“This is Red Barber speaking. Let me say hello to you all.” ~ Red Barber. The first words spoken during the first televised major league baseball game.
I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for being MIA (Missing in Action) the last month or so. There has been a lot going on and unfortunately my writing has been put on a back burner. I’m going to try and remedy that.
I’m sitting in my family room watching the White Sox play the Oakland Athletics on my Sony 75-inch TV. Lately it has been difficult to watch my team. The White Sox have had their issues and most of them have been self-inflected. Yet, as a fan, I watch. I sincerely hope that they can straighten out their front office and eventually their on-field staff issues so they can build, develop, and field a competitive team. On a side note, it has been said that Tony La Russa is “consulting” on these matters. In my humble opinion, TLR shouldn’t be anywhere near this team, much less in a decision-making capacity. He never should have been brought in to manage the team and after he retired due to “health issues” he should have moved back to Arizona (or wherever) and stayed out of baseball and public life. Just my two cents.
Before I go any further, positive vibes, prayers and best wishes to the two women who were shot at Guaranteed Rate Field (pronounced Cominsky Park) last evening in Section 161, near left field. I hope the Area One detectives from the Chicago Police Department bring the shooter(s) to justice and the court system gives them the punishment deserved. Something like that should NEVER happen anywhere, but especially not in the holy ground of a baseball park.
So where was I? (The Sox are up to bat and Luis Robert, Jr. just hit a solid double and Eloy Jimenez is up with two outs. Robert just took third on a ball in the dirt that was ruled a Wild Pitch. Eloy has come through with an RBI single up the middle.) Ah yes, I’m enjoying myself without leaving my house. Although I can picture every play while listening to the radio and of course I love being at the park to watch the game. (And Yoan Moncada ends the inning with a strikeout. Errr…) It is a joy to watch the action in the comfort of my home.
I was reminded today by a childhood, lifelong friend and loyal reader, Bruce (thanks!) that today is the day the very first baseball game was televised. (Diving catch by Trayce Thompson in right center field, for the first out.) I was not around on August 26, 1939, to see the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds play a double-header at the legendary Ebbets Field, but thanks to amazing records which are kept of MLB games, I can reconstruct some of the details. Over 33,535 fans attended the event, more listened to the radio, but for the first time ever others tuned in to W2XBS to watch the games. This station eventually became WNBC-TV.
Walter “Red” Barber called the games. By any standards, the coverage was crude at best. They only had two cameras, one down the third base line to catch infield plays / throws to first and the second was placed behind home plate, high above to catch the pitch / batter, infield and outfield plays. Needless to say, there was no “replay” or any of the extensive coverage we have today. But by all accounts, there were probably only about 400 television sets in all of New York.
(Second baseman Lenyn Sosa, put the Sox ahead with a solo home run in the second inning.)
Apparently, it was difficult to capture much of the action. The ball was “invisible” to the viewers and swinging bats were described as looking like “paper fans”. Technology wasn’t ready for the fast-moving action. Nevertheless, it caught on.
(Overhead camera angle of the first televised game on August 26, 1939. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)
Today, we have more camera angles than we could ever need, replays, slow-motion and stop action shots. Mic’d up players and managers, crowd shots and close-ups of the spin of pitches. It is a multi-billion-dollar industry that grew with the popularity of the game, or perhaps the game’s popularity grew because of the sport being televised. I’m not going to speculate. But my opinion is that baseball is the perfect game and helped popularize tv.
For better or worse, we have technology linked to the game. I’m not a fan of challenges and such. Let the game be played and officiated on the field. That will be a post for another day.
(Moncada just hit a three-run home run, Sox are up 5-0 in the bottom of the third inning with two out.)
For the record, the Reds beat the Dodgers 5-2 in the first game. The winning pitcher was Bucky Walters (21-9) and the losing pitcher was Luke Hamlin (15-10). The Dodgers won the second game 6-1 over the Reds. The winning pitcher was Hugh Casey (9-8) and the losing pitcher was Johnny Niggeling (2-1). Red Barber held the first on the field interview with the Dodgers manager Leo “The Lip” Durocher. I’m sure Leo was advised to watch his language.
(Red Barber conducting the first on the field interview with Leo Durocher, August 26, 1939. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)
(Andrew Benintendi with a solo homer. 6-0 Sox in the bottom of the fifth.)
You’ll have to check the box score later to find out who won the Sox game. But I hope you enjoyed this historical note with my “stream of action” comments added. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
~ Coach Mike
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Great post! I thoroughly enjoyed the post with all the present game scores thrown in while describing the first televised game! We have come a long way with our telecasts. However, baseball (it seems) was a lot more fun in the past. Thank you for your fun and instructive posts. Love them! Keep up your good work!