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The following article details the history ofMajor League Baseball on ABC, the broadcast ofMajor League Baseball games on theABC television network.

In 1953,^[1]ABC executiveEdgar J. Scherick (who later createdWide World of Sports) broached a SaturdayGame of the Week,^[2] sports television's first network series. At the time, ABC was labeled a "nothing network" that had fewer outlets thanCBS orNBC. ABC also needed paid programming or "anything for bills" as Scherick put it. At first, ABC hesitated at the idea of a nationally televised regular season baseball program. ABC wondered how exactly theGame of the Week would reach television in the first place and who would notice if it did? Also, Major League Baseball barred theGame of the Week from airing within 50 miles of any ballpark.^[3] Major League Baseball according to Scherick, insisted on protecting local coverage and didn't care about national appeal. ABC, though, did care about the national appeal and claimed that "most of America was still up for grabs."

In April 1953, Edgar Scherick set out to acquire teams rights but instead, only got thePhiladelphia Athletics,Cleveland Indians,^[4] andChicago White Sox^[5][6] to sign on.^[7] These were not "national" broadcast contracts since they were assembled through negotiations with individual teams to telecast games from their home parks. It was until theSports Broadcasting Act of 1961, that antitrust laws barred "pooled rights" television contracts negotiated with a central league broadcasting authority.

In 1953, ABC earned an 11.4rating for itsGame of the Week telecasts.Blacked-out cities had 32% of households. In the rest of the United States, 3 in 4 television sets in use watchedDizzy Dean^[8] andBuddy Blattner^[9] (or backup announcersBill McColgan and Bob Finnegan) call the games for ABC.CBS took over the SaturdayGame in 1955 (the rights were actually set up through theFalstaff Brewing Corporation^[10]) retaining Dean/Blattner and McColgan/Finnegan as the announcing crews (as well asGene Kirby, who produced the Dean/Blattner games and alternated with them on play-by-play) and adding Sunday coverage in 1957. As Edgar Scherick said, "In '53, no one wanted us. Now teams begged for "Game"'s cash."

In 1959, ABC broadcast thebest-of-three playoff series^[11][12][13] (to decide theNational League pennant) between theMilwaukee Braves andLos Angeles Dodgers. The cigarette companyL&M sponsored the telecasts.George Kell^[14] andBob DeLaney were the announcers.ABC Radio also broadcast the playoff series with Bob Finnegan and Tony Flynn announcing.

In 1960, ABC returned to baseball broadcasting with a series of late-afternoon Saturday games.Jack Buck^[15] andCarl Erskine^[16][17] were the lead announcing crew for this series, which lasted one season.^[18] ABC typically did three games a week. Two of the games were always from theEastern orCentral Time Zone. The late games (nodoubleheaders) were usuallySan Francisco Giants^[19] orLos Angeles Dodgers' home games. However, theMilwaukee Braves^[20] used to start many of their Saturday home games late in the afternoon. So if the Giants and Dodgers were both on the road at the same time, ABC still would be able to show a late game.

One other note about ABC baseball coverage during this period. Despite temporarily losing theGame of the Week package in 1961, ABC still televised several games in prime time (with Jack Buck returning to call the action). This occurred asRoger Maris^[21][22] was poised to tie and subsequently breakBabe Ruth's regular season home run record of 60. As with all Major League Baseball games in those days, the action was totallyblacked out^[23] of major league markets. As a matter of fact, as documented in theHBO film61*, the Maris family was welcomed into ABC'sKansas City, Missouri affiliateKMBC-TV so they could watch the in-house feed of the game, which was blacked out of Kansas City.

On September 20, 1961,Bob Neal andHank Greenberg called a baseball game for ABC in prime time between Maris'New York Yankees and theBaltimore Orioles.

In 1965, ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts^[24] on a regional basis. ABC paid$5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holidayGames of the Week. ABC's deal^[25][26] covered all of the teams except theNew York Yankees andPhiladelphia Phillies^[27] (who had their own television deals) and called for two regionalized games on Saturdays,Independence Day, and Labor Day.^[28] Each Saturday, ABC broadcast two 2 p.m. games and one 5 p.m. game for thePacific Time Zone. ABCblacked out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games.^[29] Major League Baseball however, had a television deal withNBC for theAll-Star Game andWorld Series. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for 1966, citing poorratings,^[30][31] especially in New York.

According to ABC announcerMerle Harmon's profile inCurt Smith's bookVoices of Summer, in 1965,CBS'Yankee Game of the Week beat ABC in the ratings in at leastDallas andDes Moines. To make matters worse, local television split the big-city audience. Therefore, ABC could show theCubs vs. theCardinals in the New York market, yet theMets would still kill them in terms of viewership. Harmon,Chris Schenkel,Keith Jackson,^[32] and (on occasion)Ken Coleman^[33] served as ABC's principal play-by-play voices for this series. Also on the network's announcing team were pregame hostHoward Cosell and color commentatorsLeo Durocher,Tommy Henrich,^[34]Warren Spahn (who worked with Chris Schenkel on a July 17,Baltimore-Detroit contest), andHall of Fame Brooklyn Dodger greatJackie Robinson (who, on April 17, 1965, became the firstblack network broadcaster for Major League Baseball^[35]). According toABC Sports producerChuck Howard, "(Robinson) had a high, stabbing voice, great presence, and sharp mind. All he lacked was time."

The announcing duos were generally, Chris Schenkel-Leo Durocher and Merle Harmon-Jackie Robinson. For instance, the team of Schenkel and Durocher called theSan Francisco-New York Mets contest on April 17,Milwaukee-Pittsburgh contest on August 21, and the San Francisco-Los Angeles (alongside Jackie Robinson) on September 6. The San Francisco-Los Angeles game on Labor Day was the first meeting between those two clubs since a melee from about two weeks prior involving Giants pitcherJuan Marichal cracking Dodgers catcherJohn Roseboro on the head during a brawl. Jackie Robinson worked with Merle Harmon on at least, theSt. Louis-Cincinnati contest on April 24.

It was around this time that ABC suggested that Major League Baseball reduce their regular season schedule to just 60 games.^[36] ABC wanted the games to only be played on weekends. They also wanted to promote baseball in the same manner as football, as a major television event.

In March 1975,CommissionerBowie Kuhn announced that ABC would joinNBC in a new deal with Major League Baseball. The rights fees paid by the two networks were 29.3% higher than what MLB got in the 1971 deal, but adjusted for inflation, the money in the new deal was about the same as in the old one.^[37][38] Under the initial agreement (1976–1979), both networks paid $92.8 million.

ABC paid $12.5 million per year to show 16 Monday night games in 1976, 18 in the next three years, plus half the postseason (bothLeague Championship Series in even numbered years andWorld Series in odd numbered years) and the All-Star Game in even numbered years. NBC paid $10.7 million per year to show 25 SaturdayGames of the Week and the other half of the postseason (both League Championship Series in odd numbered years and World Series in even numbered years) and the All-Star Game in odd numbered years.

ABC also picked up the television rights forMonday Night Baseball^[39] beginning in1976. For most of its time on ABC, the Monday night games were held on "dead travel days" when few games were scheduled. The team owners liked that arrangement as the national telecasts didn't compete against their stadium box offices. ABC on the other hand, found the arrangement far more complicated. ABC often had only one or two games to pick from for each telecast from a schedule designed by Major League Baseball. While trying to give all of the teams national exposure, ABC ended up with far too many games between sub .500 clubs from small markets. Reviewing the network's first two weeks of coverage forSports Illustrated, William Leggett opined: "It may be unfair to say thatMonday Night Baseball, as it has been presented by ABC so far this season, is the worst television treatment ever given a major sport, because by all odds somebody at sometime must have done something worse. But it is difficult to remember when or where that might have happened."^[40]

On the flip side however,ABC Sports headRoone Arledge brought in then innovative concept of a center field camera.^[41] This camera is behind the pitcher that looks at the batter's face. ABC Sports had to gain special permission from both Major League Baseball and the home team to put the camera in center field.

Just like withMonday Night Football, ABC brought in the concept of the three-man-booth (originally withBob Prince,Bob Uecker, andWarner Wolf^[42] as the primary crew) to their baseball telecasts.Al Michaels, then theradio announcer for theSan Francisco Giants, was brought in by ABC as the back-up announcer forMonday Night Baseball. That year, Michaels called twono-hitters: by thePirates'John Candelaria vs.Los Angeles on August 9 (for ABC) and theGiants'John Montefusco atAtlanta on September 29, 1976 (forGiants radio). Michaels initially worked in the booth alongsideBob Gibson andNorm Cash. Thefollowing year, Cash would be replaced byBill White, who himself, would remain with ABC through the1979 season.^[43] All in all, the back-up telecasts were made available to an estimated 15% of the United States.^[44]

Roone Arledge stated that "It'll take something different for it to work – i.e. curb viewership yawns and lulls with Uecker as the real difference", so Arledge reportedly hoped. Prince disclosed to his broadcasting partner Jim Woods about his early worries about calling a network series for the first time. Prince for one, didn't have as much creative control over the broadcasts on ABC as he did callingPittsburgh Pirates games onKDKA radio. On the June 7, 1976, edition ofMonday Night Baseball, Prince returned toThree Rivers Stadium, from which he had been exiled for over a year. Although Prince received a warm reception, he was confused when the next day thePittsburgh Post-Gazette read: "Ratings are low, negative reviews rampant."^[45] Critics ripped^[46] ABC's coverage^[47] for such things as its camera work^[48][49] (they often followed fly balls like they did golf shots, keeping the focus on the ball) and its choice of announcers: Bob Prince was accused of aNational League bias,^[50] while Bob Uecker was considered to be just aDon Meredith^[51][52][53] clone.

On June 28, 1976, theDetroit Tigers faced theNew York Yankees onMonday Night Baseball, with 47,855 attending atTiger Stadium and a national television audience, Tigers pitcherMark "The Bird" Fidrych^[54] talked to the ball and groomed the mound, as the Tigers won, 5–1 in a game that lasted only 1 hour and 51 minutes. After the game, the crowd would not leave the park until Fidrych came out of the dugout to tip his cap.^[55]

For ABC's coverage of the1976 All-Star Game fromPhiladelphia, the team of Bob Prince, Bob Uecker and Warner Wolf alternated roles for the broadcast. For the first three innings, Prince did play-by-play with Wolf on color commentary and Uecker doing field interviews. For the middle innings, Uecker worked play-by-play with Prince on color and Wolf doing the interviews. For the rest of the game, Wolf worked play-by-play with Uecker on color and Prince doing interviews.

Bob Prince was gone by the fall of 1976, with Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell,^[56][57][58] and guest analystReggie Jackson calling that year'sAmerican League Championship Series. (Warner Wolf,Al Michaels and guest analystTom Seaver worked theNLCS.) On the subject of his dismissal from ABC, Bob Prince said "I hatedHouston, and ABC never let me be Bob Prince."^[59][60]MLB commissionerBowie Kuhn strongly objected to ABC's recruitment of Howard Cosell^[61][62] because of comments by Cosell in recent years about how dull baseball had become. But Roone Arledge^[63] held the trump card as the contract he had signed with Major League Baseball gave ABC the final say over announcers. So Cosell worked the 1976 ALCS and became a regular member ofMonday Night Baseball the next season.

Keith Jackson^[64] was unavailable to call Game 1 of the1976 ALCS because he had just gotten finished calling anOklahoma-Texascollege football game forABC. Thus, Bob Uecker filled-in^[65] for Jackson for Game 1. Uecker also took part in the postgame interviews for Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS, while Warner Wolf did an interview ofGeorge Brett in theKansas City locker room.

Still on thedisabled list toward the end of the 1977 season, Mark Fidrych worked as a guestcolor analyst on aMonday Night Baseball telecast for ABC; he was subsequently criticized for his lack of preparation, as when play-by-play partner Al Michaels tried talking with him aboutPhiladelphia Phillies playerRichie Hebner and Fidrych responded, "Who's Richie Hebner?"^[66] As anAmerican League player, Fidrych had never had to face Hebner, who played in the National League.

The1977 World Series^[67] marked the first time that the participating teams' local announcers were not used as the booth announcers on the network telecast of a World Series.^[68][69] 1977 was also the first year in which one announcer (in this case, ABC's Keith Jackson) provided all of the play-by-play for a World Series telecast. In previous years, the play-by-play announcers and color commentators had alternated roles during each game. Meanwhile,New York Yankees announcer Bill White andLos Angeles Dodgers announcerRoss Porter alternated between pregame/postgame duties on ABC and calling the games forCBS Radio. White worked the ABC telecasts for the games in New York (including the clubhousetrophy presentation ceremony after Game 6) while Porter did likewise for the games in Los Angeles.

Howard Cosell was widely attributed with saying the famous phrase "The Bronx is burning". Cosell is credited with saying the quote during Game 2 of the1977 World Series, which took place inYankee Stadium on October 12, 1977. For a couple of years, fires had routinely erupted in theSouth Bronx, mostly due to low-value property owners setting their own properties ablaze for insurance money. During the bottom of the first inning, an ABC aerial camera panned a few blocks from Yankee Stadium to a building on fire, giving the world a real-life view of the infamous Bronx fires. The scene became a defining image of New York City in the 1970s. Cosell supposedly stated, "There it is, ladies and gentlemen, The Bronx is burning."^[70] This was later picked up by candidateRonald Reagan, who then made a special trip to the Bronx, to illustrate the failures of then-contemporary politicians to address the issues in that part of New York City.

In 2005, author Jonathan Mahler publishedLadies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning, a book on New York in 1977, and credited Cosell with saying the title quote during the aerial coverage of the fire.ESPN produced a 2007mini-series based on the book calledThe Bronx is Burning. Cosell's comment seemed to have captured the widespread view held at the time that New York City was on the skids and in a state of decline.

The truth was discovered after Major League Baseball published a complete DVD set of all of the games of the 1977 World Series. Coverage of the fire begins with Keith Jackson commenting on the enormity of the blaze, while Cosell added that PresidentCarter had visited that area just days before. As the top of the second inning began, the fire was once again shown from a helicopter-mounted camera, and Cosell commented that theNew York Fire Department had a hard job to do in the Bronx as there were always numerous fires. In the bottom of the second, Cosell informed the audience that it was an abandoned building that was burning and no lives were in danger. There was no further comment on the fire, and Cosell appears to have never said "The Bronx is Burning" (at least not on camera) during Game 2.^[70]

In 1978,^[71]Baseball Hall of FamerDon Drysdale joinedABC Sports with assignments such asMonday Night Baseball,Superstars, andWide World of Sports. In1979,^[72] Drysdale covered theWorld Series Trophy presentation. According to Drysdale "My thing is to talk about inside things. Keith [Jackson] does play-by-play. Howard's [Cosell] role is anything since anything can happen in broadcasting." When ABC released and then rehired him in 1981, Drysdale explained it by saying "If there is nothing to say, be quiet." Ultimately, Drysdale seemed to be slowly phased out of the ABC picture as fellow pitcherJim Palmer was considered ABC's newposter child "[of] superior looks and...popularity from underwear commercials." By 1989, Palmer would earn $350,000 from ABC for appearing on around ten regular season broadcasts and making a few postseason appearances.^[73]

For a national television audience, the1978 American League East tie-breaker game (New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox) aired on ABC withKeith Jackson andDon Drysdale on the call. Meanwhile, the game aired locally in New York City onWPIX andWSBK-TV inBoston with local announcers. Also in 1978, Keith Jackson called anOklahoma-Texas college football game for ABC and then, flew toNew York, arriving just in time to call Game 4 of theALCS that same night (October 7).

In 1979, the start of ABC'sMonday Night Baseball coverage was moved back to June, due to poor ratings during the Maysweeps period. In place of April and May prime time games, ABC began airingSunday Afternoon Baseball games in September.^[74] The network also aired one Friday night game (theYankees at theAngels) on July 13 of that year. On August 6, 1979, the entire Yankee team attended team captain/catcherThurman Munson's funeral inCanton, Ohio. TeammatesLou Piniella andBobby Murcer, who were Munson's best friends, gave eulogies. That night (before a national viewing audience on ABC'sMonday Night Baseball) the Yankees beat theBaltimore Orioles 5–4 in New York, with Murcer driving in all five runs with a three-run home run in the seventh inning and a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.^[75]

For the1979 World Series, ABC usedplay-by-play announcers Keith Jackson (inBaltimore) and Al Michaels (inPittsburgh), andcolor commentators Howard Cosell and Don Drysdale. ABC's broadcast was alsosimulcast over the Orioles' and Pirates' respective local television outlets, CBS affiliatesWMAR-TV in Baltimore andKDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, in addition to ABC's own affiliatesWJZ-TV andWTAE-TV. After the sixth game, Howard Cosell in his limo was surrounded and attacked by angry Oriole fans with shaving cream, which prompted Baltimore police to complement his private security for Game 7.^[76]

ABC hardly showed many baseball games during the regular season in the 1980s. And when they did, it was only on eitherMonday orThursday nights from the end ofSweeps Week in late May until when theNFL Preseason started in the first week of August. After that, they typically would not broadcast baseball again until the playoffs. ABC also had a clause where they could air a game the last day of the regular season if it had playoff implications, such as in 1987 in regards to theDetroit Tigers'American League East pennant chase against theToronto Blue Jays. The team ofAl Michaels,Jim Palmer, andTim McCarver called that game nationally.^[77] However, in 1986, ABC did do a number of early season Sunday afternoon games before they went intoMonday Night Baseball.

ABC's contract was further modified prior to the 1980 season, with the network airing just fiveMonday Night Baseball telecasts in June of that year, followed bySunday Afternoon Baseball in August and September. ABC did Sunday afternoon games late in the season to fulfill the number of games in the contract and to not interfere withMonday Night Football. Also in 1980, ABC (withAl Michaels andBob Uecker on the call) broadcast theNational League West tie-breaker game between theHouston Astros andLos Angeles Dodgers.^[78] On October 11, 1980,Keith Jackson called anOklahoma-Texascollege football game forABC in the afternoon, then flew toHouston to call Game 4 of theNLCS). In the meantime,Don Drysdale did the play-by-play for the early innings (up until the middle of the fourth inning). Meanwhile, ABC usedSteve Zabriskie^[79] as a field reporter during the 1980 NLCS.

In 1981, ABC planned to increase coverage to 10 Monday night games and eight Sunday afternoon^{[80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91]} games, but theplayers' strike that year ended up reducing the network's schedule to three Monday night and seven Sunday afternoon telecasts. Also in 1981, as means to recoup revenue lost during a players' strike, Major League Baseball set up a special additional playoff round (as a prelude to the League Championship Series). ABC televised theAmerican League Division Series whileNBC televised theNational League Division Series. The Division Series round wasn't officially instituted until 14 years later. Games 3 of theBrewers/Yankees series andRoyals/Athletics series were aired regionally. On October 10, Keith Jackson called anOklahoma-Texascollege football game forABC and missed Game 4 of the Milwaukee-New York series. In Jackson's absence, Don Drysdale filled-in for him on play-by-play alongsideHoward Cosell. On a trivial note the ABC'saffiliates,WTEN inAlbany, New York and its satellite WCDC-TV inAdams, Massachusetts, as well as WIXT (nowWSYR-TV) inSyracuse, New York, did not carry any of ABC's games at that time because of theNew York Yankees games that were simulcast from New York City'sWPIX, movies, and syndicated series and specials among others to provide advertising for those extra money.

In 1982, ABC aired 11 Monday night games and one Sunday afternoon game. Following his retirement,Steve Stone was hired by ABC^[92] to serve as acolor commentator^[93] for theirMonday Night Baseball^[94] telecasts. Stone was normallypaired with Al Michaels^[95] and Bob Uecker^[96] in the booth.

Also in 1982,Baltimore Orioles managerEarl Weaver announced he would retire at the end of the season, one which saw the Orioles wallow at the back of the pack for the first half of the year before climbing in the standings to just three games behind going into a season-ending four-game series against the division-leadingMilwaukee Brewers atBaltimore'sMemorial Stadium. The Orioles beat them handily in the first three games to pull into a first-place tie. The final game of the series, and the season, on October 3, would decide the AL East title. Televised nationally on aSunday afternoon on ABC^[97] (with Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell on the call), the Orioles suffered a crushing 10–2 loss. After the game, the crowd called for Weaver to come out. This tribute to the retiring Weaver provided intense emotion against the backdrop of the season-ending defeat, as Weaver, in tears, stood on the field and applauded back to the fans, and shared words and an embrace with Brewers managerHarvey Kuenn.

Game 1 of the1982 NLCS had to be played twice. In the first attempt (on October 6), theAtlanta Braves led against theSt. Louis Cardinals 1–0 behindPhil Niekro. The game was three outs away becoming official when the umpire stopped it. When the rain did not subside, the game was canceled.^[98] Game 1 began from the start the following night in a pitching match-up ofPascual Pérez for the Braves and longtime Cardinal starterBob Forsch. Howard Cosell did not broadcast Game 2 of the 1982 NLCS (alongside Al Michaels andTommy Lasorda^[99]) because of his commitment of hosting thePittsburgh Steelers' 50th Anniversary dinner inPittsburgh on October 9, 1982, which was broadcast live onPittsburgh's ABC affiliate,WTAE-TV andPittsburgh's NBC affiliate,WPXI-TV. ABC'sJim Lampley^[100] interviewed the winners in theCardinals' clubhouse after clinching the National League pennant in Game 3.

The ABC's coverage of1982 American League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers andCalifornia Angels, featured the broadcast team of Keith Jackson,^[101] Jim Palmer, and Earl Weaver. In his final assignment as a member of ABC's baseball broadcasting team, Bob Uecker interviewed the victorious members of the Brewers from their clubhouse following Game 5. Meanwhile, Ted Dawson^{[102][103][104]} interviewed 1982 ALCSMost Valuable PlayerFred Lynn (the first player from the losing side to be awarded the MVP Award for a League Championship Series),Bobby Grich, and managerGene Mauch from the Angels' clubhouse after Game 5. Following the 1982 ALCS, Keith Jackson wouldn't be assigned to broadcast further Major League Baseball games for ABC until the1986 season.

On April 7, 1983, Major League Baseball, ABC, and NBC agreed to terms of a six-year television package^[105] worth$1.2 billion. The two networks continued to alternate coverage of theplayoffs (ABC in even numbered years and NBC in odd numbered years), World Series (ABC televised theWorld Series in odd numbered years and NBC in even numbered years), andAll-Star Game (ABC televised the All-Star Game^[106] in even numbered years^[107] and NBC in odd numbered years) through the 1989^[108] season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return. The last package gave each club $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for regular season prime time and Sunday afternoons and NBC paid $550 million for thirty Saturday afternoon games. ABC was contracted to televise 20 prime time regular season games a year in addition to other games (the aforementioned Sunday afternoon games). But ABC didn't come close to using that many, which meant they actually paid for games they weren't showing. To give you some perspective, ABC televised six prime time games in 1984 and eight 1985. They planned to again televise eight prime time games in 1986.

USA Network's coverage became a casualty of the new $1.2 billion TV contract between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC. One of the provisions to the new deal was that local telecasts opposite network games had to be eliminated.^[109]

1983 marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, Major League Baseball recognized a problem with this due to the emergence ofcable superstations such asWTBS inAtlanta andWGN-TV in Chicago. WhenTBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local"Braves broadcast of the1982 NLCS,^[110] Major League Baseball got aPhiladelphia federal court^[111][112] to ban^[113] them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS couldn't have a nationwide telecast competing with ABC's.

On June 6, 1983,Al Michaels officially succeededKeith Jackson as the lead play-by-play announcer forMonday Night Baseball. Michaels, who spent seven seasons working backup games, was apparently very miffed^[114] overABC Sports' delay in announcing him as their top baseball announcer. Unlike Jackson, whose forte wascollege football, Michaels had gigs with theCincinnati Reds andSan Francisco Giants before joining ABC in 1976.TV Guide huffed about Jackson by saying "A football guy, on baseball!" Jackson was unavailable for several World Series games in1979 and1981 because of conflicts with his otherwise normalcollege football broadcasting schedule. Thus, Michaels did play-by-play for games on weekends.

Earl Weaver was the lead ABC color commentator in 1983, but was also employed by theBaltimore Orioles as a consultant. At the time, ABC had a policy preventing an announcer who was employed by a team from working games involving that team. So whenever the Orioles were on the primary ABC game, Weaver worked the backup game. This policy forced Weaver to resign from the Orioles' consulting position in October so that he could work theWorld Series for ABC.^{[115][116][117][118]}

The1984 NLCS^[119] schedule (which had an off day after Game 3 rather than Game 2) allowedABC to have a prime time game each weeknight even though Chicago'sWrigley Field^{[120][121][122][123][124]} did not have lights at the time (which remained the case untilfour years later). ABC usedTim McCarver as a field reporter during the 1984 NLCS. During the regular season, McCarver teamed withDon Drysdale (who teamed withEarl Weaver andReggie Jackson for the 1984 NLCS) on backup games^[125][126] while Al Michaels,Jim Palmer, andEarl Weaver/Howard Cosell formed ABC's lead broadcast team. For ABC's coverage of the1984 All-Star Game,Jim Palmer only served as a between innings analyst.

Had the1984 ALCS between theDetroit Tigers andKansas City Royals gone the full five games (the last year that the League Championship Series was a best-of-five series), Game 5 on Sunday October 7, would have been a 1 p.m.ET time start instead of being in prime time. This would have happened because one of thepresidential debates^[127] betweenRonald Reagan andWalter Mondale was scheduled for that night. In return,ABC was going to broadcast the debates instead of a baseball game in prime time.Al Trautwig^[128] interviewed the Detroit Tigers from their clubhouse following their pennant clinching victory in Game 3.

Between his stints with theCalifornia Angels andOakland Athletics in 1985,Tommy John^[129] served as color commentator alongside Tim McCarver for a game between theChicago White Sox and the Athletics inOakland onMonday Night Baseball on June 24.^[130] McCarver's normal broadcast partner in 1985, Don Drysdale, in addition to his ABC duties, was anannouncer for the White Sox at the time,^[131] cannot partake in the June 24 broadcast out of fear of it appearing as a "conflict of interest". This situation was similar to the one with Earl Weaver being prohibited from taking part in ABC's broadcasts of Baltimore Orioles games in 1983.

In 1985, ABC announced that every game of the World Series^[132] would be played under the lights for the biggest baseball audience possible. Just prior to the start of the1985 World Series,^[133][134] ABC removed Howard Cosell from scheduled announcing duties^[135] as punishment for his controversial bookI Never Played the Game that criticized his colleagues at ABC.^[136] In Cosell's place came Tim McCarver^[137] (joining play-by-play man Michaels and fellowcolor commentatorJim Palmer), who was beginning his trek of being a part of numerous World Series telecasts. Reportedly, by 1985, Cosell was considered to be difficult to work with on baseball telecasts. Apparently, Cosell and Michaels got into a fairly heated argument following the conclusion of their coverage of the1984 American League Championship Series due to Cosell's supposeddrunkenness among other problems.^{[138][139][140]} Rumor has it that Michaels went as far as to urged ABC executives to remove Cosell from the booth. Ultimately, Michaels went public with his problems with Cosell.^[141] Michaels claimed that "Howard had become a cruel, evil, vicious person."

In the end, the very last baseball game that Howard Cosell would help broadcast for ABC and his very last assignment for ABC Sports in general, was a game between theKansas City Royals andMinnesota Twins^[142] inMinneapolis onSunday, September 29, 1985.

Perhaps Al Michaels's first historic call with ABC Sports while covering Major League Baseball occurred in what is now known by many as theDon Denkinger game on October 26, 1985. TheKansas City Royals trailed theSt. Louis Cardinals 3–1 in a World Series that was panned for being low-scoring and dull. After a Royals win in St. Louis forced the action back to Kansas City, the sixth game was also low scoring. However, this contest grew into a tense pitcher's duel.

In the bottom of the 9th, pinch-hitterJorge Orta led off for the Royals against Cardinals pitcherTodd Worrell with Kansas City trailing 1–0 and hit a ground ball to first basemanJack Clark. Clark threw over to pitcher Worrell, who was running over to cover first base in time to beat the speedy Orta and did. Yet first base umpire Don Denkinger still called Orta safe at first.Steve Balboni then hit a pop-up to first which Jack Clark missed for an error, keeping Balboni's at-bat alive, and he promptly singled to put men on first and second.

The infamous and controversial leadoff single by Orta and the Jack Clark error eventually led to the Royals loading the bases and putting the tying run on third base and the winning run on second with one out forDane Iorg. Iorg hit a 2-run single and the Royals came back to win 2–1. The Royals went on to win Game 7 11–0 and complete the comeback after being down 2–0 and 3–1. However, it was Denkinger's dubious 'safe' call, and not Iorg's hit, Clark's error,Jim Sundberg's heroics (for his difficult slide past catcherDarrell Porter for the winning run) or the Game 7 blowout that were most remembered in years to come.

Little squibber to the right side,Worrell racing to cover and the throw doesn't gethim!

By 1986, ABC only televised 13Monday Night Baseball games.^[144] This was a fairly sharp contrast to the 18 games to that were scheduled in 1978.The Sporting News believed that ABC paid Major League Baseball to not make them televise the regular season. No late season games in September^[145] were scheduled in 1986.TSN added that the network only wanted the sport for October anyway. Going into 1987, ABC had reportedly purchased 20 Monday night games but only used eight of those slots.^[146] More to the point,CBS Sports president Neal Pilson said "Three years ago, we believed ABC's package was overpriced by $175 million. We still believe it's overpriced by $175 million."^[147]

During the 1986 season, Don Drysdale did play-by-play ABC's Sunday afternoon games,^[148] which aired until July, whenMonday Night Baseball began. ABC's Monday night schedule in 1986, then started on July 7 and ran through August 25. Al Michaels did both the main Sunday and Monday game usually withJim Palmer, while Drysdale andJohnny Bench did the backup contests.^[149] Keith Jackson,^[150] did the secondary Monday night games with Tim McCarver. Bench took a week off in June (withSteve Busby filling in) and also worked one game with Michaels as the networks switched the announcer pairings. While Drysdale worked theAll-Star Game inHouston as an interviewer, he did not resurface until the playoffs. Bench simply disappeared, ultimately going toCBS Radio.

On October 12, 1986, atAnaheim Stadium, Al Michaels^[151] along with Jim Palmer called Game 5 of theAmerican League Championship Series.^[152][153] TheCalifornia Angels^[154] held a 3–1 lead of a best-of-seven against theBoston Red Sox. In the game, the Angels held a 5–2 lead going into the ninth inning. Boston scored two runs on a home run byDon Baylor, closing the gap to 5–4.

WhenDonnie Moore came in to shut down the rally, there were two outs, and a runner onfirst base,Rich Gedman, who had beenhit by a pitch. The Angels were one out^[155] from their first-ever trip to theWorld Series. ButDave Henderson^[156][157] hit a 2–2 pitch off Moore for a home run, giving the Red Sox a 6–5 lead. The Angels were able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth, pushing the game into extra innings. Moore continued to pitch for the Angels. He was able to stifle a 10th inning Red Sox rally by gettingJim Rice to ground into adouble play. Nevertheless, the Red Sox were able to score off Moore in the 11th-inning via asacrifice fly by Henderson. The Angels did not score in the bottom of the 11th and lost the game 7–6.

The defeat still left the Angels in a 3–2 advantage, with two more games to play atFenway Park. The Angels were not able to recover, losing both games by wide margins, 10–4 and 8–1. Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS ended withCalvin Schiraldi striking outJerry Narron.

The Red Sox can go fromlast rites to the World Series…and they do!

On October 15, 1986, Game 6 of theNLCS ran so long (lasting for 16 innings, 5 hours and 29 minutes), it bumped up against the start time of Game 7 of theALCS (also onABC). That same game, color commentatorTim McCarver left the booth during the bottom of the 16th, to cover the expected celebration in theNew York Mets' clubhouse. As a result, play-by-play manKeith Jackson was on the air alone for a short time. Eventually, McCarver rejoined the broadcast just before the end of the game, watching the action on a monitor in the Mets' clubhouse, then doing the postgame interviews with the Mets. Meanwhile,Corey McPherrin, a sports anchor withWABC (ABC's flagship station out of New York City) interviewedMike Scott when he was presented with the 1986 NLCS MVP award after Game 6. During the late 1980s, McPherrin delivered in-game updates during ABC'sMonday Night Baseball^[158][159] andThursday Night Baseball broadcasts.

Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS turned out to be the final Major League Baseball game thatKeith Jackson would broadcast.^[160] Meanwhile, in his last ever ABC assignment,Don Drysdale^[161] interviewed the winners in theBoston clubhouse following Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS.

For the1987 World Series between theMinnesota Twins andSt. Louis Cardinals, ABC used 12 cameras and nine tape machines. This includes cameras positioned down the left field line, on the roof of theMetrodome, and high above third base. There have been a few occasions when twoMonday Night Football games were played simultaneously. In 1987, a scheduling conflict arose when Major League Baseball'sMinnesota Twins went to Game 7 of the World Series,^[162] making theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome unavailable for theMinnesota Vikings' scheduled game (against theDenver Broncos) that Sunday. Game 6 of the 1987 World Series (played on Saturday, October 24) was the last World Series game to not be played in prime time. The game started at 4 p.m.Eastern Time. Another weekend afternoon sixth game was planned for1988, however, since the World Series ended in five games, it was unnecessary.

The 1987 World Series was the final one that ABC aired that went the full seven games. The next time that ABC broadcast a World Series in 1989, theOakland Athletics swept theSan Francisco Giants in four games. For the final World Series that ABC broadcast to date, 1995, they split the coverage withNBC. ABC only covered Games 1, 4–5 and a seventh game had it been necessary. ABC overall, drew a 24.0rating^[163] for their coverage of the 1987 World Series.

In a February 2015 interview, Al Michaels alleged the Twins pumpedartificial crowd noise into the Metrodome during the 1987 World Series. Responding to Michaels' theory, Twins PresidentDave St. Peter said that he did not think the Twins needed "conspiracy theories" in order to win the World Series. Instead, he argued that "appreciation and respect" should be paid to players likeFrank Viola,Gary Gaetti,Kent Hrbek, andKirby Puckett, who, he said, "came out of nowhere to win a championship."^[164]

ToGaetti…for the first time ever, theMinnesota Twins are theWorld Champions!

During the1988 Writers Guild of America strike, networks benefited from sports programming, includingNBC, which relied on theSummer Olympics in September and theWorld Series in October, and ABC, which in addition to its postseason baseball coverage,^[166][167] moved up the start time for theearly weeks ofMonday Night Football (when Al Michaels was unavailable to do play-by-play onMonday Night Football, which he had done for ABC beginning in 1986 due to his postseason baseball duties,Frank Gifford covered for him) from 9 p.m.ET to 8 p.m. ET (MacGyver, which normally aired at 8 pm, was not yet ready with new episodes).

Come the 1988 League Championship Series,^{[168][169][170][171][172][173]} ABC under the guidance of new executive producerGeoffrey Mason,^[174] debuted fatter and wider graphics^[175] that gave off a cleaner, sharper look complete with a black border. ABC also debuted a new energetic,symphonic-pop styled musical theme,^[176][177] composed byKurt Bestor,^[178] which would become an all-compassing theme of sorts for ABC Sports during this time period. ABC also begun employing the services of Pinnacle Productions Inc.,^[179] a video-production company based out ofSpokane, Washington,^[180] to create the openingtitle sequences for their sports telecasts.

ABC's coverage of Game 2^[181] of the1988 NLCS^[171] didn't start until 10 p.m. ET due to apresidential debate. This is the latest ever scheduled start for an LCS game.

Gary Bender did play-by-play for the1988 American League Championship Series^[182][183] between theOakland Athletics andBoston Red Sox. Bender spent two years (1987–1988) as the No. 2 baseball play-by-play man for ABC behind Al Michaels. Bender worked the backupMonday Night Baseball broadcasts (withTim McCarver in 1987 andJoe Morgan^[184] in 1988) as well as serving as a field reporter for ABC's1987 World Series coverage. After Bender spent an entire summer developing a team with Joe Morgan, ABC brought inReggie Jackson^[185] to work with the duo for the 1988 ALCS. According to Bender's autobiographyCall of the Game (pages 118–120),^[186] ABC's decision to bring in Jackson to work with Bender and Morgan caused problems:

Reggie is one of the strongest personalities I've ever met. He epitomizes the big-name athlete who has become a great player, in part because of his ego, but who does not have the sensitivity to let go of that ego when working with others. Consequently, Reggie demanded things he hadn't earned the right to demand. He wanted more attention. He insisted we adjust our way of doing things for him.

During the spare time of his active career, Reggie Jackson worked as a field reporter and color commentator for ABC Sports. During the 1980s (1983, 1985, and 1987 respectively), Jackson was given the task of presiding over theWorld Series Trophy presentations.

After wrapping up his play-by-play duties for ABC's coverage of the 1988 ALCS, in which Oakland swept Boston in four games, Gary Bender^[187][188] covered the postgame interviews in the victoriousLos Angeles Dodgers' clubhouse following Game 7 of the1988 NLCS against theNew York Mets. Three days earlier, Mike Barry^[189] interviewed Boston managerJoe Morgan following their defeat to Oakland in Game 4 of the ALCS.

On December 14, 1988,CBS^[190] (under the guidance ofCommissionerPeter Ueberroth,^{[191][192][193]} Major League Baseball's broadcast director Bryan Burns,^{[194][195][196]} CBS Inc. CEOLaurence Tisch^{[197][198][199][200]} as well as CBS Sports executives Neal Pilson^[201] andEddie Einhorn) paid approximately US$1.8 billion (equivalent to 2.65 billion in 2024)^[194][202] for exclusive over-the-air television rights for over four years (beginning in1990). CBS paid about $265 million each year^[203] for theWorld Series,League Championship Series,All-Star Game, and the SaturdayGame of the Week. It was one of the largest agreements^[204] (to date) between the sport of baseball and the business of broadcasting. The cost of the deal between CBS and Major League Baseball was about 25% more^[205] than in the previous television contract with ABC and NBC.^[206]

According to industry insiders, neither NBC nor ABC wanted the entire baseball package—that is, regular-season games, both League Championship Series and the World Series—because such a commitment would have required them to preempt too many highly rated prime time shows. Thus, ABC and NBC bid thinking that two of the networks might share postseason play again or that one of the championship series might wind up oncable. Peter Ueberroth had encouraged the cable idea, but after the bids were opened, NBC and ABC found to their chagrin that he preferred network exposure for all postseason games. Only CBS, with its weak prime time programming, dared go for that.

In 1989 (the final year of ABC's contract with Major League Baseball), ABC moved the baseball telecasts toThursday nights^{[207][208][209][210][211][212][213][214][215]} in hopes of getting leg up against NBC'sCosby Show.Scott Muni, a disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of theAMTop 40format and then was a pioneer ofFMprogressive rock radio, voiced promos for ABC'sThursday Night Baseball broadcasts. ABC was also still in-line to air a special Sunday afternoon telecast^[216] on October 1 in the event that theAmerican League East race between theToronto Blue Jays andBaltimore Orioles still hadn't been decided. But since the Blue Jays managed to clinch the divisional title the day prior, it wasn't necessary.

After braving the traumaticLoma Prieta earthquake^[217] andan all-time low 16.4rating^[218] for the1989 World Series,^[219] Al Michaels took ABC's loss of baseball toCBS^{[220][221][222]} as "tough to accept." Michaels added that "baseball was such an early stepchild at ABC and had come such a long way."^[223]Gary Thorne,^[224] who served as ABC's backup play-by-play announcer^[225] in 1989 and was an on-field reporter for the World Series^[226] that year (and covered thetrophy presentation in the process), simply laughed while saying "Great reviews, just as ABC baseball ends."^[227] Meanwhile, Dennis Swanson, president of ABC Sports, noted in a statement that baseball had beena blue-chip franchise since 1976 for the network, which wasdisappointed to lose it.^[144] After ABC lost the Major League Baseball package to CBS, they aggressively counterprogrammed CBS' postseason baseball coverage (like NBC) withmade-for-TV movies and miniseries geared towards female viewers.^[228]

I'll miss it. I've been involved with this (ABC) package since Day One (in1976). Especially now, because beginning with our postseason coverage in1985 [That's when analystsJim Palmer andTim McCarver permanently joined ABC's baseball crew, teaming with producer Curt Gowdy Jr.^[229] and director Craig Janoff], I really felt we'd put it together the way I'd always dreamed about it. In the early years, we attempted to cover it in a different fashion. ABC had been gigantically successful with 'Wide World of Sports' and with covering theOlympic Games. A number of people in our company wanted to cover baseball (like) gymnastics and swimming and other 'Wide World' events. Attempting to do that was basically, in the early years, an abysmal failure. Baseball needs to be looked at in a certain manner. You need people in it who understand the game and truly love the game. It took us a while to get the right people and the right group together. I know some of theNBC people recently have talked about their cameramen, their audio men, the guys involved with their telecasts are baseball fans. They love baseball. It took us a while to get up to speed in that area. But once we did, we began to cover it as well as it's been covered. I'm tremendously proud of what we have done, especially from the 1985 postseason coverage on. We got to a point, especially in the last couple of years, (where) nothing can stop us now. And the only thing that stopped us was the fact we lost the rights.

According to ABC broadcast engineer Dan Rapak in the bookBrought to You by . . ., ABC's coverage of the 1989 World Series was about to become a case study in financial stupidity. By this point in time, ABC Sports was well intocost-cutting mode^[230] and trying to avoid unnecessarily expenditure. ABC decided that to save money, there would be nosatellite uplink trunk present at San Francisco'sCandlestick Park. Instead, the feed from San Francisco back toABC's headquarters in New York City would take a complex, circuitous route. For starters, the signal would go from the truck to a telephone company room (dubbed a "clamper room") at the third level of the stadium. From there, the signal would betransmitted over afiber optic cable onto the local phone company switching office. From there, the signal would be sent toKGO, ABC'sowned-and-operated station in theSan Francisco Bay Area. The signal would then pass through KGO'sMaster Control Room and soonuplinked to a satellite which relayed the signal to adownlink inConnecticut. Finally, the signal would be sent to the ABC Television Complex in New York.

Rapak added that to save further costs, ABC decided that an on-site telephone company technician wasn't really necessary. As such, ABC wouldn't pay to have him on site just in case any problems might have arise with the phone company's equipment. Not only that, but ABC merely rented a smallstandby generator to protect them in the event of apower failure. ABC's management decided that it would be too costly to have a large "transfer switch" shipped in from ABC Sports' field shop inLodi, New Jersey. This particular switch would be able to shift the entire load of all the mobile units from localutility power to the generator with a single pull of a large lever. But since ABC's engineers who were working at Candlestick Park during the 1989 World Series had no means of quickly putting the generator into service should the need arise, they would have to instead, kill the utilitypower sources for safety. They would then have to disconnect more than a dozen hugepower cables from thepower boxes inside of the stadium. Next, they would have to physically drag the power cables outside of the stadium and reconnect all of them to turn the generator on. This in effect, meant that the changeover would've taken approximately 10 minutes, when it could've simply taken less than a minute.

If you'll indulge us just another moment, this is the end of our association with baseball. I think as many of you may know, the primary package goes toCBS. And to our friends at what's known in the industry as "Black Rock", good luck in1990 and beyond. To those of you atNBC, for 41 years you made this an art form! And to people especially likeCurt Gowdy Sr., the fabulous announcer...to the Hall of Fame director Harry Coyle...and down through the years...toTony Kubek and the people of the present likeBob Costas and all the men and women at NBC, at the peacock...take a bow, you were terrific!^[231] And we're done...for a while anyway after 14 years at ABC. We want to thank you for watching and we want to thank all the people that have come together to work on our telecasts. We have our own Curt Gowdy, Curt Gowdy Jr., who has been our terrific producer. And Craig Janoff and to the incomparableSteve Hirdt, it's been a great ride for 14 years. We're going to show you all the names right now, gentlemen...roll the credits as we say goodnight...fromSan Francisco!^[232]

Prior to the start of the1990 season, speculation arose that Al Michaels would move over to CBS in the event that he won anarbitration case against ABC. Tim McCarver^{[233][234][235]} had already been hired by CBS to serve as their lead color commentator and they were in need of a play-by-play man^{[236][237][238][239][240]} following the abrupt dismissal of^[241][242]Brent Musburger^{[225][243][244]} onApril Fools' Day 1990. Michaels had been feuding^[245] with ABC over an alleged violation of company policy. Michaels' contract with ABC was originally set to expire in late 1992. Ultimately however, ABC announced a contract extension that sources said would keep Michaels at ABC through at least the end of 1995 and would pay him at least $2.2 million annually with the potential to earn more. That would make Michaels the highest-paid sports announcer in television. Meanwhile, CBS eventually settled on using the services ofJack Buck^{[246][247][248][249][250]} for their top play-by-play man.

Game 3 of the1989 World Series^{[251][252][253]} (initially scheduled for October 17^[177]) was delayed by ten days due to theLoma Prieta earthquake.^[254] The earthquake struck at approximately 5:04 p.m.Pacific Time. At the moment the quake struck, ABC's color commentatorTim McCarver^[255] was narrating taped highlights of the previous Series game. Viewers saw the video signal begin to break up, heard McCarver repeat a sentence as the shaking distracted him, and heard McCarver's colleagueAl Michaels^[256] exclaim, "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth—."^[257] At that moment, the feed fromCandlestick Park was lost.^[258] The network put up a green ABC Sportstelop graphic as the audio was switched to a telephone link. Michaels had to pick up aPOTS phone in the press booth (phones work off a separate power supply) and callABC headquarters in New York, at which point they put him back on the air. Michaels cracked, "Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television, bar none!" accompanied by the excited screams of fans who had no idea of the devastation elsewhere.^[259]

After about a 15-minute delay (ABC aired a rerun ofRoseanne^[260][261] and subsequently,The Wonder Years^[262] in the meantime), ABC was able to regain power via a backup generator.^[263] ABC's play-by-play man, Al Michaels (who was familiar^[251] with theSan Francisco Bay Area^[264] dating back to his days working for theSan Francisco Giants from1974–1976) then proceeded to relay reports toTed Koppel^{[265][266][267][268][269]} atABC News' headquarters in Washington, D.C. Al Michaels was ultimately nominated for anEmmy for his on-site reporting at the World Series.

TheGoodyear Blimp was aloft above the ballpark to provide aerial coverage of theWorld Series. Blimp pilot John Crayton reported that he felt four bumps during the quake.^[270] ABC was able to use the blimp to capture some of the first images of the damage to theBay Bridge.^[271]

At this very moment ten days ago, we began our telecast with an aerial view of San Francisco; always a spectacular sight, and particularly so on that day because the cloudless sky of October 17 was ice blue, and the late-day sun sparkled like a thousand jewels.

That picture was very much a mirror of the feel and the mood that had enveloped theBay Area...and most ofNorthern California. Their baseball teams, theGiants andA's, had won pennants, and the people of this region were still basking in the afterglow of each team's success. And this great American sporting classic, theWorld Series, was, for the time being, exclusively theirs.

Then of course the feeling of pure radiance was transformed into horror and grief and despair- in just fifteen seconds.^[272] And now on October 27, like a fighter who's taken a vicious blow to the stomach and has groggily arisen, this region moves on and moves ahead.

And one part of that scenario is the resumption of the World Series. No one in thisballpark tonight- no player, no vendor, no fan, no writer, no announcer, in fact, no one in this area period- can forget the images. The column of smoke in theMarina. The severedbridge. The grotesque tangle of concrete inOakland. The pictures are embedded in our minds.

And while the mourning and the suffering and the aftereffects will continue, in about thirty minutes the plate umpire,Vic Voltaggio will say 'Play Ball', and the players will play, the vendors will sell, the announcers will announce, the crowd will exhort. And for many of the six million people in this region, it will be like revisitingFantasyland.

But Fantasyland is where baseball comes from anyway and maybe right about now that's the perfect place for a three-hour rest.^[273]

After a four-year-long hiatus (whenCBS exclusively carried the over-the-air Major League Baseball television rights, as previously mentioned), ABC returned to baseball^[274] in (again, alongside NBC^[275]) 1994.

Under a six-year plan,^[276] Major League Baseball was intended to receive 85% of the first$140 million^[222] in advertising in advertising revenue (or 87.5%^[277] of advertising revenues and corporate sponsorship^[278] from the games until sales top a specified level), 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. Prior to this, Major League Baseball was projected to take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks.

AfterNBC's coverage of1994 All-Star Game was completed, ABC would air^[279] regular season games on Saturdays or Mondays^[280] for the next six-weeks. Joining the lead broadcast team ofAl Michaels,Jim Palmer, andTim McCarver wasLesley Visser, who served as the lead field reporter for the CBS' baseball coverage from 1990 to 1993. Visser was reuniting with McCarver, for whom she had worked with on CBS. The regular season games fell under theBaseball Night in America umbrella which premiered on July 16, 1994. On the subject of play-by-play man Al Michaels returning to baseball for the first time since the1989 World Series, Jim Palmer said "Here Al is, having done five games since1989 and steps right in. It's hard to comprehend how one guy could so amaze." Meanwhile,Brent Musburger,^{[281][282][283][284]}CBS alumnusJim Kaat, and reporterJack Arute became the secondary team for ABC. Musburger^[281] and Kaat called the rest of the1995 American League Division Series between theSeattle Mariners andNew York Yankees and the first two games of that year'sAmerican League Championship Series between Seattle and theCleveland Indians.

No balls and a strike toMartínez. Line drive, we are tied!Griffey is coming around! In the corner isBernie. He's going to try to score! Here's the division championship! Mariners win it! Mariners win it!

In even-numbered years, NBC had the rights to the All-Star Game and bothLeague Championship Series while ABC had theWorld Series^[285] and newly createdDivision Series.^[286] In odd-numbered years, both League Championship Series and All-Star Game^[287] television rights were supposed to alternate. As such, ABC would ultimately broadcast^[288] the1995 All-Star Game^[289] fromThe Ballpark in Arlington inArlington, Texas. It was ABC's first broadcast of the All-Star Game since the1988 contest inCincinnati. On Sunday, July 2, ABC aired a one-hour special^[290] hosted by Al Michaels that announced the names of the players who were selected to play in the 1995 All-Star Game.

ABC won the rights to the first dibs at the World Series in August 1993 afterABC Sports president Dennis Swanson won a coin toss^[291] by calling "heads." Ken Schanzer, who was the CEO of The Baseball Network, handled the coin toss. Schanzer agreed to the coin toss by ABC and NBC at the outset as the means of determining the order in which they'd divvy up the playoffs.

While ABC and NBC would provide some production personnel and their own announcers^[292][293] for the games,^[294][295] all of would be coordinated from the office of Ken Schanzer,^{[296][297][298]} the chief executive officer of The Baseball Network and former executive vice president forNBC Sports. The graphics, camera placements, and audio quality were intended on looking and sounding about the same on both networks.

Hi everyone, and welcome toBaseball Night in America, I'mAl Michaels. And those of us atABC are delighted to be back in the business of broadcasting baseball for the first time since the1989 World Series. And it's a brand new concept, we'll have six^[299]regular season games on ABC, including tonight and again onMonday night. Then, we'll bring you theDivision playoffs in October, part of baseball's new expanded playoff format, and theWorld Series in late October.Baseball Night in America, a regionalized^[300] concept, you'll see a game in your region that's important to those of you in those particular areas. It also gives us the capability of updating games as never before. So sit back, relax and enjoy the premiere ofBaseball Night in America as we take you out to theballgames.

The long-term plans for The Baseball Network crumbled when the players went onstrike on August 12, 1994 (thus forcing the cancellation of theWorld Series^[301]). In July 1995, ABC and NBC, who wound up having to share the duties of televising the1995 World Series^[302] as a way to recoup (with ABC broadcasting Games 1,^[303] 4, and 5 and NBC broadcasting Games 2, 3, and 6), announced^[304] that they were opting^[305] out of their agreement^[306] with Major League Baseball. Both networks figured that as the delayed 1995 baseball season opened without a labor agreement, there was no guarantee against another strike. Both networks soon publicly vowed to cut all ties with Major League Baseball for the rest of the 20th century.^[307][308]

Al Michaels would later write in his 2014 autobiographyYou Can't Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television that the competition between the two networks could be so juvenile that neither ABC nor NBC wanted to promote each other's telecasts during the 1995 World Series.^[309] In the middle of Game 1, Michaels was handed a promo that read "Join us here on ABC for Game 4 inCleveland on Wednesday night and for Game 5 if necessary, Thursday." Michaels however would soon add "By the way, if you're wondering about Games 2 and 3, I can't tell you exactly where you can see them, but here's a hint: Last night,Bob Costas,Joe Morgan, andBob Uecker ([NBC's broadcast crew] were spotted inUnderground Atlanta." Naturally, Bob Costas soon made a similar reference to ABC's crew (Michaels,Jim Palmer, andTim McCarver) onNBC.

ABC Sports president Dennis Swanson, in announcing the dissolution of The Baseball Network, said:^[310]

The fact of the matter is, Major League Baseball seems incapable at this point in time, of living with any longterm relationships, whether it's with fans, with players, with the political community inWashington, with the advertising community here inManhattan, or with its TV partners.

Calling the final out of Game 5 of the 1995 World Series,Al Michaels said, "Back toGeorgia!" as theCleveland Indians took it; NBC carried the series-clinching sixth game two days later. As previously mentioned, had that particular World Series gone to a seventh game,^[311] then it would've been broadcast by ABC.

OkayLesley! So the sixth game onNBC on Saturday. We would have a seventh game here onABC if it goes to seven inAtlanta. To thestrains of "Glory Days"...Springsteen's "Glory Days", it's a glory night inCleveland. TheirIndians win it by a score of 5 to 4.Braves lead theseries 3 games to 2.Tonight's game brought to you byLexus Luxury Automobiles, the result of a relentless pursuit of perfection,Texaco CleanSystem 3 Gasolines, andBudweiser, thegold medal winning American premiumlager of the 1995Great American Beer Festival, this Bud's for you.Al Michaels,Jim Palmer,Tim McCarver, Lesley Visser,John Saunders...saying goodnight...from Jacobs Field...inCleveland!

It was rumored that ABC would only offer Major League Baseball about $10 to $15 million less per year than what CBS^[312] was reportedly willing to offer for the1996 season. At the time, it was reported that Major League Baseball was expecting a combined total of over $900 million in rights fees from two networks.

Ultimately, despite the failure of The Baseball Network,^[313] NBC decided to retain its relationship with Major League Baseball, but on a far more restricted basis. Under the five-year deal signed on November 7, 1995^[314][315] (running from the1996 to2000 seasons) for a total of approximately $400 million ($80 million per year), NBC did not televise any regular season games. Instead, NBC only handled theAll-Star Game,^[316] three Division Series games^[317] (on Tuesday,^[318] Friday, and Saturday nights), and theAmerican League Championship Series^[319] in even-numbered years and the World Series,^[320] three Division Series games (also on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights) and theNational League Championship Series^[321] in odd-numbered years.Fox,^[322][222] which assumed ABC's portion of the league broadcast television rights, gained the rights to the SaturdayGame of the Week during the regular season, in addition to alternating rights to the All-Star Game, League Championship Series (the ALCS in odd-numbered years and the NLCS in even-numbered years), Division Series, and the World Series.^{[323][324][325]}

After losing its Major League Baseball broadcast rights again, this time toFox, ABC counterprogrammed against Fox's postseason coverage by airing a mix of miniseries and television films aimed at female viewers. One of the movies aired on ABC,Unforgiven, aired oppositeAndy Pettitte's shutout in Game 5 of the1996 World Series (Fox's first World Series, and the final game inAtlanta–Fulton County Stadium history).

With ABC being sold toThe Walt Disney Company in 1996,^[326]ESPN picked up daytime and late-evening Division Series games with a provision similar toits National Football League games, in which the games would only air on network affiliates in thelocal markets of the two participating teams. ESPN's Major League Baseball contract was not affected then, but would take a hit in 1998 with the new NFL contract.

In September 2000, a baseball official, speaking on the condition he not be identified, confirmed ESPN passed on keeping its playoffs rights (thus, givingFox Sports exclusivity), saying the decision was partly based on price and partly because ABC wasn't interested in the network package.^[327]

ABC Family's (now Freeform)coverage of the 2002 Division Series was produced by ESPN. The reason that games were on ABC Family instead of ESPN was because The Walt Disney Company boughtFox Family fromNews Corporation. The ABC Family/ESPN inherited Division Series package was included in Fox's then exclusive television contract with Major League Baseball (initiated in 2001). ABC Family had no other choice but to fulfill the contract handed to them. The only usage of the ABC Family "bug" was for a ten-second period when returning from a commercial break (in the lower right corner of the screen).

ABC would return to airing postseason baseball in2020. They were scheduled to air at least four of the 24 possible daytime games in the season's first everexpanded eight-series wild card round, thatthe networks of ESPN will air. Not only did this mean that ABC aired Major League Baseball games of any kind since Game 5 of the 1995 World Series,^[328] but it also marked the first time sinceNBC's final game in2000, that a Major League Baseball game had aired on any broadcast network other thanFox. It had also been at least 9,105 days since ABC last broadcast a Major League Baseball game.

On May 13, 2021, Major League Baseball and The Walt Disney Company announced an extension to ESPN's contract, which included exclusive rights to the Wild Card series, if the league were to expand it. This includes games being broadcast on ABC under a similar structure to the 2020 Wild Card series.^[329][330]

On July 7, 2021, ESPN announced that aSunday Night Baseball game between theChicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, scheduled for August 8 fromWrigley Field would air exclusively on ABC. This was the first regular season Major League Baseball game to be aired on ABC since August 19,1995,^[331] when ABC was part of the short-livedBaseball Network and also the first^[332] ESPN-produced regular season telecast that ABC would air.^[333]

On Saturday, September 24, 2022, and again on Saturday, October 1, 2022, during regularly scheduledcollege football telecasts, ABC aired live look-ins of theYES Network's telecast of theNew York Yankees. This was due toAaron Judge potentially hitting his61st and 62nd home run of theseason.^[334] This was a controversial move, many fans complained about the interruptions. Aaron Judge did not hit his record setting home run during the look-ins.

On October 5, 2022, ABC was scheduled to air at least one game from the2022Wild Card Series.^[335] ABC was also in-line to broadcast a potential third game of theAmerican League Wild Card Series between theSeattle Mariners andToronto Blue Jays.^[336] Ultimately however, Seattle wound up winning the series in two games, thus it wasn't necessary.

On October 1–2, 2024, ABC aired Games 1 and 2 of theAmerican League Wild Card Series between theDetroit Tigers andHouston Astros. The games on ABC were again produced by ESPN, and during the 4th inning of Game 1 fromHouston, the graphics department displayed incorrect stats^[337] during the players' at-bats. During the top of the 8th inning of Game 2, ABC's broadcast was hit with further technical issues that this time, resulted in poor and out of sync audio quality.^[338]

On February 20, 2025, MLB and ESPN agreed to opt-out of their deal at the end of the 2025 season.^[339]

• History of baseball broadcasting
• History of television in the United States
• Major League Baseball on television
• ABC Sports

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