Customer Reviews

Mlb: 1952 World Series Game 6 [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is as far back as it goes, folks... as Steve Garvey says in the host segments of this condensed classic, Game 6 of the 1952 World Series is the oldest complete baseball telecast that still survives. And it's an epic, a war -- once again, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson and Casey Stengel and George Shuba (?) -- are alive and swinging at the corner of Bedford Avenue in old black-and-white Brooklyn.

Seeing Ebbets Field again is the primary thrill of watching this game, for those of us who were born 15 years after the park was torn down, but grew up on the stories. Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Duke Snider all homer -- watch the ball sail over the crooked, ad-filled right-field wall -- and Billy Loes lost the ground ball in the sun.

The presentation is static and primitive (and that's just Steve Garvey's between-innings narration). Perhaps you prefer your baseball with heavy doses of Tim McCarver analysis, and watching a game from half-a-century ago will make you fidget. Perhaps you've read about this game on so many pages that seeing the actual footage will come as a disappointment. Perhaps, though, this videotape is history come alive, and will make the perfect companion piece to all those well-read books on your shelf.

This is a remarkebly fine quality video, considering that the film goes back to a baseball game played 47 years ago. The format is excellent. The complete flavor of the game is kept by showing entire half or complete innings. The video is 94 minutes long and gives an excellent sense of the play. The viewer needs to keep in mind that the action is pre-video tape and a video copy of a film of the game. The video retains the sense of tension in the game and the nostalgic romance of the voices of Mel Allen and Red Barber. Enjoy, if you can get a copy. I understand it is out of print.