Baseball has always been America’s most beloved pastime as this documentary explores in historic detail. Learn about baseball’s history, highest profile moments and what makes this sport so attractive to American fans year after year.
Acclaimed Florida novelist Randy Wayne White travels to Cuba with former pitchers Bill "Spaceman" Lee (Boston Red Sox) and Jon Warden (Detroit Tigers), and a band of baseball enthusiasts to find and revive the children's baseball league founded by American writer Ernest Hemingway in the days before Fidel Castro came to power.
The World Series champion Mets of 1969 and 1986 were embraced by fans for their pitching, personalities, and perseverance. In 1969, the world was mesmerized by man's first steps on the moon. The world of baseball was equally transfixed by the Mets. New York relied on pitching from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, and the hitting of Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones to register the Club's first 100-win season. It took the 1986 Mets two games to recover from a grueling NLCS, and then the fiery Lenny Dykstra led the charge. With two road victories pushing the Fall Classic back to Shea Stadium, the stage was set for Game Six--and arguably the most remarkable comeback in baseball history...
"The Last Season" follows the stadium's last year, the fans' communal last look, the witnessing of the wrecking ball and the great fall of the Memorial Wall.
In 2015, we witnessed perhaps the greatest 6 week turnaround in baseball history, one that captivated a fan base and re-invigorated New York City.
Features exclusive behind-the-scenes access and never-before-heard audio of the MLB umpires who worked the 2012 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers.
On April 20, 1990, Seattle Mariners' starting pitcher, Brian Holman, faces off against the Oakland Athletics in an heart-breaking performance that stands as one of the most rare events in Major League Baseball history.
On Oct. 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PT, soon after Al Michaels and Tim McCarver started the ABC telecast for Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, the ground began to shake beneath Candlestick Park. Even before that moment, this had promised to be a memorable matchup: the first in 33 years between teams from the same metropolitan area, a battle featuring larger-than-life characters and equally colorful fan bases. But after the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake rolled through, bringing death and destruction, the Bay Area pulled together, and baseball took a backseat.
Baseball, Dennis & the French tells the true story of Paul Croshaw, longtime liberal activist and connoisseur of French films, who amazed his family, friends and himself by becoming a churchgoing, conservative Christian after years of listening to nationally syndicated radio host Dennis Prager.
In honor of Homer's journey to the Hall of Fame, MLB all-stars and Springfield locals look back at the greatest corporate softball game ever played.
Major League Baseball has been transformed by the influx of Cuban players such as Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu. But a special debt of gratitude is owed to two half-brothers, whose courage two decades ago paved the way for their stardom. "Brothers in Exile" tells the incredible story of Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who risked their lives to get off the island.
This feature documentary uses animation, archival stills and live-action footage to detail the history of women's participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball. Zany and affectionate, it features 7-year-olds learning the rules and skills of the game and 50-year-olds hitting home runs, from the early days of the Bloomer Girls to the heyday of the Colorado Silver Bullets.
The Houston Astros overcame the worst start in franchise history to win the National League.
The unusual talents of Johnny Price, a minor league baseball pitcher and trick artist, are showcased in this Pete Smith Specialty. Among other talents, Mr. Price can throw two (and, in certain situations three) baseballs simultaneously to different people. The catchers can be side by side, with one high and one low, or standing on the pitcher's mound and second base while Price throws the ball from the catcher's position. He can even perform these feats while suspended upside-down.
From the April home opener to the glorious November victory parade, this team was bonded by a trust - a belief - dare we say: The Magic Inside. The team-first attitudes of veterans and newcomers alike blended with the positive style of manager Bruce Bochy to create a superb and sustaining chemistry. AT&T Park overflowed with waves of orange-and-black devotees throughout the year - hoping beyond hope that their Giants would bring them the first World Series title in San Francisco history. Often it was tortuous. But always it was magic.
Throughout the 1900's, before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1946, black baseball talent blossomed in the Negro Leagues. Baseball buffs still sing the praises of Josh Gibson who could be counted on to hit 70 homeruns in a season, and Satchel Paige who pitched over 100 no-hitters in his career. Only the Ball Was White pays tribute to the many topflight players from the Negro Leagues. Narrated by actor Paul Winfield, the program documents a bygone bittersweet era in baseball and the men who were denied stardom by the color line. Ballplayers throughout the country were interviewed for this program, all of them quick to tell tales of the life, the competition, and the camaraderie. These include: Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Buck Leonard, Jimmy Crutchfield, David Malarcher, Effa Manley, and Quincy Trouppe.
It's been a decade since the Federation of Cuban Women encouraged its members to form women's baseball teams. The call launched a movement that has seen women's teams spring up across the island—even as they face scorn and opposition from men who feel that women should not be playing what they see as a man's game.
Since 1912, baseball has been a game obsessed with statistics and speed. Thrown at upwards of 100 miles per hour, a fastball moves too quickly for human cognition and accelerates into the realm of intuition. Fastball is a look at how the game at its highest levels of achievement transcends logic and even skill, becoming the primal struggle for man to control the uncontrollable.
In the summer of 2001, a controversy unlike any other led to the disqualification of the Bronx baseball team from the Little League World Series. At the center of the bizarre story was a quiet, unassuming 14-year-old kid named Danny Almonte. Nicknamed "The Little Unit," the hard-throwing left-hander was exposed by Sports Illustrated as being too old to have competed in the tournament. The story instantly caught national and even international attention, as Danny was pushed into the spotlight and accused of cheating in the most sacred of all amateur sports. Twelve years later, the reclusive Almonte finally tells the truth about one of the strangest chapters in youth sports history: a hoax that would forever change the way people view amateur athletics in America.
Heralded as a palace among minor and major league baseball stadiums, Silver Stadium set a standard of excellence from opening day. From May 1929 through the 1990s Silver Stadium served as home to Rochester's historic baseball team, The Rochester Red Wings, as well as many other sporting teams. When not being used as a baseball stadium, the space served as center stage for a variety of traveling acts. Hear from the people closest to the history of this magnificent facility as they take you on a journey through The Memories of Silver.