| | |  | GIFT SETS | Home » » Baseball - A Film By Ken Burns | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National Pastime through the decades of glory and record-setting achievements, as well as the scandals, the bigotry, and the big money. The series portrays the game as a mirror of America itself -- the passions, prejudices, and ambitions that have shape the country. | | | Features: | |
• Officially Licensed
• Highest Quality Recording
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Mamie Ruth Moberly, Hank Aaron, Bud Abbott, Roger Angell, Arthur Ashe | | Director:
| Ken Burns | | Format:
| Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 10 | | Studio:
| PBS Paramount | | Run Time:
| 1140 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| September 28, 2004 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 164 reviews |
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| New | |
| $59.92 | New | | | $64.97 | New | | | $64.99 | New | | | $67.90 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | | $74.95 | New | | | $75.00 | New | | | $75.99 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | | $79.94 | New | | | $89.98 | New | | | $89.99 | New | | | $112.50 | New | | | $179.99 | New | |
| Used | |
| $71.69 | Used
- Mint | | | $71.71 | Used
- Mint | | | $73.24 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | Used
- Mint | | | $95.00 | Used
- Mint | | | $140.00 | Used
- Good | |
| Collectible | |
| $99.99 | Collectible
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| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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 The best historical look at baseball.Jun 25, 2010
This has been an enjoyable look at baseball's history.
The narration is superb. Unlike most documentary's, this
this is interesting for eveyone. We bought a second set as a gift
for our baseball couch as and end if season gift.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 A tainted game ... limited scopeJun 07, 2010
Disappointed with this DVD series compared to Burns' Civil War. The race/integration card was played to the hilt before AND after Jackie Robinson's debut. That was the overriding issue of each "inning" of this game. It was an appropriate topic in his Civil War documentary but garnered WAY TOO MUCH coverage here. There was also a strong emphasis on the New York and Boston baseball history. MOST of the guests interviewed were either New York/Boston fans (Crystal, Goodwin, Barber, Scully, etc.) or black writers and athletes. Actually my favorite was Buck O'Neil, he wasn't bitter and stated not to feel sorry for him, "I had my baseball career". They did point out that once integration took place the Negro Leagues died and were no more.
There were a few positives:
1) I have a greater appreciation for what Jackie Robinson (really Branch Rickey) accomplished and what he had to go through to do it.
2) I learned the amazing stat that Ty Cobb over his 24 year career and more than 11,000 at bats struck out only 357 times. Only 2 players (Cap Anson and Tris Speaker) with more than 10,000 at bats had a better record than that.
NEGATIVES:
Besides the race/integration card being overplayed, as a Detroit Tiger fan, we got short changed as usual. Ty Cobb was covered quite a bit but his being a jerk and a racist was made clear. Hank Greenberg was covered because he was Jewish and played in the World War II era. After that NOTHING! No Al Kaline, no Ernie Harwell, nothing.
Ernie Harwell is the biggest slight of all. One of the most knowledgeable and beloved people in baseball history and he wasn't even interviewed and I doubt he would have turned it down if he was asked.
Al Kaline would have been only the 4th player (after Aaron, Mays, Musial) in major league history at the time to have 400+ home runs and 3000+ hits but he hit a home run in a rain shortened game and it didn't count. 5 other players have done it since.
1968 Season and World Series. The Year of the Tigers: No mention of Denny McLain's 31 victories which was unheard of and unprecedented by the time the 60's came around (the only player to win 30 since 1934). Only 14 times has a pitcher won more than 25 games in a season since 1934, 3 times by a Tiger (Hal Newhouser twice and Dizzy Trout) and only 2 times by a New York pitcher. The most victories in a season between 1934 and 1968 was 29 by Hal Newhouser, a TIGER, in 1944.
No mention that the Tigers won 40 games that year after the 7th inning and 30 in their last time at bat. No mention that the Tigers WON the World Series after trailing 3 games to 1, only the 3rd time in Series history (they made a big deal about the 1979 Pirates coming back from being down 3-1, it was a minority-laden team). They didn't mention how much the 1968 Tigers meant to a race torn city like Detroit a year after 43 were killed in the 1967 race riot in which Willie Horton (a black player) after a ball game drove to the riot area and stood on a car in the middle of the crowd while he was still wearing his uniform. However, despite his impassioned pleas to his people, he could not calm the mob. Horton, Gates Brown and Earl Wilson were three very important black players on that team. AND Mickey Lolich outdueled and outpitched Bob Gibson in Game 7 for the Champions, Lolich's 3rd victory of the series.
It played the race card again when Aaron broke Ruth's record reading quotes from 2 letters he supposedly received from angry "white" people I guess. However, when you watch the video of him hitting the tying and record home runs all you see in the stands are people (mostly white) cheering the accomplishment.
Ignored also was the best 40-game record in the history of baseball when the 1984 Detroit Tigers started the season 35-5.
Early on this documentary made a big deal about baseball being called the "National Sport" or "National Pastime" when in fact it wasn't since not everyone was allowed to play in the Major Leagues. Well this series does NOT cover the "National Pastime" for everyone since not only the Detroit Tigers but many other teams got short changed. I admit that you'd need a documentary 5 times as long to cover everything but there was way too much time spent talking about racism/integration and the story of New York baseball!
THIS SERIES SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAMEMay 01, 2010
This is Ken Burns' epic series on the history of baseball. It is 10 discs for a total of about 20 hours. You don't have to watch them all and you don't have to watch in the chronological order they were produced but once you start it is hard to stop. Even those who may consider themselves marginal baseball fans can enjoy this amazing series. Baseball is so much a part of the history of our country since it began in the 1850's - yes, that's right they played baseball during the Civil War. Sometimes it reflects our culture (racial discrimination until Jackie Robinson) and sometimes it creates culture (hundreds of leagues at all ages playing the game in the beginning). Nobody does documentaries about our life in America better than Ken Burns and he is at his best with BASEBALL. He does a great job of bringing in political and cultural influences on the sport. The sport of baseball and particularly professional baseball does not exist in a vacuum and is subject to the same outside influences as any other institution in America. And, yes, there really was some good in the 'good old days' but there was also a lot that needed fixing and you will experience both during this series. As someone who once stood countless times along the chalk baseline in a straight row with teammates and sang the National Anthem waiting to hear the umpire say 'let's play ball', I can honestly say this is a priceless story of the game of baseball. Thanks, Ken Burns, for helping all of us understand why baseball is America's pastime and so much a part of American life. And for all those whose overly efficient mothers threw out their boxes of baseball cards when they went away to college, this is for you. And for all those sisters (I know at least four) who had to watch hundreds of their brothers' games growing up, this may help you to understand why he was so passionate about the game. Enjoy!!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Best documentary ever, but...Apr 23, 2010
First I will say this is an amazing documentary. I watched it when it came out on PBS, but I was only 14 at the time and my perspective has changed a bit. I love the poetic justice the commentators give, especially Costas. Fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor is also amazing reading quotes from ballplayers. My only complaint is that they didn't use Keillor more.
My only real complaint, and it is a big one, is the omission of the 1961 SF Giants. Last night I watched the 1960's "8th Inning" and the Latin Giants were mentioned exactly zero times. Hell they didn't even mention Marichal either! I know it can't be all things to all people, but two hours and not even a passing mention of them? Oh sure they gushed over Mantle at length, but nothing about the Dominicans who transformed the game. The segregation they faced could have been beautifully woven the civil rights piece. Not only did they face racial issues, they faced ethnic ones as well. The Giants manager refused to let them speak spanish to each other in the dugout. You also have the Alou brothers, who covered the entire outfield. Their improbable run to the World Series, only to lose in Game 7 against the Yankees is another great story. So many great chances missed by Burns.
If you want to see a great documentary about the Latin Giants check out "Republic of Baseball"
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Baseball - 9 Up, 9 DownApr 14, 2010
Making a film like this, on such a subject - and making it very watchable - is no small undertaking. Of course there will be omissions, biases, etc., but how could you please everyone? Some of the Good: (1) attention paid to the game's early days and players; (2) the time spent on Ruth - it is appropriate that his presence looms over the program the way his achievements loom over the game; (3) Brooklyn announcer Red Barber's candid recollection of what he felt about Jackie Robinson breaking into the majors; (4) some effective voice-overs from actor John Turturro; (5) Ted Williams; (6) interviews with actual Negro Leaguers; (7) Burns's subtle and often effective matching of old photos and film footage with the narrative text, for example the way he uses certain footage of Ruth and Gehrig at batting practice; (8) The stuff on Curt Flood; (9) pairing footage of the '70s Big Red Machine with "Radar Love." Some of the Not-So-Good: (1) Yes, it's true, too much from historians, political pundits, paleontologists, and politicians, and not enough from people who actually play(ed) the game and might be able (if willing) to talk about it (I didn't mind so much the sportswriters like Angell, Boswell, etc.). Who knows, maybe there's a good reason for this skew, but it's a breath of fresh air when interviewee Ted Williams appears on your screen for the first time; (2) the inherent limitations of the chronological approach - there are aspects of the game which will be overlooked - e.g., the peculiarities of certain positions (third base, catcher, pitcher, etc.); (3) A lot of talk about things which "set baseball apart" but which in reality apply to any sport; (4) nothing on umpires, and the role of the umpire, and the, uh, "special" relationship umps have with the fans and players (hey that is something truly unique about baseball); (5) Bob Costas; (6) The program runs out of gas in "Inning 9"- things happened in this era, Pete Rose's 44-game streak and George Brett's run at .400 were both covered daily on the nightly network news, if I recall correctly; (7) Yes, East Coast bias, which makes sense overall, but becomes very noticeable when something like the amazing, improbable story of L.A.'s Fernando Valenzuela is omitted. Woops, great human interest story that would fit with Burns's style (that's an "E" if you're scoring at home); (8) Interview footage with Billy Crystal in which he's basically doing shtick, and which for the sake of humanity should have been left on the cutting room floor; (9) Then-Governor Mario Cuomo - fine, use him as a well-known talking head, but then, the narrative veers off and is about him and his life, his marriage, etc. Ken, why use your baseball documentary to enable grandstanding politicians? That was unpleasant.
(And by the way: it's really difficult to capture the essence of baseball without any profanity, so Burns gets bonus points for trying)
Looking forward to "Inning 10."
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