Rating: 
Summary: Just one word: Great!
Review: This book is absolutely wonderful! A must have and must read for any baseball fan, this history form the early days of the Elysian Fields to the modern state of the game does an absolutely fantastic job. A fun read, you'll wonder why you waited so long to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Burns touched all the major points
Review: Ken Burns has created a wonderful piece of baseball history that I cannot wait to share with my children. I watch this series from start to finish every February when I start going through baseball withdrawal. My love of baseball will be that much easier to pass on to them with this video as an aid. They will never fail to understand my love for the game each time they see the tears flow when, for instance, Walter Johnson finally wins a World Series in 1924.I cannot understand the previous comments that thought Burns too sanctimonious or emotional by dealing with the race issue in baseball. To me it is one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Like Mario Cuomo states in the video, wasn't this question of dealing with the races separately handled during the Civil War? Apparently not, because in this country where we belive that "all men are created equal" large subsections of the population were kept out of the "national" pastime for decades. Race is THE major issue permeating every era of baseball history, from the inception of the "gentlemen's agreement" to Jackie Robinson, Curt Flood to Al Campanis. Further, what's wrong with having people like Shelby Foote and Doris Kearns Goodwin talk about their experiences with baseball? They're fans, just like you and me, and, to me, some of their stories are more touching than the ones coming from players or journalists who "live" the game. How can you not wish you could have been little Shelby that day his uncle walked him right up to the Babe's hotel room door and knocked? There's no way we, the fans, can get that kind of access today. My own beloved Cal Ripken didn't even stay in the same hotel on the road as his teammates. Also, Burns never makes a claim regarding the Babe's "Called Shot." He shows us the picture and presents us with eyewitness accounts, including Babe's own. Burns leaves the story right where it belongs, among the many other great stories from the history of baseball that have become American myth.
Rating:
Summary: Baseball as a form of religion
Review: When watching this video, there were times when I had tears in my eyes. It was wonderful to see the archive footage of some of the great names in baseball. Seeing and hearing Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson and others cannot help but stir the passion of anyone with even a passing interest in the game.
Some others who have reviewed this tape have criticized it for being centered on New York teams and for neglecting some of the teams who came from nowhere to win titles. This criticism is true, but unfounded. There were two things that dramatically changed the game and both took place in New York. The first was when Babe Ruth began hitting home runs at a pace previously unthinkable. I consider his numbers in the early years as a Yankee outfielder to be the most amazing statistics in all of sports. It is incredible that he hit more home runs than many others teams did in those seasons. Some talk negatively about the adulation given to sports stars these days, and yet none approaches the level of stardom achieved by Ruth.
The second was when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. We celebrate Martin Luther King day as a tribute to his struggle for civil rights. However, it can be strongly argued, and correctly in my opinion, that Jackie Robinson did more for the struggle than Dr. King did. The pressure on Robinson was enormous, at times having thousands of people screaming abuse at him. And yet he succeeded on the field, still considered by many to be the most exciting player of his generation. It is also hard to underestimate the effect this had on the American society. Many people who otherwise would have nothing to do with a black man cheered him on the field, and found at least some of their attitudes changed.
The lament of the Boston Red Sox is also a major part of the video. No one could possibly forget the Carlton Fisk home run or that slow ground ball moving through Bill Buckner's legs. I saw both live and each kept me up for hours after the event. One statement made several times in the tape that may seem frivolous is how the grass just seems greener in baseball stadiums. My personal experience backs that. The greenest, most beautiful grass I have ever seen was in Wrigley Field.
Baseball is a great game, the only major one where many of the players just don't look like athletes. Babe Ruth looked more like a bartender than an athlete as did some pitchers of the sixties and seventies. And yet they have some of the most incredible skills, as I can attest after trying to hit a ninety mile-per-hour fastball. I lived baseball in my youth, but lately the pressures of a career have led me astray. This tape brought me back to my younger days when I knew all the great players as well as their lifetime statistics. It made me something that I have rarely if ever been, nostalgic for my youth.
Rating: 
Summary: just a bit outside
Review: Considering there are "nine innings" to this series, Burns misses the boat on a lot of great stories. How about the influence of Bill Veeck's teams in the '50s and '60s (the Tribe and White Sox were the only real challengers to Yankee supremacy)? Or Charlie O. Finley bringing some color back into the game? What about the great pennant races like the 1978 AL East race? Sure there was lots of great stuff on Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood but how about some of the less volatile stories mixed in there? You watch this series and it's as if baseball is ALWAYS in turmoil and nothing is ever right. How about a story on the Bleacher Bums and on the beauty of Wrigley Field? The Blue Jays winning two World series thereby becoming the first non-US based team to win the WS. Or something on the influx of Latin players and the tragic heroic tale of Roberto Clemente dying so young. I just don't get why the focus was so far off-base.
Rating: 
Summary: Philly Fan Fires Back
Review: Where the hell does Ken Burns get off calling Philadelphia racist while waxing rhapsodic over the Red Sox? His own prejudice restrains him from detailing the incredible Bill White story, which was an important accomplishment in the history of civil rights, that still needs to be documented. Also lost, of course, is Mack's Athletics of the early 30's, as well as perhaps the most emotional play off and World Series of all times, where Tug, Lefty and Rose finally beat back the jinx that had haunted a city for a century (something that Boston could identify with). I guess if you're the creator and producer, you've got the right to skew your documentary any way you want.
Rating:
Summary: Very biased and inaccurate portrayal of a great game
Review: (...) I wouldn't exactly call this "unethical," but misleading is definitely true. He does in fact try to portray Jackie Robinson as some Messiah, and he definitely takes advantage of the race factor in selling his product, and it really gets annoying. And Babe Ruth's point toward center field indeed was disproven by the video (which Burns conveniently fails to mention) that clearly showed he was pointing towards the opposition's dugout. It's a well done documentary in terms of making you feel good about baseball. But it's not accurate. Reminds me of the Apollo 13 movie. Well done, entertaining. But very inaccurate (like the carbon dioxide buildup - they made it sound like they had 5 minutes to make their contraption work, when in fact, they had 18 hours). Ken Burns is playing with emotions, rather than accuracy. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Very biased and inaccurate portrayal of a great game
Review: I would have to agree with some of the previous negative reviewers on this work. I wouldn't exactly call this "unethical," but misleading is definitely true. He does in fact try to portray Jackie Robinson as some Messiah, and he definitely takes advantage of the race factor in selling his product, and it really gets annoying. And Babe Ruth's point toward center field indeed was disproven by the video (which Burns conveniently fails to mention) that clearly showed he was pointing towards the opposition's dugout. It's a well done documentary in terms of making you feel good about baseball. But it's not accurate. Reminds me of the Apollo 13 movie. Well done, entertaining. But very inaccurate (like the carbon dioxide buildup - they made it sound like they had 5 minutes to make their contraption work, when in fact, they had 18 hours). Ken Burns is playing with emotions, rather than accuracy. My feeling is that the reason why the negative reviews get so few people who say the review was helpful, is only because they disagree with the review. Pretty lame if you ask me.
Rating: 
Summary: The Top Baseball History Film
Review: It's tough to say that a film will never come around to describe baseball as well as Ken Burn's film for PBS has, history may find something as good, as exhaustive, or even better. But, no film to date has come close to putting together the lore and facts of baseball as this has. Rather than having a bunch of jocks get together and describe their various escapades playing for their teams, Ken Burns put together poets, actors, politicians, writers, baseball players, coaches, managers, baseball commissioners.. everyone that makes this the sport that has been described as America's pasttime. The history of baseball is the history of the United States. At least, after the Civil war... and Burns follows baseball from the time of the Civil War to modern times. Unfortunately, this film came out during the time of the awful strike that almost destroyed baseball and was largely vilified by fans as being self indulgent. But, it says throughout the film, that every time baseball was about to be destroyed. The black sox scandel, for example, baseball has always picked itself up, brushed itself off, and regained its fan. In these days of elimation of teams, it is time we dust off this wonderful program, put in our players and play it again to remind ourselves of the wonderful richness of this game.
Rating:
Summary: This is GREAT!
Review: We watched the whole series as a family -- once "inning" each week and each one is so good, so meticulously crafted, so inspired that we anticipated the end of the week and the chance to see the next edition.
It's not a just a story about baseball -- it's a complete American history course. More than that, it is filled with great interviews, historical songs and music. It really captures the changes spirit of various times, not just of baseball, but how baseball was interdependent with American history. Racial tensions, the great depression, the great wars, changing gender roles and changing clothing fashions all fit neatly into Burns' fantastic History of Baseball.
Rating:
Summary: A Family Event
Review: We watched the whole series as a family -- once tape each week and each one is so good, so meticulously crafted, so inspired that we anticipated the end of the week and the chance to see the next edition.
It's not a just a story about baseball -- it's a complete American history course. More than that, it is filled with great interviews, historical songs and music. It really captures the changes spirit of various times, not just of baseball, but how baseball was interdependent with American history. Racial tensions, the great depression, the great wars, changing gender roles and changing clothing fashions all fit neatly into Burns' fantastic History of Baseball.
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