Pickleloaf.com : VHS : Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns


VHS : Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns In association with Amazon.com Rating: - Baseball is too broad a title for this narrow look Call the film something other than "Baseball". That word is far too broad for what we get to see. Let's look at one installment: "Inning 8: 1960-1970". Point One: There must be very little baseball history in the midwest U.S. because "Baseball" tells very little from it. This must be mentioned as a disclaimer. However, there are stories from the midwest that should never be overlooked. For example, the 1968 season in Detroit seemed to fit so well into the flow of the documentary. A city in Detroit that was ravaged by race riots with a team that lived, breathed and tasted the experience, but also drank the cup of victory. That story is as much about the city of Detroit as it is baseball. It is etched in the city's history and it is unreasonable not to tell such a story in the context of the decade. I wonder what went into why it was not told or how it ended up on the cutting room floor? Was this at the request of Curt Flood, who was featured in this decade's segment? It was Flood's stumble and defensive miscue in center field that handed Detroit a game seven and series victory. In general, I found the lack of midwestern baseball stories to be as aggravating as baseball coverage is in general from the national media. The St. Louis Cardinals are the only midwest representative in this segment. Regretfully, this is the case with the one documentarian who can get a grant package big enough to produce such a large series on national public television. Where is the public service? Secondly, the tone of the film is terrible. It's rather depressing to watch. It relies too heavily on a few commentators and subjects. Those historians who talk about their experience with events as fans are dispassionate about the game. The film should have found fans instead of historians. Since it clearly was not concerned with any sort of comprehensive history, but instead storytelling, go to the people who can tell stories best. Those would be baseball fans, not historians. Trust me, the history of the game is easily told without historians speaking to their personal connection and childhood experiences. The film could have been a great deal of fun to watch, even without being comprehensive. I would love to have seen some of the passion and excitement of the New York Mets fans in 1969, even though the Mets received too much attention at that point of the eighth segment. Overall, the set is not fun to watch. I've been a passionate baseball fan since as early as I can remember but "Baseball" by Ken Burns is not something that I am attracted to, but rather felt the need to endure to be able to claim I hadn't missed it. That stinks. Rating: - The consummate set of videos about Baseball. Contained in these ten DVD's are just about every historical moment in baseball. Inning 1 Baseball from its inception in the 1840's to the 1900's This explores baseballs roots from Abner Doubleday to the beginnings of what we know as modern day baseball. Inning 2 1900 to 1910. The beginning of the World Series. Great footage and photos of old parks and players. Inning 3 1910 TO 1920. Covers Babe Ruth, the Black sox, Grover Cleveland Alexander and more. Footage of Fenway being built Inning 4 1920 to 1930 Really the beginnings of the Yankee dynasty but the Cardinals rule the Natonal league with the famed gass house gang. Inning 5 1930 to 1940. More footage of all the great stars of the day, Ruth, Di Maggio, Williams and more. Inning 6 1940 to 1950. The effects of war on the American pastime. The splendid splinter goes to war, he comes back and picks up where he left off. Inning 7 1950 to 1960. The Yankee dynasty continues. Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, The shot heard around the world, Don Larsons perfect game. The Giants and Dodgers pick and leave. Inning 8 1960 to 1970. The Los Angeles Angels are born, The Kansas City A's become the Oakland A's, The Royals and Mets are born. The Padres are born and move into a small stadium outside of San Diego. And then there was the Seattle Pilots. Those amazin Mets win the World series. Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax get agents but are unsuccessful in changing baseballs anti trust act and re sign with the Dodgers. Maris passes the Babe with an asterisk. Inning 9 1970 to 1994. Curt Flood loses his war against baseball but the players eventually win. The players union gets stronger. The Reds come to power. The A's win a couple world series. Roberto Clemente's life cut short. Washington loses another team called the Senators. The film also has some great commentary interspersed through out all of the DVD's. At the end of each DVD is a trivia game based on the decade that the DVD covered. While the movie is based for the most part on New York teams this is truly a must for all baseball fans. There is no other collection of materials that covers baseball like this one does in terms of breadth and depth. Rating: - Good, but not absolutely great I hate to say it, mainly because I don't want to come off as racist, but this documentary spends a little too much time on the Negro Leagues. For a league no longer in existence, I think Burns could have spent as much time as he did on the other forgotten leagues. By the middle innings you are left wondering if this is a documentary about the Negro Leagues or about Baseball. He spends less time on the All American Girls Baseball League then it actually existed. This was America's first attempt at creating a women's professional sports league and it is treated in passing. In the end you find that seven of the innings are about professional baseball, specifically the Majors. One of the innings, not all together but in pieces across other innings, is devoted entirely to the Negro Leagues. And one inning, again not together but in pieces, is devoted to all the other leagues that came about (including the Federal League, the American Association, and the All American Girls Baseball League). Rating: - The best time capsule covering any sport history on video This series takes you from the beginning of Baseball to the 1990s. Most of it is covered by decade with the 9th inning covering the 1970s up to 1995 (about the time when the series aired on PBS). Has rare photos and film covering every event of the sport. Has extensive footage of the Negro League, Babe Ruth, and covers every star in the sport at their times. Has some mention of times about the minor league teams as well. I'm surprised being from Seattle and recalling what Baseball politics turned into this town around the 70s that the Pilots moving from Seattle to Milwaukee (to become the Brewers) wasn't covered as well as the legal battle to get the Mariners into the Kingdome. Was this dropped on purpose? That was an unusual move to do since a lot of the other legal wrangling with the owners, players, courts, the government, and the players union wasn't missed. Perhaps maybe it was dropped due to space on the last DVD. It's definately a piece of video history to have. Rating: - One of Ken Burns' Best I truly enjoyed this series and I like to watch it every year before the season starts. I think a lot of people miss the point about Ken Burns. This man realizes that race is the issue that stands at the heart of America's soul... it is the issue the shapes so much of our lives in ways we may not even realize. I understand if many may not want to hear this perspective, but if you shake Ken Burns, race is what comes out. In my studies of American history, it is the issue that comes up again and again. I do wish there are some things he could have done differently with "Baseball." Some of his pictures did not match with their respective narratives. Civil War historian Shelby Foote seemed really out of place in this series but he had great stories and besides... why can't he be a baseball fan? And as a native of DC, I wish he could have included more on the Washington Senators' story- a film clip of "Damn Yankees," and the story of how the Senators were bought by Bob Short in 1968 and the story of their final game on September 30, 1971, which ended as a forfeit because fans stormed the field in protest. I would have loved to have seen something on the '83 World Series with the Orioles. But I think Burns did a pretty decent job with the material he had. Every story could not be told and he did a great job covering the important ones. Perhaps my favorite moment of this series is where writer Gerald Early talks about when he played the game as a kid and he and his friends did everything they saw done in the professional game, and on their own, they would sing the National Anthem. What a heartwarming story! I'm really glad for the work of Ken Burns and his understanding of the issues that get to the heart of our society. PS- Ken Burns sometimes uses the wrong pic or video clip with a given subject. But even with that, I still do mot umderstand why, during Episode 8, "A Whole New Ballgame: 1960-69," during the Roger Maris segment, he showed Maris hitting a home run and the next thing you see is a homer going into THE WRIGLEY FIELD BLEACHERS! And the video looks obviously modern, just toned to black and white to look like old footage from the summer of '61. Is that all he could come up with? ???