Baseball (documentary)
Encyclopedia
Baseball is an 18½ hour, Emmy Award
-winning documentary series by Ken Burns
about the game of baseball
. First broadcast on PBS
, this was Burns' ninth documentary
.
, in the use of archived pictures and film footage mixed with interviews for visual presentation. Actors provide voice over reciting written work (letters, speeches, etc.) over pictures and video. The episodes are interspersed with the music of the times taken from previous Burns series, original played music, or recordings ranging from Louis Armstrong
to Elvis Presley
. The series was narrated by journalist John Chancellor
, best known as the anchor of NBC Nightly News
between 1970 and 1982.
The documentary is divided into nine parts, each referred to as an "inning", following the division of a baseball game. Each "inning" reviews a particular era in time, and begins with a brief prologue that acts as an insight to the game during that era. The prologue ends with the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner
" just as a real baseball game would begin, with the particular rendition played as it might have been in the era being covered in that inning. While covering the 1960s, the rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" used is the version played by Jimi Hendrix
at Woodstock. In some "inning" episodes, a period version of the baseball anthem "Take Me Out to the Ball Game
" is used. Before the main feature, a brief preview and the events of the time of the "inning" to come follows.
Major themes explored throughout the documentary are those of race, business, labour relations, and the relationship between baseball and society. The series had an audience of 45 million viewers, which makes it the most watched program in Public Television history.
The film begins with an introduction by narrator John Chancellor:
Original airdate: Sunday, September 18, 1994.
2nd Inning - Something Like A War: This inning covers approximately 1900 to 1910, and includes the formation of the American League
and its integration with the National League
, culminating in the establishment of the World Series
. Ty Cobb
is discussed in depth (the title of this inning comes from one of his many quotes). Many of the quotes used in this inning and of the other early innings are taken from Lawrence S. Ritter
's The Glory of Their Times
.
Original airdate: Monday, September 19, 1994.
3rd Inning - The Faith of Fifty Million People: This inning covers approximately 1910 to 1920. It heavily focuses on the Black Sox Scandal
, taking its title from a line in the novel The Great Gatsby
. The line refers to how easy it was for gamblers to tamper with the faith that people put in the game's fairness.
Original airdate: Tuesday, September 20, 1994.
4th Inning - A National Heirloom: This inning covers approximately 1920 to 1930, and focuses on baseball's recovery from the Black Sox Scandal, giving much of the credit to the increase in power hitting throughout the game, led by its savior Babe Ruth
. The title comes from what sports writers called Ruth. During an interview given to MLB Network
during the series' re-airing in 2009, Burns stated that he originally wanted to title the 4th Inning, "That Big Son-of-a-Bitch", a name given to Ruth by many in the game during that era.
Original airdate: Wednesday, September 21, 1994.
5th Inning - Shadow Ball: This inning covers approximately 1930 to 1940. While Burns has not shied away from discussing the plight of African-Americans up to this point, a great deal of this inning covers the Negro Leagues, and the great players and organizers who were excluded from the Major Leagues
. Also the episode deals with organized Baseball's response to the Great Depression
.
Original airdate: Thursday, September 22, 1994.
6th Inning - The National Pastime: This inning covers approximately 1940 to 1950. The emphasis here is on baseball finally becoming what it had always purported to be: A national game. As African-Americans are finally permitted for good into Major League Baseball, led by Jackie Robinson
. This inning also looks at how the game was influenced as a result of World War II
.
Original airdate: Sunday, September 25, 1994.
7th Inning - The Capital of Baseball: This inning covers approximately 1950 to 1960. Burns emphasizes the greatness of the three teams based in New York (the New York Yankees
, the New York Giants
, and Brooklyn Dodgers). This inning also covers the major changes that are coming to baseball as teams begin to relocate.
Original airdate: Monday, September 26, 1994.
8th Inning - A Whole New Ballgame: This inning covers approximately 1960 to 1970. As the nation underwent turbulent changes, baseball was not immune. Expansion and labor are major topics in this inning.
Original airdate: Tuesday, September 27, 1994.
9th Inning - Home: The final inning covers approximately 1970 to 1993. While baseball survived the 1960s, the changes were not over, and in some ways its most bitter conflicts were just beginning. Major topics include the formation of the players' union, the owners' collusion, free agency
, and drug scandals. The documentary ends with an ironic boast that baseball (and indirectly the World Series) had survived wars, depressions, pandemics, and numbers of scandals and thus could never be stopped. The 1994 World Series
, the series to be played the year the film first aired on PBS, was canceled due to a players' strike. This marked the first time since 1904
that the World Series was not played. It also focuses on the first non-American team to win the World Series
, the Toronto Blue Jays
, and the first win by a black manager, Cito Gaston
.
Original airdate: Wednesday, September 28, 1994.
, Ken Burns spoke of the possibility of coming up to date in the history of baseball with a "Tenth Inning" episode of his Baseball documentary. This was officially confirmed by Burns in an MLB Network interview, and later to the NBC LA
web site during the winter Television Critics Association media tour January 8. It aired in Fall 2010 and covered the period from the 1994 strike through the 2009 season.
During in-game coverage of a Texas Rangers
game during July 2009, Ken was interviewed, and said the Tenth Inning would air "about a year from now" on PBS. He also went on to state that it would be two two-hour programs. One would be the "top of the 10th", and the other would be the "bottom of the 10th". He also said that "the good Lord willing", there would be an 11th Inning and a 12th Inning some years down the road. His aim is to air the 11th Inning in 2020 opening with Armando Galarraga
. Burns also said that Baseball is the only one of his documentaries to which he was ever interested in doing a "sequel" (of sorts).
The Tenth Inning premiered on PBS on September 28, 2010. The Inning was broken into two halves airing on September 28 and 29, 2010 and October 5, 2010. The documentary discussed the major stories of the last fifteen years in baseball. It focuses heavily on examining Barry Bonds
and the Steroid era but also discusses other major issues in baseball, such as how baseball rebounded from the 1994 strike, the return to prominence of the Yankees, the influence of international players (specifically Dominican and Japanese players) on the game, and the drama of the 2003
and 2004 American League Championship Series
. The website for Baseball: The Tenth Inning is at http://www.pbs.org/baseball-the-tenth-inning/ As a postscript, Marcos Breton, the Sacramento Bee writer who was interviewed extensively during the film finally realized his boyhood dream of watching the Giants win its first World Championship
in San Francisco shortly after the film premiered on PBS.
Starting in 2009 the series also can be found on MLB Network
Sunday nights at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. These airings include commercial breaks which stretch the run time of each episode from around 1 hour to 2 or even 3 depending on how many breaks MLB Network adds to the episode. As the series was intended to air commercial free on public television the breaks are often quite abrupt. The first episode to air on the network also had utterances of the word "nigger
" (as read from first person accounts or quotes from the time) bleeped out, despite the offensive language of the episode being heard uncensored on over-the-air PBS stations for years. Later episodes dropped this censoring but added a disclaimer at the beginning of the program warning that it contained offensive language.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of people who were more involved in the game of baseball, and were interviewed in the documentary:
The following did voices of characters in Baseball:
A revised DVD set, now including The Tenth Inning, was released on October 5, 2010, as was a standalone Blu-ray
disc containing only The Tenth Inning.
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning documentary series by Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
about the game of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. First broadcast on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, this was Burns' ninth documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
.
Format
Baseball is similar to Burns' previous documentaries such as The Civil WarThe Civil War (documentary)
The Civil War is a documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most-watched...
, in the use of archived pictures and film footage mixed with interviews for visual presentation. Actors provide voice over reciting written work (letters, speeches, etc.) over pictures and video. The episodes are interspersed with the music of the times taken from previous Burns series, original played music, or recordings ranging from Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
to Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. The series was narrated by journalist John Chancellor
John Chancellor
John William Chancellor was a well-known American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News...
, best known as the anchor of NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...
between 1970 and 1982.
The documentary is divided into nine parts, each referred to as an "inning", following the division of a baseball game. Each "inning" reviews a particular era in time, and begins with a brief prologue that acts as an insight to the game during that era. The prologue ends with the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...
" just as a real baseball game would begin, with the particular rendition played as it might have been in the era being covered in that inning. While covering the 1960s, the rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" used is the version played by Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
at Woodstock. In some "inning" episodes, a period version of the baseball anthem "Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...
" is used. Before the main feature, a brief preview and the events of the time of the "inning" to come follows.
Major themes explored throughout the documentary are those of race, business, labour relations, and the relationship between baseball and society. The series had an audience of 45 million viewers, which makes it the most watched program in Public Television history.
The film begins with an introduction by narrator John Chancellor:
It is played everywhere: in parks and playgrounds, prison yards, in back alleys and farmers’ fields; by small boys and old men, raw amateurs and millionaire professionals. It is a leisurely game that demands blinding speed; the only game in which the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.
Americans have played baseball for more than 200 years; while they conquered a continent, warred with each other and with enemies abroad, struggled over labor and civil rights, and with the meaning of freedom.
At its heart lie mythic contradictions: a pastoral game born in crowded cities, an exhilarating democratic sport that tolerates cheating, and has excluded as many as it has included. A profoundly conservative game that often manages to be years ahead of its time. It is an American Odyssey that links sons and daughters to fathers and grandfathers, and it reflects a host of age-old American tensions; between workers and owners, scandal and reform, the individual and the collective.
It is a haunted game in which every player is measured with the ghosts of those who have gone before. Most of all it is about time and timelessness, speed and grace, failure and loss, imperishable hope, and coming home.
The game’s greatest figures have come from everywhere: coal mines and college campuses, city slums and country crossroads. A brawling Irish immigrant’s son [John McGraw] who for more than half a century preached a rough and scrambling brand of baseball in which anything went so as long victory was achieved; and his favorite player, a college-educated right-hander [Christy Mathewson] so uniformly virtuous that millions of schoolboys worshipped him as The Christian Gentleman.
A mill hand who could neither read nor write [Joe Jackson] who might have been one of the game's greatest heroes if temptation had not proved too great. A flamboyant federal judge [Kenesaw Mountain Landis] who at first saved baseball from a scandal that threatened to destroy it, but later became an implacable enemy of reform.
A miner’s son [Mickey Mantle] from Commerce, Oklahoma, who made himself the game’s most powerful switch-hitter despite 17 seasons of ceaseless pain. A tight-fisted Methodist [Branch Rickey], ‘a cross’, one sportswriter said, ‘between a statistician and an evangelist’, who profoundly changed the game twice. And there were those whose true greatness was never fully measured because of the stubborn prejudice that permeated the nation and its favorite game.
Two of baseball's best began life in rural Georgia: A swift and savage competitor [Ty Cobb] who may have been the greatest player of all time, but whose uncontrollable rage in the end made him more enemies than friends; and another no less fierce competitor [Jackie Robinson] who, because he managed to hold his temper, made professional baseball a truly national pastime more than a century after it was born.
And then there was the Baltimore saloonkeeper’s turbulent son [Babe Ruth], who became the best-known and best-loved athlete in American history.
The Nine Innings
1st Inning - Our Game: This inning serves as an introduction to the game and the series, and covers baseball's origins and the game as it evolved prior to the twentieth century.Original airdate: Sunday, September 18, 1994.
2nd Inning - Something Like A War: This inning covers approximately 1900 to 1910, and includes the formation of the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
and its integration with the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
, culminating in the establishment of the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
. Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
is discussed in depth (the title of this inning comes from one of his many quotes). Many of the quotes used in this inning and of the other early innings are taken from Lawrence S. Ritter
Lawrence Ritter
Lawrence S. Ritter was an American writer whose specialties were economics and baseball.Ritter was a professor of economics and finance, and chairman of the Department of Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration of New York University. He also edited the academic periodical...
's The Glory of Their Times
The Glory of Their Times
The Glory of Their Times: The Story Of The Early Days Of Baseball Told By The Men Who Played It is a book, edited by Lawrence Ritter, telling the stories of early 20th century baseball...
.
Original airdate: Monday, September 19, 1994.
3rd Inning - The Faith of Fifty Million People: This inning covers approximately 1910 to 1920. It heavily focuses on the Black Sox Scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
, taking its title from a line in the novel The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
. The line refers to how easy it was for gamblers to tamper with the faith that people put in the game's fairness.
Original airdate: Tuesday, September 20, 1994.
4th Inning - A National Heirloom: This inning covers approximately 1920 to 1930, and focuses on baseball's recovery from the Black Sox Scandal, giving much of the credit to the increase in power hitting throughout the game, led by its savior Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
. The title comes from what sports writers called Ruth. During an interview given to MLB Network
MLB Network
MLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share...
during the series' re-airing in 2009, Burns stated that he originally wanted to title the 4th Inning, "That Big Son-of-a-Bitch", a name given to Ruth by many in the game during that era.
Original airdate: Wednesday, September 21, 1994.
5th Inning - Shadow Ball: This inning covers approximately 1930 to 1940. While Burns has not shied away from discussing the plight of African-Americans up to this point, a great deal of this inning covers the Negro Leagues, and the great players and organizers who were excluded from the Major Leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. Also the episode deals with organized Baseball's response to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Original airdate: Thursday, September 22, 1994.
6th Inning - The National Pastime: This inning covers approximately 1940 to 1950. The emphasis here is on baseball finally becoming what it had always purported to be: A national game. As African-Americans are finally permitted for good into Major League Baseball, led by Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
. This inning also looks at how the game was influenced as a result of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Original airdate: Sunday, September 25, 1994.
7th Inning - The Capital of Baseball: This inning covers approximately 1950 to 1960. Burns emphasizes the greatness of the three teams based in New York (the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, and Brooklyn Dodgers). This inning also covers the major changes that are coming to baseball as teams begin to relocate.
Original airdate: Monday, September 26, 1994.
8th Inning - A Whole New Ballgame: This inning covers approximately 1960 to 1970. As the nation underwent turbulent changes, baseball was not immune. Expansion and labor are major topics in this inning.
Original airdate: Tuesday, September 27, 1994.
9th Inning - Home: The final inning covers approximately 1970 to 1993. While baseball survived the 1960s, the changes were not over, and in some ways its most bitter conflicts were just beginning. Major topics include the formation of the players' union, the owners' collusion, free agency
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
, and drug scandals. The documentary ends with an ironic boast that baseball (and indirectly the World Series) had survived wars, depressions, pandemics, and numbers of scandals and thus could never be stopped. The 1994 World Series
1994 World Series
The 1994 World Series was canceled on September 14 of that year due to an ongoing strike by the Major League Baseball Players Association, which had begun on August 12...
, the series to be played the year the film first aired on PBS, was canceled due to a players' strike. This marked the first time since 1904
1904 World Series
In 1904, there was no World Series between the champions of the two Major League Baseball leagues, the American League and the National League...
that the World Series was not played. It also focuses on the first non-American team to win the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
, and the first win by a black manager, Cito Gaston
Cito Gaston
Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967–1978, most notably for the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves...
.
Original airdate: Wednesday, September 28, 1994.
The Tenth Inning
At a preview screening of his 2007 documentary The WarThe War (documentary)
The War is a 2007 American seven-part documentary television mini-series about World War II from the perspective of the United States that premiered on September 23, 2007...
, Ken Burns spoke of the possibility of coming up to date in the history of baseball with a "Tenth Inning" episode of his Baseball documentary. This was officially confirmed by Burns in an MLB Network interview, and later to the NBC LA
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
web site during the winter Television Critics Association media tour January 8. It aired in Fall 2010 and covered the period from the 1994 strike through the 2009 season.
During in-game coverage of a Texas Rangers
2009 Texas Rangers season
The Texas Rangers' 2009 season was the 49th in franchise history and the team's 38th year in Arlington, Texas.2009 signified the continuation of a strategy implemented by General Manager Jon Daniels in the summer of 2007. The plan to improve the club emphasized the acquisition and development of...
game during July 2009, Ken was interviewed, and said the Tenth Inning would air "about a year from now" on PBS. He also went on to state that it would be two two-hour programs. One would be the "top of the 10th", and the other would be the "bottom of the 10th". He also said that "the good Lord willing", there would be an 11th Inning and a 12th Inning some years down the road. His aim is to air the 11th Inning in 2020 opening with Armando Galarraga
Armando Galarraga
Armando Antonio Galarraga is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. Galarraga made his Major League Baseball debut with the Texas Rangers on September 15, 2007...
. Burns also said that Baseball is the only one of his documentaries to which he was ever interested in doing a "sequel" (of sorts).
The Tenth Inning premiered on PBS on September 28, 2010. The Inning was broken into two halves airing on September 28 and 29, 2010 and October 5, 2010. The documentary discussed the major stories of the last fifteen years in baseball. It focuses heavily on examining Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
and the Steroid era but also discusses other major issues in baseball, such as how baseball rebounded from the 1994 strike, the return to prominence of the Yankees, the influence of international players (specifically Dominican and Japanese players) on the game, and the drama of the 2003
2003 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 8, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkBacked by three home runs, Tim Wakefield shut the Bombers down in Game 1.-Game 2:Thursday, October 9, 2003 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York...
and 2004 American League Championship Series
2004 American League Championship Series
The 2004 American League Championship Series was the Major League Baseball playoff series to decide the American League champion for the 2004 season. It was played between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, at Fenway Park and the original Yankee Stadium, from October 12 to October 20, 2004...
. The website for Baseball: The Tenth Inning is at http://www.pbs.org/baseball-the-tenth-inning/ As a postscript, Marcos Breton, the Sacramento Bee writer who was interviewed extensively during the film finally realized his boyhood dream of watching the Giants win its first World Championship
2010 World Series
The 2010 World Series was the 106th occurrence of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff, played between the American League champion Texas Rangers and the National League champion San Francisco Giants, began on Wednesday, , and ended on Monday, , with the Giants...
in San Francisco shortly after the film premiered on PBS.
Re-airings on PBS and MLB Network
The documentary is made available to local PBS stations to air as part of their programming. Usually these can be found on weekends or during pledge drives.Starting in 2009 the series also can be found on MLB Network
MLB Network
MLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share...
Sunday nights at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. These airings include commercial breaks which stretch the run time of each episode from around 1 hour to 2 or even 3 depending on how many breaks MLB Network adds to the episode. As the series was intended to air commercial free on public television the breaks are often quite abrupt. The first episode to air on the network also had utterances of the word "nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
" (as read from first person accounts or quotes from the time) bleeped out, despite the offensive language of the episode being heard uncensored on over-the-air PBS stations for years. Later episodes dropped this censoring but added a disclaimer at the beginning of the program warning that it contained offensive language.
Interview subjects
The following is a non-exhaustive list of people not involved in baseball who were interviewed in the documentary:- Arthur AsheArthur AsheArthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
, tennis player - Roger AngellRoger AngellRoger Angell is an American essayist. He has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was its chief fiction editor for many years...
, editor and writer, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast... - Mike BarnicleMike BarnicleMichael "Mike" Barnicle is an award-winning American print and broadcast journalist as well as a social and political commentator. He is a frequent contributor and occasional guest host on MSNBC's Morning Joe and Hardball with Chris Matthews and is frequently seen on NBC's Today Show with...
, writer - Thomas BoswellThomas BoswellThomas M. Boswell is an American sports columnist.Boswell has spent his entire career at the Washington Post, joining it shortly after graduating from Amherst College in 1969. He became a Post columnist in 1984. Writing primarily about baseball, he is credited with inventing the total average...
, Washington Post columnist. - Howard Bryant, writer, ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
- Mario CuomoMario CuomoMario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
, former governor of New York (and a former prospect in the Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh PiratesThe Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
system) - Robert CreamerRobert CreamerRobert W. Creamer is an American sportswriter and editor. He spent the majority of his career at Sports Illustrated....
, writer, Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the... - Billy CrystalBilly CrystalWilliam Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
, actor, comedian - Gerald EarlyGerald EarlyGerald L. Early is an American essayist and American culture critic. He is currently the Merle Kling Professor of Modern letters, of English, African studies, African American studies, American culture studies, and Director, Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences at ...
, Professor of Modern Letters, Washington University, St. LouisSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St... - Shelby FooteShelby FooteShelby Dade Foote, Jr. was an American historian and novelist who wrote The Civil War: A Narrative, a massive, three-volume history of the war. With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote's life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the...
, writer and historian - Doris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
, writer and historian - Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
, evolutionary biologist - Donald HallDonald HallDonald Hall is an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2006.-Personal life:...
, poet and 14th U.S. Poet LaureatePoet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of CongressThe Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of... - Jesse JacksonJesse JacksonJesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
, reverend and political activist - Charley McDowellCharles McDowell, Jr. (journalist)Charles "Charley" McDowell, Jr. was a long-time political writer and nationally syndicated columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and panelist on PBS-TV's Washington Week in Review. McDowell appeared in an interview in Ken Burns' documentary The Congress; provided the character voice for Sam R...
, journalist - Willie MorrisWillie MorrisWilliam Weaks "Willie" Morris , was an American writer and editor born in Jackson, Mississippi, though his family later moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, which he immortalized in his works of prose. Morris' trademark was his lyrical prose style and reflections on the American South, particularly...
, writer - Daniel OkrentDaniel OkrentDaniel Okrent is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of The New York Times newspaper, for inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books, most recently Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.-Education and...
, public editor, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization... - Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr., former Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
- George PlimptonGeorge PlimptonGeorge Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
, writer - Shirley PovichShirley PovichShirley Lewis Povich was an American sports columnist and reporter for the Washington Post.-Biography:Povich's parents were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania...
, sports writer, Washington Post - John SaylesJohn SaylesJohn Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
, filmmaker (most notably Eight Men OutEight Men OutEight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....
) - Studs TerkelStuds TerkelLouis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
, writer and journalist - John ThornJohn ThornJohn Thorn is a noted sports historian, and the Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball.-Early life:Thorn was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. His Polish Jewish parents had come there as refugees. He immigrated to the United States in 1949...
, historian - Tom VerducciTom VerducciTom Verducci is an American sportswriter who is currently writing for Sports Illustrated and its online magazine SI.com. He writes primarily about baseball. He is also a field reporter for the MLB postseason on TBS...
, writer, Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
and television commentator on TBSTBS (TV channel)TBS , stylized in the logo as tbs, is an American cable television channel owned by Time Warner that shows a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy. TBS was originally known as WTCG, a UHF terrestrial television station that broadcast from Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1970s...
and the MLB NetworkMLB NetworkMLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share... - George WillGeorge WillGeorge Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics...
, political commentator
The following is a non-exhaustive list of people who were more involved in the game of baseball, and were interviewed in the documentary:
- Hank Aaron
- Red BarberRed BarberWalter Lanier "Red" Barber was an American sportscaster.Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds , Brooklyn Dodgers , and New York Yankees...
, broadcaster - Yogi BerraYogi BerraLawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
- A.B. "Happy" ChandlerHappy ChandlerAlbert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
, Commissioner of Baseball - Bob CostasBob CostasRobert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...
, broadcaster - Larry DobyLarry DobyLawrence Eugene "Larry" Doby was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball....
- Charles "Chub" FeeneyChub FeeneyCharles Stoneham "Chub" Feeney was an American front office executive in Major League Baseball and president of the National League during a 40-plus year career in baseball....
, executive, New York/San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division.... - Donald FehrDonald FehrDonald M. Fehr is the executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association. He previously served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1986-2009....
, MLBPA PresidentMajor League Baseball Players AssociationThe Major League Baseball Players Association is the union of professional major-league baseball players.-History of MLBPA:The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players... - Bob FellerBob FellerOn December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
- Carlton FiskCarlton FiskCarlton Ernest Fisk , nicknamed "Pudge" or "The Commander", is a former Major League Baseball catcher. During a 24-year baseball career, he played for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox .Fisk was known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame...
- Curt FloodCurt FloodCurtis Charles Flood was a Major League Baseball player who spent most of his career as a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. A defensive standout, he led the National League in putouts four times and in fielding percentage twice, winning Gold Glove Awards in his last seven full seasons...
- Milt GastonMilt GastonNathaniel Milton Gaston was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1924-1934. Born in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, he played for the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators and Chicago White Sox. He died at age 100 in Barnstable, Massachusetts...
- Billy HermanBilly HermanWilliam Jennings Bryan "Billy" Herman was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball during the 1930s and 1940s. He was known for his stellar defense and consistent batting...
- Catfish HunterCatfish HunterJames Augustus "Catfish" Hunter , was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 15-year baseball career, he pitched from 1965-1979 for both the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees...
- Reggie JacksonReggie JacksonReginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson , nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the New York Yankees, is a former American Major League Baseball right fielder. During a 21-year baseball career, he played from 1967-1987 for four different teams. Jackson currently serves as...
- Sandy KoufaxSandy KoufaxSanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...
- Bill "the Spaceman" LeeBill Lee (left-handed pitcher)William Francis Lee III , nicknamed "Spaceman", is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Boston Red Sox from - and the Montreal Expos from -...
- Mickey MantleMickey MantleMickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...
- Pedro MartinezPedro MartínezPedro Jaime Martínez is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and 2004 World Series champion...
- Willie MaysWillie MaysWillie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
- Marvin MillerMarvin MillerMarvin Julian Miller is a former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association , from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States...
, union organizer for Major League players - Buck O'NeilBuck O'NeilJohn Jordan "Buck" O'Neil was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout, and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball...
- Double Duty Radcliffe
- Jimmie ReeseJimmie ReeseJimmie Reese was a Major League Baseball second baseman, third baseman, and coach.In order to avoid the brunt of prejudice against Jewish...
- Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie RobinsonJackie RobinsonJack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
- Pete RosePete RosePeter Edward Rose , nicknamed "Charlie Hustle", is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989....
- Mamie Ruth, sister of Babe RuthBabe RuthGeorge Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
- Nolan RyanNolan RyanLynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....
- Bud SeligBud SeligAllan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...
, Commissioner - Vin ScullyVin ScullyVincent Edward Scully is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on Prime Ticket, KCAL-TV and KABC radio...
, broadcaster - Bob SheppardBob SheppardRobert Leo "Bob" Sheppard was the long-time public address announcer for numerous New York area college and professional sports teams, in particular the MLB New York Yankees , and the NFL New York Giants .Sheppard announced more than 4,500 Yankees baseball games over a period of 56 years,...
, broadcaster - George SteinbrennerGeorge SteinbrennerGeorge Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
- Clyde SukeforthClyde SukeforthClyde Leroy Sukeforth , nicknamed "Sukey," was a former Major League Baseball catcher, coach, scout and manager who was best known for scouting and signing the Major Leagues' first black player in the modern era, Jackie Robinson.Sukeforth was born in Washington, Maine...
, scout and manager, Brooklyn Dodgers - Ichiro SuzukiIchiro Suzuki, usually known simply as is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262...
- Bobby ThomsonBobby ThomsonRobert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "The Staten Island Scot", he was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants , Milwaukee Braves , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles .His season-ending three-run...
- Joe TorreJoe TorreJoseph Paul Torre is a former American professional baseball player and manager who currently serves as Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. A nine-time All-Star, he played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, first baseman and a third baseman for the...
- Omar VizquelOmar VizquelOmar Enrique Vizquel González , nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. Vizquel has played for the Seattle Mariners , the Cleveland Indians , the San Francisco Giants , the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox...
- Ted WilliamsTed WilliamsTheodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
- Carl YastrzemskiCarl YastrzemskiCarl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...
The following did voices of characters in Baseball:
- Adam ArkinAdam ArkinAdam Arkin is an American television, film and stage actor and director. He played the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as 3 primetime Emmys, 4 SAG Awards , and a DGA Award...
- Philip BoscoPhilip Bosco-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
, as Albert SpaldingAlbert SpaldingAlbert Goodwill Spalding was a professional baseball player, manager and co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.-Biography:...
and Ban JohnsonBan JohnsonByron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League .... - Keith CarradineKeith CarradineKeith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
- David CarusoDavid CarusoDavid Stephen Caruso is an American film and television actor and producer, best known for his role of Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the TV series CSI: Miami. The role that gained him initial significant recognition was the role of Det...
- Billy CrystalBilly CrystalWilliam Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
- John CusackJohn CusackJohn Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
- Ossie DavisOssie DavisOssie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
- Doris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
- Ed HarrisEd HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
- Julie HarrisJulie HarrisJulia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
- Gregory HinesGregory HinesGregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...
- Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, as Henry Chadwick and George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60... - Jesse JacksonJesse JacksonJesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
- Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
- Garrison KeillorGarrison KeillorGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
as Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse... - Alan KingAlan King (comedian)Alan King was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of movies and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and...
- Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
- Delroy LindoDelroy LindoDelroy George Lindo is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award...
- Al Lewis
- Amy MadiganAmy MadiganAmy Marie Madigan is an American actress who is known for her role as Annie Kinsella in the 1989 film Field of Dreams and Iris Crowe in the HBO television series Carnivale...
- Arthur MillerArthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
- Michael MoriartyMichael MoriartyMichael Moriarty is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.-Early life:...
- Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
- Tip O'NeillTip O'NeillThomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. was an American politician. O'Neill was an outspoken liberal Democrat and influential member of the U.S. Congress, serving in the House of Representatives for 34 years and representing two congressional districts in Massachusetts...
- Gregory PeckGregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, as Kid GleasonKid GleasonWilliam J. "Kid" Gleason was an American professional athlete and Major League Baseball player and manager. Gleason is best known as the manager of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, the team made infamous by the Black Sox scandal, in which Gleason's players conspired to intentionally lose the World...
, Chicago White Sox manager (1919–1923); as Connie MackConnie Mack (baseball)Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...
, Philadelphia Athletics manager (1901–1950) - Jody Powell, as Ty CobbTy CobbTyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
- LaTanya RichardsonLatanya RichardsonLaTanya Estelle Richardson is an American actress and television producer. She graduated from Spelman College in 1974. While at Spelman, she met actor Samuel L. Jackson who would later become her husband. She and Jackson married in 1980 and have one daughter, named Zoe...
- Jason RobardsJason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
, as John McGrawJohn McGrawJohn McGraw may refer to:* John McGraw , , New York lumber tycoon, and one of the founding trustees of Cornell University* John McGraw , , Governor of Washington state from 1893–1897...
, Kenesaw Mountain LandisKenesaw Mountain LandisKenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
and Harry FrazeeHarry FrazeeHarry Herbert Frazee was an American theatrical agent, producer and director, and former owner of the Major League Baseball Boston Red Sox from 1916 to 1923.- Life as owner of the Red Sox :... - Jerry StillerJerry StillerGerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
- John TurturroJohn TurturroJohn Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
- Eli WallachEli WallachEli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
- M. Emmet WalshM. Emmet WalshMichael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent...
- Paul WinfieldPaul WinfieldPaul Edward Winfield was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Winfield also portrayed Dr....
DVD
The entire series was released on a ten-disc DVD set on September 28, 2004, with each inning on a separate disc and a tenth disc of unaired material titled Extra Innings featuring a making of Baseball among other features.A revised DVD set, now including The Tenth Inning, was released on October 5, 2010, as was a standalone Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
disc containing only The Tenth Inning.