Through an amalgam of anecdote, recollection and gossip, he describes the mood of a time gone by, a time when newspapers were the primary deliverers of information, and their writers were the nation's storytellers. It was an era before television, a time when the likes of Damon Runyon, Ring Lardner and Grantland Rice were recognizable by the style of their writing, not the style of their hair. The transformation began with the arrival of television. In short order, broadcasters were stars, athletes were millionaires, and fans became publicity mongers, arriving at games with their faces painted more brightly than their signs. Koppett has brilliantly described this evolution and has crafted a book that will be the benchmark on the subject for years to come.
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
The Rise and Fall of the Press Box
By Leonard Koppett
The Rise and Fall of the Press Box is a personal memoir from the dean of American sports writers. Leonard Koppett draws on 60 years of observation to analyze how the stature of a national cultural phenomenon--the press box--was diminished by the onset of 20th Century technology. But more than a history of the press box, Koppett delivers a seminal work on sport as a cultural influence in 20th Century America. |
|
About the author
Leonard Koppett was among the most respected sports writers of the 20th Century. A member of the writers' wing in the Halls of Fame of baseball and basketball, Koppett authored 17 books, including Koppett's Concise History of Major League Baseball, The Thinking Fan's Guide to Baseball and 24 Seconds to Shoot: The Birth and Improbable Rise of the NBA, during a career that spanned six decades and included stints at The New York Times, New York Herald Tribune and the New York Post before a second career in California at the Palo Alto Times and Oakland Tribune. Born in Moscow, he immigrated to New York with his family at the age of five and graduated from Columbia University, where he began writing about sports as an undergraduate in the 1940s. Koppett also did extensive magazine, radio and television work, as well as teaching university courses in journalism, sports law, business and current affairs. He died on June 22, 2003 at the age of 79, two weeks after completing The Rise and Fall of the Press Box.
|
 |
|
|
Details
$23.95 USCloth 6 x 9 ISBN 1-894963-04-0 304 pages 14 B&W photos, 3 color photos Praise
"One of the more erudite autobiographies this fall." - Publisher's Weekly "Through the years, reading Koppett has been a joy and an education." - Bob Kostas, NBC "...a seminal figure in modern sports writing." - journalism.org "He was a gifted writer first and an analytical thinker who often took the path less chosen." - San Jose Mercury News "The man was literally a walking encyclopedia on a number of topics." - San Francisco Chronicle "The Professor of the Pressbox" - San Francisco Chronicle "You can learn a lot by listening to smart people." - Chicago Tribune "If you ever wondered what Einstein might have been like as a sportswriter, Koppett served as the prototype for the better part of 50 years." - Oakland Tribune "He was one of the most innovative, knowledgeable and astute thinkers in the game of baseball." - Oakland Tribune "A fascinating look not just at his own career, but the sports media as a whole." - January magazine |
