Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns

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Product Details

Actor : Mike Barnicle, Mary Pratt (III), Lou Costello, George Will, Arthur Ashe
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 9780780605480
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 1995-04-16
Studio : Pbs Home Video
UPC : 794054531831

ASIN : 6303218725

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

4 cassettes / 4 hours
Read by Ken Burns

The companion AudioBook to Ken Burns's magnificent PBS Television Series

The authors of the acclaimed and history-making bestseller The Civil War now turn to another defining American phenomenon. Their subject is Baseball.

During eight months of the year, it is played professionally every day; all year round, amateurs play it, watch it, and dream about it. Baseball produces remarkable Americans: it seizes hold of ordinary people and shapes them into something we must regard with awe.

Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio . . . truly gifted human beings acting out universal fantasies that, for whatever reason, are most perfectly expressed on a baseball field.

All this and more rings through Ward and Burns's moving, crowded, fascinating history of the game - a history that goes beyond stolen bases, triple plays, and home runs to demonstrate how baseball has been influenced by, and has in turn influenced our national life: politics, race, labor, big business, advertising, and social custom.

The audio covers every milestone of the game: from the rules drawn up in 1845 by Alexander Cartwright to the founding of the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players in 1885, from the 1924 Negro World Series through Jack Roosevelt Robinson's major-league debut in 1947, and Nolan Ryan's seventh and last no-hitter in 1991.

Monumental, affecting, informative, and entertaining - Baseball is an audio that speaks to all Americans.

Amazon.com essential video

After the national success of his 11-hour epic, The Civil War--the highest-rated miniseries in public-television history--many wondered if Ken Burns could capture the same energy and passion with smaller subjects. His reply, the 18-hour history of America's greatest sport, Baseball, not only quieted these worries, it also perhaps surpassed his prior achievement. Massive in scope (it covers more than 100 years), exhausting in detail, and filled with celebrities, journalists, politicians, historians, and the men who played the game, Burns's romantic love letter to the game achieves the impossible: even those who hate baseball can't help but become immersed in it. This is because Burns doesn't just detail the great players and the memorable plays and games; he also presents baseball as a cultural and social mirror, reflecting the beauty and hypocrisy of the nation that created it. Divided into nine innings, two hours each in length, the video examines complex social issues such as segregation, racial inequality (its section on Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African American player, should be required school viewing), labor battles between owners and players, politics, technology and gender conflicts, among others. Then, of course, there's fascinating footage and biographies on the players--troubled icons such as Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, heroes such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and tragic figures such as Pete Rose and Lou Gehrig--the men who, despite a rocky and often hypocritical history, constructed baseball's tradition and preserved its invincibility. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews

The Old Ball Game (2008-07-21)

Only the sport of baseball could lend itself (via its long, rich heritage) to a Ken Burns-style documentary. Of course, Burns nails it once again. Though not as emotionally touching as his Civil War or World War II documentaries, Baseball captures the essence of America's pastime. From Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, and Ty Cobb to Willie, Mickey, and the Duke, to Yaz, Pete Rose, Mick Schmidt, and everyone in between, Burns recounts all the rousing stories that old fans will recite from memory and younger fans will be fascinated by. Guest commentators wax poetically about the game, old veterans tell their stories, and Burn's traditional mix of period music, solo piano, and aching violin provide an emotional punch, whether positive or negative. However, what really sets this film apart from others is Burn's willingness to "pull no punches" in terms of describing the often-flawed sport of baseball. Whether it be the rowdyism that plagued the game in its early existence, the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, or baseball's outright racism until the late 1940s, Burns explains those issues without letting too much personal bias creep in. Overall, this is a wonderful documentary for baseball fans who truly value the rich history of the sport. When watching, you will fell as if you actually exist in whatever decade Burns happens to be describing. This is the ultimate "biography" of our national pastime.

A tribute to baseball by Ken Burns and his team (2007-12-25)

This volume contains a lot that is very good. Its structure is a bit forced (nine innings, or periods, of baseball history). The 9th inning, as others have noted, covers a large time frame compared with earlier "innings." I'm not sure that the decade is the best way of organizing baseball history, either. Still and all, that's more a matter of taste than anything else. The book's authors candidly observe that they will focus on eastern teams, e.g., Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers, "because we felt their stories especially rich in the human drama that accompanies the history of every team." However, I agree with a reviewer (who bears the name of one of Detroit's best first basemen ever) who laments that this really does slight the deep baseball history that covers much more territory than New York to Boston. Again, though, certainly not a fatal flaw by any stretch in this book.This book is seen as complementary to the documentary series on PBS, designed to elaborate certain issues in ways not possible in the TV medium. Some of the special features in both the documentary and book are the recollections of Buck O'Neil; interviews with historians, writers, managers, and players. Finally, essays by a number of "guests" represent an interesting twist. Roger Angell has a wonderful Introduction, "Hard Lines," in which he juxtaposes the apparent ease of playing baseball with the harsh realities of players often fighting just to stay in the big leagues or losing the joy for the game (note the brief discussion on Carl Yastrzemski). He observes that: "Once we understand how really hard it is, we become citizens of baseball, admiring its laws and just paths, even when the luck of the day hasn't gone our way." Other guest commentators include George Will, Bill James, and Doris Kearns Goodwin.But the book is about baseball, so the nine innings are themselves the heart of this book. The early years, up until 1900, feature a strange game to us today, with very different rules--as well as the origins of racial segregation in the game (the issue of race is one of the main themes of the book). The second inning discusses the game as "Something like a war," when players played and fought hard. And so on. No need to provide a full chronology. Some special segments: the role of Babe Ruth, in the Fourth Inning, helping baseball dig out from under the disaster of the Chicago Black Sox, who threw a World Series. The Sixth Inning features the end of segregation in baseball, with Jackie Robinson's big league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.A final quotation from Buck O'Neil illustrates how the game can be addictive--to players (and even to fans), when he says: "There is nothing in life like getting your body to do all the things it has to do on the baseball field."All in all, an ambitious work, trying to capture the spirit of baseball, its sins, and its contributions. While I do have some questions about this volume, as already noted, it ends up not quite being a home run, but it surely is extra bases.

Baseball is too broad a title for this narrow look (2007-10-13)

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.

The consummate set of videos about Baseball. (2007-05-17)

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 builtInning 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.

Good, but not absolutely great (2007-04-24)

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).

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