OT : "Baseball - Ken Burns Series"

[davet010]

I've been offered a 10-DVD series of 'Baseball' by Ken Burns, which I think originally aired in the US in about 1994.

Has anyone seen it ? Is it worth getting hold of ?

[Jackdog]

I think it's great. But that's JMO.


Dave,Man City looked good beating Man Utd. I know that win made your week

[K_Mosley]

Dave,

It's a great compilation of baseball history. I do remember that it's not 100% accurate, as Keith Olbermann (once of ESPN fame, and noted sabrematrician) ripped it regularly for minor inaccuracies (I think a lot of them had to do with the video footage and photos, but I don't remember for sure). For those that appreciate the history of the game, Burns' series is well worth the time...

Kevin

[XXXIV]

Its awesome.

Only problems I had.
They spend a little too much time on the Red Sox.
I know they overdue the Yankees but I understand that due to the dominance of the team and the population of the city.

Anyway. Its an incredible telling of the history of baseball.

[Bill_Abner]

I've been offered a 10-DVD series of 'Baseball' by Ken Burns, which I think originally aired in the US in about 1994.

Has anyone seen it ? Is it worth getting hold of ?

I own this on VHS. It's a lot of fun to watch (I've seen it like 10 times). But there are some factual errors and the first half of the series is about 50 times better than the second half. Burns goes into great detail with the early days of baseball, through the 50s. Then things get glossed over. The 70s and 80s are pretty much an afterthought, which was a bit surprising. The best part about the tapes on the 70/80s is Bill Lee. He's such a great interview.

And it's now officially out dated. At the end Burns says this re: Free Agency, "But players ended up staying with their old teams just like they used to!"

Uh, no.

Stilll, fun to watch, just don't take everything said in it as 100% accurate. (Tim Raines didn't have coke vials in his back pocket, which Burns says is the reason he would head first slide...)

[Zeppo]

Indeed, this doc. is one of the greats. It is a huge project, and well done from start to finish.

Some people just don't like the Ken Burns style, which I can understand I guess. I happen to love it. It can be dry and slow, but I love it.

What I love the most is the usage of the HUGE amount of old footage. So much incredible film footage, not to mention amazing stills. After The Civil War this was Burns's next long project. People all wondered, how would he deal with motion picture footage? The Civil War was in large part such a success beacuase of its use of still photographs, and as the US Civil War was the first war to BE phortographed, everything sort of worked together in that one. So, people didn't think Burns could deal with the archival motion picture footage, but for my money it's great stuff.

I would agree after the 50s it gets a little weaker, but I still enjoyed the whole thing. A project this large, it is very tough to make it consistently good all the way through, and I think they did very well.

Occasionally I will pop in a DVD to watch one of the earlier episodes, and it's impossible to take it out till it's done. It just grabs me, every time.

I don't know about the factual errors, but if Bill says so, than I tend to believe him. It certainly seems mostly accurate with the really old stuff, the 80, 90, 100+ years ago stuff, but that's just it, it 'seems' accurate, which can be very dangerous, if its not!

Since you clearly have an interest in the Yank games, I think you would lvoe it too, Dave. It'll give you some insight in to the screwy American psyche.

[davet010]

I'll try to find a similar series about cricket to educate you guys about the other 'beautiful game'.

[RobVarak]

I LOVE the Burns documentary. The stated criticisms are accurate, however. My only problem with Burns is that he states, then restates, then overstates his themes. By the time he's done, you do feel a bit beaten about the face and head with his themes

That being said, he has an unrivaled and unique touch as a film maker. I still watch them whenever possible. And any historical errors are far outweighed by the educational value to a relatively new initiate to baseball history.