| Yes, I've been watching it, too. The first episode (come to think of
it, all the episodes!) included several bits about the power struggle
between the players and the owners, which had a certain bitter irony
about it considering this year's lost season. The fact that it's been
going on for the entire history of professional ball adds an
intriguingly capitalist-cautionary-tale atmosphere to the National
Pastime.
The whole thing is done in the same style as "The Civil War," with
segments composed of still photos plus sound effects and whatever film
or video was available. Since baseball was around _during_ the Civil
War, there were even segments that covered both, for a rather weird
deja vu effect. [And Shelby Foote, the Civil War writer who did a lot
of the narration for "The Civil War," does a few bits for this series
too; it's just as delightful listening to him talk about baseball as it
was hearing him discuss Robert E. Lee...]
Last night's episode included a couple of accounts of great "last
stands" by superannuated pitchers, who'd be put in with the score tied
in the ninth inning of a pennant game with the bases loaded, and would,
against all odds, retire the side. I _love_ that stuff.
[Side thought: Burns' style tends to be leisurely and loving, which I
enjoy but which some seem to find rather boring. While historical
subjects and/or a "pastoral" game like baseball seem to fit the style
pretty well, I can imagine a truly hysterical Burns-parody about
"Basketball": the theme would be "Twist and Shout" done in a minor
key and about eight times slower than usual, and all the film clips
would have to be in slo-mo...]
-b
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| This is another quality, interesting show from Ken Burns.
There was an article in either the Nashua Telegraph, or some other
weekly publication that I read about Ken Burns and his reluctance to
'cash in' on all the collectible stuff. The article said that when Ken
did the Civil War series he refused to do tee-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.
-- and that other people did it anyway. He had a difficult time
thinking about merchandising his film, but realized that if he didn't
-- someone else would. His solution was to do all the merchandising --
but he said that he would then take from those profits only the amount
of money he felt was right (video sales, etc.). The remainder of all
the money made with Baseball will be contributed to the Negro Baseball
Hall of Fame (hope I have that right!). Ken said that was the one
group within Baseball that has (historically) the most short-changed,
under acknowledged.....
Interesting side light.
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