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Your Learning Zone - Baseball - A Film by Ken Burns
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List Price: $149.88
Our Price: $18.95
Your Save: $ 130.93 ( 87% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: Hank Aaron, Bud Abbott, Roger Angell, Arthur Ashe, Red Barber
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780780605480
Format: Box set
ISBN: 0780605489
Label: Pbs Home Video
Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Number Of Items: 9
Publisher: Pbs Home Video
Release Date: 1995-04-16
Running Time: 1140
Studio: Pbs Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1994-09-18
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best
Comment: This series was so interesting and so well done that I bought sets for two friend and three of my children.
Not only did it cover baseball it covered Americana.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Baseball: An Illustrated History
Comment: I liked the book so well that I would like to purchase two more. One for my brother and son.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Old Ball Game
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A tribute to baseball by Ken Burns and his team
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Baseball is too broad a title for this narrow look
Comment: 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.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National Pastime through the decades of glory and record-setting achievements, as well as the scandals, the bigotry, and the big money. The series portrays the game as a mirror of America itself -- the passions, prejudices, and ambitions that have shape the country.
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