I’ve been renting a lot of the classic baseball dvds from Netflix.
I’ve seen the 1979 World Series (Pirates/Orioles), 1977 World Series (Yanks/Dodgers), 1976 World Series (Reds/Red Sox) and have just started the 1987 Twins/Cards series. Still to come is the 1986 Mets/Red Sox series as well as sets featuring classic Cubs and classic Cardinal games.
These are excellent dvds which bring back a lot of memories. I was too young to watch the 1976 and 1977 series. Those horrible 1970s ballparks with the terrible field conditions. The softball uniforms. Still, seeing great players in their prime, many of whom are in the Hall or contendors, makes these well worth a baseball fan’s time.
Sounds like something I’d like to do. How far back do they go? Are they shown unedited, or is it just highlights?
I’d love to see some of the Series from the late 60s and early 70s, particularly 1967. I think I’ll skip the 1986 Series, though (I don’t like horror movies).
The earliest of the MLB Collector’s Series dates from 1975. I have not seen them, but the online descriptions for them make them appear to be as complete as possible.
IIRC, it would be very difficult to put one of these sets together for a World Series pre-1975. The only pre-1975 series for which television coverage of every game is known to exist are 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1971. Several of the existing examples of game coverage from 1971 is very fragmentary, and, with the other four Series, the games either in part (1969, 1970) or in total (1965, 1968) exist on black-and-white kinescopes, and release of those could be affected by the phobia some seem to have over black-and-white.
As for the 1967 World Series, none of the television coverage is known to exist, but a complete Red Sox game from near the end of the season does, on color videotape, and is available, though I do not remember from whom.
I love ESPN Classic for games like that. I still cry when I see the film of game 1 of the 1988 Series, when Kirk Gibson rounded the bases when he could barely run, with his bad right knee and bad left hamstring, plus the stomach flu, after crushing Dennis Eckersley’s 3-2 slider over the fence at Chavez. He damn near fell down swinging earlier in the at-bat, and it truly became a shot heard round the world.
The 1988 series is scheduled to be released on dvd sometime this year. The discs consist of the broadcast version of the games. Most of them have just the game footage, no starting lineups or pre/post game coverage. Usually on the last game of the series, there are extras with some of the interviews and winning teams celebration. You can see how tv coverage has evolved. In the 1975 series, the audio cuts out for an inning or so and the radio coverage is used.
The first game of the 1968 series is included in the Cardinals greatest games sets featuring Bob Gibson. It is in black and white.
I wonder which broadcast they will use for the 1988 series. IIRC, Vin Scully called it locally, and someone called the national feed, so you have several different reactions to Gibson’s hit.
