Baseball: Ken Burns Documentary

GoYankeesGo · April 8, 2006 3:20AM

Did any of you ever watch this documentary series?

Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns

It is a great PBS series on the history of baseball going all the way back to the 1800's. My wife bought me the DVD set awhile back. It has pictures of old baseball cards in it too.

Dallas88 · April 8, 2006 3:43AM

Ken Burns did a wonderful job with it!

Too much yankee stuff in it for me though

Seriously - great movie - you'll enjoy it for a long time!

dal

GoYankeesGo · April 8, 2006 3:54AM

It is a 9 part series (each 2 hours long) to symbolically represent the 9 innings of baseball

I watched the first 6 but still have to watch the remaining 3.

Too much yankee stuff in it for me though

What did yo expect? The Yankees have won 26 World Series and 13 Pennants. It is not their fault that they have won so much so are featured.

Seriously though there is plenty of non-Yankee stuff like the history of the Negro League, early baseball players such as Ty Cobb, Christy Matthewson, Honus Wagner, John McGraw, etc., etc.

WinPitcher · April 8, 2006 5:09AM

Are the Mariners mentioned?

Steve

megatron · April 8, 2006 5:19AM

<< <i>Did any of you ever watch this documentary series?

Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns

It is a great PBS series on the history of baseball going all the way back to the 1800's. My wife bought me the DVD set awhile back. It has pictures of old baseball cards in it too. >>

It is a great series even with its following three flaws.

1. A strong bias towards both coasts. Sure, the news will follow the champions, but consider the following:

- Given its dominance, the Big Red Machine did not get the attention it deserved in the documentary
- I don't think I even heard a segment on the great KC Royals teams of the 1980s
- There wasn't enough discussion about the team that has won the second most championships - The Cardinals

As you can surmise, all of these teams are Midwest based.

2. Even on the coasts, there was too much focus on certain teams that hadn't won in a long time and a glaring omission of certain teams that were simply great. Of course, I'm referring to the Red Sox (who were discussed way too much), and the A's (didn’t they win in the 1970s and 1980's?)

3. I don't even recall a discussion about the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and all the great players that went to the majors as a result. From San Diego to Seattle, there are great historic stories to be told. Was there a discussion on the PCL? Given that I don't remember could simply be a reflection of how much of an impact the segment had if it does indeed exist?

frankhardy · April 8, 2006 7:07AM

Except for lack of the Midwest coverage, it is a great documentary. I have the DVD set and have watched it 3 times through.

Dallas88 · April 8, 2006 9:44AM

Well, I wasn't going to mention anything about the lack of Midwest coverage.....and yes, barely any mention on the Royals teams of the late 70's - mid 80's......but hey, we're used to it.

Actually, not as much on the Cardinals as I would think would be in there also.

fsjeter · April 8, 2006 1:54PM

<<3. I don't even recall a discussion about the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and all the great players that went to the majors as a result. From San Diego to Seattle, there are great historic stories to be told. Was there a discussion on the PCL? Given that I don't remember could simply be a reflection of how much of an impact the segment had if it does indeed exist?>>

Unfortunate but true. The series focused mainly on the history of MLB. I, too, would like to have seen more information on the Minor Leagues since I grew up in Indianapolis and didn't have a hometown MLB team to root for. I did, however, enjoy the series as a whole.

Scott

fiveniner · April 8, 2006 8:55PM

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY even though it did lack some ingredients as mentioned by others.

GlynRParson · April 8, 2006 10:04PM

Outstanding film the best i have ever seen on baseball, and i found it fairly thourough. to cover everything mentioned previously would have made it even longer

GoYankeesGo · April 9, 2006 1:59AM

Yes, I consider it outstanding also. It was the best documentary I ever saw about the history of baseball. Yes, Burns did not cover everything but if he had it would have been 36 hours instead of 18 hours. Seriously though Burns could have spent a little less time on the Yankees and added more on the Big Red Machine and added the 1980 KC Royals.

fsjeter are you related to Derek? If so, did you ever meet him?

fsjeter · April 9, 2006 11:15PM

<<fsjeter are you related to Derek? If so, did you ever meet him?>>

Yes, he is a distant cousin.

No, unfortunately, I've never met him. One day maybe!

Scott

DirtyHarry · April 10, 2006 11:27AM

There are individual documentaries in my library that I have enjoyed and think are slightly more factual to their particular areas of interest. Overall, this is as good as it gets for an overview of the history of baseball and it's place in American culture. Not 100% accurate, but close enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Watch it on a rainy weekend if you have not seen it. Regards.

ArnyVee · April 10, 2006 12:06PM

<< <i>Are the Mariners mentioned?

Steve >>

I think that there was one line in the series about the Mariners...."Those Mariners, they're no Yankees!" j/k

By the way, it's a wonderful series of movies and is worth watching for sure.

tkd7 · April 11, 2006 1:59AM

I would also add the HBO series "When it Was a Game" to the list of baseball documentaries worth seeing. The source material is home movie footage taken by players and fans, it is almost all in color and reaches back into the late 30s. Visually, it is awesome to see the old uniforms and stadiums in color. It isn't as didactic as the Ken Burns series since it is about the footage and not the history. If you can put up with some sappy dialogue, I recommend the "When it Was a Game" series.

When it was a Game

dude · April 11, 2006 4:34AM

I watched it when it came out and taped it. It is worth watching and I agree with alot with Megatron's comments, but most specifically, what really bothered me was how biased it was towards New York and Boston. Also why Doris Kearns Goodwin was interviewed so much during the series is baffling. One other thing I recall is that there were a lot of reviews by baseball historians shortly after it came out who claimed that a lot of the stories were not entirely true if not outright false.

theo934 · April 11, 2006 6:40AM

great series!

coinkat · April 11, 2006 10:22AM

I am pleased the effort was undertaken... I would rather not be too critical, but then again, I don't have the connections to do a project like that. The Baseball Docu was better than his effort with the History of Jazz...

DirtyHarry · April 11, 2006 10:31AM

As tkd7 stated - "When it Was A Game" is also a must watch.
I have that one on the shelf.
Versus the Burns approach of presenting history by scanning over photos
while the commentator rambles on, it is loaded with great vintage colorized
film clips of the greats of the game. Regards.

SoFLPhillyFan · April 12, 2006 8:20PM

<< <i>Are the Mariners mentioned?

Steve >>

They are featured in -

Baseball: A Musical by Ken Burns

Ballplayers stop the game and break into song for no apparent reason.

You should see what they do during the 7th inning stretch.

Baseball: Ken Burns Documentary

Comments