From Casey Stengel to Dwight Gooden, An Amazin' Era captures all the magic and mystique surrounding 25 years of New York Mets baseball. Relive the team's first quarter century in a collection of interviews and rare footage that follows the Mets from their humble beginnings through their championship years of 1969 and 1973, right up to the present day powerhouse team. An Amazin' Era is a complete history of the team that has captured the spirit and imagination of New York since 1962
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.
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.
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.
This feature documentary follows one of the greatest Canadian baseball players of all time, Ferguson Jenkins, through the 1972-1973 season. From the hope and innocence of spring training to the dog days of an August slump, the camera gets up close and personal at the home plate and records the intimate chatter on the mound, in the dugout and in the locker room. It provides a glimpse into the rewards and pressures of sports stardom and the easy camaraderie of the quintessential summer sport.
Inside the life of former baseball star Curt Flood whose fight against MLB's 'Reserve Clause' led to reform, but destroyed his career.
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.
A documentary exploring the sporadic connections between baseball and punk rock.
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.
Told with humor in the face of heartache, this acclaimed documentary, about the curse of Babe Ruth on the Boston Red Sox, combines archival footage with contemporary interviews and focuses not on the Red Sox players that have come and gone, but on the diehard fans who live their entire lives lamenting what some have come to call The Curse of the Bambino.
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.
John DeMarsico’s showcase of the cinematic inspirations for the baseball broadcasts he directs at SNY for the New York Mets. DeMarsico pairs clips from some of his favorite films with sequences from his broadcasts that were directly inspired by those films.
Houston Strong. The first championship for any franchise always delivers a satisfying celebration. But when it happens during the recovery from a natural disaster, it generously serves as a welcome and exhilarating distraction for its fans and city. Fresh on the heels of devastating flooding from Hurricane Harvey, the Houston Astros thrilled fans by winning the 2017 World Series championship.
In Fernando Nation, Mexican-born and Los Angeles-raised director Cruz Angeles traces the history of a community that was torn apart when Dodger Stadium was built in Chavez Ravine and then revitalized by one of the most captivating pitching phenoms baseball has ever seen. Nicknamed “El Toro” by his fans, Fernando Valenzuela ignited a fire that spread from LA to New York—and beyond. He vaulted himself onto the prime time stage and proved with his signature look to the heavens and killer screwball that the American dream was not reserved for those born on U.S. soil. In this layered look at the myth and the man, Cruz Angeles recalls the euphoria around Fernando’s arrival and probes a phenomenon that transcended baseball for many Mexican-Americans. Fernando Valenzuela himself opens up to share his perspective on this very special time. Even 20 years later, “Fernandomania” lives.
In the fall of 1993, in his prime and at the summit of the sports world, Michael Jordan walked away from pro basketball. After leading the Dream Team to an Olympic gold medal in 1992 and taking the Bulls to their third consecutive NBA championship the following year, Jordan was jolted by the murder of his father. Was it the brutal loss of such an anchor in his life that caused the world’s most famous athlete to rekindle a childhood ambition by playing baseball? Or some feeling that he had nothing left to prove or conquer in basketball? Or something deeper and perhaps not yet understood?
In 1982, Cody Webster and a small group of friends from Kirkland, Washington, sat anxiously in a dugout waiting to take the field for the championship game of the Little League World Series. Their focus was just about what you’d expect from any 12-year-old: hit the ball, throw strikes, cross your fingers and then maybe – maybe – you’ll win. Adults in the stands and watching from home saw a much broader field of play. The memories of American hostages and a crippling oil crisis were still fresh; the economic malaise of the late 1970s still lingered; and the new President was recovering from an assassination attempt even while confronting new threats from the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, back on that tiny baseball field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, no American team had won a true international Little League World Series Championship in more than a decade. When the Kirkland players rushed from their dugout that day, they stepped onto a much bigger field than the one they saw.
Love them or hate them, the Yankees dominated baseball for more than four decades, then sagged under ownership by CBS until a 42-year-old shipbuilder named George Steinbrenner led a purchase of the team in 1973. He turned that $10m investment into a billion-dollar business, and the 'House that Ruth Built' inspired generations of fans. Deteriorating facilities and changing revenue streams inspired Steinbrenner to build an impressive new stadium marking the end of one grand era and the beginning - perhaps - of another.
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.
Samurai Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic for the first time in 14 years, and went all the way to the final undefeated. In addition to the never-before-seen footage of the team, the film also includes interviews with Manager Hideki Kuriyama, players, coaches, and team staff. What is the truth behind the glory and the suffering of the people involved?
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...