Game Alert: The 715 Game to air April 8th (sorta)

Tomorrow at 7pm ET, the Atlanta Braves will be broadcasting on their YouTube and Facebook pages parts of the April 8, 1974 Dodgers/Braves Game or as it is more famously known, the night Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's homerun record.

Over the last decade, we have found bits and pieces of additional footage of this game.  First, there were alternate angles and second, we got more of the previous at-bat. 

However, tomorrow is something else entirely.  This game has not been shown to the public at-large in nearly 50 years.  The complete broadcast has been lost to time.  There was a home recording by a channel flipper that had a bit of the important points and some later innings.  There is rumored to be an audio recording of the entire TV broadcast.  There is a clip reel somewhere buried in the NBC Vault that holds bits and pieces of the broadcast.

Now, here comes the cold water. 

The MLB.com write-up isn't exactly inspiring:

One of the most iconic moments in baseball history occurred when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run against Al Downing in the fourth inning of the Braves' 7-4 win over the Dodgers on April 8, 1974. A national television audience heard the call from Vin Scully and caught a glimpse of a young Craig Sager, who was an eager and budding television reporter when he interviewed Aaron after he crossed the plate.

The national television audience did NOT hear Vin Scully's call.  Both he and Milo Hamilton have been immortalized with their calls but both recordings come from the radio.  Curt Gowdy made the television call on NBC, which should be your first clue to that we aren't getting the complete game.

Here is the 2nd (and much clearer hint): According to the guy who actually put together the broadcast (via Behind the Braves podcast), this is a hodge-podged together broadcast.  It picks up around the 21 minute mark.  In it, he has taken bits he has from a random footage reel and put it together to make something presentable. 

The 1st inning at-bat may be shown, per the above podcast.

So, enjoy what will be the most complete version we have seen since that original airing 46 years ago but realize going into it, we still are looking for this long lost broadcast.

Review: 1964 All Star Game (Partial)

The 1964 All-Star Game is considered one of the most exciting games in the classic’s history.  Only 3 of the 9 innings didn’t feature scoring.  The game featured two solo homeruns by Ken Boyer and Billy Williams in the 4^th.   The National League would come from behind to win on a 3-run walk off homerun by Johnny Callison.  

Unfortunately, we don’t see any of that.

After the jump, we will discuss this recent offering of yet another 1960’s All-Star Game.

The 1957 World Series: What Exists

Nearly 10 years have passed since we first wrote about the surviving kinescopes from the 1957 World Series.  At that time, only 2 of the games were commercially available by Rare Sports Films and neither of those games were complete.  We also knew that Rare Sports Films had publicly shown at least two other games.   It was rumored more existed beyond those four and as the years passed by, those games began to trickle out.  First, it was a partial of Game 5 in 2013 and then, a complete sign-on to sign-off version of Game 1 was released two years ago. Now, as the 60^th anniversary of this historic World Series is upon us, Rare Sports Films has released yet another game.

So where do we stand?  It has taken 10 years (or 60 depending on how you look at it) but we are on the cusp of having a near complete series.  We now know that Rare Sports has 4 of these games in complete form, one game missing a single at-bat and two partial broadcasts. 

After the jump, we will combine all the information we have to give the most complete view of the series to date.

The 1962 All Star Game (Game 1 - Partial) Review

July 10, 1962. On the same day that the NBA agreed to let George Steinbrenner’s ABL Cleveland Pipers join as an expansion team, Major League Baseball played the first of two Midsummer Classics.

It would be the final year that the two leagues would play more than one All-Star exhibition game. For the past 3 years, the Players Association had used the two All-Star games to help support the players’ pension fund. The American League had argued that they would no longer participate in two exhibitions during the previous winter; however the two leagues came to an agreement to go ahead with both contests in 1962.

These long lost kinescope reels (which constitute the most complete All-Star Game broadcast prior to 1965) give us a glimpse into Midsummer Classic that features a sitting President, an All-Star Game legend, an exciting game and a rare glimpse into a classic stadium.

Frank Robinson: Player/Manager with Homerun/Win

On April 8, 1975, Frank Robinson broke the managing color barrier in Major League Baseball.  For the first time in league history, the Cleveland Indians were managed by an African American.  

Thanks to MLBNetwork and their new morning chatfest 'MLB Central', we are treated to a videotaped view of that historic afternoon.

The Story of the 1957 World Series Game 1 release

The 1957 World Series is one of the few kinescope-era World Series that we have multiple complete or near complete broadcasts.  In 2007, we discussed that Doak Ewing of RareSportsFilms had shown or sold the broadcasts of Games 3, 4 and 7.  Later, in 2013, Doak began to sell a near-complete copy of Game 5.  Game 6 has been part of a partial that he sells with a copy of the World Series Film. That update left only Game 1 and 2 from seeing the light of day.

Game 1, however, has since made it's way out into the world in the last two weeks through an eye-raising series of events.  How that game came out and how you can find it, after the jump.

From Maz to Sandy to Gibby: Game 7s (Kinescoped)

To restate the old sportscaster’s adage: There are no two more exciting words in sports than ‘Game Seven’.  Tonight, we will be treated to only the second World Series Game 7 in 11 years.  The last one (2011) was personally a thrill for this Cardinals fan but certainly not the most dramatic of contests.    This prolonged drought of penultimate Fall Classic games is a far cry from how baseball seasons regularly concluded during the kinescope era.  From the inaugural broadcast in 1947 thru the dramatic 1975 tilt, there were 16 World Series that took all seven games. 

Some of these were defining moments for franchises or the sport as a whole, creating iconic images that are instantly recognizable.  Of these 16 games during this period, only 7 have survived.  Below is a look at the Game 7s, how they turned out and which ones we are lucky to still have.

The 1972 Season: What has survived?

The charm of baseball exists in the peaks and valleys of a full season.  If you catch a World Series or a playoff game, you are getting a truly small sample size.  The six month scale of a season is what allows sabermetrics to have almost enough data to be relevant and allows fans to develop an opinion of their team’s players.  The World Series or All-Star game does not tell us the narrative of the season.  Instead, we get to hear the opinions of writers and broadcasters formulated through the lens of history, rather than as it is seen unfolding.   If baseball broadcasts today were archived in the scattered manner of years past, fans 30 years from now wouldn’t get to appreciate the two month long phenomenon of Puig-mania from 2013 or other like stories that come and go during the marathon of a season. 

When trying to find the most complete sampling of the oldest baseball season, it becomes a tough task with surviving baseball broadcasts.  While there are a few seasons with the All-Star Game and the entire World Series (1965, 1968) very few regular season games exist to flesh out a season.   Rolling back through the years, the 1972 season stands out, if for no other reason, because of the high volume of retained broadcast footage.

REVIEW: 45th MLB All-Star Game (1974)

As Major League Baseball gathers in Minneapolis for the 85th annual All-Star Game, I wanted to take a look back forty years ago at the 45th installment of the Mid Summer Classic.  Even in 1974, Major League Baseball used the All-Star Game to showcase their new (publicly paid for) ballparks.  Taking the field at three year old Three Rivers Stadium, the game was carried by NBC for the 29th straight time (25 years with 2 games in 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962).  

After the jump, we will take a walk through the broadcast and recap some of the important moments that transpired in The 'Burgh.

"he means the tying run at the plate now..."

Those were the words Vin Scully uttered as Aaron stepped into the box to face Al Downing for the second time on that fateful April night.  

It is Masters weekend in the state of Georgia and it just so happens that this week's post is going to stay in the state for the second week in a row.  In fact, it's going to stay focused on the same game as last week.  Two years ago, follower of the blog and fellow amateur sleuth twib77 and I were discussing some clips we saw in a MLBNetwork Prime 9 special about Rule 5 Draft picks.  One such draft pick was Darrell Evans. Evans was drafted but did not sign four times before finally agreeing to terms with the Kansas City A's.  He would, however, not play a game in the Majors for the A's.  He was chosen in the 1968 Rule 5 Draft by the Atlanta Braves  He would eventually play 21 seasons in the Major Leagues, occupying both corner infield positions and in the Top 10 in walks 15 times in his career.

Evans made a career of getting on-base and doing so in the game in this shot made him a part of history. In the fourth inning of the April 8, 1974 game vs the Dodgers, Evans would reach on an error by the Dodgers' shortstop.  Standing at first, he would be 90 feet away from Hammerin' Hank as he blasted career homerun 715.

The 40th Anniversary of '715'

In the history of baseball, there are a handful of truly ‘tent pole’ moments.  These moments, gathering regular fans and casual fans together, weave the fabric that is our baseball memories.  As I’ve said on this blog before, there are two types of games: spontaneous history and history being built towards.  Games like Don Larsen’s perfect game, Bob Gibson’s no-hitter, Fisk’s homerun, Buckner’s error and the like, people came to the ballpark with no idea about what was about to transpire.   These aren’t the games network’s schedule around or Vice Presidents make sure they are in attendance for.  Those games everyone with even a fleeting interest in baseball tune in for.  Those games in baseball history have name brands; “2131”, “62”, and today’s topic “715”. 

The number “715” stood as the pinnacle of all baseball records for 33 years.  Henry (Hank) Aaron, a former Negro League baseball player, had the quickest wrists in baseball history and an ability to defy the aging curve.  Even with a good chunk of his career occurring during a pitchers' era in the mid-60’s to early-70s, Aaron continued to chip away at Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career homeruns.  After hitting the first pitch of his season over the fence to tie Babe in Cincinnati, the whole world knew that their first chance to see the record be broken would be Monday, April 8, 1974.  The entire nation would have access to this game through NBC Sports national broadcast.

Yet, with all those television sets and affiliates tuned in and turned on for this game, we have no real accounting of what has survived and what hasn’t.  Since that warm April night in Georgia, only bits and pieces of Hank’s at-bat have been shown ad nauseam.  Here is an attempt to compile it all and see what we have.

More 1957 World Series from RareSportsFilms

Again, this blog gets a chance to update a previous story with a 'new' find.  This time, it is in respect to the 1957 World Series.  As previously highlighted in one of the first posts nearly 6 years ago to-the-day, Doak Ewing and RareSportsFilms has a cache of 1957 World Series kinescopes.  Residing in that collection are Games 3, 4 and 7 confirmed.  It also appears that Game 6 of that series exists as a partial and there have been rumors that a complete Game 1 is in their possession.

Today, however, they have listed just in time for the holiday season a near complete version of Game 5 from that series.  Without having the game in hand, it is hard to tell what condition it is in or what at-bats are actually missing.  From the description it says:

Game 5 of the 1957 World Series, except for parts of the 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th innings is shown on this new 1-hour, 27 minute DVD!

The game's length, as listed on B-Ref, is 2 hours.  If this game has only a short amount of pregame (as Game 3 did) then it is likely only missing roughly 35 minutes worth of the game.  

This game has been heralded as one of Whitey Ford's best performances, despite only striking out 2 while scattering 6 hits.  The two most important plays from this game should be intact in this recording.  Those plays, Jerry Coleman's lack of urgency on Mathews' groundball in the 6th and Mantle's caught stealing in the 8th, are attributed to the outcome in this game.

Also on display in this game are the two leading candidates for MVP from the Braves side.  Aaron picks up 2 more hits in the Series and Lew Burdette goes the distance for a CG win.

Hopefully this is a step towards whatever remaining games from this Series finding their way into daylight.  A near complete series showcasing Hank Aaron in his prime is a real treat for fans. More to come on this game when it is available!

The Original "Game 162" (October 1, 1967)

First and foremost, Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope Santa brings you lots of classic baseball on DVD this year!

With the airing of the MLB Productions special Fenway Park Centennial: 100 Years on MLBNetwork the other night, I thought it would be nice to compile a list of the entirety of known footage from the October 1, 1967 game between the Red Sox and Twins.

 
The best part about running this site is having to keep a constant eye out for new footage and try to catalog both in print and your mind what has been seen, while trying to piece it together to understand how much of a broadcast has survived.  With this new program, I got a brief glance at some footage I had never seen thus expanding on the amount of this game that was covered.  After the jump, I'll talk about this 'Game 162' and what we have.

The 1975 NLCS (a brief celebration)

With the regular season coming to an end, we are beginning to get the 'list' programs by MLB Network.  This is good for picking out bits and pieces of old broadcast footage that may not have been seen before or may be expanded on in their clip shows.

One such clip popped up during their broadcast of "The 40 Greatest Teams of All Time".  Listed as the 2nd greatest team of all time, the Cincinnati Reds met up with the Boston Red Sox as what is widely regarded as the greatest World Series of All Time.  However, before the Reds could head of to Beantown, they would have to dispatch of the other NL powerhouse of the 70's, the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

1970 WS: Kine vs Video

It is rare that we get to compare both videotape and kinescope but MLB.com afforded us that luxury recently with a montage videotaped clip from the 1970 World Series.

Well known as the 'Brooks Robinson Series', the video clip seen here offers a glimpse at what the 1970 World Series looked like in color on NBC.  The series, as it exists to collectors, is in the form of Games 1 thru 4 in black and white kinescope and Game 5 in color videotape.

After the jump, I'll show some side by side shots of the kine against the videotaped footage.

1968 All-Star Game

The 1968 All-Star Game was the first All-Star game to be played indoors. During a season in which pitching dominated baseball, the All-Star Game was no exception. Willie Mays would lead off the game with a single, promptly stole second and eventually come around to score. This would be the only offense of the game.

The 1965 All-Star Game Review

"They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays." – Ted Williams

With this broadcast, we have the lone full game that features a Willie Mays homerun. Willie didn’t waste any time as he took the second pitch he saw deep into the left-center stands. Mays, wearing Billy Williams batting helmet, batted lead off in this game. Mays batted leadoff in 8 All-Star Games, something he rarely did in the regular season.

1957 World Series: Milwaukee vs New York

With the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Championship team wrapping up their 50th Anniversary, it seems like as good a time as any to look at just what is available from that game.

Over the past 2 years, Doak Ewing, the President of Rare Sportsfilms has opened up his archive (which rivals that of MLB) and allowed rarely seen full broadcasts of the Series to be displayed.

Firstly, there was the pentiultimate Game 7. For some time, Rare Sportsfilms has had available a DVD that included the majority of the first 5 innings of the clinching game. Little was known about a complete broadcast. However, this year, through an agreement with the SABR Keltner Chapter, a full broadcast of Game 7 appeared:

On Saturday, February 3, 2007, The Ken Keltner Chapter, Milwaukee, WI, of The Society For American Baseball Research presented Game 7 of the 1957 World Series in its entirety. Doak Ewing, President of Rare Sportsfilms, Inc., shared the only known copy of the game at the Chapter's quarterly meeting.

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/bernieclemente/61571
Sometime, during the past year, Ewing added a new DVD to the available titles on the Rare Sportsfilm website, that included Game 3 of the Series in almost entirety:

1957 World Series Game #3 at County Stadium, Milwaukee - Bob Turley vs Bob Buhl - the entire game, missing only Kubek’s second home run! It was the first World Series game ever played in the state of Wisconsin! It was also the first time that centerfield and behind-the-plate cameras were used for telecasting a World Series game, a new idea that brought NBC rave reviews from fans around the country! Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Tony Kubek (2) hit home runs! The game sets a W.S. record with 19 walks and the Braves leave the bases loaded four times! Mel Allen and Al Helfer. 3 hours, 1 minute, Kinescope.

Finally, it seems Game 4 of the 1957 World Series has poked its head out. Again, with another meeting of the SABR Keltner Chapter:

Our next meeting will take place on Saturday, February 2, 2008, 11 AM, at Long Wong's Chinese-American Sportsbar, 5230 W. Bluemound Road. This meeting will feature, courtesy of Doak Ewing, President of Rare Sportsfilms, a showing of the ENTIRE game 4 of the 1957 World Series. You know what happens, but this will be great to watch. We'll also have a 50-50 raffle, raffles for neat items, and memorabilia for sale. Reservations are recomended.
[…]
Don't forget to circle Saturday February 2nd, 2008 on your calenders! The meeting that day will feature a showing of the ENTIRE game 4 of the 1957 World Series. Thanks again to the President of Raresports Films....Mr. Doak Ewing! If you're interested in the films Doak has available...visit his website at http://www.raresportsfilms.com/

http://www.quicktopic.com/34/H/g6gAVs5S6rqCj
I was able to find another rumor on an internet message board that Ewing had a completely copy of Game 1, but was unable to confirm the existences of that kinescope.

The games known to exist in practical totality are:

1957 World Series Game 3 – (available on DVD)
1957 World Series Game 4 – (to be displayed Feb. 2, 2008)
1957 World Series Game 7 – (displayed February 3, 2007)

For an idea of what these games entail, see the link:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1957_WS.shtml