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.

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.

The Monster and His "Hummer"

Dick Radatz was one of the first great power relievers in baseball history.  Dubbed ‘The Monster’ by opposing players, Radatz was a giant by baseball standards.  He had huge hands with a fastball that Curt Gowdy would dub a ‘hummer’.  From 1962-1965, Radatz was one of the best relievers in baseball and earned himself two All-Star Game appearances.    During a time when the Red Sox weren’t very good, Radatz was a star.   

In today’s post, we go sleuthing again to narrow down a date for some video broadcast clips of Radatz pitching against the Yankees in Yankee Stadium.

Check Your Local Listings (1971 games on TV) Part 1

For years this blog has devoted time to finding out where a clip came from or what station may have shown it.  Rarely do we take a look to see what COULD be out there and hasn't been found yet.  As we get into the early 1970s, we see the phasing out of kinescopes and the rise of videotape and satellite hook-ups.  It becomes easier for stations to broadcast games coast-to-coast and beyond.  

As a disclaimer, not a single regular season game from the 1971 season has survived (to my knowledge).  There a few partials that exist of regular season tilts. Also, we have the glorious color videotape of the 1971 All-Star game and various post-season games have survived.  However, 1971 featured quite a few historical moments and hopefully we can try to account for which of them actually made it on-air.  Once we have a true account of what games were broadcast, then we can take a look at some of the partials and get more in-depth into each of them.

Part One of this feature focuses on the American League and their distribution of their product. By the time we reached 1971, the American League was finally starting to catch up with the National League talent wise following a slow integration process.  While their approach to talent had been slow to change, let's take a look to see how their approach to television grew.

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!

A Snip here, a Snip there

So, in heartbreaking news, it appears that the WPIX clip of Mickey Mantle's 500th HR is just that, a clip:

He hit his 500th at Yankee Stadium on May 14th, 1967. Wednesday night, I showed some tape of the historic homer on the 11 p.m. news.

The back story: Several years back, an NBC technician came to my office. He said he used to work at Channel 11. He was working that day when the Mick hit his milestone homer. And the technician took a pair of scissors and physically cut off the chunk of tape (two-inch tape at the time) and shoved it into his locker. He wanted to know if I wanted the tape.

Wanted it? It was the mother lode -- the actual portion of the broadcast on WPIX that was long forgotten. It was 40 years ago, and that brief chunk of tape looks like the Middle Ages by comparison.

http://www.wnbc.com/sports/13808006/detail.html

And just like that, hope evaporates.


Hat tip goes to twib77, whoever this mystery man is, for bringing this to my attention.