Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B00004WM02
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #466,505 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent one-hour documentary of 1934-57 MLB, February 9, 2010

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When It Was a Game 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The three VHS editions of HBO's WHEN IT WAS A GAME are all excellent quality SP speed dubs with HiFi audio. Here, beautifully-preserved home movies taken by players and fans show the heroes and palaces of a bygone era. A genuine treat for anyone interested in what is considered to be this sport's Golden Era.

Highlight of the premiere edition of "When It Was a Game" is the earliest known color World Series footage, from the 1938 contest between the NY Yankees and Chicago Cubs. Narration includes book quotes read by James Earl Jones, Roy Scheider and Jason Robards Jr. plus commentary from players, with accompanying color montages of athletes, fans, parks.

PROGRAM--
Opening montage of fans and athletes
Spring training with voiceovers of Cardinals Enos Slaughter (of) and Elden Auker (p)
American virtues of baseball
Cubs Billy Herman (2b): playing to win
Slaughter: brushback and knockdown pitches
Yanks Tommy Henrich (rf): Cardinals Gas House Gang
Cards Burgess Whitehead (if): B&W 1934 W.S. footage
Owing a Louisville Slugger
Bill Werber (if): his glove
Robert Creamer (author): leaving gloves on the field
B. Dodgers Duke Snider (cf): heavy wool uniforms
Donald Hoenig (author): memories of agelass ballplayers
WWII years include on-field military display and patriotic uniform colors (Giants)
Henrich: team rosters reduced by war service
Promotional gimmicks and on-field comedy
"Clown Princes of Baseball" Al Schact and Max Patkin, who comments on his comedy bits
Slaughter: train travel
Cards Whitey Kurowski (3b): allure of ballparks
Donald Hall (poet): visiting park with dad or granddad
Hoenig: seeing Johnny Mize up-close in 1941
Fenway before the Green Monster; Wrigley Field w/o bleachers or ivy
Roy Robinson (author): enormity of ballpark to a child
Hall: family connections
Creamer: Polo Grounds
Red Barber (broadcaster): Ebbets Field and its fans
Bogey & Bacall at '52 W.S. (Yankee Stadium)
Werber: identifying with fans, wanting to win for them
Pre-1938 W.S. parade and game footage oldest color film of this yearly event
Cubs Clay Bryant (p): awesome NY Yankees
Henrich: winning attitude; thrill of being a Yankee
Hoenig: 1936-39 Yanks W.S. victories
Creamer: Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra
Henrich: Red Sox/Yanks rivalry
Hall: Bosox glorious defeat; Ted Williams (lf)
All-Star montage
Hall, plus Dodgers Don Newcombe (p): Jackie Robinson
Other black stars
Presidents FDR, HST, DDE throw out first pitch
Lawrence Ritter (author): abandoned towns (ballparks being demolished)
"Play Ball" (read by three actors)