May 1, 2003

BOISE STATE PROFS HOPE 
NEW BASEBALL BOOK IS A 
HIT WITH FANS

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Two integral pieces of American culture, baseball and movies, often share the big screen. Films such as “Field of Dreams,” “The Natural” and “A League of Their Own” have become Hollywood classics. Reel Baseball, a new book from McFarland Publishers (softcover, 326 pages, $29.95), features two chapters coauthored by Boise State University communication professors Marty Most and Robert Rudd looking at several aspects of film and baseball. It is edited by Stephen C. Wood and J. David Pincus. Reel Baseball is organized into four sections, each focusing on different aspects of baseball in film. The first three — “Baseball in Baseball Films,” “Babe Ruth and the Silver Screen” and “Baseball in Non-Baseball Films” — are comprised of essays by scholars in various disciplines. Most and Rudd contributed two essays to these sections: “Cinematic Reflections of Baseball’s Cultural Ideology” and “The Community of Baseball.” The fourth section contains interviews with directors, broadcasters, coaches and others who have worked in baseball and the movie industry. Reel Baseball is one of four projects that Most and Rudd have collaborated on in recent years. The others are: • “Portrayals of Racial Minorities in Baseball Films,” a chapter in The Fourteenth Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American Culture (sponsored by SUNY and the National Baseball Hall of Fame), scheduled for release in mid-June, McFarland Publishers. • “Designated Heroes: The Baseball Player in American Film,” a chapter in Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Communicating Baseball, 2002, Hampton Press. • “‘I Haven’t Got Ball Players – I’ve Got Girls’: Portrayals of Women in Baseball Film,” a chapter in The Twelfth Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American Culture, 2001, McFarland Publishers. -30- Contacts Marty Most Communication 208 426-1920 Robert Rudd Communication 208 426-1904 Media Contact Kathleen Craven communications and marketing 208 426-3275

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