The Tenth Inning

[metirish]

Ken Burns goes extra innings for his baseball doc, deals with the sport from 1994 on. 110 minutes of the two hours are devoted to Jeter and his patented throw to first.

8pm first pitch

[A Boy Named Seo]

Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox.

It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Baseball being given that sort of treatment --- featuring some of the heaviest hitters among American historians --- is hard not to like.

[metirish]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it.

Sorry man, I was trying to be funny and it was an EPIC FAIL...

In a teaser I saw on the Tavis Smiley show it showed the Captain going head first in to the stands....OMG

[Frayed Knot]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox.

The Irishman is pulling your chain a bit, although reportedly the 'tenth inning' is very NE-centric, or at least most of it that's not concentrating on the strike and steroid issues. And as much as the rest of the country will complain about (yet more) east coast bias, it is kind of justifiable. Ripken, the Yanx late-90s run, 9/11, the Boston miracle and its sequel, etc., were the biggest stories and all happened to happen mostly on the east coast. The '50s edition was almost entirely about baseball in NYC too.

It's been 12 or 13 years since I saw the original, but I liked it.

The orig ran in 1994 running, though not intentionally, during the strike.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

MFYs winning the 96 series... Again. F this show.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: Is Ken Burns very sexy for Jeter? This thing sez he luvs the BoSox. The Irishman is pulling your chain a bit, although reportedly the 'tenth inning' is very NE-centric, or at least most of it that's not concentrating on the strike and steroid issues. And as much as the rest of the country will complain about (yet more) east coast bias, it is kind of justifiable. Ripken, the Yanx late-90s run, 9/11, the Boston miracle and its sequel, etc., were the biggest stories and all happened to happen mostly on the east coast.

There are those big-headed fellas what hit them dingers, no?

[G-Fafif]

This chapter was suspiciously light on covering all those Mets world championships of the '90s.

[Guest sharpie]

There was a shot of the Endy catch. Maybe Part II will make Metly mention.

[G-Fafif]

Met glimpses in the Top of the Tenth:

� Disgusted fans throwing dollar bills at Bobby Bonilla after the strike.

� Rey Ordonez making his trademark one-knee grab and throw in a segment on Latin players (with Howie's old "put a circle around it!" in the background.

� One of the talking heads recalling taking the 7 train past Shea (with period footage) during the strike and being mad that it was empty.

� End of 2000 World Series as coda to the Joe Torre/1996 bleechfest.

Pedro Martinez served as a talking head, though Burns probably picked him for reasons having nothing to do with the Mets.

[Lefty Specialist]

It was well done as always. The willful blindness to the steroid-fueled home run contest in '98 was explored well. And c'mon, you can't do a history of late '90's baseball without devoting plenty of time to the Yankees. There was actually less on them than I expected.

And no matter how many times I see it, I can't get enough of that Endy catch.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

It was a helluva lot better than those cheap-o docs that came on after the program on Channel 13, if you happened to see them. Supported by a grant from the Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, too.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Boston Globe unsentimental curmudgeon/excellent sportswriter Charles Pierce's takeis mixed, but ends on a pretty fantastic line:

Pedro Martinez is shaping up to be a terrific talking-head. And what can I tell you, George Will still talks like your grandmother's underwear drawer.

[batmagadanleadoff]

My reaction to yesterday's segment was one of disinterest. It's the first Burns inning where the Mets existed but didn't figure and reminded me of how irrelevant the franchise had become, even accounting for their 2000 WS appearance.

[G-Fafif]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: It was a helluva lot better than those cheap-o docs that came on after the program on Channel 13, if you happened to see them. Supported by a grant from the Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, too.

Indeed. I was happy to see somebody I know on the segment on NY championship teams that debuted last night, and a FAFIF reader dutifully informed us he's on tonight's premiere (he took home movies of the Swoboda catch), but generally speaking they look like they were produced by Fran Healy, and the theme throughout is "baseball is really important to some people."

Plus way too much MFYness. Good prep work for October, I suppose.

[G-Fafif]

Bottom of Tenth beginning with slow montage of Red Sox and Fenway through history.

Who could have seen that coming?

[Frayed Knot]

Tuned in to see if Luis Gonzalez's hit fell over the infield again.





It did.

[G-Fafif]

Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves.

Ken Burns: myopia gone wild.

[Lefty Specialist]

I work in what was a frozen zone for a few days after 9/11, so I had to stay home, and I have to admit one thing I kept thinking about in the back of my mind was, 'boy, this is really going to screw up the Mets'.

I always felt a little guilty about that. I feel a little less so today. Thanks, Keith.

[Willets Point]

G-Fafif wrote: Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves. Ken Burns: myopia gone wild.

Gosh, if I were to make a baseball movie covering 1994-2009, the first game in NYC after 9/11 would be the first Mets-related thing I would think of including. In fact, I could see cutting all other Mets content from that period, but that game was so transcendent and powerful it would have to be in the movie.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Willets Point wrote: Post 9/11 segments include nothing on Piazza's home run or anything Mets-related, save for a story from Keith Olbermann running into a cop near Ground Zero who was worrying about whether the Mets could catch the Braves. Ken Burns: myopia gone wild. Gosh, if I were to make a baseball movie covering 1994-2009, the first game in NYC after 9/11 would be the first Mets-related thing I would think of including. In fact, I could see cutting all other Mets content from that period, but that game was so transcendent and powerful it would have to be in the movie.

Essentially, they did cut all Mets content from the tenth inning.

I was at that post 9/11 Piazza HR game. I hated some aspects of it. The patriotism, to me, was zealot-like. They gave away small American Flags on a stick (about 3 or 4 inches long). I remember wanting to throw mine away about 5 seconds after I got my flag because I didn't feel like holding it all game long and I might've injured myself had I tried to stick the stick and flag in my pocket. I remember looking around to see if the coast was clear before I threw my flag in a stadium garbage can. I also got into a heated argument with one of the concessionaires. I got to the front of the food line after about 15 minutes, when the National Anthem started. Then they stopped serving. I didn't know if this was a regular custom or some new post 9/11 practice. But I argued enough that the server eventually gave in and gave me my damn food. Which, par for Shea Stadium, was probably crappy anyway.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I was there too. Hated the line they made us get in, and almost missed the first pitch. Conessions were so jammed and slow you couldn't get something to eat or drink.

But when Piazza hit the HR, I jumped up and down, up and down, landed accidentally on a beer bottle in the aisle and fell over three seats in rapt emotional delirium.

[G-Fafif]

Regarding the flags, I wasn't handed one on my way in but found one lying under an unoccupied seat, checked with Charlie Daniels (who informed it's a flag, not a rag) and grabbed it. Found myself waving it as part of a Let's Go Mets chant at one point and thought it was a little inappropriate for such a purpose. But I'll never forget that when Piazza rounded the bases, and they skipped the usual musical accompaniment, the sound of those flags rustling as seemingly everybody was waving them in celebration.

An incredible crossroads of baseball and America. I can see why Burns overlooked it entirely.

Only other Metsian note from Bottom of the Tenth that I detected was an isolated shot of Endy's catch as part of a montage of "baseball is still great" plays. It was actually the last specific play shown before the wrapup, which lingered over Fenway Park while Doris Kearns Goodwin congratulated herself for existing. But no discussion of the catch itself or of many things, Metsian or not, that would have made this installment interesting -- but I did learn the Red Sox won a World Series in 2004.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Flag waver!

Keith Hernandez appeared (in civvies) as Burns' poster boy for Baseball's 1985 drug trials, held in Pittsburgh.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Flag waver! Keith Hernandez appeared (in civvies) as Burns' poster boy for Baseball's 1985 drug trials, held in Pittsburgh.

The Mets got screwed in Burns' doc even when they were mentioned. Beginning with Burns' coverage of 20th century baseball, each decade was given two hours worth of attention. But the 9th inning chapter condensed almost 25 years worth of baseball (1970-1994) into the two hour format, thus skimping on coverage of Davey Johnson's Mets and Tom Seaver, who deserved his own segment, much like earlier greats like Koufax and Waddell and Johnson got their own segments. It is fair to mention Seaver in the same breath as those other greats, yes?

[TransMonk]

Yeah, not a lot of Mets representation in this 6 hours of pomp. Still, more than the Royals, Pirates, Reds, Brewers and Tigers got. The Nats fans got a great highlight of Bonds hitting #756 of of Mike Basik.

I enjoyed the original series, but this installment didn't do much for me. But then again, I don't give a hoot about the Red Sox or the Yankees.

Thumbs down, Mr. Burns. Thumbs down.

As a side note...I know that Keith David does a lot of voice over work, but I can't listen to his voice without thinking of his role in Requiem For A Dream. "I know it's pretty baby, but I didn't take it out for air."

Others might remember him as Mary's stepfather from There's Something About Mary.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Did they cover the Montreal pullout well?

[TransMonk]

Edgy DC wrote: Did they cover the Montreal pullout well?

Not that I recall at all.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

TransMonk wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Did they cover the Montreal pullout well? Not that I recall at all.

That makes sense. I mean, it's not like contraction and/or team economics were big news at all for a year or ten before/during/after the strike.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's amazing. Montreal, among other things, was the team most damaged by the strike. Sacre bleu!