Baseball
The history of the sport of baseball in America, told through archival photos, film footage, and the words of those who contributed to the game in each era. Writers, historians, players, baseball personnel, and fans review key events and the significance of the game in America's history.
Trailers & Videos 1
Baseball, a film by Ken Burns | Trailer | DocPlay
Episodes
In New York City, in the 1840s, people need a diversion from the "railroad pace" at which they work and live. They find it in a game of questionable o...
It is a decade of revolution. In China, in Central America. At Kitty Hawk. In Henry Ford's factory. And on America's baseball fields. In 1894, a sport...
Examine the century's second decade, which was dominated by the Black Sox scandal. George Herman “Babe” Ruth makes his first major league appearance (...
This episode concentrates on Babe Ruth, whose phenomenal performance thrilled the nation throughout the 1920s and rescued the game from the scandal of...
The story of the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. “Shadow Ball” refers to a common pre-game feature in which the players staged a mock game with an imagina...
This episode covers the 1940s and includes Joe DiMaggio's celebrated hitting streak, the awe-inspiring performance of Ted Williams and what Burns call...
Viewers are taken through the 1950s when New York City had three successful baseball teams and dominated the World Series. By the end of the decade, t...
The field is moved to the 1960s. This episode traces the emergence of television, the expansion to new cities and the building of anonymous multipurpo...
The final episode looks at baseball from the 1970s to the present, including the establishment of the free agent system, the rise in player salaries,...
Cast
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TMDB Reviews
3 years ago
I guess this is a documentary on the Civil War and how Jackie Robinson finally won it by playing baseball. At least that is what the focus seemed to be. The Civil War and Jackie Robinson.
There is a lot more to baseball that that, and, honestly, with all due respect to Jackie Robinson, there is a lot more to baseball than him.
Honestly, it makes the sport seem like a downer. It makes it seem depressing. He has interviews here of people talking about how fun baseball was... and he makes it seem depressing and almost evil.
There are people on the interview that talk of father-son bonding, of playing with their friends on beautiful summer days and... he almost makes it feel dull. It almost makes it feel like he has a bit of a grudge against the sport, that he doesn't realize it's a game, that he's searching to make it something more.
It feels too much like Burns is trying to make baseball sound like more than it is, more than it ever could be, a metaphor for America and all of its problems.
I have to disagree with that, and I say this as someone that once rented a horrible apartment just because I could see a softball field from the living room window. I have to disagree as someone that goes to high school baseball games and local softball games just to watch people play baseball when I have nothing else to do and was, well, and was single and had the freedom to indulge.
Baseball is a lot of things, its a national past time, it's a sport, its an obsession, but, it's a game. It's not really a metaphor for anything. Baseball doesn't define the Civil War, it doesn't define the Civil Rights movement, it's a game.
Jackie Robinson was a big deal for America, he was a mark of desegregation and it made sense that baseball did it. It was a triumph... but Burns makes it seem like Baseball desegregated the nation, and that's not right. Baseball desegregated and Jackie Robinson played a game (and played it very well)... but the Civil Rights Movement desegregat...
