Baseball (TV Mini Series) A Whole New Ballgame (1994) User Reviews

A Decade Of Turmoil In & Out Of Baseball

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 12 August 2007]

This segment of Ken Burns "Baseball" centers on a decade in which the country was in a big mess with riots everywhere, political assassinations, big social changes and a huge change in labor-business relations in baseball. The players hire Marvin Miller, a labor lawyer, to represent them. Since the writer and producer of this series is definitely Left Wing, you get a lot of bias toward labor here. A lot of that, however, was justified as the owners had too much power for too long. (Sadly, now the pendulum has switched too far in the other direction.).

The "reserve clause" is the big topic here and Curt Flood, the St. Louis Cardinal, who challenged and beat it - giving the players free agency ever since, is spotlighted here.

They still cover a decent amount on on-field action here with features on Carl Yazstremski, Stan "The Man" Musial, Sandy Koufax, Roger Maris, Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson and others. World Series highlights include Bill Mazeroski's ninth inning home run to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a championship. The decade ends with "The Amazin' Mets."

it Was the Sixties, Man!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 24 January 2015]

This is about New York teams again for much of it anyway. It starts, of course, with the Yankees again. The home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle starts things off. Of course, it was the Dodgers again, fresh from New York. A focus on the great Sandy Koufax. Then there is the Pirates defeat of the Yankees, though outplayed badly in three games (someone actually called it a tragedy and Mickey Mantle cried). The sixties were the property of two franchises: The St. Louis Cardinals and the Baltimore Orioles. We got a look at Carl Yastrzemski. We got a look at Pete Rose. We got a really brief look at Stan Musial. This poor guy has been, for all practical purposes, ignored throughout this whole series, even though he broke the National League record for hits. We got a look at Bob Gibson who may have been the most frightening pitcher for anyone to bat against, ever. Casey Stengel is focused on and the hapless Mets. Of course, like they ignored the Milwaukee Braves at the end of the last episode and Lew Burdette's great achievement, they ignore the Twins, who won the pennant for the first time. Of course, about ten minutes is devoted to the 1969 Mets. If they had not been in New York, you would have not seen them on this show. Finally, Curt Flood is about to challenge the reserve clause, setting up the next episode. While there is something wonderful about this series, it becomes pretty shortsighted at times.

Civil Rights and Player Rights

[Michael_Elliott · 20 June 2012]

Baseball: Eighth Inning 'A Whole New Ballgame' (1994)

**** (out of 4)

The next to last entry in Ken Burns' terrific series takes a look at the years between 1960 and 1969. Topics covered in this entry include Ebbets Field being torn down, Mazeroski's home run to win the World Series, Casey Stengal being fired from the Yankees (and later hired by the Mets), Ty Cobb's death, Mantle and Maris chase Babe Ruth, the New York Mets enter the game, the Civil Rights movement, Branch Rickey dies, Houston gets the Harris County Dome and fake grass and the 1969 Miracle Mets. We also take a look at players including Bob Gibson, Pete Rose, Choo Choo Coleman, Stan Musial and Sandy Koufax. This is yet another great look at the sport and like the previous couple entries, this one here gets to benefit from a lot of video footage being available so some of the most memorable moments of the decade are thankfully available to see. This is probably the least interesting episode in the series but it's funny because one of the topics was that the sport was losing so much popularity during the decade. This leads to an interesting debate about the growing popularity of football and the impact this had on the sport. Some of the "reasons" given about baseball being so much better are the same ones given today, a time when football is bigger than ever. Fans of the sport are going to enjoy hearing all the stories and seeing the video. Those new to the sport will have a great time learning about it as there's no question this is a great way to get an education on the subject.