FRIDAYS WITH RED: A Radio Friendship ...

FRIDAYS WITH RED: A Radio Friendship by Bob Edwards (Pocket Books: $12; 240 pp., illustrated). In 1981, pioneer sportscaster Walter Lanier “Red” Barber began a second career as a weekly commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition. Even listeners who had no interest in baseball or professional sports enjoyed his unrehearsed commentaries: Barber frequently departed from the planned material, leaving host Bob Edwards to play catch-up. Edwards has compiled a warmly affectionate but never maudlin memoir that will delight listeners who still miss Barber’s pithy observations, delivered in his inimitable Southern drawl.