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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.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
Buy “Baseball – A Film By Ken Burns” For Only $57.88
January 20, 2006
#1
I started watching this after Fever Pitch, which made me love baseball. This “documentary” made me hate baseball. Basically the show plays out like a monologue by Garrison Keillor, set to still photographs. The history of baseball is not presented factually and dispassionately; instead the viewer gets it crammed down his brain that baseball is a great and noble game played by great and noble men. This would be like watching a history of World War I and finding that it is narrated by a syrupy-voiced, American-as-the-apple-pie-you’re-just-about-to-vomit narrator who starts, in Prairie-Home-Companion-esque manner, drumming it into you that the American soldiers, they were real fine fellers, but Johnny Boche… he was a bad sort. Maybe Jimmy Stewart could be resuscitated just long enough to provide the American-till-you-puke aw shucks voice-overs and tell us that The American soldiers in the field were as right and true as the weather vane on top of the old barn back home in the yellow corn fields. The yellow corn fields near the old swimmin’ holler, where MaryJane McKlusky took off her red dress with the small white polkadots and danced around naked awhile to the soft sound of the whistle from the faraway train out of Coop’s Junction.
January 20, 2006
#2
I give it 4 stars if for no other reason than the quality of the production. The narration, interviews, music, video images and editing all are very well done in terms of being a polished product. However, it seems that Burns takes liberties with the truth as well as exposing us to his ever-bleeding heart.
There are 9 videos (called innings) in this series, each inning corresponding to a period in baseball history, beginning in the 1800s and ending in the early 1990s.
The playing of the national anthem at the start of every video (inning) is pretentious to say the least.
Some of the quotes are a riot…. Bob Costas: “The thing you have to remember, and this seems so obvious, is that baseball is a beautiful thing…” Uh, excuse me Bob, but spitting tobacco juice and scratching your crotch every 15 seconds don’t seem to rise to the level of beauty.
Robert Creamer: “The thing about baseball is the best game that’s ever been invented.” Been to a game lately, Rob? It’s 3 1/2 hours of batters stepping out of the box to adjust their jock straps, pitching coaches coming to the mound to discuss the evening’s dinner plans, fat relievers walking in from the bullpen at a tortoise pace.
Instead of giving us an objective account of baseball history, Burns portrays ballplayers in general as exploited chattel. He overdoes the “tragedy” of the negro leagues. He portrays Jackie Robinson as the second coming of Gandhi and Branch Rickey as the greatest visionary sense Thomas Jefferson.
What the heck are Shelby Foote and Doris Kearns Goodwin doing talking to us about baseball? Was Don Zimmer asked to appear in the Civil War Series?
It is a fairly comprehensive series, however, but just don’t take some of the sanctimony too seriously…
January 20, 2006
#3
Ken Burns knows what the people want. Unfortunately, they want entertainment, a “feel-good” documentary about baseball, etc. Mr. Burns is so preoccupied with political correctness and goody-too-shoes feelings that he tells a story that is, at the very least, misleading.
Burns wouldn’t dare speak of Jackie Robinson’s dismal performance in his last World Series, because he knows what the people want. He didn’t want to be accused of being racist or non-progressive, it would take away from his story, and ultimately, from sales.
He wouldn’t dare belitte Babe Ruth. Perhaps the greatest sin was not showing even once, the little known video that discredits Ruth’s “point toward centerfield homerun prediction” in the 1932 World Series. The video I speak of ultimately shows that Ruth was simply gesturing toward the other dugout as they were jeering him. He was not pointing toward centerfield. It was the absolute most damaging evidence against Ruth’s contrived story. That video is hard to get, but it is available, but most people don’t know about it because it takes away from the story.
Most people also don’t know that the real hero in that Series was Lou Gehrig, who hit .529 with three home runs, nine runs scored and eight RBIs.
Burns wouldn’t dare belittle Joe DiMaggio – perhaps the most over-rated celebrity in history. DiMaggio was a terrific player, but as a person, he was, in a word, selfish. His incredible privacy was viewed by the media as “dignified.” Nothing could be further from the truth. He was selfish and arrogant, and a miser. There was very little room in DiMaggio’s heart for anyone but DiMaggio (Joe only, as he didn’t have any room for his own family members).
Lou Gehrig? Deserved far more than what Burns gave him. Lou was perhaps the only Yankee who carried himself as well off the field as on.
Additionally, as you can see, this film is really very New York slanted. Again, it’s what the people want.
It reminds me of the Amelia Earhart story. They want you to believe she was flying alone when she disappeared. She wasn’t. She was with her navigator Fred Noonan. But the media hates to ruin a good story. They want you to believe she flew alone. They want you to believe Ruth pointed toward centerfield, video tape to the contrary. They want you to believe Joe DiMaggio was all good and dignified and giving. They want you to believe that Jackie Robinson hit .400 in every World Series he every played in. It sells.
Ken Burns is a great person to hire if you want to sell many copies of something and make money. But for accurate and unbiased history, he is the wrong man for the job. This film is a disgrace to baseball.
January 20, 2006
#4
I don’t understand why this filmaker gets so much pub….if you don’t mind looking at a still photo being photographed from 4 different angles instead of seeing actual footage buy this and try to sit through it all. It seems as if he doesn’t want to pay to license more of the archival footage that is available and mixes in far too many talking heads and still shots.
If you want to see footage of the greats of the game buy the MLB All Century Team DVD which has 2+ hours of fabulous video and some cool interviews plus stats.
January 20, 2006
#5
I looked up Curt Flood in the index, turned to p. 339, and found a story told by Flood that is quite obviously inaccurate. Flood said that in 1957 he had a very distasteful experience with a segregated clubhouse. This is the same story he told to Ken Turan of the LA Times a year or so before his death. But then he placed the story in 1956, when he was playing in a different league. Unhappily, there appears to be no substance to the story. A check with Bill White, former president of the Nat’l League in Danville where Flood placed it, elicited the response that no such situation existed. Othere attempts to corroborate the story also fell short. One has to conclude that if there is one serious error in the book, the rest of the stories might also be invented.
Stuart Weiss—slw8125@lvcm.com