Baseball; How Baseball Began; Winterball

The national pastime gets the royal treatment in director Ken Burns 17 hr. epic Baseball. Coming off the successes of The Civil War (VL-5/90) and Empire of the Air (VL-6/92), Burns extends his winning streak with this huge opus to the game, the players, and their colorful history. Weaving together archival footage and stills with onscreen interviews and superb narration (provided by author/historian David McCullough, who also hosts The American Experience), Burns does in Baseball what he's been doing all along: he tells a sweeping story about a big American subject. And he does it by meticulously recreating the social milieu of the period, and peopling his film with fascinating characters whose lives offer examples of great triumphs and terrible tragedies. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch a rough cut of the fifth episode of the series "Fifth Inning: Shadowball." Covering the first half of the Depression era, this episode focuses on the legendary black ballplayers who played for the separate Negro League: Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson, and Buck Leonard, on teams such as the awesome Homestead Grays and the Kansas City Monarchs. Although not recognized by "official" white baseball, the black and white clubs would play each other in off-season games. Of the 438 recorded matches, black clubs won over 300, leading one to wonder what a team comprised of Paige, Gibson, Ruth, and Gehrig, for instance would have been like, besides unbeatable. During this period Babe Ruth would begin his decline, and Lou Gehrig's career would be cut short by the disease that now bears his name. It was a time before relief pitchers or "15-day disabled lists," a time when you could still, as Shelby Foote (of The Civil War fame) recalls, walk into a hotel, go up and knock on a door, and shake hands with the Babe. Part nostalgia and reflection, part history, and all entertainment, Baseball stands poised to hit a homer during its television premiere in September, and is likely to be a classic for years to come. [Note: at press time Turner Home Entertainment was set to release the home video version of Baseball, but the date and price are presently unknown.)Compared to Burns' epic, How Baseball Began seems like a paltry little slip of a thing; but that's a rather unfair comparison. For a brief introduction to the subject, this program does the job. Using archival footage and stills and paintings of the period, the video looks at the early game of "Rounders," an offshoot of cricket which Americans played until Alexander Cartwright--the acknowledged father of baseball--came along in the mid-1800s and designed many of the features that are still part of the game today. Back in those days, scores of over 100 were not uncommon, a feat that was less attributable to butterfingers in the outfield, than to the fact that the "baseball" of the day was largely comprised of rubber (in 1871, the amount of rubber allowable inside the ball was severely restricted, and scores consequently began to drop). The program also looks at the hoopla over war hero Abner Doubleday's "invention" of baseball (which was false), chronicles the rise of the National and American Leagues, and covers the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame. For those who can't afford the series Baseball, this is a very inexpensive introduction to the history of the sport. [Note: this is being offered in both SP-recorded and EP-recorded modes, so make sure to specify SP in an order.]"Jonron, jonron," screams the crowd, and they're not making a political point or hailing an international rock star: they're sitting in the stands during a baseball game in Venezuela yelling "home run, home run." Nathan Kaufman, who made the delightful Minor Leagues, Major Dreams (VL-11/93) returns, or rather goes south, in Winterball, a chronicle of the 1992-1993 season of the Cardenales de Lara. When the World Series ends each year, hundreds of major and minor leaguers fly south for the winter where ball clubs like the Cardenales allow up to 7 American players. Featuring game footage and interviews with the coaches and players, Kaufman's film examines the trials of playing ball in the tropics. Complaining of poor hotels, bad food, and pretty active fans, some of the players don't last long before packing their bags for home. Following the team for six weeks from Caracas to Puerto La Cruz, the camera captures some strange stuff (in one of the weirdest stories, a player recalls an "airshow" which he later learned was actually a failed bombing mission headed for the President). Some of the locker room conversations are difficult to understand, and Winterball lacks the dramatic tension of Minor Leagues, Major Dreams. Still, it's an often entertaining slice of baseball in another part of the world.Baseball is highly recommended and an Editor's Choice. How Baseball Began is recommended. Winterball is recommended. (R. Pitman)