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The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House
Current price:
$39.95
Publication Date: June 1st, 2018
Publisher:
University of Nebraska Press
ISBN:
9780803288096
Pages:
504
Usually Ships in 3 to 8 Days
Description
The Presidents and the Pastime draws on Curt Smith’s extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle the historic relationship between baseball, the “most American” sport, and the U.S. presidency.
Smith, who USA TODAY calls “America’s voice of authority on baseball broadcasting,” starts before America’s birth, when would‑be presidents played baseball antecedents. He charts how baseball cemented its reputation as America’s pastime in the nineteenth century, such presidents as Lincoln and Johnson playing town ball or giving employees time off to watch. Smith tracks every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump, each chapter filled with anecdotes: Wilson buoyed by baseball after suffering disability; a heroic FDR saving baseball in World War II; Carter, taught the game by his mother, Lillian; Reagan, airing baseball on radio that he never saw—by “re-creation.”
George H. W. Bush, for whom Smith wrote, explains, “Baseball has everything.” Smith, having interviewed a majority of presidents since Richard Nixon, shares personal stories on each. Throughout, The Presidents and the Pastime provides a riveting narrative of how America’s leaders have treated baseball. From Taft as the first president to throw the “first pitch” on Opening Day in 1910 to Obama’s “Go Sox!” scrawled in the guest register at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014, our presidents have deemed it the quintessentially American sport, enriching both their office and the nation.
Purchase the audio edition.
Praise for The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House
"Filled with anecdotes galore the result of intensive research, this terrific tome tantalizingly teases us with a new awareness of the subject matter."—Harvey Frommer, Baseball Reflections
“Curt Smith’s book is about so much more than just sports and politics. He brings us back to a less complicated America that loved its baseball and its presidents. In his wonderful prose and use of quotes, Smith enriches each institution and shows how vital this relationship has been to America. This is cultural history at its best and storytelling the way we love it.”—John Zogby, founder of the Zogby Poll and author of We Are Many, We Are One and The Way We’ll Be
"The Presidents and the Pastime is smartly written. . . . Smith writes in a conversational tone that sports fans and historians can appreciate. . . . Smith has produced a balanced view of the presidents' interaction with baseball that is easy to digest."—Bob D'Angelo, Sport in American History
"Smith’s storytelling is comprehensive and vivid, and the sheer scale of the narrative reminds us of the resilience and importance of an institutional relationship as old as the Republic itself."—Chris Birkett, Presidential History Network
"As a former presidential speechwriter and the author of Voices of the Game, the classic history of baseball broadcasting, Smith is the ideal person to unearth a rich vein of anecdotal material."—Ross Atkin, Christian Science Monitor
"The Presidents and the Pastime is a sunny book and a perfect summer read. While acknowledging faults, Smith focuses on the good in baseball, and the presidents covered regardless of party."—Mark Lardas, Galveston County Daily News
"Smith's book makes clear baseball's indelible mark on our national life and the president's own role in baseball's annual cycle. This comes through most clearly in his account of FDR—the president who more than any of his predecessors forged a personal bond with the American people, primarily through their radios but also through baseball."—Adam J. White, Weekly Standard
"[The Presidents and the Pastime] is chock-full of interesting anecdotes that get to the heart of this long-standing relationship between the White House and the emerald diamond. We learn that the popularity of our national pastime among presidents may actually predate the presidency. Before becoming "the father of our country," George Washington found relief from the stresses of the Revolutionary War by playing the British game of rounders, an antecedent to baseball."—Scott Pitoniak, Rochester Business Journal
"The Presidents and the Pastime is ultimately very satisfying, on the one hand a primer—or reminder—of the notable events (and sometimes scandals) of each administration, and on the other an examination of the changes in the game throughout the last 110 years, in particular. From Reagan's game recreations on Des Moines radio to Nixon's "Dream Team" selections to Taft's first pitch and inadvertent original "seventh inning stretch," Smith details it all in a book The Gipper would surely be proud of."—Jerry Milani, Gotham Baseball
"Curt Smith, a former White House speechwriter, delves into the considerable relationship presidents have had with baseball, perhaps the most American of sports."—Ed Sherman, Chicago Tribune
