Customer Reviews

Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns (Includes The Tenth Inning)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've watched the first 9 innings numerous times and this series is by far my favorite sports documentary. If your a baseball fan and have never watched this it is an absolute must watch it will give you a whole new perspsective on the game especially if you are younger like me (25).

Just an FYI the 2010 box set comes with the 10th inning. I don't know why Amazon has them available as a "frequently bought together" combo order but I just wanted to give you guys the heads up just buy this box set and you'll get all 10 innings plus the bonus features which include 2.5 hours of deleted scenes and additional interviews. Check the PBS site for a picture of the box set and it clearly states it includes the 10th inning and the run time and disc count are identical to what's on here.

First off, I'll go ahead and say it's my fault for buying this and the "10th Inning" DVD separately.

I heard about the new Ken Burn's documentary so I came to Amazon looking for it. I put it in my cart and saw the usual list of items frequently purchased together with it. That's when I saw the original documentary was being released on DVD.

I didn't see anywhere in the description of the Ken Burns' Baseball set that "10th Inning" was included. Imagine my surprise when I opened the shipment and saw in the lower right corner of the box that the set did indeed included "10th Inning" as well as additional footage.

I came back to Amazon to see if I'd missed it, but after reading the description I still don't see "10th Inning" mentioned. (At the time of this posting.)

However, if I look at the image, and click on it to enlarge, there it is. The notice that "10th Inning" is included in the set.

So my mistake for not noticing and checking out that little red blurb in the corner before buying both items. (After all, they ARE frequently purchased together. The Amazon algorithm can't be wrong. Apparently I'm not the only one making this mistake, but I'm here to try to help others from making it.)

This is posted primarily as a head's up to those who haven't purchased either documentary yet.

I think this was a good documentary that would be more accurately titled: "A New York Baseball Fan Attempts to Make a Comprehensive Documentary About Baseball." I fully appreciate the greatness and importance of New York baseball, but after awhile the bias became noticeable to the point of absurdity. Some stray observations:

-Practically every one of the regular talking heads was an avowed fan of one of the NY teams (Doris Kearns-Goodwin, Billy Crystal, Bob Costas, Steven Jay Gould, Roger Angell, Mario Cuomo, Robert Creamer). In other words, any time a personal emotional attachment was highlighted it was directed at either the Yankees, Dodgers or Giants. So far as I can tell not once in the whole series was someone allowed to gush about the Cubs or the Cardinals or the Indians or the White Sox or the Pirates or the Athletics. Very narrow minded.

-The Sixth Inning was particularly egregious. It didn't just focus mostly on the three New York teams- it focused exclusively on the three New York teams. I get that they were great, but did the 1950s really have no other good teams or great players? No mention of those Braves teams? No Go-Go Sox? No hint that baseball was played outside NY for an entire decade? Really?

-As others have mentioned, in discussing the 1960 World Series, the narrative is framed exclusively from the Yankee perspective. Burns apparently could not dig up a single Pirates fan to talk about how it was the greatest moment of his/her whole life. Instead, the replay of Mazeroski's home run is followed by the endless lamentations of the NY talking heads. Super annoying and not a little bit offensive.

-The same thing happens in the 10th inning. The 1996 Series is discussed game-by- game (a level of in depth treatment it hardly deserves on its own merits especially given that the `91 series, one of the greatest ever, is not even mentioned- but since it was the Yankees first series in 15 years, it must be super-important), and in the end depicted as a great triumph because the Yankees won. The 2001 series is given the same game-by-game treatment (though this time more deserving given the drama/heroics involved) and in the end depicted as a great tragedy because the Yankees lost. This bias is a persistent and very noticeable pattern.

-Speaking of which, after about 1920, the only World Series' given game-by-game treatments at all are those featuring NY teams. If memory serves only the 1967 Red Sox/Cardinals series and the 1975 Red Sox/Reds series got any sort of in-depth coverage without featuring a NY team.

I'll stop there. The history of baseball overflows with great players, great pennant races and great teams. I get that you can't feature everything and stuff has to be left out, but I really feel like Burns could have cut the panegyrics to the NY teams in half, they still would have dominated the show, but there would have been plenty of time to feature, you know, everyone else.

All that said, the treatment of Negro Leagues is excellent and the early innings are very very good. If you're a fan of baseball, this documentary is inescapable for better or worse. If you're a fan of NY baseball this documentary will make you explode with joy. Like I say, it's a history of baseball from an exclusively New York perspective.

Purchased this for my Dad. Wasn't sure if it was both the earlier Baseball set and the new 10th inning and it is both!!! The price couldn't be beat.

Ken Burns' epic Baseball is a beautifully put together film, which gives a great large view of the complete history of baseball. Plus detailed coverage of important high (and low) points of the game. I am really enjoying it (have just the 10th Inning now to watch).

My only complaint, and it is a big one, is that somehow the "background" music completely overpowers the narrator a good part of the time, and at times it's impossible to hear what's being said. My hearing is not as good as it used to be, but there is definitely something wrong here. I am not very knowledgeable about the technical aspects of putting videos together, and the melding of voice and background music, but I know it can be done better than this.

Too bad, because other than that, it's a great production that I will want to watch again.

I want to say that this a very good documentary. The way it is divided into innings to tell baseball's history is really clever. Some of the pictures and videos contained within are simply remarkable. You will often find yourself saying where did he come up with these pictures and videos. You almost wish you were there re-living the events. I particularly loved the story of the Negro leagues and the struggles that African Americans went through to make it in the big leagues. Certain sections of the story really make you want to cry, and yet others really make you laugh too. You will learn a whole new perspective of baseball's history here. My only complaint with this documentary is not what Ken Burns focuses on here, but what he DOESN'T focus on. Granted, New York is probably the biggest baseball market in the country, and you can't give an accurate account of baseball without discussing New York, but there is a lot of rich baseball history outside of "The Big Apple" and the New England area. Yes, you have to tell the Babe Ruth story, but do you have to go in depth about Fred Merkle and Fred Snodgrass and "The Daffiness Boys"??? Why not tell the story of Gaby Harnett's famous Homerun In The Darkness at Wrigley Field that won the pennant for The Cubs instead??? Why not tell the story of Pittsburgh's Big Poison and Little Poison??? So many of baseball's greats got little more than a brief mention here. Stan "The Man" Musial wasn't even mentioned until the 8th inning as I recall. Detroit's Al Kaline who had a 20-year career in the big leagues didn't even get a mention, nor did Lou Brock, nor did one of the greatest hitters of all-time, Minnesota's Rod Carew. Why not cover other important issues too...why did he not go into the fight about keeping the lights out of Wrigley Field??? The Wrigley residents took their fight all the way to the State Supreme Court as I recall before the Tribune Company finally won the right to install lights. But instead he goes in depth about the early days of the New York Mets....who cares??? Granted, he needed to talk about Casey Stengel's managerial days with The Yankees, but did he need to talk about his days with the Mets??? But the bottom line here...if you are a baseball fan as I am, you will love this documentary, but you may be fed up with the obvious New York approach to it all.

I can't believe amazon had this at such a great price! the older versions didn't include the extra Tenth Inning special, and they were easily twice as much. But when I saw that they had the whole set, PLUS the Tenth Inning at half of what they normally sell for, I knew I had to get it for my husband. So I ordered it and it came in about a week. I haven't watched it yet, as it is a Xmas gift this year, but we have seen a good portion of it on TV. Otherwise, if you love baseball to the core, then you are going to love this. Ken Burns makes baseball come alive, and the great history that each team carries as well!! This is a definite must for anyone who loves baseball. There just isn't a better comparison out there for real baseball fans to purchase. One of the best products I have ever purchased, by far!!!

If you're a baseball historian, then this is for you. Would recomend for anyone who wants to learn more about how this great game evolved from its beginning to current day. High five for Mr. Burns!

In general I like Ken Burns' work, Baseball being no exception, but I have noticed a trend wherein with each new project Burns seems to allow greater and greater amounts of content oriented at an examination of minority participation in whatever aspect of history he is studying in a film, be it the Second World War, the life of Thomas Jefferson, or in the sport of baseball. Burns does this even when the disproportionate inclusion of tales of the minority experience becomes an intrusion, as it does in Baseball.

Of course no feature about baseball in the United States would have been complete without the inclusion of the Negro League and its great teams like the Kansas City Monarchs (a true dynasty), or such masters as Satchel Paige (probably the greatest pitcher ever to stride onto a mound), or without some token segue into how baseball took root and flourished outside the United States (in Latin America and Japan especially). But was it seriously necessary to return again and again in mock-sociological fashion to segments on the experiences of black players, fans, coaches, teams? Yes, we all know inequality ran rampant in America's yesteryear, but is a film about our leading sport truly the venue to chronicle it ad nauseam? Frankly Ken Burns' efforts to bring retroactive equality soon grew sanctimoniously preachy, simplistically predictable, and above all boring!

My opening comments (and all the unhelpful votes they're sure to garner me) aside, Baseball was long, slow-moving, and ultimately not as exciting as some other examinations of the national pastime I've seen. (ESPN has a series that blows PBS' Baseball out of the park.) Yet Ken Burns' Baseball was also encyclopedic, far-reaching, and it plumbed the archives of America's cultural memory for material to enhance this investigation of the sport. The commentary, much of it history-making and heartfelt, was truly an oral history achievement which will never be surpassed. Sadly, however, I think Burns aimed for quality in this project, and wound up with quantity as a substitute. A tighter ten-hour Baseball would likely have been every bit as informative and far less wasteful of time.

I'll readily concede that overall Baseball is a worthy exercise in the documentation (if that word is appropriate for the visual medium) of a sport that has meaning to millions. I will also lodge what I am sure is not a singular complaint in adding that Baseball would have been a far more balanced and enjoyable film had it not drifted so often into issues regarding race. (Why in a society that alleges to aim for post-racial status should it be some sort of triumph that all the players on the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates' starting lineup were the same race? Wasn't a team of all one race something Burns adamantly criticized in earlier episodes? A glaring double standard.) No history of baseball could have been complete without looking back at non-Caucasians who had their roles in the sport, but in Burns' heavy hands, things just got silly.

Yes, Baseball is flawed but flaws are forgivable. If I stand by my criticisms of the things I cited in Baseball that disappointed me, I also stand by the fact that it is worthy of being called a monumental undertaking and one of the most impressive achievements in broadcasting. Four stars but not quite five.

Now let the knockdown pitches begin!

I bought this these films to update my collection (I have the 9-inning VHS set), so I got the complete 10 inning DVD set of Ken Burns Baseball box set. I am a huge baseball fan and enjoyed the films to a certain extent, and they are a must have for any baseball fan. But I believe they missed the point to some degree. The later innings focused more on the labor issues (including the 1994 strike and the rise of free agency) and steriods than on the great players and teams that came during the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

For example, the 1998 Yankees who won a total of 125 games are hardly mentioned and there is no mentioning of perhaps one of the greatest players ever, Albert Pujols, at all, I mean his picture is shown once I believe and there is no more information on him. The films focus on Barry Bonds and the Red Sox more than anything else. This is a must have for any baseball fan, but in my opinion Ken Burns missed the boat. While steriods and the strike are significant in the history of baseball, as a fan I am more interested in hearing about and discussing the great teams and players of the era.