In “Inventing Baseball Heroes,” author Amber Roessner reflects on what was once referred to as the ungodly union between the sports world and the media. Roessner spotlights the media’s mythical, and often exaggerated, portrayals of two of baseball’s dead ball era stars – Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. Both future hall of famer’s benefited greatly from their relationship with writers such as John Lardner and Grantland Rice.
Media figures would often shape popular opinion of celebrity figures by shining a positive light, whether warranted or not, and in exchange, would be granted access to the stars. In the case of Cobb, the “Georgia Peach” would even plant ideas for writer’s to paint him as a national hero – despite his scrapes with the law. As a result, Cobb would be aided financially by signing endorsement deals.
Additionally, the media would write stories attributed to baseball stars, but were in reality just ghostly written. In the era long before social media, the author demonstrates how baseball figures enjoyed stellar public relations due to the writer’s “creative freedoms” of the time.
By: Amber Roessner
Narrated by: Pam Rossi
Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
Release date: 07-15-17
