Baseball

When it first aired, there was supposedly something like 2 dozen factual errors that were later corrected in time for the video and later dvd release. The only things I didn't like was that it focused heavily on 3 teams far more than any other. Red Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Yankees. It skips from the '67 Series to the '69 Series, then it glosses over the next few years until the 1975 series. And it took all of their info on Ty Cobb on Al Stump's now debunked biography of Cobb. David Okrent, who features heavily in this also appears much later in a documentary about Tigers' legends and he admits that much of what we knew about Cobb was either overblown or outright false thanks to the biography by Charles Leerhsen (A Terrible Beauty) that was actually researched. Apart from those the documentary is another gem in Ken Burns' belt and I watch it every year at the start of the baseball season and again around World Series time.

I really enjoyed the Baseball series. The segments on the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson, and Ty Cobb are especially strong. and as a lifelong Giants' fan, I got shivers watching the segment on Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World.

However, there is a major flaw in the series - especially the later parts - its very evident New York bias. The people being interviewed, aside from former players, all seem to be New Yorkers. In the segment about the Dodgers and Giants moving west, for example, we are repeatedly told how it was a horrible tragedy for the teams to leave New York, but it's barely mentioned that, before those teams left, New York was barely supporting them, or that, while New York had three major league teams, the entire western half of the United States had none. And while some attention was payed to the post-move Dodgers (specifically Sandy Koufax), the episode on the 60s pretty much ignored the post-move Giants, even though their teams included several future Hall of Famers, including Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, and Gaylord Perry. I'm sure other teams were similarly overlooked in favor of the Yankees and Red Sox, but as a Giants fan, that especially stood out for me.

Ken Burns gained fame with this major work and deservedly so. Admittedly, I am an unabashed lifelong fan of the sport, but I believe anyone with any type of interest in American history would do well to invest several hours on this wonderful documentary. His groundbreaking style is evident here, such as the innovative use of panning over still photographs and the mix of people who lived some of events, along with modern historians who have spent their lives studying them. I believe that to understand America is to understand baseball, and Ken Burns certainly follows that philosophy. Of course, with any human endeavor, there is room for improvement and points of criticism. My minor criticism may include the inordinate focus on the Yankees, though I agree it would be difficult to produce a documentary on the sport without spending a lot of time on that team, since it has embodied such a large part of its history. It is admirable that Burns made a commitment to include a major part of baseball's history that has been overlooked by many: the influence of blacks and the Negro Leagues. However, as important and necessary is that inclusion, it does seem that at times to spends a bit too much time on it at the expense of other worthy subjects. Still, such a criticism is minor. This is a wonderful compilation worthy of every minute you spend watching it.

Brilliant documentary on the astounding history of America's pastime with the superb direction of Ken Burns and the vast number of talents from around the world who lend their views on the classic game. Amazing footage never seen before.

This series should have been titled "Baseball in Boston and New York" because that seems to be the only cities w/ any kind of tradition or such. Other that forgetting the other 28 cities that have major league baseball this was a good series.