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.

Pops "pops" #400

I know this one is outside the range I traditionally write about, but this clip involved both a historic milestone and the St. Louis Cardinals, so I couldn't pass it up.

Willie Stargell, it is said, had atleast 100 career homeruns suppressed by spending his early career in Forbes Field.  With a 20 foot high chainlink fence protecting RF and a 457 fence in left-centerfield, many believe that he would have at the very least reached the 500 Homerun plateau should he have played in a more neutral park.

Whether or not this is all true, Stargell was well regarded as one of the most prolific power hitters of the late 60's and entire 70's.

 On June 29, 1977, Stargell hit his 400th career homerun off of Eric Rasmussen of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Bob Gibson in COLOR! (and Billy Williams Day)

A treasure trove of color broadcast clips come from what WGN has saved over the years.  What exactly they saved as far as just clips or full length games, no one really knows.  However, there have been a plethora of video clips in the trading community that people have seen so often, they just take for granted.  However, the other day a clip caught my eye that I had never seen before.

That man standing on the mound, in beautiful color video tape, is Bob Gibson.  He is standing in the middle of the field at Wrigley Field, pitching against the 1st place Chicago Cubs.  What game this is and what the rest of the footage shows, after the jump.

Four Hall Of Famers in the Lineup!

Or so says the label on the front of the upcoming MLB Productions release Essential Games of the Chicago Cubs .  The game referenced is the July 12, 1969 game between the Cubs and the Phillies at Wrigley Field.  This was a NBC Game of the Week with Gowdy doing the PBP.  While originally broadcast in color, the kinescope is black and white.  This game has been in the hobby for a considerable amount of time and in fact, was aired on MLB Network in 2009.  It also marks the oldest known complete NBC Game of the Week Broadcast.

image courtesy: amazon.com

Mr. Tiger and the Green Monster

When I first saw the title "Top 25 Team Killers All-Time" I DVR'd the program thinking that it'd be a show featuring Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano and Jeff Kent. Clearly, I was mistaken when on my screen I saw Stan Musial, Roy Oswalt and Albert Pujols.

Fast forwarding a bit, I stumbled upon some video taped footage. It was of a Tigers/Red Sox broadcast featuring Al Kaline doing what he did best: killing the Red Sox. The clip featured 'sound effects' which may or may not have been from the telecast, however it had a narrator speaking over the clip obscuring any play-by-play that might have existed in the clip.

NBC's Game of the Week - 1960

I think the most common question I find in this hobby is "What games are out there?". For the most part, we all know what games are available from other collector's, DVD sets, etc. This post isn't about that.

What we rarely know is what games were actually kinescoped. However, thanks to a fan of the blog and his keen eye, we might have an idea of a series of telecasts that were recorded and have yet to see the light of day.

Thanks to old copies of the Sporting News, a reader was able to come across this blurb in May 11, 1960 edition of the publication:

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.

One He Got at Shea

If I told you to name the Top 3 triples hitters in Cardinals history, I'd imagine at least one of those 3 names would include Lou Brock. If it did, you'd be wrong. Lou actually was 4th All-Time on the Cardinals triple list and as another testiment to his greatness, Stan Musial tops the list with 36 more in his career.

But this post is only about one of Lou Brock's triples, one he hit into the spacious right centerfield gap at Shea Stadium.

Sat down on 714

In order for Milo Hamilton to famously state that Hank was "sittin' on 714", Aaron would have to hit his 714th career homerun. He ended the 1973 season with 713 homeruns after taking Jerry Reuss deep on the second-to-last day of the season.

The REAL Tony C Comeback video

Thanks to my favorite tipster, the actual footage of Tony C's game was stumbled upon. The screengrabs shown have been cropped to protect the actual source.

I can tell you that this footage existed for over 20 years. After that, I have no knowledge if the original source footage is still there. As I said before, MLB appears to have hodge-podged the clip in their special together. That doesn't mean they DON'T have this footage, as in the past they've used poor quality footage or no clips at all to talk about games or events that they actually have broadcast footage for. What I do know is that this clip, which is part of another broadcast, still exists and is out there.