Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider

by Bill Mercer

Both a memoir and a "how-to" for anyone who aspires to a career in broadcast journalism, particularly sports, this book calls on Mercer's vast experience and name recognition in Texas to give an insider's view of everything from play-by-play to interviewing a celebrity athlete. Mercer began his career as the voice of professional wrestling in Dallas in the 1950s, and later went on to be a play-by-play announcer for teams ranging from the Dallas Cowboys to the Chicago White Sox, in addition to a brief "hard news" stint at the time of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas in 1963.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

William A. Mercer was an American sportscaster, educator and author who, a native of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2002. He was best known for covering shows for the Dallas-based professional wrestling promotion World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), as well as local Dallas-Forth Worth area sports broadcasts. He would also provide notable coverage of the John F. Kennedy assassination.

Reviews

[Ray Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have given it 5 stars as I found all the stuff he wrote about interesting. But I took of one point because it was redundant in some places, and could have used tighter editing. Also, I knew that while he was primarily a sports guy, Bill Mercer was a newsman reporting in Dallas on the day JFK was assassinated. I know he's part of another about it, but I was disappointed that he totally glossed over it in this book.