Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers

Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers
by Curt Smith

Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers
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Book Summary Information

Author: Curt Smith
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-04
ISBN: 0786714468
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Da Capo Press

Book Reviews of Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers

Book Review: Absolutely Awful!!
Summary: 1 Stars

Because there is really nothing like it, Smith's 'Voices of the Game' works despite the author's continual self-indulgence. The stories remain compelling even when the author is offering prose that is, at most times, numbing. Smith is the authorial version of a speaker in love with the sound of his own voice.

Like his dreary MLB Blog, Smith's 'Voices of Summer' is nothing but bits and pieces of fluffy rambling rehashed, regurgitated, and spun over and over and over again. The ratings system, which Smith seems to be quite proud of, is not really all that impressive and appears to offer a weak excuse for Smith to tell readers all about his favorites. Granted, I wasn't looking for objectivity here, but why bother...just rate the voices and give us your opinion.

Unfortunately, Smith's opinions are mostly incoherent blurbs in which the author mixes odd bits of old books with choppy sentences that pretend to grand eloquence. What should have been a pleasant book about a very pleasant subject was, all too often, a painful and sickening experience. Sickening? Yes. Sickening. I wanted my money back less than halfway through.

I gave it one star, which was being generous since I ended up loathing this book. Worse, it actually makes the failings of 'Voices of the Game' more telling.

For a former presidential speech writer, Smith is a pretentious and overly wordy author who, frankly, just isn't that good. This book was a sham and one wonders what he can offer in an upcoming biography of Mel Allen that others - more talented by far - have not already offered.

Bottom line. Avoid this stinker and, if you have to read Smith, pick up 'Voices of the Game' because everything in this book is there in a more coherent and interesting format.

Summary of Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers

Russ Hodges's frantic pronouncement at Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World": "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" and Jack Buck's incredulous remark after Kirk Gibson's heroic home run in the 1988 World Series: "I don't believe what I just saw!" are just a couple examples. The sometimes downright hysterical commentaries of broadcasters very often become more memorable than even the games they describe. Though countless studies have weighed the merits of our great players, none has assessed the virtues of the men who turn diving catches and soaring home runs into the stuff of myth. In The Voices of Summer, Curt Smith has compiled a list of 101 classic announcers-from national celebrities to local favorites, overlooked giants to upcoming stars-in search of the greatest baseball broadcaster of all time. From the poetic reflections of Dick Enberg to the Falstaffian frenzy of Harry Caray, Smith answers the timeless questions: Was Mel Allen better than Ernie Harwell? Does Joe Buck compare to his legendary dad? Which of today's young broadcasters really matches the all-time greats? Irreverent, authoritative, and uncommonly addictive, this book will be the definitive guide to baseball announcing for any and all baseball fans.

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