Baseball

2002. Archival recordings, interviews, music. 2 cds. 1.5 hrs. HighBridge Audio. 1-56511-745-X. $22.95. Cardboard; content, author notes. SA

Someone looking for an in-depth history of baseball should go elsewhere. That said, this is a fun overview that sounds much like an old-time radio documentary, complete with dramatic sound effects (some from archives), music, sound-bite comments by experts, interviews, and a narrator's voice that carries the burden of the information. The story hits the highlights: baseball's beginnings and evolution in the eastern U.S.; a shameful 1919 scandal in which players accepted a bribe to throw the World Series; major players and how each shaped the game; the effect of the media; the growth of leagues and stadiums; the Negro League and the circuitous path to racial integration; how baseball survived the world wars; and the contentious relationship between owners and players as they continue to fight over who has a right to the vast sums professional baseball generates. The game is in trouble despite the high expertise of the players because, it appears, few young people continue to hone their skills in vacant lots and because baseball seems lately to be more about money and less about the sport. Packaged with the disks is a small booklet that gives a print history of baseball, written by Lawrence Ritter, a baseball historian. Edna M. Boardman, Bismark, ND