Rating: 
Summary: I hate baseball
Review: I hate baseball. It's boring to watch, not much fun to play and the "stars" that play it today are unremarkable bores. That said I love this series. I admire anyone who takes the time to tell an almost impossible tale. The tale of a sport. How many boring documentaries I have seen about this game I could not tell you. What I can tell you is they all failed totally to come to grips with the scope of the subject. Often they fall into hero worship, pointless personal reflections or (worst of all) statistics. To play down what some might overplay, to overplay what others ignored. The coverage of the Negro leagues is what helps bring this home to me and says a lot about America over the years. The good, the overlooked and the ugly. One thing I have always liked about Ken's work is the strength of the audio. Not in mixing or music but the sheer quality of writing. You can close your eyes at any point and you will not miss anything. The words of the past and of our time mix and become one long narrative that comes close to telling an impossible tale. The tale of a game for children, taken so seriously by grown men. Anyone who can take a game as boring as baseball AND make it fun, knows what they are doing.
Rating:
Summary: Baseball - Love It or Leave It
Review: I may not know the history of the game as well as some people I know (and do not). But this documentary gives me a satisfied feeling of competency about the game's past. I usually watch one of the tapes every time I feel I want to brush up on a team or player. Speaking with one of my colleages about the series, she pointed out a few questionable facts (ie - last game at Ebbets Field, Dodgers lost in the film. Her extensive research has the Dodgers winning 2-0 with a Gil Hodges RBI.) Anyway, it is deep with Yankees/Giants/Dodgers/Red Sox lore. Being a Mets fan, I was satisfied with what was entered (especially 1986). Too bad the 1994 strike, A-Rod, Randy, Bonds, Atlanta Braves and the late Yankees run wasn't a part of it. That part of the game's history should be added later should Burns update the series. Disgruntled fans/reviewers who point out the 'lackluster' representation of their team shouldn't do so here. Sorry if you feel excluded, but looks like the majority of the game's history comes from the cradle of its existence - New York. Of course its mostly about those teams - THREE teams were there. Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St. Louis - all contributed to the depth and history. Why isn't it the same with other sports? Because basketball, hockey or football doesn't have the same influence that New York has on baseball. 'Nuff said. Fans should be like moviegoers; if you love it, pay for a ticket and watch it until the end. If you want to complain because you're not getting what you paid for, walk out and never see it again. Save the joy of the game (and this documentary) for the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: Like reading a great novel...
Review: ...it'll take you a little while...18 hours or so...but "Baseball" is a dense, rich experience that evokes a similar sensation. It's the same feeling you get when finishing the last line of a good long book...a sense of satisfaction with a hint of sadness. Baseball has always lent itself to stories and myths, more so than any other sport, and this document offers a ton of 'em. The "talking heads" invited to speak are so rabidly enthusiastic, you can't help but to get carried away. The history of the U.S. is nicely covered as well, revealing the special symbiosis between our country and baseball for the first half of the twentieth century.
This film is endlessly fascinating.
If you're a baseball fan and still haven't seen this, your life is not complete yet. It really isn't.
Rating:
Summary: One of the longest Ken Burns films ever made.
Review: Even longer then the Civil War, Ken Burns did this 18 hour film series on Baseball, covering 100 years of the game and the history of all the players who have had the most impact on the game. It's hard to really explain all the highlights of this film series except that it's a very detailed film, perhaps the most difficult film project Ken has ever done due to the large amount of material and history to cover. If you ever wanted to really know the whole history of Baseball, this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: A SLIGHT REVISION OF BASEBALL HISTORY
Review: I loved watching this documentary when it first aired on PBS--I even video-taped it back then. It speaks so eloquently of the game I love: baseball. In reading the editorial review of the DVD, however, I noticed the so-oft-repeated moniker given to Jackie Robinson as "the first African-American to play major league baseball." Please note: Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother, Welday, played on the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association (a major league rival to the National League) during the 1883 season. Moses, or "Fleet" as he was known, played catcher in 42 games that year, while Welday played in 6 games. True, they don't have the star power associated with Robinson's well-chronicled struggle, yet the fact remains: Fleet Walker was the first African-American to play on a major league baseball team. In fact, it was the refusal of a few prominent white stars, most notable among them Cap Anson of the National League's Chicago team, to take the field against Toledo because of the presence of the Walkers, that led to the shameful "gentleman's agreement" among major league team owners which effectively banned African-Americans from the game until Branch Rickey decided to place Robinson in the Brooklyn Dodgers' lineup in 1947.
Rating: 
Summary: another Ken Burns bloated waste of space
Review: I don't understand why this filmaker gets so much pub....if you don't mind looking at a still photo being photographed from 4 different angles instead of seeing actual footage buy this and try to sit through it all. It seems as if he doesn't want to pay to license more of the archival footage that is available and mixes in far too many talking heads and still shots.
If you want to see footage of the greats of the game buy the MLB All Century Team DVD which has 2+ hours of fabulous video and some cool interviews plus stats.
Rating:
Summary: Ken Burns' Baseball
Review: I loved this documentary. Every few months, I take it out and watch it all over again. I get tears in my eyes when I watch the Chicago Black Sox. I just don't understand. Shoeless Joe took the money, gave it back, told the truth, didn't throw the Series and was acquitted in court. How can he possibly have been banned from baseball? And why is he not in the Hall of Fame? I thought in this country, if you were acquitted of a crime, you couldn't be punished for it. I am a loyal and diehard Minnesota Twins fan, even when they didn't do well. They are my team.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING-POSSIBLE DEFECT IN DVD VERSION!!
Review: Beware! I have experienced this problem in TWO separate copies of this DVD! It concerns the PBS Gold Logo that appears during the video, alerting you to the option of exploring the bio of the player/personality in question. However, once the logo disappears, the video SKIPS TO THE NEXT CHAPTER OR THE NEXT TIME A FEATURED PLAYER/PERSONALITY APPEARS IN THE VIDEO! In some cases, it skips nearly ten minutes of viewing! Someone should alert the manufacturer of this defect!
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been a 4 or better but...
Review: Many other reviews of Baseball touch on the things that I feel hamper this set: a New York bias,Burn's overly reverent tone,the omissions of many players and facts and so on. Let me say one thing,it's wrong to say something along the lines that the Negro Leaguer's struggles were overblown here,as many do. Some of the greatest baseball players prior to 1947 had no chance to compete in the majors and thus,could not write their legacy next to the white players of the day (though some like Leroy Page arrived after their prime). There may have been too much space on this set that only repeats this but it's a very relevent fact. (If you want to see some place that really went overboard on the issue of Negro League players, go to the Hall Of Fame. The veteran's committee was electing so many mid-level N.L players and obscure major leagures-while ignoring modern players with better numbers- that the old system was scrapped last year.) This set does a thorough job of explaining baseball's alure,the cultural phenom it was(and still can be-witness the home run hysteria of the past 5 years) and many parts of it's rich and interesting history. The things that I liked most are the little things this set got right. You find out about the troubled (but talented) Rube Wadell,The Merkle [incident] and other bits of history. In a day and age when it's tough to find a hero in baseball (let alone someone who's not a millionaire soldier of fortune) you learn about Christy Mathewson and Roberto Clemente or any of the ballplayers who lost valuable playing time to fight for our country. If you want the whole stories of enigma's (Bob Gibson and Sandy Kofax) or sanatized stars with darker backgrounds (Dimaggio and Mantle) then you'll have to look elsewhere. With only 18 hours it's impossible to do some topics justice or to squeeze everything in (although the case can be made that some editing could have produced space for much that was overlooked). I must say that the show loses steam as it hits the last volumes and overall just didn't have the impact of the Civil War series. I wish this set would have come out when I was a kid and loved this game the most I ever have. Instead, it appeared when I was 20 and a dedicated hockey fanatic (hockey had passed baseball long before). Still,the beauty and nostalgia are here. There IS an undeniable beauty when you see Rod Carew or Ted Williams swing the bat. There is a timelessness in seeing Buck O'Neil speak of the game he loves. The years since this documentary were made have seen baseball struggle to stay America's pastime. Indeed it may have lost that fight. I have only watched 3 complete ballgames since the pointless strike that stole a World Series. Now there are middle relievers with losing records that make hundreds of times more a year than many greats made in their entire careers. Expansion has thinned pitching to and alltime low point and Bud Selig is a joke. There is a cloud of massive steroid use that threatens to discredit the league and a possible strike (don't they ever learn?) could undue every positive step made since the last one. Maybe this shot of nostalgia is more valuable now than ever. Baseball is a fine overview but I,like most reviewers, stubornly believe we could do a better job. Then it would be filled with OUR slant.
Rating: 
Summary: Baseball in Boston and New York
Review: The video has a lot of good historical information. Unfortunately, it concentrates too heavily on the New York teams and overemphasizes the civil rights issue. There was a lot more to baseball than that.
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