Wednesday, December 15, 2010

1960 World Series Game 7 Live-Blog

Schedule:
Wednesday
7:30 EST - Bing and Baseball
8:00 - 11:00 EST - 1960 World Series Game 7
Thursday
12:30 EST - Bing and Baseball
1:00 - 4 am EST - 1960 World Series Game 7
2:30 EST - Bing and Baseball
3:00 - 6:00 EST - 1960 World Series Game 7

Thought lost forever, tonight the world (those who didn't order the DVD from Amazon.com) gets to see the game broadcast for only the second time in history. This broadcast marks the 2nd time in only a handful of years that one of the most significant games in baseball history was unearthed from oblivion.

Years ago when I started getting serious about really old classic baseball broadcast, there were only a handful of games to be known out there. The widely circulated ones like the 1952 World Series, 1965 and 1968 World Series, as well as the 1969 Fall Classic. Most of the content was scattered over a multitude of private collector's who feared confiscation, regional sports networks/broadcast partners who feared losing their claim to copyrighted content or was hidden away in the various team/MLB vaults never to be seen by fans.

With the advent of MLB Network, it seemed MLB became more focused on filling their network with content as well as doubling down on their efforts to catalog all their existing footage. Likewise, this brought more collectors out of the woodwork and made visable to non-collectors who had footage that there was someone out there looking for it.

Not to continue on from this little history jaunt, this 1960 World Series game ranks up there with 1962 World Series Game 7, 1951 NL Playoff Game 3 and Aaron's 715 game as defining moments in MLB history. And tonight, for those of us not alive when Bill Mazeroski punched his HOF ticket with a 9th inning shot over the brick wall at beautiful Forbes Field, we get to experience what it must have felt like seeing it live.

In this game, we get to see in live motion, not edited to only show their great feats some truely legendary figures. Maris, Mantle, Groat, The Great One, and Yogi.

I only have 1 major groundrule for tonight, if you normally don't post or even if you do, make sure you use a unique username. It makes it easier to put words to one particular poster. If it is a thread of anonymous, it'll seem like all one person.

If you've just been a fan in the past and never posted, jump in tonight. You might not get another chance to chat with fellow classic broadcast fans during one of the greatest events we could possibly have.

31 comments:

  1. One thing that I hope stands out is how rabid the Pittsburgh sports fans can be when you give them a product worth rooting for. For much of what we all have seen on TV, the Pirates fans were either a) given a horrible product or b) put in a stadium that had them removed from the action.

    Tonight we will get to see the fans nearly on top of the players, not an empty seat to be found from the stadium all the way up to the top of the Cathedral of Learning.

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  2. Just saw a commercial for the 2 DVD set. Video quality looks above passable. Can't wait to see game tonight. Won't be able to catch Bing special until repeat.

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  3. Checking in with broadcast running and I'm here.

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  4. First shot of that iconic scoreboard.

    Image is soft, but who cares?

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  5. Man, I wish I had been in Pittsburgh that day (both 50 years ago and in mid-November!).

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  6. Learn to pull the ball? I've never heard of a hitter that went the other way TOO much.

    I don't think I've ever heard that explination for an open stance.

    Welcome Steve!

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  7. So far no modern commercials....or commercials of any kind. Keeps game moving but is taking away from the 'broadcast feel' of the game without the commercials intercut. Even if it would have been 10 Super Foamy ads over and over again.

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  8. Got hold of the DVD set yesterday from Amazon so I've had a chance to see all of it. I'm impressed how the CF camera angle was now starting to emerge and make watching the play much easier than in the 50s broadcasts (though for the games in NY this wouldn't have been an option since Yankee Stadium didn't have a CF camera position until late in the 60s I think).

    Pay close attention to the play prior to Hal Smith's HR when Clemented beat out a slow chopper for a hit to prolong the inning. For decades Jim Coates has been assailed for not covering first on the play and sportswriters gave an impression of Coates basically not doing anything on the play, but it looked to me, thanks to the telecast that he was running for the bag from the get-go and Clemente simply beat him there.

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  9. Look at that canon attached to Maris' shoulder. Good grief, there isn't a player living or dead that could have turned that sure double into an actual double.

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  10. The commercials BTW, do not exist on the original kinescope. Bing Crosby specifically asked they be deleted when making the original copy.

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  11. Thanks for the info Eric. Will keep an eye out.

    Clemente was never a large man but at the ripe old age of 25, he has to weigh 120 lbs dripping wet.

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  12. Bing Crosby = DVR pioneer. On the dvd, do they tell you what actually does exist outside of this gameplay? Did Bing also ask for the cut down of pregame that MLB Network appeared to do or is this just a continuation of their standard practice?

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  13. First cut to theater audience, a nice showing of appreciation by the modern day Pittsburgh crowd.

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  14. The pregame is missing/spliced on the commercial DVD too and IMO also reflects the recorder following Bing's instructions. I'd note that the MLB airing has basically smoothed out the parts where the splices are more noticable on the DVD. I think Bing didn't want to have to sit through the National Anthem.

    There was also a bad cut when Allen goes to commercial after Mazeroski's HR so we pick up Prince's postgame interviews just after they begin instead of the clean throw to Prince coming out of commercial. And sad to say this, but Allen's signoff is also not on the original copy. The kinescope ended after Prince wrapped up his interviews from the clubhouse.

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  15. I hope that MLB didn't cut down the pre-game show. (Well, if they did, as long as it was for the TV broadcast only and it's on the DVD.) When I save a game from my DVR to DVD, I always like to include a very healthy dose of pre- and post-game show.

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  16. By the way, a comment on one of Bob Costas's comments from the pre-game. Are you kidding me--the game was broadcast in color, but the kinescoper filmed a black and white TV? YOU'RE FIRED!

    But thank goodness the kinescoper--is that even a word?--didn't get drunk on Bing's wine and forget to change the reel after 20 minutes.

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  17. Actually, it was pretty standard to kinescope color broadcasts in B/W only in those days. Even if you had a color monitor at your disposal in those days, which was rare, you also had to use color film for the process which was a lot more expensive. That's why 1965 and 1968 which also aired in color originally, only exist in B/W as well.

    If the kinescope could be subjected to the "LiveFeed" process it would be possible to restore the live videotape look of the original broadcast.

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  18. And that brings up an interesting point. This game is one of the most iconic games in MLB History. With the limited budge MLB Productions probably has in relations to a major motion picture studio this wouldn't probably be feasible. However, what would the community think if MLB went to the painstaking lengths of using the World Series Films footage to properly colorize the broadcast to a generally accurate level? There will be various points that they can sync the color to make sure it is accurate to the level of the highlight film.

    Now I'm someone who believes original film content should be left alone when it comes to television and motion pictures. However, in this situation I don't know that it violates anything to take an inferior recording and improve it. I'm not talking about adding graphics or anything like that. Just restore the color.

    What do you think?

    Livefeed should have been an absolute must to these broadcasts.

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  19. They don't build ballparks like that anymore. What a gorgeous place to play a game.

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  20. Colorization I don't think has ever worked no matter how much one tries to do it. The one time I've seen it done with a sports broadcast it was horrible, which was the 1960 Masters. What made that especially horrible was they were colorizing what originally was a black and white telecast!

    I suppose the Livefeed process would be a bit trickier for an outdoor event than something taking place in a studio, but at least we know the results can be outstanding. The problem is that Kevin, the guy who invented the process, I don't think has been able to attract too high a profile to see it take root more in the area of TV restoration.

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  21. For the guy who perfected the process, despite the legal ramifications it might present, he might find it in his interest to gain access to either a dvd or an original kinescope, apply the process and send a demo to MLB Productions to show what he can do.

    Being contracted for something of that nature from a major entity like that can be an instant boost to your profile.

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  22. I found this article on the company MLB did employ to improve the quality of the kinescope.

    http://www.thestreet.com/story/10944991/1/technicolor-restores-historic-1960-world-series-content-for-re-broadcast-by-mlb-network.html

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  23. Good Lord, I had forgotten about Kubek taking a shot to the throat. That's one of the most painful things I've ever seen in baseball.

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  24. Coates was covering, Richardson was the one doing nothing...except hitting everything in sight!

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  25. It's amazing how at first Costas and Richardson acted as if they weren't even watching the play. But then they were later backtracking a bit and suggesting that Coates was trying to get the ball after breaking from the mound.

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  26. That really is quite a coat the Gunner is wearing.

    RIP, Bob Feller.

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  27. Sad to hear that about Bob Feller. I stumbled across by chance his museum in Iowa this past summer and it was a nice place, filled with some good memorabilia. He was the last great baseball star whose career began in the 1930s and now that entire era is part of history.

    RIP.

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  28. I have to read a bit about Livefeed (anyone have any particularly good links--otherwise, it's Wikipedia here I come). But there would be no reason why the inventor of it couldn't run something like this thorugh it as a "spec" project and try to get MLB to buy it based on that.

    As for colorization, I hear (but have not yet seen) that it is getting better. I'd like to see this colorized (since it was in color originally).

    But for now, I'm just happy we have this to watch, materializing out of thin air--or Der Bingle's wine celler, at least!

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  29. I would love to see MLB fully restore all the old kinescopes through the livefeed process. You would think that because these are the only recordings of historic games (larsen,maz,52, etc.)that MLB would put everything they had into complete restorations; removing dirt, scratches, hairs and the like. I know that article posted above says that game 7 was cleaned up alot, but considering the technology we have today i'm sure alot more could (and should) be done.

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  30. Also, I'd be all in for colorization of game 7 as long as the livefeed process was done beforehand and the framerate was restored. I think I read somewhere about a British company that developed a way to extract original color out of black and white kinescopes but the name escapes me at the moment. One thing they could even try is aquiring one of the old color rca cameras used by nbc around this time and try to match how it picks up color under similar outdoor conditions. And lastly, when are we going to see MLB make good use of Blu-ray for releasing restored classic game broadcasts?

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