The rise and fall of the press box

the long version

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. 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.