(Be) Safe At Home – And Watch Ken Burns’ Epic Documentary Series ‘Baseball’

Today was scheduled to be Opening Day for the 2020 Major League Baseball season, and now the season may not start for months (or perhaps not even at all). Life as we know it has been disrupted, and the sports calendar that usually brings us 365 days of endless comfort and joy —although we acknowledge that rooting for your home team can also bring about much heartache and pain— is now just another victim in this sad new reality.

There may not be nine innings of baseball being played anytime soon, but thanks to filmmaker Ken Burns and the fine folks at PBS, you can stream his 1994 documentary series Baseball for free on PBS. Each of the nine episodes serves as its own “inning” – tracing the game’s origins until the modern era when the doc was released. (Burns made and released a follow-up “Tenth Inning” in 2010, which, along with the entire series, is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.)

Even if fandom and attendance for baseball has been on the decline in recent years, baseball remains —and will always be— America’s pastime. Now, with America having nothing but time on its hands, I cannot think of a better way to take one’s mind off of the world’s troubles than getting lost in this poetic deep dive (18.5 hours worth!) into the game’s history.

As you can imagine, all the bases are covered here – from the incremental formation of the rules and gameplay, to the amazing ye olde team names (the Lebanon Pretzel Eaters!), fantastic flannel jerseys (check out the threads the Bloomer and Mother Hubbard baseball team sported), and sharp mustaches of the late 19th Century, to how low ice cream sales at the famed New York Polo Grounds led one genius concessions salesman to put German sausages on a bun and give birth to the hot dog. From the rise of the game’s heroes and legends —running the gamut from Aaron to Yastrzemski (sorry, couldn’t find a good ‘Z’ player from the doc to make this a true A-Z)— to the failings and shame that have checkered the game (endless segregation and exclusion of African Americans, the Black Sox Scandal, to whatever Pete Rose was up to). There’s so much to take in, that it seems 18.5 hours isn’t remotely enough time to tell all of baseball’s lore!

Lovingly narrated by former NBC Nightly News anchor John Chancellor, with guest voiceover work from a who’s who of awesome dudes like Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Jason Robards, Ossie Davis, Eli Wallach, Keith Carradine, Gregory Hines, Arthur Miller, Anthony Hopkins, THAT guy Philip Bosco (who perhaps has the best voice of them all), to even M. Emmet Walsh (!!!). There are also on-screen interviews with endless ballplayers, baseball junkies, TV and radio personalities, and literary luminaries like Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Studs Terkel, George F. Will, George Plimpton, (rotisserie baseball inventor) Daniel Okrent, Billy Crystal and even Governor Cuomo (Andrew’s dad Mario). This series isn’t just a vital visual document about baseball, but also a historical gift for the ages.

As the doc shows, events shook the world, but the game always played on: in wartime, through depressions, natural disasters, scandals and yes, pandemics. Yep, it played through the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the bats still were swinging during World War I AND during World War II, even with some of the game’s biggest names —Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, and Hank Greenberg— joining the fight by enlisting in the military. In fact, the two times the game was interrupted – 1972 and 1981 – were due to labor issues between players and management, through strikes and lockouts.

Ken Burns wrapped his idyllic postcard series at an opportune time, just right before the 1994-1995 lockout that would cancel the postseason, marking only the 2nd time, after 1904, that the World Series wasn’t held. What a shame – it was the Expos year!! Will 2020 be the 3rd time? Perish the thought!

“Inning One” and “Inning Nine” share bookended wisdom about baseball that’s worth repeating here:

It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime, and ending with the hard facts of autumn. It is a haunted game, in which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before. Most of all, it is about time and timelessness. Speed and grace. Failure and loss. Imperishable hope. And coming home.

Amen.

With great uncertainty in the here and now, we can only hope and dream that the game will return, and that they will play ball again, like they always have. Sports are our great escape, but since they aren’t here to distract and entertain us, we need other escapes, so let’s get past this time by remembering and celebrating our pastime that is far past its time.

Be safe, at home.

Michael Palan is a New York based writer and multimedia producer. He got an A+ in bowling at a midwestern university, and once handed Kurt Vonnegut his coat. In his free time he enjoys Edward Hopper paintings and eating fried chicken.

Where to stream Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns