Watching this documentary is a must for any serious baseball fan. It documents with great alacrity some of the best anecdotes and characters in baseball since its "invention" in the 19th century.
The series has one serious weakness: it is heavily focused on the Boston Red Sox in several chapters.
While the history of the Red Sox is intriguing and worthy, it's given a little too much attention in this documentary. Other teams, with other great moments are sometimes given only the briefest of mentions.
I think you have to forgive Ken Burns for getting wrapped up in New England's fascination with the Red Sox. Despite having a wealth of interesting stories and characters to choose from, in certain chapters he clearly chose to just have extremely eloquent people just wax all poetically about the opera of his favorite baseball team. He's clearly a fan just like you and I, so how can you not understand his fascination with his favorite team? There are other notable oversights. There is little to no discussion on the advent and development of relief pitching or in fact any discussion on the modern development of the game's strategy. The importance and strength of the Pacific leagues, before the Giants and Dodgers move out west, is also largely ignored. In fact if you are a fan of baseball's history west of the Mississippi you might get frustrated at how much of the focus is centered on the teams from the Northeast.
Another beef of mine is there is only a casual nod to development of baseball in other countries. This is forgivable, since one of key themes of the entire series is how well baseball mirrors and reflects the social and political events within America through each decade. Still, in my mind, Latino players, and Latino culture in baseball was not given its full due, this is probably the series' gravest oversight.
Whatever weaknesses there are, it is forgivable because the documentary is so lovingly put together and so beautifully crafted. The various commentators throughout the segments are selected well for they are both knowledgeable and eloquent. They shine the most when they reveal their own personal connections to baseball and each of them has a personal story to tell as to why the game is meaningful to them.
Along the way, you will see photos and film of some of the great legends of the game, that you probably never saw before. You'll get insight into collusion, the trials baseball endure, and the player's long quest to banish the reserve clause. You'll also see just how greedy, myopic and tragic some of baseball's owners and commissioners have been over the years.
If you love baseball, buy or rent this series. It's a real treat, and a series that you may find yourself revisiting from time to time in the cold winter, when you yearn for the green fields and blue sky of your favorite baseball park.
The series has one serious weakness: it is heavily focused on the Boston Red Sox in several chapters.
While the history of the Red Sox is intriguing and worthy, it's given a little too much attention in this documentary. Other teams, with other great moments are sometimes given only the briefest of mentions.
I think you have to forgive Ken Burns for getting wrapped up in New England's fascination with the Red Sox. Despite having a wealth of interesting stories and characters to choose from, in certain chapters he clearly chose to just have extremely eloquent people just wax all poetically about the opera of his favorite baseball team. He's clearly a fan just like you and I, so how can you not understand his fascination with his favorite team? There are other notable oversights. There is little to no discussion on the advent and development of relief pitching or in fact any discussion on the modern development of the game's strategy. The importance and strength of the Pacific leagues, before the Giants and Dodgers move out west, is also largely ignored. In fact if you are a fan of baseball's history west of the Mississippi you might get frustrated at how much of the focus is centered on the teams from the Northeast.
Another beef of mine is there is only a casual nod to development of baseball in other countries. This is forgivable, since one of key themes of the entire series is how well baseball mirrors and reflects the social and political events within America through each decade. Still, in my mind, Latino players, and Latino culture in baseball was not given its full due, this is probably the series' gravest oversight.
Whatever weaknesses there are, it is forgivable because the documentary is so lovingly put together and so beautifully crafted. The various commentators throughout the segments are selected well for they are both knowledgeable and eloquent. They shine the most when they reveal their own personal connections to baseball and each of them has a personal story to tell as to why the game is meaningful to them.
Along the way, you will see photos and film of some of the great legends of the game, that you probably never saw before. You'll get insight into collusion, the trials baseball endure, and the player's long quest to banish the reserve clause. You'll also see just how greedy, myopic and tragic some of baseball's owners and commissioners have been over the years.
If you love baseball, buy or rent this series. It's a real treat, and a series that you may find yourself revisiting from time to time in the cold winter, when you yearn for the green fields and blue sky of your favorite baseball park.