Tag: Television

Whose Line?: Baseball mound scene

May 14, 2016

I watched a lot of Whose Line Is It Anyway? when I was in high school and college.  Honestly, it’s a shame that the show didn’t last (in it’s original, U.S. form), because I do miss it sometimes.  I imagine the current run of the show is good as well, though I honestly haven’t taken the opportunity to check it out.  In any case, here’s an improvised scene from the show’s original run in which Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, and Colin Mochrie pretend to be a baseball pitcher, catcher, and manager having an argument on the mound.

This day in baseball: Color television meets the MLB

August 11, 2014

On August 11, 1951, WCBS-TV in New York City televised the first-ever color broadcast of a baseball game.  The Boston Braves defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-1 in the first game of a doubleheader at Ebbets Field.  Red Barber and Connie Desmond of Brooklyn provided the play-by-play commentary.

Newspaper headline following the game, although the story does not mention the color broadcast (Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers)

This day in baseball: Hitting the TV screen

August 26, 2013

History’s first televised baseball game was broadcast by NBC on 26 August 1939.  The Reds played the Dodgers at Ebbets Field and split a doubleheader, the Dodgers winning 6-2 in the first game, and the Reds taking the second game 5-1.  The telecast was shown on experimental station W2XBS.  Red Barber called the game for the television audience.

Only two camera angles were in place for the game: one down the third base line, and the other high over home plate in order to capture the entire field.  And cameras, not nearly as advanced as they are today, had difficulty capturing any fast-moving plays.  While baseball owners initially feared that television coverage would hurt game attendance, they quickly embraced the increased coverage and revenue that could be gained through the sale of broadcast rights and from advertising.

Today, televised sports is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Photo source: Early Television Museum