Baseball — Miniseries
Episodes
E01 Inning One: Our Game
★ 7.4Sep 18, 1994 · 1h 53m
In New York City, in the 1840s, people need a diversion from the "railroad pace" at which they work and live. They find it in a game of questionable origins. On June 19th, 1846, at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, a team of well-dressed gentlemen, the Knickerbockers, play the first game of baseball. By 1856, the game is already being called "the national pastime," or simply, "Our Game." But the nation is about to be torn apart. And, in the midst of the Civil War, there is one thing that Americans North and South have in common: baseball.
E02 Inning Two: Something Like a War
★ 7.0Sep 19, 1994 · 1h 44m
It is a decade of revolution. In China, in Central America. At Kitty Hawk. In Henry Ford's factory. And on America's baseball fields. In 1894, a sportswriter named Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson takes over a struggling minor league - the Western League - and turns it into a financial success. In 1900, he changes its name to the American League and begins talking about challenging the big city monopoly held by the National League. The revolution takes only three years. In 1903, the first World Series is played between the American League Boston Pilgrims and the National League Pittsburgh Pirates.
E03 Inning Three: The Faith of Fifty Million People
★ 7.2Sep 20, 1994 · 1h 58m
Examine the century's second decade, which was dominated by the Black Sox scandal. George Herman “Babe” Ruth makes his first major league appearance (as a member of the Boston Red Sox) and a wave of immigration helps fill the stands with new fans, eager to “become American” by learning America's game.
E04 Inning Four: A National Heirloom
★ 7.0Sep 21, 1994 · 1h 51m
This episode concentrates on Babe Ruth, whose phenomenal performance thrilled the nation throughout the 1920s and rescued the game from the scandal of the previous decade.
E05 Inning Five: Shadow Ball
★ 7.2Sep 22, 1994 · 2h
The story of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. “Shadow Ball” refers to a common pre-game feature in which the players staged a mock game with an imaginary ball. Though unintended, the pantomime was an apt metaphor for the exclusion of blacks from major league play at that time.
E06 Inning Six: The National Pastime
★ 7.4Sep 25, 1994 · 2h 28m
This episode covers the 1940s and includes Joe DiMaggio's celebrated hitting streak, the awe-inspiring performance of Ted Williams and what Burns calls “baseball's finest moment” — the debut of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
E07 Inning Seven: The Capitol of Baseball
★ 7.4Sep 26, 1994 · 2h 8m
Viewers are taken through the 1950s when New York City had three successful baseball teams and dominated the World Series. By the end of the decade, the Giants and Dodgers had left New York, a signal that the old game was changed forever.
E08 Inning Eight: A Whole New Ball Game
★ 7.2Sep 27, 1994 · 1h 51m
The field is moved to the 1960s. This episode traces the emergence of television, the expansion to new cities and the building of anonymous multipurpose stadiums that robbed the game of its intimacy and some of its urban following.
E09 Inning Nine: Home
★ 7.2Sep 28, 1994 · 2h 22m
The final episode looks at baseball from the 1970s to the present, including the establishment of the free agent system, the rise in player salaries, the continued expansion, the dilution of talent, the ongoing battles between labor and management and the scandals.