Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

This is one of the very best documentary series that I’ve ever seen. It is broken down into innings just like a baseball game and even includes an extra inner, the 10th inning. Ken Burns provides a wealth of information that is highly interesting, educational & informative. And what I like best is that he takes his time, delving deep into whatever player or issue is at hand – instead of glossing over them. I learned so much from this documentary that I didn’t know or understand before watching it. I’m now 63 & grew up hearing my dad talk about baseball greats like Satchel Page, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and others – but they were just names to me. This series brought them, their backgrounds, lives, struggles and triumphs alive for me. I was especially fascinated with the first 2 or 3 innings that covered the very early & formative days of the game. I also enjoyed the segments on the Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field & the old black leagues that were barred from the majors by an owners agreement not to allow black players to play against white players. I see how popular Babe Ruth actually was and how he inspired millions of boys to aspire to baseball greatness themselves. Buck O’Neil of the Kansas City Monarchs is a delight to hear tell his first hand accounts of what it was like for a black team back in the 30’s, 40’s & 50’s. Then the great Jackie broke the color barrier with the help of Branch Ricky of the Brooklyn Dodgers. I’ve watched this documentary series several times and I still enjoy it immensely. I learn new things that I’d missed on previous viewings & continue to be delighted with Ken Burns storytelling and the historical photographs and film footage. I now watching it again and just finished the 5th inning. This would make a fantastic gift for any baseball enthusiast, historian or just a lover of the great American past time. I can not recommend this documentary highly enough & regret that I’m unable to give it 10 stars. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed!-Harry

“Baseball” is Ken Burns’ brilliant television documentary series about the history of America’s “national pastime.” Using the same innovative filmmaking style he pioneered in his earlier documentary “The Civil War,” Burns traces the history of the game of baseball from its beginnings in the 1840s until 1994, when this documentary series was first broadcast. (An additional episode, entitled “The Tenth Inning,” updated the history of the game to 2009.)

Each of the series’ 10 episodes, called an “inning,” covers approximately one decade in the history of the game. In every episode, viewers are introduced to the people who had the greatest impact on the game during that era, as well as the greatest games, and the key events of the times.

“Baseball” pays particular attention to five of the oldest and most legendary major league teams: the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Boston Red Sox. Throughout their long and storied past, each of these teams had its own set of peculiar triumphs, tragedies, and curses that have carried down to the present day.

“Baseball” isn’t just a sugarcoated showcase of past stars and glories. This series makes a sober and in-depth examination of many of the grittier and seamier aspects of the game. “Baseball” unflinchingly explores the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919; the so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” among team owners that prohibited African American baseball players from playing in the major leagues for over 60 years, resulting in the creation and development of the Negro Leagues; the long fight against the hated reserve clause that kept players bound to one team for life; and the use of performance enhancing drugs by players in the years of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

I think the best episode in the entire series is “Inning 6: The National Pastime (1940-1950.}” In this long and poignant episode, Burns tells in compelling detail of how the color barrier in Major League Baseball was finally broken. In 1946, Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a minor league deal, thus defying the express will of team owners. Rickey explained to Robinson, in a long and profanity-laced diatribe, what he was likely to face in the way of abuse, both verbal and possibly even physical, from other racist players, managers, and fans. Robinson promised not to retaliate against all forms of racist abuse for three years. In April 1947, Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball in over 60 years. He forever changed the game for the better, making it truly the “national pastime.”

I have owned a home video copy of “Baseball ever since it was first released on VHS tape in 1994. After I finally wore out my videotape set, I bought the remastered version of “Baseball” on DVD, a set that includes “The Tenth Inning.” “Baseball” is also available as a Prime selection on Amazon video. I think “Baseball” is the finest documentary ever produced about the game I love so much. Most highly recommended.

– Mike Powers

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Ken Burns
Directors: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick
Format: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region 1
Number of discs: 11
Rated: PG – Parental Guidance Suggested
Studio: PBS
DVD Release Date: October 5, 2010
Run Time: 1380 minutes
ASIN: B003S1UNZU