Celebrating a century of baseball broadcasting, It all started on August 5, 1921, as Harold Arlin, an announcer on KDKA Pittsburgh sat in a ground-level box seat, used a converted telephone as a microphone-and broadcast baseball's first game on radio. Organized chronologically, Memories from the Microphone celebrates the rich history of baseball over the radio and television airwaves-a century of baseball broadcasting history from Mel Allen to Harry Caray, Vin Scully to Joe Morgan, Red Barber to Suzyn Waldman, and Buck Canel to Bob Costas. Here you will find one story after another from historian Curt Smith, who has spent four decades researching baseball broadcasting and interviewing the men and women who brought us the game. Their stories light up baseball's history, including: Later in his career, Harry Caray drank hot tea to care for his throat. Once, the headset cord tangled with the string of the tea bag, and Harry opened WGN's telecast with a tea bag hanging from his ear. Catcher-turned-comic Bob Uecker began doing "stand-up, weird, and ignorant stuff about my career." Anyone who saw him play, Uke said, know he had "plenty of material." Bob Costas, reminiscing about his early playing career, commented, "you know what they say about guy who can't even hit their weight," Bob said, "That was me, and I weighed 118 pounds." Well-known Yankees' broadcaster Suzyn Waldman had two loves-Broadway and baseball-and often sang the national anthem at The Stadium. Phil Rizzuto and his wife enjoyed an audience with Pope John Paul II, who changed his schedule to accommodate the couple. "Holy Cow!" said Scooter, "That's as close to God as you can get." Book jacket.