{"product_id":"the-presidents-and-the-pastime-the-history-of-baseball-and-the-white-house-paperback-softback-9781496241023","title":"The Presidents and the Pastime; The History of Baseball and the White House (Paperback \/ softback) 9781496241023","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eThe History of Baseball and the White House\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eCurt Smith (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781496241023\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 1 October 2024\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e514 pages, 24 photographs, 1 illustration, index\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.774 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\"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, \u003ci\u003eBaseball Reflections\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“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 \u003ci\u003eWe Are Many, We Are One\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Way We’ll Be\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eSport in American History\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"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, \u003ci\u003ePresidential History Network\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"As a former presidential speechwriter and the author of \u003ci\u003eVoices of the Game,\u003c\/i\u003e the classic history of baseball broadcasting, Smith is the ideal person to unearth a rich vein of anecdotal material.\"-Ross Atkin, \u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eGalveston County Daily News\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"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, \u003ci\u003eWeekly Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e] 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, \u003ci\u003eRochester Business Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e 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, \u003ci\u003eGotham Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"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, \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e draws on Curt Smith’s extensive background as a former White House presidential speechwriter to chronicle the historic relationship between the “most American” sport-baseball-and the U.S. presidency.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Smith, who \u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e has called “America’s voice of authority on baseball broadcasting,” begins 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. Smith tracks every U.S. president from Theodore Roosevelt to Joe Biden, each chapter filled with anecdotes: Woodrow Wilson, buoyed by baseball after suffering disability; a heroic Franklin Roosevelt, saving baseball in World War II; Jimmy Carter, taught the game by his mother, Lillian; and George H. W. Bush, who explained, “Baseball has everything.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Presidents and the Pastime\u003c\/i\u003e provides a riveting narrative of how America’s leaders have treated baseball. From William Howard Taft, the first president to throw the “first pitch” on Opening Day in 1910, to Barack Obama’s “Go [White] Sox!” scrawled in the guest register at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2014, our presidents have deemed it the quintessentially American sport.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e List of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e 1. Beginnings: 1700s to Theodore Roosevelt, 1901–\u003cbr\u003e1909\u003cbr\u003e 2. Power of Two: William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson, 1909–\u003cbr\u003e1921\u003cbr\u003e 3. Triple Play: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, 1921–\u003cbr\u003e1933\u003cbr\u003e 4. “\u003cbr\u003eThe Champ”\u003cbr\u003e: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933–\u003cbr\u003e1945\u003cbr\u003e 5. The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman, 1945–\u003cbr\u003e1953\u003cbr\u003e 6. “\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Heart of America”\u003cbr\u003e: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953–\u003cbr\u003e1961\u003cbr\u003e 7. “\u003cbr\u003eThe First Irish Brahmin”\u003cbr\u003e: John F. Kennedy, 1961–\u003cbr\u003e1963\u003cbr\u003e 8. Larger Than Life: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963–\u003cbr\u003e1969\u003cbr\u003e 9. Nixon’\u003cbr\u003es the One: Richard Nixon, 1969–\u003cbr\u003e1974\u003cbr\u003e 10. “\u003cbr\u003eFriendship, a Perfect Blendship!”\u003cbr\u003e: Gerald Ford, 1974–\u003cbr\u003e1977\u003cbr\u003e 11. From Softball to Hardball: Jimmy Carter, 1977–\u003cbr\u003e1981\u003cbr\u003e 12. The Gipper: Ronald Reagan, 1981–\u003cbr\u003e1989\u003cbr\u003e 13. The Baseball Lifer: George H. W. Bush, 1989–\u003cbr\u003e1993\u003cbr\u003e 14. Our Man Bill: William Jefferson Clinton, 1993–\u003cbr\u003e2001\u003cbr\u003e 15. W.: George W. Bush, 2001–\u003cbr\u003e2009\u003cbr\u003e 16. The Pioneer: Barack Obama, 2009–\u003cbr\u003e2017\u003cbr\u003e 17. The Donald and the Game: Donald Trump, 2017–\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index     \u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52600287920408,"sku":"9781496241023","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-presidents-and-the-pastime-the-history-of-baseball-and-the-white-house-paperback-softback-9781496241023","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}