Covering the Bases: The Most Unforgettable Moments in Baseball in the Words of the Writers and Broadcasters Who Were There - Softcover

If journalism is history on deadline, then the sports pages and air waves, at their best, function as the abstracts and brief chronicles of a remarkable corner of our times. Baseball, more than any sport, has hoisted the history component of that equation into an art form. Aptly subtitled The Most Unforgettable Moments in Baseball in the Words of the Writers and Broadcasters Who Were There, Covering the Bases recognizes that art form and builds it a museum. Masterpieces abound between its covers: Grantland Rice on Walter Johnson, Paul Gallico on Babe Ruth's called shot, Shirley Povich on Lou Gehrig's farewell, Russ Hodges's call of Bobby Thompson's shot heard 'round the world, Vin Scully's desciption of Sandy Koufax's perfecto (though its classic last line about the K looming larger than the o-u-f-a-x has been bizarrely omitted), and both Jim Murray and Dave Anderson on Reggie Jackson's three home-run performance in the final game of the 1977 World Series. Covering the Bases is a collection that equally rocks the house and soothes the connoisseur's heart.

Benedict Cosgrove is an editor, journalist, and writer who lives in San Francisco.

Ron Rapoport is a nationally syndicated columnist for the LA Daily News, NPR correspondent for Weekend Edition, and editor of A Kind of Grace, a collection of sports writing by women.