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

NBC television's relationship withMajor League Baseball technically dates back to August 26, 1939.^[1] It was on that date that onW2XBS (an experimental television station inNew York City which would ultimately become what is now NBC'sflagship television station,WNBC), the first-ever Major League Baseball game was televised. WithRed Barber announcing, theBrooklyn Dodgers and theCincinnati Reds^[2] played adoubleheader atEbbets Field. The Reds won the first game 5–2 while the Dodgers won the second, 6–1. Barber called the game without the benefit of a monitor and with only two cameras capturing the game. One camera was on Barber and the other was behind the plate. Barber had to guess from which light was on and where it pointed.

By 1947, television sets, most with five and seven-inch screens, were selling almost as fast as they could be produced. Because of this, Major League teams began televising games and attracted a whole new audience into ballparks in the process. People who had only casually followed baseball began going to the games in person. In 1948, Major League Baseball's total attendance reached a record high of 21 million.

1947^[3] also saw the firsttelevised World Series.^[4] The games were broadcast in theNew York City area by NBC'sWNBT,CBS'sWCBS-TV andDuMont'sWABD and sponsored byGillette^[5][6] andFord. The 1947 World Series brought in an estimated 3.9 million viewers, becoming television's first mass audience. In addition to New York City, live coverage of the Series was also seen onWRGB inSchenectady/Albany (now a CBS affiliate),WPTZ (now CBS-owned KYW-TV) inPhiladelphia,WMAR-TV inBaltimore andWTTG in Washington, D.C.

In 1948 and 1949, the World Series would be carried on the aforementioned stations, as well as onWBZ-TV andWNAC-TV (now WHDH-TV) inBoston,WNHC-TV (now WTNH) inNew Haven andWTVR-TV inRichmond, Virginia. In 1949, the World Series was also seen live in other Northeastern and Midwestern cities (Harrisburg,Pittsburgh,Syracuse,Rochester,Buffalo,Erie,Cleveland,Detroit,Columbus,Cincinnati,Dayton,Toledo,Indianapolis,Chicago,Milwaukee andSt. Louis) that had been hooked up to network lines over the previous year.

In 1950, theMutual Broadcasting System acquired the television as well as radio broadcast rights to the World Series and All-Star Game for the next six years.Mutual may have been reindulging in dreams of becoming a television network or simply taking advantage of a long-standing business relationship; in either case, the broadcast rights were sold to NBC in time for the following season's games at an enormous profit.

By1950, World Series games could be seen in most of the country,^[7][8] but not all. 1950 also marked the first time that there was an exclusive network television broadcaster (NBC). West Coast viewers finally saw live major league games on television during the 1951 postseason.

NBC aired the second and third games of the1951 National League tie-breaker series between theBrooklyn Dodgers andNew York Giants, necessitated by the teams' finishing the regular season in a tie for first place. The three-gamepennant playoff, which featured the first baseball games televised live from coast to coast (with CBS airing the first game), culminated on October 3 when the Giants won the third and deciding game by the score of 5–4 (offBobby Thomson'shome run).Ernie Harwell called the game for Giants television flagshipWPIX – theindependent station's broadcast was simulcast nationally by NBC – and his description of the home run was a simple shout of "It's gone!" almost at the moment Thomson's bat struckRalph Branca's pitch. Harwell later admitted he had probably called it "too soon", but fortunately for him, the call proved to be correct. "And then", Harwell recalled, "the pictures took over."^[9]

The 1951 playoff between Brooklyn and the New York Giants and that year'sWorld Series were the first major league baseball games telecast live fromcoast-to-coast^[10] tocoast;^[11][12][13] transcontinental network transmission lines had been completed and activated in September, in-time for theJapanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco and the start of the 1951–52 television season.

The1952 All-Star Game atShibe Park in Philadelphia was the first nationally televised All-Star Game, but it was shortened due to rain.

On January 31, 1953, theNew York Yankees,Cleveland Indians andBoston Red Sox joined forces againstSt. Louis Browns ownerBill Veeck. The respective franchises tried to force the Browns to play afternoon games in an attempt to avoid having to share television revenues. A month later, Major League Baseball owners received a warning from SenatorEdwin Johnson about nationally televising their games. Johnson's theory was that nationally televising baseball games would be a threat to the survival ofminor league baseball. The owners ignored Johnson, as the games on NBC were gaining a large and loyal following.

Another first for NBC during this period was the firstcolor telecast^[14][15][16] of a World Series, the 1955 matchup between theBrooklyn Dodgers and theNew York Yankees.

Chicago White Sox announcerBob Elson missed a chance to call the1959 World Series – theWhite Sox' first since 1919, and Elson's first since 1943 – on NBC because the then head ofNBC Sports, Tom Gallery (who incidentally, grew up on the same block as Elson) did not like him.^[17] Elson was, however, allowed to call the Series on the White Sox' radio flagship,WCFL.

In 1957,^[18] NBC started airing weekendGame of the Week telecasts^[19][20] (Sunday telecasts were added in 1959) withLindsey Nelson^[21] andLeo Durocher calling the action. During this period, NBC (as rivalCBS had the rights to broadcast at least eight teams) typically broadcast fromPittsburgh'sForbes Field,Chicago'sWrigley Field orMilwaukee'sCounty Stadium. NBC purchased the rights to 11Milwaukee Braves games, 11Pittsburgh Pirates games, twoWashington Senators games, and twoChicago Cubs games. Leo Durocher was succeeded ascolor commentator byFred Haney in 1960, andJoe Garagiola in 1961, whileBob Wolff^[22] replaced Nelson onplay-by-play in 1962.

From 1958 to 1960,^[23] NBC aired a special regional feed of its games in thesoutheast, where the network had a different sponsor (such asNational Bohemian beer) than for the rest of the country. This feed featured its own announcing team, withChuck Thompson calling the games withBill Veeck (1958) andAl Rosen (1959–60). NBC never had a true backup game until 1966, when the network got exclusivity for theGame of the Week. In the process, NBC brought inCurt Gowdy andPee Wee Reese for the primary game, andJim Simpson andTony Kubek for the alternate game (which was always shown in the markets of teams playing in the primary game).

As previously mentioned, in 1961, NBC hired Joe Garagiola to be their Major League Baseball color commentator. The following year, Bob Wolff began working play-by-play. "You work your side of the street [interviewing players]", said Garagiola to Wolff "and I'll work mine." Wolff liked Garagiola's pizazz as he would say things like "the guy stapled him to the bag" or that a runner is "smilin' like he swallowed a banana peel." Also in 1962, NBC broadcast theNational League tie-breaker series between theSan Francisco Giants andLos Angeles Dodgers. Bob Wolff andGeorge Kell^[24] were the announcers for the playoff series. Wolff also hosted thepre-game shows for NBC'sWorld Series coverage from 1962 to 1965.

Prior to the mid-1970s,television networks andstations generally did not preserve telecasts of sporting events, choosing instead totape over them. As a result, the broadcasts of six of the seven1960 World Series games are no longer known to exist. The lone exception is ablack-and-whitekinescope of the entire telecast of Game 7, which was discovered in awine cellar inBing Crosby's home inHillsborough, California in December 2009.^[25] A part-owner of thePittsburgh Pirates, who was too superstitious to watch the Series live, Crosby listened to the decisive contest with his wifeKathryn and two friends on ashortwave radio in Paris, France. Wanting to watch the game at a later date only if the Pirates won, he arranged for a company to record it. After viewing the kinescope, he placed it in his wine cellar, where it went untouched for 49 years. It was finally found by Robert Bader,vice president of marketing and production forBing Crosby Enterprises, while looking throughvideotapes of Crosby's television specials which were to be transferred toDVD. The five-reel set is the only known complete copy of the historic match, which was originally broadcast in color.^[25] The NBC television announcers for the Series wereBob Prince andMel Allen, the respective primary play-by-play voices for the Pirates andNew York Yankees. Prince called the first half of Game 7, while Allen did the latter portion.^[25]

In contrast to preceding years, where NBC's World Series telecasts featured two announcers (usually one from each participating team) who split the play-by-play duties, each working his portion of the game by himself, in 1961, the network hadYankees announcer Mel Allen handle all of the play-by-play on television (withReds announcerWaite Hoyt confined to radio) while Joe Garagiola^[26] provided color commentary. This format would eventually become the standard form of presentation on World Series telecasts.^[27] In Week 3 of the1961 National Football League season, theBaltimore-Green Bay game was televised locally toBaltimore overNBC affiliateWBAL-TV. Apparently if Baltimore viewers wanted to see the World Series, they would have had to choose between NBC-ownedWRC-TV inWashington or affiliateWGAL-TV inLancaster, Pennsylvania. There was no NFL telecast on NBC (who at the time broadcastPittsburgh Steelers and Colts games) due to coverage of Game 4 of the World Series.

On July 13, 1963, NBC's coverage of theDetroit Tigers–Chicago White Sox game fromComiskey Park in Chicago was carried byKCRA-TV inSacramento,KCRL inReno andKVIP-TV inRedding – however it was not televised in the San Francisco market onKRON-TV.^[28] NBC's coverage of theCleveland Indians-Tigers game at 11:30 a.m. the following day was also not broadcast by KRON.

During the fourth and final game of the1963 World Series,Yankees announcer Mel Allen was calling the top of the ninth inning for NBC when his voice gave out due to a bout of severelaryngitis, forcingDodgers announcerVin Scully (who had called the first four-and-a-half innings of the game per the network's usual setup) to resume play-by-play duties for the remainder of the game. After the SeriesNew York Daily News sportswriterDick Young opined that Allen, the voice of the Yankees, had been stricken by "psychosomatic laryngitis" caused by his team being swept.^[29]

By 1964,^[30] CBS'Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese called games fromYankee Stadium,Wrigley Field,St. Louis,Philadelphia andBaltimore. New York got a US$550,000 payment of CBS' $895,000. Meanwhile, six clubs that exclusively played nationally televised games on NBC were paid $1.2 million.

Also in1964, theNew York Yankees made theWorld Series for the 15th time in 18 years – however Mel Allen was not there. In September of that year, before the end of the season, the Yankees informed Allen that his contract with the team would not be renewed. In those days, the main announcers for the Series participants always called the World Series on NBC. Although Allen was therefore technically eligible to call the Series, Baseball CommissionerFord C. Frick honored the Yankees' request to havePhil Rizzuto join the Series crew instead. It was the first time Allen had missed a World Series for which the Yankees were eligible since1943, and only the second World Series (not counting those missed during World War II) that he had missed since he began calling baseball games in 1938. On December 17, after much media speculation and many letters to the Yankees from fans disgruntled at Allen's absence from the Series, the Yankees issued a terse press release announcing Allen's firing; he was replaced by Joe Garagiola. NBC andMovietone dropped him soon afterward.

To this day, the Yankees have never given an explanation for Allen's sudden firing, and rumors abounded. Depending on the rumor, Allen was eitherhomosexual, analcoholic, adrug addict or had anervous breakdown.^[31] Allen's sexuality was sometimes a target in those more conservative days because he had not married (and never did). Years later, Allen told authorCurt Smith that the Yankees had fired him under pressure from the team's longtime sponsor,Ballantine Beer. According to Allen, he was fired as a cost-cutting move by Ballantine, which had been experiencing poor sales for years^[31] (it would eventually be sold in 1969). Smith, in his bookVoices of Summer, also indicated that the medications Allen took in order to maintain his busy schedule may have affected his on-air performance (Stephen Borelli, another biographer, has also pointed out that Allen's heavy workload did not allow him time to take care of his health).

In1965,ABC brought forth such innovations^[32] like isolatedinstant replay, field microphones, and a separate camera for each base runner. After ABC's contract for theGame of the Week expired after a single season, NBC felt compelled to dramatically alter their own baseball coverage. So for NBC's coverage of the1965 World Series, it featured videotaped replays, prerecorded audio analysis from key players, and enhancedanimated graphics.

Until 1965^[33] (when Major League Baseball made its first ever, league-wide regular-season network television deal with ABC), there was no league-wide national television package for regular season Major League Baseball games. As a result, teams, if they so desired, could sell the rights to the networks. Also prior to 1965, regular season Major League Baseball telecasts broadcast by networks had to beblacked-out in cities with league franchises. More to the point, by around the year prior, thanks toexpansion (in1960 and1961), regular season MLB games shown on network television were blacked out in most major markets. However, the networkGames of the Week, up until the late 1980s, still could not be seen in the two cities whose local teams were playing in each respective game.

From 1965 until the late 1980s, networks would cover two Saturday afternoon games each week: one that went to most of the network (a "primary game"), and the second being seen only in the home markets of the two teams playing in the network's "primary" game. Although the "primary" game would not be televised in each team's home markets,local television rights-holders in those cities were free to broadcast that game. The manner that this worked allowed, for instance, a network's two Saturday afternoonGames of the Week involving theNew York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox serving as the primary game andSt. Louis Cardinals at the Chicago Cubs being the secondary game. The Yankees-Red Sox game would as a result, be seen everywhere except in New York City, Boston and possibly markets adjacent to those cities. Ultimately, those markets got the Cardinals-Cubs game instead.

TheNew York Yankees, which, the year before, had played 21Games of the Week for CBS, joined NBC's package in 1966. The new package under NBC called for 28 games, as compared to the 123 combined among three networks during the 1960s. On October 19, 1965,NBC signed a three-year contract with Major League Baseball. As previously mentioned, the year before, Major League Baseball sold an exclusive league-wide television package for the rights to the Saturday-SundayGame of the Week to ABC. NBC covered only theAll-Star Game andWorld Series in 1965. In addition, a previous deal limited CBS to covering only twelve weekends when its new subsidiary, theNew York Yankees, played at home. As previously mentioned, before 1965, NBC aired a slate of Saturday afternoon games beginning in 1957.

Under the new deal, NBC paid roughly US$6 million per year for the 25Games of the Week,^[34] $6.1 million for the1967 World Series andAll-Star Game, and $6.5 million for the1968 World Series and1968 All-Star Game. This brought the total value of the contract (which included three Monday night telecasts such as aLabor Day 1966 contest between theSan Francisco Giants andLos Angeles Dodgers) up to $30.6 million.

On April 16, 1966, in New York City, about 50 baseball, network, and advertising officials discussed NBC's first year with theGame of the Week. New York could not get a primary match-up between theDetroit Tigers andNew York Yankees with Curt Gowdy and Pee Wee Reese calling the action because of local blackout rules. Instead, that market received a backup game (or "'B' game") featuring Tony Kubek andJim Simpson calling a game between theCincinnati Reds andChicago Cubs. That rule would be eliminated after the 1983 season.

In replacing CBS, NBC traded acircus for a seminar. Reese said "Curt Gowdy was its guy (1966–75), and didn't want Dizzy Dean^[35] – too overpowering. Curt was nice, but worried about mistakes. Diz and I just laughed."Falstaff Brewery hyped Dean as Gowdy in return said "I said, 'I can't do "Wabash Cannonball." Our styles clash --" then came Pee Wee Reese. Gowdy added by saying about the pairing between him and Reese, "They figured he was fine with me, and they'd still have their boy." To many, baseball meant CBS's 1955–64Game of the Week thoroughbred. A year later, NBC boughtABC's variant of a mule so to speak. "We had the Series and All-Star Game. 1966–1968'sGame meant exclusivity", said NBC Sports head Carl Lindemann, who added that "[Colleague]Chet Simmons and liked him [Gowdy] with theSox andfootball" also, getting two network sports for the price of one. As his analyst, Gowdy wanted his friendTed Williams. NBC's lead sponsor,Chrysler declined the idea when Williams, aSears spokesman, was pictured putting stuff in a Ford truck.

Before 1966, local announcers exclusively called the World Series. Typically, theGillette Company, theCommissioner of Baseball and NBC television would choose the announcers, who would represent each of the teams that were in the World Series for the respective year. For the1966 World Series, Curt Gowdy^[36] called half of each game before ceding the microphone to Vin Scully in Los Angeles, andChuck Thompson in Baltimore. Scully was not satisfied with the arrangement^[37] as he said "What about the road? My fans won't be able to hear me." In Game 1 of the 1966 World Series, Scully called the first 4½ innings. When Gowdy inherited the announcing reins, Scully was so upset that he refused to say another word.

As previously mentioned, before1966, NBC typically paired the top announcers for the respective World Series teams to alternate play-by-play during each game's telecast. For example, if theYankees played theDodgers in the World Series, Mel Allen (representing the Yankees) would call half the game and Vin Scully (representing the Dodgers) would call the rest of the game. However, in 1966, NBC wanted its regular network announcer, Curt Gowdy, to call most of the play-by-play at the expense of the top local announcers. So instead of calling half of every World Series game on television (as Vin Scully had done in1953,1955,1956,1959,1963 and1965) they only get to call half of all home games on TV, providing color commentary while Gowdy called play-by-play for the rest each game. The visiting teams' announcers participated in theNBC Radio broadcasts. In broadcasts of Series-clinching (or potentially Series-clinching) games on both media, NBC sent the announcer for whichever team was ahead in the game to that team's clubhouse in the ninth inning in order to help cover the trophy presentation and conduct postgame interviews.

In 1967, mainGame of the Week broadcasts wereblacked-out in the cities of the two participating teams. In some cases, those games were aired by way of the teams' respective local flagship stations, with their local announcing crews – for example, the May 27,Dodgers–Giants contest in San Francisco was not carried by either KRON-TV in the originating city orKNBC in Los Angeles. The game was, however, telecast in Los Angeles over the Dodgers' flagship stationKTTV, withJerry Doggett and Vin Scully providing play-by-play. At the time, Dodgers' broadcasts over KTTV were limited to road games in San Francisco. Conversely the Giants' broadcast partner,KTVU, did not broadcast the team's home games in 1967.^[38] Viewers in theSan Francisco Bay Area may have been able to view this game on one of two NBC affiliates from nearby areas,KSBW-TV inSalinas and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California.

The1967 All-Star Game inAnaheim can be considered the first "prime time" telecast of a Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The game started at approximately 7:00 p.m. on theEast Coast.Sports Illustrated, noting that the game "began at 4 p.m. in California and ended at 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time," reported "an estimated 55 million people watched the game, compared with 12 million viewers for the 1966 All-Star Game, played in the afternoon."Buddy Blattner, broadcaster for the hostCalifornia Angels, appeared briefly at the beginning of the NBC telecast to introduce viewers toAnaheim Stadium before moving to the NBC Radio booth for the game itself.Houston Astros announcerGene Elston was used in the same role for the1968 game at theAstrodome.

Week 4 of the1967 AFL season coincided with the race for theAmerican League pennant. NBC decided to focus on their baseball coverage instead of covering the early games; thus resulting inCurt Gowdy calling theTwins-Red Sox game;Jim Simpson calling theAngels-Tigers game); while the AFL schedule resulted in the two early games (Broncos-Oilers andDolphins-Jets) not being televised with anotherChargers-Bills game being a locally televised game airing only inSan Diego on then-NBC affiliate KOGO (now ABC affiliateKGTV).

The June 8, 1968Game of the Week broadcast was cancelled due to coverage of thefuneral/burial ofRobert F. Kennedy.Cleveland atDetroit andAtlanta atChicago Cubs were the games scheduled to air on that date.

Tony Kubek initially had trouble adjusting to the world of broadcasting. Although he had a lot to say, he was gangling, he tended tostutter, and he talked too fast. Curt Gowdy soon suggested to Kubek that he should work in the off-season to improve his delivery. Kubek bought a tape recorder and took to reading poetry aloud for 20 minutes a day. In 1968, Kubek wowed as aWorld Series field reporter. Pee Wee Reese, who was soon fired by NBC (and replaced by Kubek as the top analyst) said of Kubek "He wormed his way around, but I wasn't bitter. I just think if you don't have anything to say, you should shut your mouth."

The1969 All-Star Game was originally scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, July 22, but heavy rains forced its postponement to the following afternoon. The 1969 contest remains the last All-Star Game to date to be played earlier thanprime time in the Eastern United States.Charlie Jones served as an "in-the-stands" reporter for NBC's coverage.

Games 3, 4, and 5 of the1969 World Series are believed to be the oldest survivingcolor television broadcasts of World Series games (even though World Series telecasts have aired in color since1955). However, they were "truck feeds" in that they do not contain the original commercials, but show a static image of theShea Stadium field between innings. Games 1 and 2 were saved only as black-and-white kinescopes provided by theCBC. CBC also preserved all seven games of the1965 and1968 World Series (plus the1968 All-Star Game) in black-and-white kinescope.

In 1970, NBC televised the second games of both League Championship Series on a regional basis. Some markets received theNLCS at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time along with a 4:00 p.m.football game, while other markets got theALCS at 4:00 p.m. along with a 1:00 p.m. football game.

In 1967, soon after his retirement as a player,Sandy Koufax signed a ten-year contract with NBC for $1 million to serve as a broadcaster on theSaturday Game of the Week. Koufax never felt comfortable being in front of the camera, and quit before the 1973 season.

Also in 1971, Game 1 of theALCS was rained out on Saturday, October 2. NBC did not televise^[39][40] the rescheduled Game 1 the following day (the network had only planned anNLCS telecast that day), but added a telecast of Game 2 on Monday, October 4 (which had been a scheduled travel day). 1971 was the first year that the League Championship Series schedule contained travel days. Back then, for the most part, Major League Baseball did this whenever awest coast team (in this case, theSan Francisco Giants andOakland Athletics) was involved.

On October 13, 1971, theWorld Series held a night game for the very first time.^[41] CommissionerBowie Kuhn, who felt that baseball could attract a larger audience by featuring a prime time telecast (as opposed to a mid-afternoon broadcast, occurring when most fans either worked or attended school), pitched the idea to NBC. An estimated 61 million people watched Game 4 on NBC; televisionratings for a World Series game during the daytime hours would not have approached such a record number.

For World Series night games, NBC normally began baseball coverage at 8:00 p.m.Eastern Time with apre-game show (with first pitch occurring around 8:20 to 8:25 p.m.). However, in 1986 and 1988, for Game 5 of the World Series (on Thursday night), NBC's coverage did not begin until 8:30. This allowed the network to air its highly rated sitcomThe Cosby Show in its normal Thursday 8:00 p.m. timeslot. NBC went with carrying a very short pre-game show and got to first pitch at around 8:40 p.m. Eastern Time.

In the early years of the League Championship Series,^[42] NBC typically televised a doubleheader on Saturday, a single game on Sunday (because offootball coverage). At the time, the network covered the weekday games with a 1½-hour overlap, joining the second game in progress when the first one ended (unless a rain delay caused the second game to start after the first game ended, as was the case during the1972 NLCS, when thePirates-Reds Game 5 was delayed long enough that by the time that theA's-TigersALCS Game 4 was over, NBC could join the game in time for the first pitch.). NBC usually swapped announcer crews after Game 2.

NBC did not air Game 2^[43] of the 1972 NLCS or the1974 NLCS.

Except for Game 1 in both League Championship Series, all games in 1975 were regionally televised. Game 3 of both League Championship Series were aired in prime time, the first time such an occurrence happened.

In1972,^[44] NBC began televising prime time regular-season games on Mondays, under a four-year contract worth $72 million. During the previous two seasons, the network had shown a limited number of Monday night games, with three in1970 and five in1971, in addition to theAll-Star games (on Tuesday night in July).^[45] In1973, NBC extended theMonday night telecasts (with a localblackout) to fifteen consecutive games. NBC's lastMonday Night Baseball game aired on September 1,1975, in which theMontreal Expos beat thePhiladelphia Phillies, 6–5. Curt Gowdy called the games with Tony Kubek from 1972 to 1974, being joined in the 1973 and1974 seasons by various guest commentators from both within and outside of the baseball world (among them Dizzy Dean,Joe DiMaggio,Satchel Paige,Bobby Riggs,Dave DeBusschere,Howard Cosell, Mel Allen,Danny Kaye, andWillie Mays), whileJim Simpson andMaury Wills called the secondary backup games. Joe Garagiola hosted the pre-game show,The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola, and teamed with Gowdy to call the games in 1975.

During NBC's telecast of the Monday nightDodgers–Braves game on April 8, 1974, in whichHank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th career home run,^[46] Kubek criticized CommissionerBowie Kuhn on-air for failing to be in attendance atFulton County Stadium in Atlanta on that historic night; Kuhn argued that he had a prior engagement that he could not break.

Starting in 1975, Joe Garagiola and Curt Gowdy alternated as the SaturdayGame of Week play-by-play announcers with Tony Kubek doing color analysis. Then on weeks in which NBC hadMonday Night Baseball, Gowdy and Garagiola worked together. One would call play-by-play for 4½ innings, the other would handle color analysis. Then in the bottom of the 5th inning, their roles switched. Ultimately, in November 1975,Chrysler forced NBC to totally remove Curt Gowdy from NBC's top baseball team. Instead, the company wanted their spokesman, Joe Garagiola, to call all the main regular season games, All-Star Games (when NBC had them), the top League Championship Series (when NBC had it), and the World Series (when NBC had it).

NBC hoped that, in replacing Curt Gowdy, Joe Garagiola's charm and unorthodox dwelling on the personal would stop the decade-long ratings dive for theGame of the Week. Instead, the ratings bobbed from 6.7 (1977) via 7.5 (1978) to 6.3 (1981–82). "Saturday had a constituency, but it didn't swell" said NBC Sports executive producer Scotty Connal. Some believed that millions missed Dizzy Dean while local-team television broadcasters split the audience. Scotty Connal believed that the team of Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek were "A great example of black and white". Connal added by saying "A pitcher throws badly to third, Joe says, 'The third baseman's fault.' Tony: 'The pitcher's'." Media critic Gary Deeb termed theirs "the finest baseball commentary ever carried on network TV."

Another factor behind Gowdy's dismissal was the criticism from the national media which alleged that he sided with theBoston Red Sox (a franchise that he had covered prior to his days at NBC) on a controversial play in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the1975 World Series.Cincinnati Reds pinch hitterEd Armbrister reached base on what was ruled an error by Red Sox catcherCarlton Fisk on Armbrister's bunt attempt. Gowdy said numerous times that, in his opinion, Armbrister had interfered with Fisk. Gowdy had been given the correct interpretation byNBC Radio Producer Jay Scott (who was aTriple-A fill-in umpire at the time as well), but did not use it.^[47] UmpireLarry Barnett claimed he had received death threats on account of Gowdy's criticism. More to the point, Tony Kubek, on the NBC telecast, immediately charged that Armbrister interfered (with the attempted forceout), even though home plate umpire Barnett did not agree. Later, Kubek got 1,000 letters dubbing him a Boston stooge. Prior to Game 2 of the1986 World Series, NBC did a feature on replays narrated byBob Costas. One of the plays cited by Costas was the Armbrister play, and Barnett and Costas both insisted that Barnett had made the correct call, although Barnett declared, "You won't find many people in Boston who believe it was the right call." Costas used the feature to condemn the suggested notion ofinstant replay to settle calls, noting that it was the "same kind of mentality that adds color to classic movies and calls it progress."

While Gowdy was on hand in the press box for Carlton Fisk's legendary home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series,^[48] the actual calls went to two of Gowdy's Red Sox successors,Dick Stockton^[49] on television andNed Martin on radio. Gowdy was Martin's color commentator on that home run. Stockton on NBC stayed silent as Fisk rounded the bases, waiting until he made his way into the Red Sox dugout before proclaiming: "We will have a seventh game in this 1975 World Series." Meanwhile, according to the NBC cameraman Lou Gerard located above the third base stands, cameramen at the time were instructed to follow the flight of the ball. Instead Gerard was distracted by a rat nearby, thus he lost track of the baseball and instead decided to capture the image of Fisk "magically" waving the ball fair.^[50]

For Game 2 of the1976 World Series, NBC and Major League Baseball experimented with a Sunday night telecast.

On June 18, 1977, in theNew York Yankees' 10–4 loss to theBoston Red Sox in a nationally televised game atFenway Park in Boston,Jim Rice, a powerful hitter but a slow runner, hit a ball into right field thatReggie Jackson seemed to get to without much speed, and Rice reached second base. Furious, Yankees managerBilly Martin removed Jackson from the game without even waiting for the end of the inning, sendingPaul Blair out to replace him. When Jackson arrived at the dugout, Martin yelled that Jackson had shown him up. The two men argued, and Jackson said that Martin's heavy drinking had impaired his judgment. Despite Jackson being eighteen years younger, about two inches taller and maybe 40 pounds heavier, Martin lunged at him, and had to be restrained by coachesYogi Berra andElston Howard. Red Sox fans could see this in the dugout and began cheering wildly; NBC television cameras showed the confrontation to the entire country.

The 1977 postseason schedule started on Tuesday after starting on Saturday from 1969 to 1976. Major League Baseball began a pattern where oneLeague Championship Series started on Tuesday and contained an off-day while the otherLCS started on Wednesday with no off-day. NBC used three different announcer crews (Joe Garagiola andTony Kubek,Jim Simpson andMaury Wills, andDick Enberg andDon Drysdale) on the 1977 LCS.

After being replaced full-time by Joe Garagiola as the lead play-by-play man, NBC usedCurt Gowdy in a hosting role for their coverage of the1978 World Series.

On July 7, 1979,WMC 5 inMemphis, Tennessee aired alocal Memphis wrestling program featuringJerry "The King" Lawler instead of NBC's baseball telecast between theDetroit Tigers andMilwaukee Brewers.^[51]

Under the initial agreement with ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (running through the 1976 to 1979 seasons), both networks paid $92.8 million for the league broadcast rights. 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 (theLeague Championship Series in even-numbered years and World Series in odd-numbered years). NBC paid $10.7 million per year to show 25 SaturdayGames of the Week and the other half of the postseason (the League Championship Series in odd-numbered years and World Series in even-numbered years).

Major League Baseball media director John Lazarus said of the new arrangement between NBC and ABC "Ratings couldn't get more from one network so we approached another." NBC's Joe Garagiola was not very fond of the new broadcasting arrangement at first saying "I wished they hadn't got half the package. Still, 'Game', half of the postseason – we got lots left." By 1980, income from television broadcasts accounted for a record 30% of the game's $500 million in revenues.

Michael Weisman became NBC's coordinating producer for baseball in 1979, where he learned baseball production from Harry Coyle,^[52] whom Weisman calls his idol and mentor.^[53] Weisman became the executive producer of NBC Sports in 1982.^[54] In baseball, Weisman introduced split-screen baseball coverage, which allowed fans to watch two games simultaneously.^[55][56] Weisman also was among the first producers to have baseball players introduce their team lineups, which helped personalize the game for viewers.^[57]

On October 4, 1980,^[58]Bob Costas^[59] made his debut calling baseball games for NBC. It was a backup game (the primary game involved thePhiladelphia Phillies andMontreal Expos) involving theNew York Yankees andDetroit Tigers fromYankee Stadium.

The1980 World Series^[60][61] is tied with the1978 Series for having the highest overall television ratings for a World Series to date, with the six games averaging aNielsen rating of 32.8 and a share of 56.^[62] AlthoughBryant Gumbel anchored NBC's pregame coverage for Game 5 of the 1980 World Series, he was not present atRoyals Stadium inKansas City. Game 5 was scheduled on a Sunday, which conflicted with Gumbel's hosting duties for the network's NFL pre-game showNFL '80. As a result, Gumbel had to anchor the World Series coverage from the NBC Studios in New York City. Gumbel, however, would be present atVeterans Stadium inPhiladelphia for Game 6, which turned out to be the clincher for thePhillies.

During the1981 players' strike,^[63] NBC used its SaturdayGame of the Week time-slot to show a 20-minute strike update, followed by a sports anthology series hosted byCaitlyn Jenner (then Bruce)^[a][64] calledNBC Sports: The Summer Season.^[65][66]

As a means to recoup revenue lost during the 1981 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 while NBC televised theNational League Division Series.^[67] TheDivision Series round would not be officially instituted until 14 years later. Games 1, 3, and 5 of thePhillies/Expos series and Games 2, 3, and 5 of theDodgers/Astros series were regionally televised.

Even thoughDick Enberg did play-by-play for the1981 NLCS for NBC (working alongsideTom Seaver),Merle Harmon^[68] was, for the most part, NBC's backup baseball play-by-play announcer (serving behind Joe Garagiola, who called that year'sALCS for NBC with Tony Kubek) in 1981. Harmon's broadcast partner during this period wasRon Luciano.^{[69][70][71][72]} In late 1979, Harmon left theMilwaukee Brewers completely in favor of a multi-year pact with NBC. Harmon saw the NBC deal as a perfect opportunity since according toThe Milwaukee Journal he would make more money, get more exposure, and do less traveling. At NBC, Harmon didSportsWorld, the backupGame of the Week, and served as a field reporter for the1980 World Series. Most of all, Harmon had hoped to cover the American-boycotted1980 Summer Olympics from Moscow. After NBC pulled out of their scheduled coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics, Harmon considered it to be "a great letdown." To add insult to injury, NBC fired Harmon in 1982 in favor of Bob Costas.^[73] It was in 1982 that Costas started working the NBC backup games on a full-time basis, with formerOakland A's third basemanSal Bando as his color man.

On June 26, 1982, before the bottom of the 9th inning of NBC'sGame of the Week betweenBoston andMilwaukee the power went out atFenway Park. All television equipment stopped functioning except for one camera and the intercom. The director of the telecast, Harry Coyle, who had previously directed 36 World Series broadcasts for NBC, told the lone cameraman, Mario, "We'll show 'em what one cameraman can do!" and proceeded to direct the final inning of the game with just a single camera and zoom lens, located above home plate — including a near-comeback by the Red Sox, who before the start of the inning, were down 11–8.

According to his autobiography,Oh My,^[74] Dick Enberg (then the lead play-by-play voice forThe NFL on NBC) was informed by NBC that he would become the lead play-by-play voice of theMajor League Baseball Game of the Week beginning with the1982 World Series (sharing the play-by-play duties for those games with Joe Garagiola, alongside analyst Tony Kubek) and through subsequent regular seasons. Enberg wrote that on his football trips, he would read every edition ofThe Sporting News to make sure he was current with all the baseball news and notes. He then met with NBC executives in September 1982, who informed him that Vin Scully^[75][76] was in negotiations to be their lead baseball play-by-play announcer (teaming with Garagiola, while Kubek would team with Bob Costas) and began with the network in the spring of 1983. Therefore, rather than throw him in randomly for one World Series, Enberg wrote that he hosted the pre-game/post-game shows while the team of Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek did the games. According to the book, Enberg was not pleased about the decision (since he loved being theLos Angeles Angels' radio voice in the 1970s and was eager to return to baseball) but the fact that NBC was bringing in Scully, arguably baseball's best announcer, was understandable. Enberg added that NBC also gave him a significant pay increase as a pseudo-apology for not coming through on the promise to make him the lead baseball play-by-play announcer.

Tom Seaver provided periodic commentary during the1982 World Series, but was not in the booth. As previously mentioned, Dick Enberg and Joe Garagiola traded off play-by-play duties (just as Tony Kubek had done with Garagiola in NBC's previous World Series broadcasts) for NBC's coverage in 1982. Garagiola called the first three and last three innings. Enberg, meanwhile, hosted the pregame show and then called the middle innings.

ACanadian Football Leaguegame between theEdmonton Eskimos at theWinnipeg Blue Bombers was tentatively scheduled for 1:30 p.m.Eastern Time on Sunday October 17, even making newspaper TV listings. At the last moment NBC, who was using theCFL as substitute programming during the1982 players strike, cancelled the broadcast. The network was worried that the game would run over its allotted time and conflict with Game 5 of the World Series, which was supposed to begin at 4:30.

On April 7, 1983, Major League Baseball agreed to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package,^[77] worth $1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of theplayoffs (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years), World Series (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) andAll-Star Game (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.^[78]

USA Network's coverage became a casualty of the new $1.2 billion television contract between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC. One of the provisions to the new deal was that local telecasts that aired opposite network games had to be eliminated.^[79]

Through the deal, the two networks paid $20 million in advance for the1983 season; both networks paid a total of $126 million in1984 (NBC $70 million and ABC $56 million). For the1985 season, the rights fee totaled $136 million (with NBC paying $61 million and ABC paying $75 million), although the networks got $9 million when Major League Baseball expanded the League Championship Series from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven in 1985. The total rights fee increased to $141 million for1986 (NBC $75 million, ABC $66 million), $171 million for1987 (NBC $81 million, ABC $90 million) and then to $186 million for the1988 (NBC $90 million, ABC $96 million). For the final year of the contract in1989, NBC paid a fee of $106 million and ABC paid $125 million to the league, with the total rising to $231 million.

NBC also would normally televise twoprime time games during the regular season (not including All-Star Games). Generally, NBC would broadcast one game on a Tuesday and the other on a Friday. They however, would have to compete against local teams'over-the-air broadcasts, putting NBC at risk of hampering its ratings.

The New York Times observed the performance of the team of Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola^[80] by saying "That the duo of Scully and Garagiola is very good, and often even great, is no longer in dispute." A friend of Garagiola's said "he understood the cash" concerning 407% hike in Major League Baseball fees paid by NBC for the 1984–89 contract. At this point the idea was basically summarized as Vin Scully "being the star", whereas Joe Garagiola wasPegasus^{[clarification needed]} or NBC's junior light. When NBC inked a six-year, $550 million contract in the fall of 1982, a return on the investment, so to speak, demanded that Vin Scully be their star baseball announcer. NBC Sports head Thomas Watson said about Scully, "He is baseball's best announcer. Why shouldn't he be ours?" Dick Enberg mused "No room for me. 'Game' had enough for two teams a week." Henry Hecht once wrote "NBC's Curt Gowdy, Tony Kubek, andMonte Moore sounded like college radio rejects vs. Scully." Vin Scully earned approximately $2 million per year for his NBC baseball broadcasting duties.

Besides calling theSaturdayGame of the Week for NBC, Scully called three World Series (1984, 1986, and 1988), fourNational League Championship Series (1983,^[81]1985,1987, and1989), and fourAll-Star Games (1983,1985,1987, and1989). Scully also reworked his Dodgers schedule during this period, broadcasting home games on the radio, and road games for the Dodgers television network, with Fridays and Saturdays off so he could work for NBC.

Scully was on hand for several key moments in baseball history:Fred Lynn hitting the firstgrand slam inAll-Star Game history (1983); the1984 Detroit Tigers winning theWorld Series (along the way, Scully called Tigers pitcherJack Morris'no-hitter against theChicago White Sox on April 7);Ozzie Smith's game-winning home run in Game 5 of the1985 National League Championship Series; theNew York Mets' miracle rally in Game 6 of the1986 World Series; the1987 All-Star Game inOakland, which was deadlocked at 0–0 beforeTim Raines broke up the scoreless tie with a triple in the top of the 13th inning; the first official night game in the history of Chicago'sWrigley Field (August 9,1988);Kirk Gibson's game-winninghome run in Game 1 of the1988 World Series;^[82] and chatting with formerPresident of the United StatesRonald Reagan (who said to Scully, "I've been out of work for six months and maybe there's a future here.") in the booth during the1989 All-Star Game inAnaheim asBo Jackson hit a lead off home-run.

When Tony Kubek first teamed with Bob Costas in 1983, Kubek said "I'm not crazy about being assigned to the backup game, but it's no big ego deal." Costas said about working with Kubek "I think my humor loosened Tony, and his knowledge improved me." The team of Costas and Kubek proved to be a formidable pair.^[83] There were even some who preferred the team of Kubek and Costas over the musings of Vin Scully and the asides of Joe Garagiola. Costas was praised by fans for both his reverence and irreverence while Kubek was praised for his technical approach and historical perspective.

For the 1983 season, NBC introduced a wraparoundstudio show (airing for about 15 minutes) co-hosted byBill Macatee andMike Adamle called30 Rock (a reference to theNew York Cityskyscraper that housed NBC's headquarters). The show would offer sports news, highlights and feature reports fromLen Berman. It would actually handle breaking news as well. NBC canceled the30 Rock pregame show after one year. It was also used to wraparoundcollege basketball games,golf, andNBC SportsWorld. 1983 was also the last season that the oldblackout restrictions were in place. Thus, Vin Scully's firstGame of the Week telecast (Montreal atLos Angeles on April 9) did not air inLos Angeles.

For NBC's coverage of the1983 All-Star Game inChicago,Don Sutton was in New York, periodically tracking pitches with the aid of NBC's "Inside Pitch" technology. Sutton^[84] also served as an analyst alongside host Bill Macatee for NBC's coverage of the 1983 American League Championship Series. Meanwhile, Len Berman hosted NBC's coverage of the 1983 National League Championship Series alongside Tom Seaver.

1984 was the first year that theGame of the Week was not subject to blackout. NBC and ABC generally still aired two games each week, with a primary game carried to most of the country and a secondary game to mostly the markets that would carry that game. This was mostly done for insurance in the event that a game wasrained out. During the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the "rainout insurance" games involved theHouston Astros since that team played in adomed ballpark. Therefore, if the Astros were at home on a givenSaturday orMonday night, then it was a safe bet that the game would be shown on network television, due to the Astros being the only "dome" team (until theSeattle Mariners began play in theKingdome in1977).

During the1984 regular season, the reason for most of the changes from the traditional 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time start was because of NBC'sgolf ortennis commitments as well as September 1title fight featuringEusebio Pedroza.

Bob Costas and Tony Kubek were the announcers on the "Sandberg Game" on June 23, 1984, fromChicago'sWrigley Field.^[85] In that game,Cubs second basemanRyne Sandberg hit two crucial, game tying home runs off ofSt. Louis Cardinals closerBruce Sutter in both the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings. The Cubs would ultimately go on to win the game in eleven innings, by the score of 12–11. Bob Costas considered theGame of the Week his dream job saying "You can put a personal stamp on a baseball broadcast, be a reporter, something of a historian, a storyteller, conversationalist, dispenser of opinion."^[86]

As champions of the National League, theSan Diego Padres had home-field advantage (at the time, the NL automatically gained home-field advantage in even years of the World Series) during the1984 World Series. However, had theChicago Cubs won theNational League Championship Series (which appeared likely after the Cubs took a 2–0 lead in the best-of-five series), theDetroit Tigers would have gained home-field advantage despite the fact theAmerican League'sBaltimore Orioles had it theseason before. NBC was contractually obligated to show all mid-week series games in prime time, something that would have been impossible atWrigley Field, since the Cubs' venerable facility lacked lights at the time (they would not install lights untilfour years later). Had the Cubs advanced to the Series, Detroit would have hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 (on Tuesday and Wednesday nights), while the Cubs would have hosted Games 3, 4, and 5 (on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), with all three games in Chicago starting no later than 1:30 p.m.Central Time.

Even though Game 5 of the 1984 World Series was on a Sunday afternoon,Bob Costas (who anchored NBC's coverage withLen Berman) was still inNew York City to hostNFL '84. At the end of the pre-game show, Costas left the New York studio to travel toDetroit to cover that night's baseball game atTiger Stadium. In the meantime,Bill Macatee filled-in for Costas, providing updates and halftime highlights. Costas later interviewed the Tigers in theirlocker room that night. Game 5 of the 1984 World Series had a starting time of 4:45 p.m.ET, following a 1:30 p.m. start for Game 4. These were the last outdoor World Series games to start earlier thanprime time in the eastern United States (Game 6 in1987, the last daytime World Series contest, was indoors at theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome inMinneapolis).

In 1985,^[87] NBC got a break when Major League Baseball dictated a policy that no local game could be televised at the same time that a networkGame of the Week was being broadcast. Additionally, for the first time, NBC was able to feed theGame of the Week telecasts to the two cities whose local teams participated. In time, MLB teams whose Saturday games were not scheduled for theGame of the Week would move the start time of their Saturday games to avoid conflict with the NBC network game, and thus, make it available tolocal television in the team's home city (and the visiting team's home city as well). Also in 1985, NBC's telecast of theAll-Star Game out of theMetrodome inMinnesota was the first program to be broadcast instereo^[88] by a television network.

On Thursday, October 10, 1985, NBC didn't come on the air for Game 2^[89] of theNLCS until 8:30 p.m.ET to avoid disruptingThe Cosby Show at 8 (similarly to how the network aired the soap operaReturn to Peyton Place, before Game 5 of the1972 World Series, rather than a pre-game show).^[90] NBC would do the same thing for Thursday night games in subsequent postseasons.Dick Enberg hosted the 1985 NLCSpregame shows withJoe Morgan.^[91] It was Enberg who broke the news to most of the nation thatVince Coleman had been injured before Game 4. NBC even aired an interview with one of the few people who actually saw the incident, aDodger batboy.

Dick Enberg^[92] was also atExhibition Stadium inToronto for Games 1 and 7^[93] of the1985 American League Championship Series on NBC. Enberg hosted thepregame show alongsideRick Dempsey^[94] (who was still active withBaltimore at the time). Meanwhile,Bill Macatee provided a report on Game 2 of the ALCS during the pregame of theNLCS opener.

Beginning in1986,Jon Miller would call games for NBC on their occasional doubleheader weeks. If not that, then Miller would appear on Saturday afternoon regionals the day after NBC's occasional prime time telecasts. Come the World Series that year, NBC would introduce a new theme called "Heroes". The track was composed by Steve Martin (no relation to the actor-comedian of thesame name) of the production music factoryKiller Tracks. NBC would use "Heroes" as their postseason and All-Star Game theme from 1986 to 1989, and also theGame of the Week theme for 1989. The theme itself, portrayed as serious, regal and almost reflective tone.^[95]

Vin Scully's call of the final play in Game 6 of the1986 World Series on NBC television would quickly become an iconic one to baseball fans, with the normally calm Scully growing increasingly excited: "So the winning run is at second base, with two outs, three and two toMookie Wilson. [A] little roller up along first... behind the bag! It gets throughBuckner! Here comesKnight, and theMets win it!" Scully then remained silent for more than three minutes, letting the pictures and the crowd noise tell the story. Scully resumed with "If one picture is worth a thousand words, you have seen about a million words, but more than that, you have seen an absolutely bizarre finish to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. The Mets are not only alive, they are well; and they will play theRed Sox in Game 7 tomorrow!"

After the top of the tenth, NBC began setting up in the visiting clubhouse for what they believed was the inevitable postgame victory celebration by the Boston Red Sox. TheCommissioner's Trophy had been brought into the Red Sox clubhouse along with several bottles of champagne, and Bob Costas was to preside over the presentation. However, afterBob Stanley's wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth, everything was quickly struck and removed from the room before the Red Sox returned. Costas later recalled the removal of all the equipment for the postgame celebration as being "like a scene change in a Broadway musical. In, out, gone, not a trace." Game 6 caused the first preemption ofSaturday Night Live, due to extra innings. The preempted episode would air two weeks later on November 8 (with hostRosanna Arquette and musical guestRic Ocasek ofThe Cars), with an introduction byRon Darling, who explained that when the Mets entered the locker room, they were informed that they caused the first delay inSNL's 11-year history (at the time) to their dismay.

NBC's broadcast of Game 7 of the 1986 World Series (which went up against aMonday Night Football game between theWashington Redskins andNew York Giants on ABC) garnered aNielsen rating of 38.9 and a 55 share, making it the highest-rated single World Series game to date. Game 7 had been scheduled for Sunday, but a rain-out forced the game to Monday. NBC's telecast of the Series ended with the song "Limelight" fromStereotomy, penultimate album ofThe Alan Parsons Project.

NBC usedDon Sutton^[96][97] as a pre- and post-game analyst for their 1987 League Championship Series coverage.^[98] Sutton also made an appearance in the booth during Game 3 of the ALCS. Sutton talked with Bob Costas and Tony Kubek aboutTwins pitcherLes Straker's borderlinebalk in that game. Sutton later interviewedDetroit Tigers managerSparky Anderson following their loss in Game 5.^[99] Meanwhile,Marv Albert^[100][101] went back-and-forth during both 1987 LCS.^[102] He hosted the pregame for Game 1^[103] of theNLCS^[104] withJoe Morgan, and in fact had to read the lineups to the viewing audience. There was a problem with the P.A. feed atBusch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, so he ended up reading the script from theCardinal dugout while the players were introduced to the crowd. He then went to Minneapolis the next night to host theALCS pregame with Don Sutton at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.Jimmy Cefalo hosted the pregame coverage for Game 5 of the NLCS, as Marv Albert was away on aboxing assignment for NBC.

Jay Randolph,^[105] who was also the sports director for St. Louis NBC affiliateKSDK,^[106] interviewed the winners in theSt. Louis Cardinals' clubhouse following their Game 7 victory.^[107] Also following Game 7, NBC's Marv Albert interviewed1987 NLCS MVP,Jeffrey Leonard of theSan Francisco Giants (to date, the last person from the losing team to win a postseason series Most Valuable Player Award, either League Championship Series or World Series).

Ratings for theGame of the Week had dropped from an average of 6.1 in1984 to 5.5 in1988 and an average of 4.8 by July1989. According to a Major League Baseball report, an average of fewer than five million households viewed the Saturday afternoonGame of the Week in 1988.^[108] In an effort to push the ratings higher, NBC tried to feature a club from one of the major media markets.^[109] Of the 32 games it aired during 1988, only three did not feature a club from New York City, Chicago, or Los Angeles.^[110]

As previously mentioned, longtimeLos Angeles Dodgers'broadcaster Vin Scully^[111] called the1988 World Series^[112] for a national television audience on NBC with Joe Garagiola. Unknown to the fans and the media at the time,Kirk Gibson was watching the game on television while undergoing physical therapy in theDodgers' clubhouse.^[113] At some point during the game, television cameras scanned the Dodgersdugout and Scully, observed that Gibson was nowhere to be found.^[113] This spurred Gibson to tell DodgersmanagerTommy Lasorda that he was available topinch hit.^[113] Gibson immediately returned to thebatting cage in the clubhouse to take practice swings.^[113] While Kirk Gibson was taking practice swings in the Dodgers' clubhouse during Game 1,Orel Hershiser set up the hitting tee for his teammate. Along the way, Bob Costas could hear Gibson's agonized-sounding grunts after every hit.^[114]

The following is Vin Scully's call ofKirk Gibson's game inning home run in Game 1^[115][116] of the 1988 World Series^[117][118] of the 1988 World Series: "Allyear long, they looked to him to light the fire, [Scully began] and all year long, he answered the demands, until he was physically unable to start tonight – with two bad legs: The bad lefthamstring, and the swollen right knee. And, with two out, you talk about a roll of the dice... this is it." Scully made repeated references to Gibson's legs, noting at one point that the batter was "shaking his left leg, making it quiver, like a horse trying to get rid of a troublesome fly." Gibson worked the count to 3–2 asMike Davis stole second base; the camera turned at that point toSteve Sax getting ready for his turn at the plate, and Scully reminded the viewers that Sax was waiting on deck, but that the game right now is at the plate. "High fly ball into right field, she i-i-i-is... gone!!" Scully said nothing for over a minute, allowing the pictures to tell the story. Finally, he said, "In a year that has been so improbable... the impossible has happened!" Returning to the subject of Gibson's banged-up legs during a replay, Scully joked, "And, now, the only question was, could he make it around the base paths unassisted?!" "You know, I said it once before, a few days ago, that Kirk Gibson was not the Most Valuable Player; that the Most Valuable Player for the Dodgers wasTinkerbell. But, tonight, I think Tinkerbell backed off for Kirk Gibson. And, look atEckersley – shocked to his toes!" "They are going wild at Dodger Stadium – no one wants to leave!" As NBC showed a replay of Gibson rounding second base in his home run trot, Scully then made a point to note Eckersley's pitching performance throughout the1988 season, to put things in perspective. "Dennis Eckersley allowed five home runs all year. And we'll be back."

During Game 1 in the second inning, NBC affiliateWMGT-TV inMacon, Georgia was hijacked for 10 seconds replacing parts of the second inning with anadult movie. The technician was later fired, and production manager L. A. Sturdivant reported toThe Atlanta Constitution at the incident was an accident.^[119]

Bob Costas, who, along with Marv Albert, hosted NBC's 1988 World Series pre-game coverage and handled post-game interviews, later made on-air statements that enraged many in the Dodgers' clubhouse (especially Tommy Lasorda). Before the start of Game 4, Costas said that the Dodgers quite possibly were about to put up the weakest-hitting lineup in World Series history.^[120] That comment ironically fired up the competitive spirit of the Dodgers. After the Dodgers won Game 4, Lasorda (during a post-game interview with Marv Albert) sarcastically said that the MVP of the World Series should be Bob Costas.

Game 6 of the1988 World Series, was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 22, but that game wasn't necessary. This is the last time a World Series game was scheduled outside of prime time. The 1988 World Series also marked the last time that NBC^[121] would televise a World Series for seven years. Beginning in1990, NBC would be shut out ofMajor League Baseball coverage completely, afterCBS signed a four-year, exclusive television contract. After splitting coverage of the1995 World Series with ABC, NBC would next cover a World Series exclusively in 1997. Over a highlight montage at the end of their coverage of the decisive fifth game of the 1988 World Series, NBC played the song "One Moment in Time" byWhitney Houston.

On Saturday, June 3, 1989, Vin Scully was doing the play-by-play for the NBCGame of the Week inSt. Louis, where theCardinals beat theChicago Cubs in 10 innings. Meanwhile, theDodgers were playing a series inHouston, where Scully flew to be on hand to call the Sunday game of the series. However, the Saturday night game between the teams was going into extra innings when Scully arrived in town, so he went to the Astrodome instead of his hotel. He picked up the play-by-play, helping to relieve the other Dodger announcers, who were doing both television and radio, and broadcast the final 13 innings (after already calling 10 innings in St. Louis), as the game went 22 innings. He broadcast 23 innings in one day in two different cities.

As previously mentioned, formerPresident of the United States,Ronald Reagan (who had just left office) served as the color commentator^[122] instead of Tom Seaver^[123] (Vin Scully's normal NBC broadcasting partner at the time) for the first inning^[124] of the1989 All-Star Game from Anaheim.^{[125][126][127]}Bo Jackson^[128] became a popular figure for his athleticism in multiple sports through the late 1980s and early 1990s. He served as a spokesman forNike and was involved in a popular ad campaign called "Bo Knows" which envisioned Jackson attempting to take up a litany of other sports, includingtennis,golf,luge,auto racing, and even playingblues music withBo Diddley, who scolded Jackson by telling him, "You don't know diddley!"^[129] (in a later version of the spot, Jackson is shown playing the guitar expertly, after which an impressed Diddley says, "Bo...youdo know Diddley, don't you?") Serendipitously, the original spot first aired during the commercial break immediately following Jackson's lead-off home run in the1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (as Vin Scully exclaimed, "Look at that one! Bo Jackson says hello!").

CTV wouldsimulcast NBCGame of the Week telecasts ofToronto Blue Jays games, such as NBC's finalGame of the Week telecast^{[130][131][132][133][134][135]} on September 30, 1989,^[136] where the Blue Jays clinched theAmerican League East^[137] against theBaltimore Orioles.^{[138][139][140]} Meanwhile, in the latter part of his career,National League umpireDoug Harvey became known for appearing in the "You Make the Call" segments on NBC'sGame of the Week telecasts.^[141]

ThenTexas Rangers managerBobby Valentine^[142] worked as an on-the-field analyst for NBC's1989 ALCS coverage.^[143] Likewise, recently retiredPhiladelphia Phillies legendMike Schmidt did the same for theNLCS.

Vin Scully^[144] was unable to call Game 2 of the1989 National League Championship Series because he was suffering fromlaryngitis.^[145] As a result, secondary play-by-play announcer Bob Costas^[146] filled in for him. Around the same time, Costas^[147] was assigned to call theAmerican League Championship Series^[148] betweenOakland andToronto. Game 2 of the NLCS occurred on Thursday, October 5, which was anoff day^[149] for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterwards, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.

Jimmy Cefalo hosted the pregame show for Game 4 of the1989 ALCS as Marv Albert was away on anNFL assignment for NBC.

After calling the1988 World Series with Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola resigned^[150] from NBC Sports.^{[151][152][153]} Although it was not official at the time, NBC was on the verge of losing the television rights to cover Major League Baseball toCBS.^{[154][155][156][157]} Garagiola claimed that NBC left him "twisting" while he was trying to renegotiate his deal. Joe Garagiola was replaced by Tom Seaver^{[158][159][160]} for the1989 season.^{[161][162][163][164][165]}

On December 14, 1988, CBS^[166] (under the guidance ofCommissionerPeter Ueberroth,^{[167][168][169]} Major League Baseball's broadcast director Bryan Burns,^{[170][171][172]} CBS Inc.CEOLaurence Tisch^{[173][174][175][176]} as well as CBS Sports executives Neal Pilson^[177] andEddie Einhorn) paid approximately US$1.8 billion (equivalent to 2.65 billion in 2024)^[170][178] for exclusive over-the-air television rights for over four years (beginning in1990). CBS paid about $265 million each year^[179] for theWorld Series,League Championship Series,All-Star Game, and the SaturdayGame of the Week. It was one of the largest agreements^[180] (to date) between the sport of baseball and the business ofbroadcasting. The cost of the deal between CBS and Major League Baseball was about 25% more^[181] than in the previous television contract with ABC and NBC.^[182]

NBC's final Major League Baseball broadcast was televised on October 9, 1989; Game 5 of theNational League Championship Series^[183] between theSan Francisco Giants andChicago Cubs fromCandlestick Park. Vin Scully said

It's a passing of a great American tradition. It is sad. I really and truly feel that. It will leave a vast window, to use aWashington^[184] word, where people will not get Major League Baseball and I think that's a tragedy. It's a staple that's gone. I feel for people who come to me and say how they miss it,^[185] and I hope me.

When Cubs shortstopRyne Sandberg made the final out of Game 5 off of Giants closerSteve Bedrosian and Giants first basemanWill Clark ultimately caught it, Scully said

Breaking ball hit toRobby Thompson … and that's it!

Bob Costas^{[186][187][188]} said that he would rather do aGame of the Week that got a 5 rating than host aSuper Bowl.^[189] "Who thought baseball killed its best way to reach the public? It coulda kept us and CBS^[190] – we'd have kept the 'Game'^[191] – but it only cared about cash. Whatever else I did, I'd never have left 'Game of the Week' Costas claimed. Tony Kubek,^[192] who (as previously mentioned) teamed with Bob Costas since 1983, said "I can't believe it!" when the subject came about NBC losing baseball for the first time since 1947.

Alright, our thanks toMarv Albert and my personal thanks for the last seven years toTony Kubek. He made it easy, he made it fun...24 years withNBC broadcasting baseball, immediately after he retired from theYankees in 1965, helping them to all thosepennants, right into the broadcast booth. He immediately became an institution in American baseball broadcasting and we're all...going to miss him.Vin Scully andTom Seaver will take you the rest of the way in theNational League series and then a week or so down the road, our very best wishes to our buddies and colleagues atABC:Al Michaels,Tim McCarver, andJim Palmer for theWorld Series. A World Series that for the second year in a row...will featureTony La Russa'sOakland A's, back-to-back winners...of the American League pennant. Congratulations to both theBlue Jays and the A's for outstandingseasons. And from theSkyDome inToronto...for now at least...so long!

Author and presidentialspeechwriterCurt Smith went a step further in saying that Major League Baseball's deal with CBS Sports was "sportscasting'sExxon Valdez." Had baseball valued national promotion provided by theGame of the Week, said Smith, it never would have crafted a fast-bucks plan that has cut off the widest viewership. "It's an obscene imbalance", Smith also said, "to have 175 games going to 60 percent of the country [in reference to Major League Baseball's corresponding cable television deal withESPN, which at the time was only available in about 60% of the country] and 16 games going to the rest." He added: "Baseball has paid a grievous price for being out of sight and out of mind. It's attacked the lower and middle classes that forms baseball's heart. ... In the end, the advertising community has come to view baseball as a leper."^[193]

Arthur Watson, president of NBC Sports, said in a statement that NBC had "aggressively" bid to continue its 41-year involvement in baseball (NBC's bid was reportedly in the $800 million range^[194] in contrast to CBS' bid of $1.08 billion) and was "deeply saddened" when learning of CBS' deal.^[195]

One possible key factor towards why NBC lost the baseball package to CBS was due to their commitment tobroadcasting the1992 Summer Olympics^[196] fromBarcelona. To put things into proper perspective, two weeks prior to the announcement of the baseball deal with CBS, NBC had committed itself to paying $401 million for U.S. broadcast rights to the 1992 Summer Olympics. After the baseball deal was announced, some skeptics surmised that CBS had lowballed the Barcelona bidding so that it would have at least $1 billion to spend on baseball.

On that end, Marv Albert considered NBC's loss of the baseball rights to CBS a disappointment because they had just won the rights to televise the 1992 Olympic Games from Barcelona. Albert also toldThe New York Times^[197] in August 1989 that from NBC's point of view, it would come down to three major negotiations that would take place in the fall of that year. TheNational Basketball Association (NBA),^[198] theNCAA basketballtournament and somecollege football. Albert also agreed with the notion regarding whether the average fan would be shut out of Major League Baseball with only 12 Saturday afternoon games being televised by CBS. He added that the then present major league regime might not have agreed to the same package. According to him, Major League Baseball, similar to the NBA, felt that limited exposure would be better for the game. In Albert's eyes, what CBS was doing was televising the regular season for the delight of carrying the All-Star Game, the playoffs and the World Series.

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 on cable. 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.

Since this is indeed...a sad moment for us as we sever our relationship with baseball...for a while at least, we would like to ask your indulgence and let us take this time to thank a lot of people!

And to all of the marvelous and wonderful cameramen and technicians who have represented NBC...over the 42 years of baseball broadcasts...and I think that can sum it up, each and everyone of us...we gave it our best shot! As did the Giants and the Cubs! And it's the Giants who go to theWorld Series, beating the Cubs 3 to 2. And we get theBART Series, theBay Area Rapid Transit, the series that will be played in memory ofA. Bartlett Giamatti. There's a sweetness to that thought! It's over for us...time to surrender the stage...and the Giants have won the pennant! For Tom Seaver and forMike Schmidt, this is Vin Scully saying so long...for the last time...fromSan Francisco!

To those of you at NBC, 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...to Tony Kubek and the people of the present like Bob Costas and all the men and women at NBC, at the peacock...take a bow, you were terrific!^[200]

After NBC lost the Major League Baseball package to CBS, NBC aggressively counterprogrammed (like ABC)^[202][203] CBS's postseason baseball coverage withmade-for-TV movies andminiseries geared towards female viewers.^[204] NBC also attempted^[205] to fill the void left by baseball^[206] by arranging^[207] with theNational Hockey League (NHL) tobroadcast their annualAll-Star Game.^[208] And almost exactly one month after^[209][210] NBC's final baseball telecast, NBC^[211] officially announced a four-year,^[212] $600 million deal^{[213][214][215]} with theNational Basketball Association (NBA),^[216] succeedingCBS as the NBA's network television partner.

Following his brief tenure as NBC's lead baseball analyst,Tom Seaver worked as an analyst forNew York Yankees'telecasts onWPIX until1993 and forNew York Mets'telecasts on WPIX from1999 to2005, making him one of three sportscasters to be regular announcers for both teams; the others areFran Healy andTim McCarver.

When NBC lost its baseballTV rights toCBS after the 1989 season,Tony Kubek left the national scene, joining the Yankees' local cable-TV announcing team. Kubek spent five years calling games for the Yankees (1990–1994) on theMSG Network withDewayne Staats, where he earned fans and critics' respect for his honesty.

After the National League Championship Series in 1989,Vin Scully's NBC contract was up and he left to focus primarily on his duties with theLos Angeles Dodgers. Scully eventually returned to being the national radio announcer for theWorld Series, since CBS Radio gave him the position thatJack Buck had vacated in order to become the primary announcer of CBS's television coverage of Major League Baseball. Scully's first assignment was the1990 World Series and he remained in that role until 1997,^[217] working withJohnny Bench for the first four years andJeff Torborg for the final three.

After leaving NBC Sports after the1988 World Series,Joe Garagiola spent one season (1990) as acable-televisioncommentator for theCalifornia Angels. From1998 to2012, he performed part-time color commentary duties for theArizona Diamondbacks, where his sonJoe Jr. was general manager.

On July 21, 1990, approximately ten months after its final Major League Baseball telecast, NBC aired an amateur baseball game between theUnited States andCuba fromEstadio Latinoamericano^[218] inHavana, Cuba^[219] as part of theSaturday Sports Showcase^[220]anthology series. Bob Costas^[221][222] returned to provide play-by-play alongside formerNew York Mets managerDavey Johnson.^[223]

After a four-year hiatus with CBS being the exclusive MLB over-the-air broadcaster, ABC and NBC^[224] returned to Major League Baseball under the umbrella of arevenue sharing venture called "The Baseball Network". While ABC and NBC would provide some production personnel and their own announcers^[225][226] for the games,^[227][228] all of would be coordinated from the office of Ken Schanzer,^{[229][230][231]} 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.

The Baseball Network kicked off its coverage on July 12, 1994,^[232] with theAll-Star Game^[233][234] out ofThree Rivers Stadium inPittsburgh. The game was televised on NBC with Bob Costas,Joe Morgan andBob Uecker^[235] calling the action, andGreg Gumbel hosting the pre-game show. Helping with the interviews wereHannah Storm andJohnny Bench. The 1994 All-Star Game reportedly sold out all its advertising slots; this was considered an impressive financial accomplishment, given that one 30-second spot cost $300,000.

After the All-Star Game, NBC was scheduled to televise six regular season games on Fridays or Saturdays in prime time. The networks had exclusive rights for the twelve regular season dates, in that no regional or national cable service or over-the-air broadcaster may telecast a Major League Baseball game on those dates. In even-numbered years, NBC would have the rights to the All-Star Game and both League Championship Series, while ABC would have the World Series and newly created Division Series.^[236] In odd-numbered years, the postseason and All-Star Game television rights were supposed to alternate.

The long-term plans for The Baseball Network crumbled when theMajor League Baseball Players' Association went onstrike^[237] on August 12, 1994 (thus forcing the cancellation of theWorld Series^[238]). Consequently, NBC was unable^[239] to air its slate of games,^{[240][241][242][243][244]} which were supposed to begin on August 26.^[245][246] Therefore, the All-Star Game was NBC's sole baseball broadcast in 1994. Meanwhile, another consequence of the strike was thatDick Enberg,^[247] who was supposed to be the secondary play-by-play announcer in 1994 for NBC was unable to participate by the following season, due to his other commitments for NBC such asgolf andfootball.^[248] As a result, his slot was taken by Greg Gumbel, who was also the secondary play-by-play man for CBS (behindSean McDonough) during their final season of broadcasting Major League Baseball games in 1993.

When the question aroused^[249] regarding why NBC didn't rehire Costas' old broadcast partner,Tony Kubek (for whom Costas worked with on theGame of the Week and NBC's bi-yearly coverage of theALCS from1983–1989), it was insinuated that Kubek was simply too independent-minded for NBC officials to tolerate. According to Costas, while he originally wanted to work with Kubek again, NBC simply wanted to go into a different direction after being away from baseball for nearly five years.

In July 1995, ABC and NBC, which wound up having to share the duties of televising the1995 World Series^[250] as a way to recoup (with ABC broadcasting Games 1, 4 and 5, and NBC broadcasting Games 2^[251] 3,^[252] and 6^[253]), announced that they were opting out of their agreement with Major League Baseball. Both networks figured that as the delayed 1995 baseball season^[254] 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 remainder of the 20th century.

Prior to Game 3 of the1995 World Series,Cleveland Indians sluggerAlbert Belle^[255] unleashed aprofanity-laced tirade at NBC reporter Hannah Storm as she was waiting in the Indians' dugout for a prearranged interview with Indians lead-off man,Kenny Lofton. On the same day, Belle snapped at a photographer near the first base line during batting practice. Belle was ultimately fined US$50,000 for his behavior towards Storm. This particular World Series was remembered for baseball television history being made twice by Storm. Prior to Game 2, she became the first female sportscaster to serve as solo host of a World Series game, and after Game 6, she would be the first female sportscaster to preside over the presentation of the Commissioner's Trophy to the World Series champions. However, she was not the first female sportscaster to cover the World Series: that honor fell toCBS Sports reporterLesley Visser, who served as a field reporter for the Series from 1990 to 1993. She would also cover that same World Series but for a different network, ABC Sports.

During the1995–96 television season, theWorld Series,Super Bowl,NBA Finals andSummer Olympics were all telecast by NBC, marking the only time in history that all four marquee events were aired by the same network.

Left-centerfield,Grissom on the run...the team of the '90s has itsWorld Championship!!!^[256]

ABC broadcasterAl Michaels would later write in his 2014 autobiographyYou Can't Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television^[257] 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.^[258] To give you a better idea, in the middle of Game 1, Michaels was handed a promo that read "Join us here onABC for Game 4 inCleveland on Wednesday night and for Game 5 if necessary, Thursday." Michaels however, would soon follow this up by saying "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, Bob Uecker, and Joe Morgan^[250] [NBC's broadcast crew] were spotted inUnderground Atlanta." Naturally, Costas soon made a similar reference to ABC's crew (Michaels,Jim Palmer, andTim McCarver) on NBC.

About five years after The Baseball Network dissolved, Bob Costas wrote in his bookFair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball that The Baseball Network was stupid and an abomination.^[259] Costas believed that the agreement involving the World Series being the only instance of The Baseball Network broadcasting a national telecast was an unprecedented surrender of prestige, as well as a slap to all serious fans. Unlike theNational Hockey League and theNational Basketball Association the so-called "Big Two" of North American professional sports leagues, theNational Football League and Major League Baseball had nationally televised all playoff games for decades. While he believed that The Baseball Network fundamentally corrupted the game (except in Costas' point-of-view, the sense that the fans held steadfast, spaniel-like loyalty), Costas himself acknowledged that the most impassioned fans in baseball were now prevented from watching many of the playoff games they wanted to see. Costas added that both the divisional series and the League Championship Series now merited scarcely higher priority than regional coverage provided for aBig Tenfootball game betweenWisconsin andMichigan.

Despite the failure of The Baseball Network,^[260] 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^[261][262] (running from the1996 to2000 seasons) for a total of approximately $400 million, NBC did not televise any regular season games. Instead, NBC only handled theAll-Star Game,^[263][264] three Division Series^[265] games^[266] (on Tuesday,^[267] Friday, and Saturday nights), and theAmerican League Championship Series^[268] in even-numbered years and the World Series,^[269] three Division Series games (also on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights) and theNational League Championship Series^[270] in odd-numbered years.Fox,^[271][272] 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.^{[273][274][275]}

Also around this particular period, NBC adapted composerRandy Edelman's theme from the short-livedFox seriesThe Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. as the main theme music^[267] for its baseball telecasts. However, NBC used Edelman's "Emotions Run High" from the filmThe Big Green as the theme^[276] for the network's coverage^[277] of the1996 All-Star Game.^[278]

During the Game 1 of the1996 ALCS between theNew York Yankees andBaltimore Orioles atYankee Stadium, NBC was on hand for an incident in which a 12 year old fan namedJeffrey Maier^[279] deflected a batted ball, hit by Yankees shortstopDerek Jeter in the bottom of the eighth inning. Maier clearly reached over the fence separating the stands and the field of play nine feet below and snatched the ball with his glove. Right fieldumpireRich Garcia immediately ruled the play ahome run, tying the game at 4–4, despite the protest of Orioles right fielderTony Tarasco and managerDavey Johnson (the latter was ejected in the ensuing argument). The Yankees would go on to win the game in eleventh inning onBernie Williams'walk-off home run.

In right-field, Tarasco...going back to the track...to the wall...and what happens here?! He contends that a fan reaches up and touches it! But Richie Garcia says no...it's a home run!

Just before the start of NBC's coverage^[280] of the1997 World Series,^{[281][282][283][284]}Don Ohlmeyer,^[285] president of NBC's West Coast entertainment division and former executive producer for NBC Sports, came under fire after publicly announcing that he hoped that the World Series would end in a four-game sweep.^[286][287] Ohlmeyer^[288] believed that baseball now lacked broad audience appeal (especially in the aftermath of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike). As opposed to teams from thethree largest television markets (New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago) in the United States, the 1997 World Series^[289] featured the matchup of the upstartFlorida Marlins^[290] and theCleveland Indians,^[291][292] which made their second World Series appearance in three years. In addition, Ohlmeyer feared that the World Series would disrupt^[293] NBC's efforts to attract enough viewers for its new fall roster in order to stay on top of the ratings heap. Ohlmeyer said "If theA&E channel called, I'd take the call." Game 5 fell on a Thursday,^[294] which had long been thehighest rated night on NBC's schedule,^[295][296] if not on all of television.

Also beginning with the 1997 World Series, NBC would utilize their cable financial channel,CNBC^[297] for their post-game analysis programming. NBC was however, criticized^[298] over their apparent resistance to showingfull line scores. Thus, this cheated viewers who wanted to know which innings runs were scored in.Dick Ebersol ofNBC Sports opposed the idea of a score bug, because he thought that fans would dislike seeing more graphics on the screen, and would change the channel fromblowout games.^[299]

NBC was also criticized for refusing to usesplit screens of batters and pitchers, thus depriving viewers of a drama-enhancing technique. And its full-screen statistic graphics during the 1997 World Series was accused of blocking the action. And unlike Fox, who ran ascorebox icon in the corner of the screen throughout the game, updating viewers on the score, and the count and the runners on base, NBC only aired its version between pitches.^[300] According to NBC producer David Neal,^[301] who was in charge of the 1997 World Series production matters "There is no question we know viewers are looking for information, but they don't want it to obscure their view of the game. We have been consistent at NBC that the scorebox is not for us."

The 0-1 pitch...a liner...off ofNagy's glove, into centerfield!!! TheFlorida Marlins have won...theWorld Series!!!^[302]

In 1998, Bob Uecker abruptly left NBC Sports before he got a chance to call theAll-Star Game^[303][304] fromCoors Field inColorado. Uecker underwent a back operation in which four discs were replaced.^[305] For the remainder of the contract (1998–2000), only Bob Costas andJoe Morgan^[306][307] called the games. Come the 1998 postseason^[308] and continuing through the end of their contract in 2000, NBC's pre-game coverage was sponsored bySun America.^[309]

Also in 1998, NBC's coverage of theALCS was the highest rated for any League Championship Series since before the1994 strike. NBC averaged a 9.4 rating for the six games, which was a 6% increase than the network's coverage of the1997 NLCS in the same time slot. The rating was 13% more than Fox's ALCS coverage in1997 and 12% more than NBC's coverage in1996.

In 1999, Bob Costas teamed with his then-NBC colleagueJoe Morgan to call two weekday night telecasts forESPN. The first was onWednesday, August 25 with theDetroit Tigers playing against theSeattle Mariners.^[310] The second was on Tuesday, September 21 with theAtlanta Braves playing against theNew York Mets. Later that October, Costas and Morgan were on hand at New York'sShea Stadium for the 15 inning long fifth game of the NLCS between the Mets and Braves.^[311] The game ended with Mets third basemanRobin Ventura hitting what would become known as a "Grand Slam Single".

A drive to right....back toGeorgia! Gone, a grand slam!

From October 23–27, NBC broadcast their 39th and to date, finalWorld Series.^[314] As previously mentioned, unlike NBC's prior two World Series (1995 and 1997), where Bob Uecker was in the booth, Bob Costas and Joe Morgan^[315] worked as a duo, as they had done since the 1998 All-Star Game.Hannah Storm again served as pre-game host withBarry Larkin this time, serving as the analyst. Thefield reporters wereJim Gray (New York Yankees' dugout) andCraig Sager (in the Atlanta Braves' dugout) on loan fromTurner Sports.

In 1999,^[316] NBC field reporterJim Gray,^[317] who had previously covered Major League Baseball for CBS, came under fire for a confrontational interview with banned all-time hit kingPete Rose.^[318] Just prior to the start of Game 2 of theWorld Series,^[319] Gray pushed Rose – on hand (by permission ofCommissionerBud Selig) atTurner Field inAtlanta as a fan-selected member ofMasterCard'sAll-Century Team – to admit to having wagered on baseball games as manager of theCincinnati Reds ten years earlier. After NBC was flooded with tons of viewer complaints, Gray was forced to clarify his actions to the viewers at home prior to Game 3. Regardless of Gray's sincerity, Game 3 heroChad Curtis of theNew York Yankees boycotted^[320] Gray's request for an interview live on camera;^[321] Curtis had hit a game-winning home run to send the World Series 3–0 in the Yankees' favor. Curtis said to Gray, "Because of what happened with Pete, we decided not to say anything."^[322][323]

Despite the heavy criticism^[324] he received, Gray offered no apology^[325] for his line of questioning toward Rose:

I stand by it, and I think it was absolutely a proper line of questioning. I don't have an agenda against Pete Rose. Pete was the one who started asking me questions. I definitely wouldn't have gone (that) direction if he had backed off. My intent was to give Pete an opportunity to address issues that have kept him out of baseball. I thought he might have had a change of heart. He hadn't had an opening in 10 years.^[326]

AlthoughDick Ebersol (then-president of NBC Sports)^[327] andKeith Olbermann – among others – have maintained that Gray was simply doing his job,^[328] in 2004 Pete Rose would admit to betting on baseball (along with other sports) while he was the manager of theCincinnati Reds.^[329]

In 2000, NBC was caught in the dilemma of having to televise a first-round playoff game between theNew York Yankees andOakland Athletics over the firstpresidential debate betweenGeorge W. Bush andAl Gore. NBC decided to give its local stations the option of carrying the debate or the baseball game.^[330] If an NBC affiliate decided to carry the debate, then thePax TV affiliate^[331] in their local market could carry the game. NBC also placed a crawl at the bottom of the screen to inform viewers that they could see the debate on its sister channelMSNBC.

On the other end, Fox said that it would carry baseball on the two nights when its schedule conflicted with the presidential or vice presidential debates. NBC spokeswoman Barbara Levin said "We have a contract with Major League Baseball. The commission was informed well in advance of their selecting the debate dates. If we didn't have the baseball conflict we would be televising it." Although there has not been confirmation, anecdotal reports indicated that many NBC affiliates inswing states (such asMichigan,Ohio andPennsylvania) chose to air the debate over the baseball game. This is an option that CBS affiliates did not have in 1992, when CBS refused to break away from Game 4 of theAmerican League Championship Series (which had gone into extra innings) to the firstClinton–Bush–Perot debate. Like NBC and Fox would do in 2000, CBS cited its contract with Major League Baseball.

During NBC's coverage of the2000 Division Series between theNew York Yankees andOakland Athletics, regular play-by-play announcer Bob Costas decided to take a breather after anchoring NBC's prime time coverage of theSummer Olympic Games fromSydney. In Costas' place wasAtlanta Braves announcerSkip Caray,^{[332][333][334]} who teamed with Joe Morgan and Bob Wischusen before Costas' return for theALCS. It wasn't just Costas but all of NBC's production crews who were down in Sydney. The Olympics ended just two or three days before the MLB playoffs started that year, so theTBS crew worked the Division Series games for NBC.

In September 2000, Major League Baseball signed a six-year, $2.5 billion contract with Fox^[335] to televise Saturday afternoon regular-season baseball games, theAll-Star Game and coverage of the Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series. 90% of the contract's value to Fox, which was paying the league $417 million per year, came from the postseason, which not only attracted large audiences, but also provided an irreplaceable opportunity for Fox to showcase its fall schedule. Under the previous five-year deal with NBC (running from 1996 to 2000), Fox paid $115 million ($575 million overall), compared to the $80 million ($400 million overall) that NBC paid. The difference between the Fox and the NBC contracts was that Fox's SaturdayGame of the Week was implicitly valued at less than $90 million for five years. Before NBC officially decided to part ways with Major League Baseball (for the second time in about 12 years) on September 26, 2000,^[336] Fox's payment would have been $345 million, while NBC would have paid $240 million. NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer said regarding the loss of Major League Baseball rights for the second time since 1990:^[337]

We have notified Major League Baseball that we have passed on their offer and we wish them well going forward.^[338]

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol^[339] added that it was notcost-effective for NBC to be paying out the kind of money that Major League Baseball wanted. NBC was also reportedly concerned over disruptions to its regular fall prime time lineup that would result from having to broadcast the playoffs and World Series. In addition, NBC had severalNASCAR races scheduled during the summer.

Ebersol further added:

We walked away from theN.F.L.,^[340] because it was the right thing to do, and we stayed No. 1 in prime-time in all the important aspects. We walked away from baseball because it was the right thing to do and we don't have to take off our fall shows to show playoff games. TheN.B.A. was asking us to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.^[341]

The last Major League Baseball game that NBC would televise prior to theBoston Red Sox-Chicago White Sox contest on May 8, 2022, was Game 6 of the2000 American League Championship Series, occurring on October 17, 2000.^[342] InHouston, due to the coverage of the2000 Presidential Debate,KPRC-TV elected to carryNBC News' coverage of the debate whileindependent stationKNWS-TV carried the ALCS game via NBC.

Joe, time to say goodnight. It has been my good fortune to work with people likeTony Kubek, and "Mr. Baseball"Bob Uecker, and of course you. I've enjoyed it immensely. Best of luck toJoe Buck andTim McCarver and all the folks atFox for the upcomingWorld Series and beyond. And now as we say goodnight from theBronx, we like to show you the names of the men and women who brought you tonight's game, this year's postseason, and the past few seasons of baseball onNBC. Once again the final score from the Bronx as theYankees win the pennant...the Yanks, 9 and theMariners, 7. Coming up next on most of thesestations following your late local news,The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Tonight,Jay welcomes actorCharlie Sheen and the music ofPJ Harvey. ForJoe Morgan,Jim Gray andJimmy Roberts, I'mBob Costas saying so long...fromYankee Stadium. This has been a presentation...ofNBC Sports!

During the closing credits of that final game, NBC utilized the ending title theme^[343] byEnnio Morricone from the 1987 filmThe Untouchables.

The loss of Major League Baseball was part of a slow decline for NBC's sports division.^[344] This began with its loss of therights to the NFL'sAmerican Football Conference toCBS at the end of the1997 season. In2002, NBC lost itsNBA rights toABC. This all culminated in the unproductive2004–05 prime time season (despite heavy promotion of its lineup during the2004 Summer Olympics), when NBC carried no major championship sports events during prime time. NBC did, however, acquire the television rights to theNational Hockey League in 2004,^[345] however the NHL ended up in alockout that delayed the start of the contract by two years.

In response to NBC's impending loss of NBA coverage toABC andESPN in2002, NBC Entertainment presidentJeff Zucker said:

We lostfootball^[346] two years ago, and we stayed a strong No. 1. We lostbaseball, and we stayed a strong No. 1. Now we're about to lose basketball, and I believe we'll stay a strong No. 1. The fact is, it's had no impact on our prime time strength. . . NBC can now program all of Sunday nights without going around basketball. I think that's a huge advantage for us. We haven't been able for the last several years to put a program at 8 o'clock (such asAmerican Dreams) because we've had the NBA.

Withintwo years of NBC losing the NBA rights, NBC dropped to fourth place in the prime time television rankings for the first time in its history, which was also partly the result of a weaker prime time schedule, and would more or less remain there foralmost nine years.

In 2001, Bob Costas claimed that despite still loving the game, he now felt a certain alienation from the institution. By the time that NBC lost Major League Baseball for the second time in twelve years, the sport endured astrike, realignment, the introduction of thewild card round, and NBC's complete loss of the regular seasonGame of the Week. Costas would add that since NBC only did a few games each year and he lacked the forum that he would eventually have (onHBO'sOn the Record with Bob Costas,Inside the NFL andCostas Now as well asCostas on the Radio) to express his views, he to some extent, started editorializing in games. When asked about whether or not the fact that NBC no longer had the baseball rights was disappointing, Bob Costas said "I'm a little disappointed to lose baseball, but that's the way the business is. And it's not nearly as disappointing as it was when we lost it at the end of the'80s. Because then it was like baseball was the birthright for NBC. ... (Baseball is) not going to affect any decision that I have in the future. It's nowhere near as devastating as a decade ago. Different circumstances, different time. I miss it a little bit but not a lot. I am very philosophical about this stuff. I have had wonderful opportunities in my career and no one wants to hear me complain about anything." In2009, Costas would become a contributor and occasional play-by-play announcer forMLB Network.

On June 14, 2021, NBC Sports announced^[347] they would air a three-game series between thePhiladelphia Phillies and theSan Francisco Giants nationally onPeacock.^[348] The telecasts would represent the first time since 2000 that NBC Sports would produce a nationally televised Major League Baseball game.Jon Miller provided the play-by-play^[349] alongsideGiants analystMike Krukow andPhillies analystsJohn Kruk andJimmy Rollins.

On April 6, 2022, Major League Baseball and NBC Sports announced a multi-year deal for Peacock^[350][351] from each participating team.^[352] to air an exclusive package of 18 Sunday morning game broadcasts,^[353] beginning with a May 8, 2022, broadcast of aChicago White Sox/Boston Red Sox game^[354] atFenway Park. The games, all of which were hosted by teams in theEastern Time Zone had, in 2022, scheduled start times of 11:30 a.m.ET for the first six broadcasts (May 8 through June 12), then 12 noon ET from June 19 through September 4. The games were available only on Peacock^[355] (except for the May 8 broadcast,^[356] whichNBC^[357] wouldsimulcast^[358]), and also included pre- and post-game coverage; exclusive carriage of theAll-Star Futures Game^[359] (anAll-Star Game weekend event featuring minor-league prospects); and access to MLB's vault of highlights, classic games, and documentaries.^[360]

The deal with Peacock was the second that MLB reached with a streaming service in 2022, following an agreement announced on March 8 withApple TV+ to air weeklyFriday night doubleheaders.^{[361][355][353]}

On April 26, 2022,Andrew Marchand of theNew York Post reported thatJason Benetti^[362] (whocalls theChicago White Sox games forNBC Sports Chicago, and also workedNBC's telecasts ofbaseball during the2020 Summer Olympics)^[363] would serve as the lead by-play announcer for the games, joined by rotating analysts^[350][351] from each participating team.^[352] Separately, on the same day, NBC announcedAhmed Fareed^[364] as the studio host.^[365]

When NBC aired^[366] the Chicago White Sox-Boston Red Sox game on May 8, 2022, it officially marked 7,873 days since NBC^[367] last televised a Major League Baseball game.^[356] Jason Benetti broadcast the game alongside^[368]Steve Stone, representing the Chicago White Sox andKevin Youkilis, who represented the Boston Red Sox.

For the2023 season,^[369] NBC simulcast^[370] the May 7 game between theBaltimore Orioles andAtlanta Braves^[371] inAtlanta.^[372] This time,Matt Vasgersian provided the play-by-play duties alongsideAndruw Jones, representing the Atlanta Braves andBen McDonald, who represented the Baltimore Orioles.

Peacock's deal with Major League Baseball ultimately expired following the 2023 season.^[373]

On May 21, 2025, it was reported^[374] thatNBCUniversal made a bid to take overESPN's deal with Major League Baseball, includingSunday Night Baseball^[375] after ESPN and MLB exercised a mutual opt-out on February 20, 2025, to end their agreement following the2025 season.^[376]

On November 19, 2025. Major League Baseball announced short-term national media rights agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Netflix, covering broadcasts and streaming through 2028. The deals, worth nearly $750 million per year, follow ESPN's opt-out from its previous contract and include NBC securingSunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card round, while Peacock handles Sunday morning games starting March 26, 2026.^[377]

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