the use of our imaginations, we can see the game itself as more than just a game, but a gateway to an imaginative realm beyond the reality of everyday life.

Acknowledgments     V
Foreword   Dewayne Staats     1
Introduction     5
Imagination at Play: Radio, Baseball and the Creative Process
Long Distance Dreams: Baseball and Early Radio     19
Tall Tales and Recreations: Radio, Baseball, and Manufactured Reality     35
A Dark Room Deep in the Woods: Radio and Baseball in Fiction and Nonfiction     56
Imagination at Work: Radio, Baseball and the Creative Voice
Radio's Pioneer of Poetic License: Gordon McLendon     73
Spellbinding Storyteller: Radio's "Other" Stern     90
Casting a Magic Spell: Graham McNamee, Red Barber, and Mel Allen     103
Imagination at Home: Radio, Baseball and the Creative Listener
The Listener's Club: Radio, Baseball, and a Sense of Community     129
A New Community: Radio, Baseball, and Bloggers     146
A New Field of Play: Radio, Baseball, and the Future     160
Chapter Notes     173
Recordings of Radio Broadcasts in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library     181
Gordon McLendon Recordings in the Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University Library     208
Gordon McLendon's Call of Bobby Thomson's Famous "Shot Heard Round the World" (October 3, 1951)     211
Bibliography     217
Index     221