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Baseball : A Film by Ken Burns

Access provided to the Quinnipiac community by PBS Video Collection, 4th ed (Alexander Street Press)

Baseball is a 1994 American television documentary miniseries created by filmmaker Ken Burns about the game of baseball in the United States. First broadcast on PBS, this was Burns' ninth documentary and it won the 1995 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series.

The documentary is divided into ten parts, each referred to as an “Inning,” following the division of a baseball game. Each "Inning" reviews an era, mentioning notable moments in the world and in America itself, and begins with a brief prologue that acts as an insight to the game during that era. Major themes explored throughout the documentary include race, business, labor relations, and baseball's relationship with society. At the time of its release the series had an audience of 45 million viewers, making it the most watched program in PBS history.

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List of Episodes

1st Inning – Our Game
This inning serves as an introduction to the game and the series, and covers baseball's origins and the game as it evolved prior to the 20th century
2nd Inning – Something Like a War
This inning covers approximately 1900 to 1910, and includes the formation of the American League and its integration with the National League, culminating in the establishment of the World Series, as well as the emergence of the game's first great stars, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner, who help to clean up baseball's previously bad reputation as a rowdy, brawling game. Ty Cobb is discussed in-depth (the title of this inning comes from one of his many quotes). Many of the quotes used in this inning and of the other early innings are taken from Lawrence S. Ritter’s "The Glory of Their Times."
3rd Inning – The Faith of Fifty Million People
This inning covers approximately 1910 to 1920, and follows baseball as it goes through its greatest era of popularity yet. It heavily focuses on the Black Sox Scandal, taking its title from a line in the novel “The Great Gatsby.” The line refers to how easy it was for gamblers to tamper with the faith that people put in the game's fairness.
4th Inning – A National Heirloom
This inning covers approximately 1920 to 1930, and focuses on baseball's recovery from the Black Sox Scandal, giving much of the credit to the increase in power hitting throughout the game, led by its savior Babe Ruth. The title comes from what sports writers called Ruth. During an interview given to MLB Network during the series' re-airing in 2009, Burns stated that he originally wanted to title the 4th Inning "That Big Son-of-a-Bitch", a name given to Ruth by many in the game during that era. However, the companion book uses this title.
5th Inning – Shadow Ball
This inning covers approximately 1930 to 1940. A great deal of this inning covers the Negro Leagues, and the great players and organizers who were excluded from the Major Leagues. Also, the episode deals with organized Baseball's response to the Great Depression, as well as the sad decline of its most iconic star, Babe Ruth, and the emergence of new heroes, like Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, and Joe DiMaggio.
6th Inning – The National Pastime
This inning covers approximately 1940 to 1950. The emphasis here is on baseball finally becoming what it had always purported to be: a national game, as African-Americans are finally permitted for good into Major League Baseball, led by Jackie Robinson. This inning also looks at how the game responded to World War II, and how the game became, more than ever, a symbol of America itself.
7th Inning – The Capital of Baseball
This inning covers approximately 1950 to 1960. Burns emphasizes the greatness of the three teams based in New York (the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers). This inning also covers one of baseball's golden eras and how America's own changes, such as leaving urban areas and heading west to more open suburbs, caused baseball to follow.
8th Inning – A Whole New Ballgame
This inning covers approximately 1960 to 1970. As the nation underwent turbulent changes, baseball was not immune, as Babe Ruth's beloved record of 60 home runs in a season is threatened by a sullen and complicated player, Roger Maris, and for the first time in decades, pitchers, led by stars Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson, dominate the game. The loss of home run power and betrayal to the game's past, combined with the meteoric rise of football, cause many to turn their back on baseball. Expansion and labor are major topics in this inning.
9th Inning – Home
The final inning covers approximately 1970 to 1992. While baseball survived the 1960s, the changes were not over, and in some ways, its most bitter conflicts were just beginning. Major topics include the formation of the players' union, the owners' collusion, free agency, and drugs, as well as gambling, scandals. However, the game manages to win back the hearts of many with such moments as the excitement of the 1975 World Series and the return of the New York Yankees to dominance. The documentary ends with an ironic boast that baseball (and indirectly the World Series) had survived wars, depressions, pandemics, and numbers of scandals and thus could never be stopped. The 1994 World Series, the series to be played the year the film first aired on PBS, was cancelled due to a players’ strike. This marked the first time since 1904 that the World Series was not played.
10th Inning – (Episode 1, Top of the 10th)
This two part, four hour encore presentation covers stories from the 1990s to 2010. The first part discusses the labor stoppage of the 1990s, as well as Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s pursuit of the home run record in 1998.
10th Inning – (Episode 2, Bottom of the 10th)
This two-part, four-hour encore presentation covers stories from the 1990s to 2010. The second part spends a fair amount of time covering the steroid scandal in the 2000s, as well as the role baseball played in helping the nation heal from 9/11.

Baseball : A Film by Ken Burns: Home

Baseball : A Film by Ken Burns

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