Renowned Presidential speechwriter-turned-sports-historian Curt Smith joins the podcast this week for an erudite look at the not-so-obvious concentricity between the story of baseball in America with both the growth of broadcasting and the evolution of electoral politics.

Drawing from some of his most seminal works on baseball history - most notably 1987's iconic Voices of the Game, the anthological Memories from the Microphone, and the newly updated-in-paperback The Presidents and the Pastime - Smith helps put the game into richer cultural perspective, with astute observations of its unmistakable intertwinement with media and government.

Voices of the Game: The Acclaimed Chronicle of Baseball Radio and Television Broadcasting -- from 1921 to the Present - buy here

Memories from the Microphone: A Century of Baseball Broadcasting - buy here

The Presidents and the Pastime: The History of Baseball and the White House - buy here