Customer Reviews

2002 World Series Video - Anaheim Angels vs. San Francisco Giants [VHS]

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Of course the nice thing about these tapes is that they show you how the teams got to the series which is often a great story. The Angels had to get by the Yankees to make their first trip to the World Series after many frustrating close calls, Anyone remember Donnie Moore? In the National League, Barry Bonds had just come off a phenomenal 2001 season but his great statistics did not bring the Giants to the World Series that year. Believe it or not the Giants have never won a World Series in San Francisco. In 1962 they lost to the Yankees when Bobby Richardson catch Willie ncCovey's line drive to end the seventh game. Then in 1989 they lost to their powerful cross-town rival Oakland As in what could well be called the earthquake series. Remember the big earthquake that hit the Bay Area just before game time that caused cancellation.

Now in 2002 the Giants finally had another chance behind the strength of Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds. Although egos clashed between Kent and Bonds they still were a very effective one two punch. Dusty Baker had done a great job getting the Giants back to the series one more time. But Mike Scoscia was materful as the Angels manager and he got the most out of this team that was led by Garrett Anderson and David Eckstein.

One thing I can't understand was how Dusty Baker could have his two year old son, who was too young to understand what was going on in the field, act as the team bat boy! This led to drama and near disaster as the little boy went to home plate to retrieve a bat when the play was in progress and J. C. Snow was heading for home plate. Although this did not affect the outcome of the game, Snow slid in safely at home and quickly carried the boy away from the action. Without this quick thinking the boy could have been seriously hurt and gotten in the way of the play as the next runner was attempting to score. This makes for a dramatic scene and great video entertainment.

Since neither team had a World Championship (the Giants had won a few in New York with 1954 being their last) one would be raising the Chamionship banner in their current ballpark for the first time. Well in the end after a great and very competitive series it was the Angels that came out on top.

Since in a seven game series the pressure is on during the seveth game, those that shine in game seven are the series heros. The guys who responded for the Angels were the two Troys, Percival and Glaus.

There is certainly something to be said for a World Series where one team is leading in Game 6 and about to clinch the title but the other team ends up winning the championship. In Game 6 the San Francisco Giants had a 5-0 lead on the road and were nine outs away from the decisive fourth win with National League MVP Barry Bonds about to claim the honor for the Fall Classic on the basis of batting .471 with four homers and six RBIs. Instead it was the Anaheim Angels who won Game 7 and it was their third baseman Troy Glaus, who batted .385 with three homers and eight RBIs in the Series, who was named MVP and was down on the field hugging Jackie Autry, the widow of former team owner Gene Autry. Perhaps the series was symbolized in the first game when Bonds hit a monster home run in his first at bat but Glaus ended up hitting two.

The Angels of manager Mike Scosia were seen as clearly being a team of destiny, having clinched the AL Wild Card at the end of the season and then coming from behind in Game 2 of the first round of playoffs to pound the New York Yankees three straight. After easily disposing of another Cinderella, the upstart Minnesota Twins, the Angels were in the Series. The Giants of veteran manager Dusty Baker arrived in slightly more dramatic fashion, beating both the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in five games, with Kenny Lofton's two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the 9th allowing another announcer to yell "The Giants win the pennant!"

The story for the 2002 World Series ended up being that every time a team took a one game lead over the other, they lost it. The Giants won the opening game, then the Angels won the next two to go up 2-1, the Giants won the next pair to go back up 3-2, and then the Angels won the final set of games. It was certainly a dramatic World Series. The first two games were decided by one run, 4-3 for the Giants and 11-10 for the Angels. Each team had one blow out, the Angels 10-4 in Game 3 and the Giants 16-4 in Game 5, and split another set of one run games before the final game ended up being the anomaly with the Angels winning by a 4-1 score. So this was a different sort of drama from what we say in 2001 when for the third time the home team won all seven games.

As for Barry Bonds, he almost became the first player from a losing team to be named series MVP since Bobby Richardson of the Yankees in 1960. The Giants slugger set the Series record for highest on base percentage (.700), highest slugging percentage (1.294), most intentional walks (7) and most walks (13), while tying the Series mark for most homers (4) and most runs (8). However, the footnote to his season came when his wife reminded him that all he had been saying the entire season and postseason was that he wanted to play in the World Series. He sure did do that.

Major League Baseball certainly knows how to put together these hour-long recaps of the World Series. You not only get all of the plays you remember (Bonds going deep against Angels ace reliever Troy Percival, the decisive home run by Glaus in Game 7, J.T. Snow scoring a run while pulling Giant bat boy Darren Baker out of harm's way), but they are bracketed by comments by the participants. Whether you are a fan of either the Angels or the Giants, or just a fan of a great World Series, this is another long ball by MLB.

This DVD WORLD SERIES 2002 is just wonderful, It looks and sounds great, and covers the season's of Both the Giants and Angles well. It covers the playoffs even better and it covers the Fantastic 7 game World Series in high detail. The DVD is fill with excitement and dramatics. It also has great bonus material of the Home Runs (Bones Glaus and Salmon Speizo) The Memorial Moments Ceremony, Songs with highlights (Tom Petty, Gene Autry) and a very detailed look at the Angles great game 6 comeback. The DVD also includes a Rally Monkey Baseball Card. This is a must get for every Angles Fan and every fan of Great Baseball.

This DVD of last year's world series is very well done. I am a life-long Giants fan who agonized over the loss, but realized they over-achieved just to make the world series.

I love baseball and I love the Giants. That said, I found the video to be an excellent record of the series and pointed out a lot of interesting details, not just home runs and big moments. It's well shot and edited and the team that put it together worked hard to do an excellent job of this production. I should know: I have produced high end media such as films and videos for many years and I know what it takes to deliver a solid product such as this effort.

This is probably the best of these productions to date. Well produced with additional features that allow you to get the TV feed of some of the most exciting plays. On top of that, we had the most exciting World Series since the Braves-Twins of the early 90's.

Two "cursed" teams from MLB and who were both victims of so-called "curse" in 1986, have finally won the World Series. Both winning, appropriately enough as the "Wild card" entry. The Red Sox this year with their incredulous win over the NY Yankess and subsequent sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals and 2 years earlier the Anaheim Angels who wore the devil's colors, hmmm....

Barry Bonds the obvios star of the series performed up to expectation but a team is more than just 1 star player. Fortunately this DVD covers players from both the Giants and Angels. Players, coaches & managers are interviewed throughout highlights of the 7 game series giving perspective on each move made in the 7 games played. Personally I would like to have seen more from the see saw battle of Game 2 which I believe was the quickest of all the highlights.

As noted previously, there is no mention of the Angels or Giants past history, though numbers are constantly thrown around but footage of past games migh have enhanced this DVD.

The DVD concludes with the Angels champagne celebrating clubhouse and parade at Disneyland. There are also 2 clips/songs from MLB favorite "Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers"

Game 5 of the 2002 American League Championship Series seemed to be "déjà vu all over again." With a 3 games to 1 lead, and a chance to win the pennant before the home fans, the Angels cruised through 6 innings with a 3-2 lead, only to see the Minnesota Twins come back to lead 5-3 in the top of the 7th. Angel Nation knew what was coming: another heartbreaking loss in Game 5, then 2 crushing defeats in Minneapolis, and no pennant once more. But wait! The script had been changed! The Halos batted around, scoring TEN runs in the bottom of the 7th, to bury the Twins 13-5 and win their first A.L. flag. Maybe the Angels were finally for real!

One would think the Halos should have dispatched the Giants in 5 or 6 games. After all, the Angels won more games than the Giants during the regular season playing in a much stronger division. But, these are still the Angels we're talking about, and it was Game 4 in which the Same Old Angels made their appearance. Ahead 2 games to 1 and nursing a 3-0 lead into the fifth behind John Lackey's strong effort, Giant Kenny Lofton laid a bunt down the 3rd base line which finally went foul - only the umpire didn't see it that way. Everything came unraveled after that. The Giants scored 3 runs to tie, then won it in the 8th. In Game 5, the Giants flattened the Angels 16-4 to take a 3 games to 2 lead -- and the game wasn't as close as the score would indicate!

Game 6 saw the teams return to the Big A, but all seemed hopeless as timely Giant hitting and costly Angel miscues gave the National Leaguers a 5-0 lead with but 8 outs remaining. The rest, as they say, is history. In what I consider the greatest World Series game ever played, the Angels mounted the greatest comeback during an elimination game in the history of the Series, winning Game 6 by 6-5, then winning Game 7 by 4-1.

Now to the video, specifically the DVD. First, I concur COMPLETELY with the comments posted in December 2002 by "spark240." I own a few MLB videos of World Series from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and frankly like them better.

This video has its weaknesses. First, I question also the selection of Troy Glaus' home run as the Game 4 Bonus Footage. While impressive, Glaus' home run was not the high point of that game. Had the Angels played that Series like, well, the Angels, "The Bunt" would have found its rightful place in Angel lore. The bunt by Lofton, and the Halos' subsequent collapse, should have been the Game 4 Bonus Footage. Second, I could have done without all those images of Jackie Autry in the owner's skybox in Game 6. One - perhaps after Glaus' double - would have sufficed. Third, the video glossed over the performance of Angel reliever Brendan Donnelly. Donnelly eventually got the job done, but was wild and erratic getting there. While Donnelly was pitching the 8th inning of Game 6, TV announcer Tim McCarver publicly questioned Angel manager Mike Scioscia's selection of him over Percival. The video made it seem like he mowed 'em down.

Finally, there was no mention whatever of the Angels' sorry history in must-win games. I know I was not the only one watching the ninth inning of Games 6 and 7, wondering just how the Halos would find a way to lose. I fully expected a two out, two strike, three run homer in the top of the 9th in Game 7.

But, overall I liked this video. I liked the subsequent interviews that are interspersed throughout. It must have been hard for Giant players and their manager to do that. (Not surprisingly, Barry Bonds could not have been bothered.) The close-up of Giant owner Peter Magowan glowering after Darin Erstad's home run in Game 6 was just priceless, as was the close-up of Barry Bonds slumped in the back of the dugout after the final out. The DVD also contains its own music video, "Dreamville" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, showing the Angels' clubhouse celebration, as will as clips from the team in the 1960s. Whenever I hear "Dreamville" now, I think of the Angels and their victory. There are two other music videos as well, "The Last DJ" by Petty, as well as - what else - "Back In the Saddle Again," by original Angel owner Gene Autry.

This DVD is the very best way to relive one of the most exciting World Series in MLB history!!! The added footage and features are superb and it makes a great Christmas gift to boot. Games 2 & 6 were indescribably fun and what amazing comebacks by the Angels. In fact all 4 games the Halos won were come from behind winners. This DVD is better than last years and next years may be better than this one, but this DVD will be hard to beat. Way to go Halos!!! I think The Halos will be in next years DVD too!

See? All the Angels had to do to get into the World Series was get rid of those godawful angelwing, periwinkle Disney uni's they wore before their current version. (Just kidding).

Actually, all it took was a bunch of hard work on the players' part, outstanding leadership, and lots of faith and support from their fans and followers. To long time Angel followers such as myself, this year has been more than the culmination of an outstanding year by the Angels. It has been a dream come true.

And this video really captures the essence of that drive to the top by the Angels. Both teams are filled with upstanding individuals, and the spot interviews in the playback show this out very well. Players on both sides seemed to realize what it was they were involved in, which was one of the great World Series of recent times.

If you consider yourself a BASEBALL fan, this video is a must see.

even though I am a Giants fan, this World Series was so fun to watch. Seven very competitive games. It seemed like at times it was Bonds vs. the Angels. It's going to neat to be able to relive it any time that I want to.