| Major League Baseball on CBS | |
|---|---|
 Major League Baseball on CBS media pin. | |
| Genre | Major League Baseball game telecasts |
| Written by | Eli Spielman |
| Directed by | Robert A. Fishman[1][2] Joe Aceti[3] |
| Presented by | Sean McDonough Jack Buck Tim McCarver Jim Kaat Dick Stockton Greg Gumbel Pat O'Brien Jim Gray Andrea Joyce Lesley Visser James Brown |
| Narrated by | Don Robertson |
| Theme music composer | Bob Christianson Tony Smythe |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 118 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Ted Shaker Rich Gentile |
| Producers | Ric LaCivita[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Bob Dekas[12][13][14][15][16] George Veras Bob Mansbach Craig Silver |
| Production locations | Various Major League Baseball stadiums |
| Cinematography | Steve Aronson Bob Albrecht Sol Bress Duilio Costabile Gilbert Deiz Jim dos Santos Kim Elston David Finch Dan Flaherty George Graffeo Terry Jones Frank Lombardo Michael Marks Scott Maynard Al Mountford Joe Pausback George Rothweiler[17] Bob Wishnie Tom Adza Tom Amon Bob Basile Vic Dashiell Chris Kelly Janis Murray Deena Sheldon Tim Walbert Glenn Hampton George Schaafsma |
| Editors | Shelly Goldmark Tom Blair David Bush Vince Aurilio Jeff Hargraves Curtis Elder Thomas E. Jones Joe Malecki |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 180 minutes or until game ended |
| Production company | CBS Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | April 14, 1990 (1990-04-14) – October 23, 1993 (1993-10-23) |
| Related | |
Major League Baseball on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts ofMajor League Baseball (MLB) games produced byCBS Sports, the sports division of theCBS television network in the United States.
CBS has aired Major League Baseball telecasts in several variations dating back to the 1950s.[18]
CBS broadcast Games 3–4 of the1947 World Series (the first World Series to ever be televised) with Bob Edge on the call. However, the 1947 World Series was only seen in four markets[19][20] viacoaxial inter-connected stations:New York City;Philadelphia;Schenectady, New York;Washington, D.C.; and, environs surrounding these cities. Outside of New York, coverage was pooled, which continued through1950. By that point, World Series games could be seen in most of the country,[21][22][23] but not all.
On July 12, 1949, CBS broadcast theAll-Star Game fromEbbets Field inBrooklyn, New York.Red Barber,[24] who was theprimary broadcaster for theBrooklyn Dodgers at the time, provided play-by-play. Barber had already, by 1946, added to his Brooklyn duties a job as sports director of theCBS Radio Network, succeedingTed Husing and continuing through 1955. There, his greatest contribution was to conceive and host theCBS Football Roundup, which switched listeners back and forth between broadcasts of different regional college games each week.
On August 11,1951, CBS'flagshiptelevision stationWCBS-TV in New York Citybroadcast the first baseball game ever televised incolor between theBrooklyn Dodgers andBoston Braves from Ebbets Field, in which the Braves beat the Dodgers 8–1. As were all color programs at the time, it was transmitted via afield-sequential color system developed by CBS. Signals transmitted this way could not be seen on existing black-and-white sets. Four years prior on July 21, WCBS used a prototype version of theZoomar Lens (the first commercially successfulzoom lens) to cover aBrooklyn Dodgers/Cincinnati Reds game.[25]
Later that year, CBS televised Game 1 of theNational League tie-breaker series between the Dodgers and theNew York Giants. Red Barber andConnie Desmond called that particular game and John Derr served as a field reporter. The remaining two games (including the legendary "Shot Heard 'Round the World" that ended Game 3 to send the Giants to theWorld Series) were broadcast byNBC withErnie Harwell andRuss Hodges on the call.
By1955,[26]Dizzy Dean[27] and theGame of the Week would move fromABC to CBS[28] (the rights were actually set up through theFalstaff Brewing Corporation[29][30][31]). "CBS' stakes were higher" saidBuddy Blattner, who left theMutual Broadcasting System to rejoin Dean.[32] Ron Powers wrote about the reteaming of Dean and Blattner, "they wanted someone who'd known Diz, could bring him out."Gene Kirby, who had worked with Dean and Blattner at Mutual and ABC, produced the telecasts and also filled in on announcing duties.
Bob Finnegan, who along withBill McColgan had called backup games for ABC, performed the same role for CBS, working with a variety of color men including futureWide World of Sports hostJim McKay[33] and futureWorld News Tonight anchorFrank Reynolds.
In 1956, CBS Sports directorFrank Chirkinian devised an earplug called an Intercepted Feed Back (or IFB) in order to connect the announcer, director, producer and thus, smoothing on-air flow.[34]
In1957, CBS added a SundayGame of the Week.[35][36][37] ABC'sEdgar Scherick said "In'53, no one wanted us. Now teams begged for "Game"'s cash." That year, theNational Football League (NFL) began a US$14.1 million revenue-sharing pact. By1965, Major League Baseball ended the large-marketblackout, got $6.5 million for exclusivity, and split the pot.
With CBS now carrying theGame of the Week,[38] the network's stations inPhoenix (KOOL-TV),Little Rock (KTHV) andCedar Rapids (KGAN-TV) were finally receiving the broadcasts. Bud Blattner said "America had never had TV network ball. Now you're getting two games a week [four, counting NBC, by1959]."
In1958, Dizzy Dean ruffled the feathers of CBS Sports headBill MacPhail when he said "I don't know how we come off callin' this the 'Game of the Week'. There's a much better game –Dodgers–Giants – over onNBC." Dean also once refused a Falstaff ad because the date wasMother's Day. WhenUnited Airlines backed CBS'Game of the Week telecasts, Dean – who hated to fly – said "If you have to, pod-nuh,Eastern is much the best." That year,George Kell served as host for the pregame show. During one broadcast, Kell hoped to ask guestCasey Stengel about theYankees' batting order. When asked about how it went, Kell said, "Fine. But in our 15 minutes, Casey didn't get past the leadoff batter."
Jack Whitaker andFrankie Frisch announced the backup games from1959 to1961. They usually did games that took place inPhiladelphia,New York City,Washington, D.C. orBaltimore. Whitaker once said in three years, he would only broadcast three innings because CBS would not switch away from Dizzy Dean. However, he said that he learned a lot of baseball just sitting next to Frisch. CBS had other backup crews for games featuring theChicago Cubs andWhite Sox,Cleveland Indians andCincinnati Reds. In these cases, Bob Finnegan would handle the play-by-play duties with various analysts depending on the city. CBS did not haveGame of the Week rights from any other ballparks in those years.
Pee Wee Reese[39] replaced Blattner as Dean's partner in1960. That year,Jerry Coleman hosted the pregame show for CBS'Game of the Week broadcasts. A rather embarrassing incident for Coleman occurred when he was interviewingCookie Lavagetto when the "Star-Spangled Banner" started. Coleman later said, "Believe me, when the Anthem starts, I stop, whether I'm taping, talking, or eating a banana."[40]
In1962, CBS dropped the Sunday baseballGame of the Week[41] once theNFLseason started, dropping the option clause foraffiliates to carry baseball or football in place since1957.
In 1963 and 1964, viewers in San Francisco were unable to see certain baseball telecasts aired by CBS onKPIX-TV locally, although the games aired on stations in markets adjacent to theBay Area. In 1963, KPIX pre-empted the July 13 game between theSan Francisco Giants–Philadelphia Phillies (at 10:15 a.m.),[42] and theLos Angeles Dodgers-Phillies game on July 14 (at 9:30 a.m.); in 1964, the station pre-empted theKansas City Athletics–New York Yankees game on May 16 (at 10:45) and theMilwaukee Braves–St. Louis Cardinals game on May 17. All four games did air on NBC affiliateKSBW inSalinas,KXTV inSacramento and ABC affiliateKHSL-TV inChico (the games also aired onKOLO-TV inReno, Nevada, however it joined the two July 1963 games in progress, at 10:25 and 9:55 a.m. on the respective dates).
By1964,[43] CBS' Dean and Reese called games from Yankee Stadium,Wrigley Field,St. Louis,Philadelphia andBaltimore. The New York Yankees got a $550,000 share of CBS' $895,000. Six clubs that exclusively played nationally televised games on NBC were paid $1.2 million. The theme music used on the CBS telecasts during this era was aDixieland styled rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
In1966, theNew York Yankees, which in theyear prior played 21Games of the Week for CBS (which had actually just purchased the Yankees[44][45]), joined NBC's television package. The new package under NBC called for 28 games compared to the 123 aired across the three networks in1960.
Play-by-play
Color commentators
Hosts/field reporters
As previously alluded to, on October 19, 1966,NBC signed a three-year contract with Major League Baseball. NBC paid roughly US$6 million per year for the 25Games of the Week,[47] $6.1 million for the1967 World Series andAll-Star Game, and $6.5 million for the1968 World Series and1968 All-Star Game. In replacing CBS, NBC traded acircus for a seminar. Pee Wee Reese said "Curt Gowdy was its guy (1966–75), and didn't want Dizzy Dean[48] – 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.
In1976,CBS Radio replaced NBC Radio as the exclusive national radio broadcaster for the World Series and All-Star Game. This came after NBC ended its radio association with baseball in order to clear space for its 24-hour "News And Information" service programming.[49] In1985,[50][51] CBS Radio started broadcasting a weeklyGame of the Week.[52] CBS Radio usually did two games each Saturday, one on the afternoons and another during the evenings.[53] Typically,CBS' markets aired only the afternoon broadcasts. The games covered varied from the onesNBC-TV were offering at the time to games outside of NBC's sight.
In1987, CBSbroadcast thePan American Games for the fourth and to date, final time. For thebaseball coverage,John Dockery[54] handled the play-by-play withMark Marquess[55] on color commentary. One year later, CBSbroadcast the championship game for theCollege World Series.Brent Musburger served as the play-by-play announcer that year as well as in1989. Joining Musburger in the booth wasRick Monday[56] in 1988 andJoe Morgan in 1989.
By the end of the1987-88 season, CBS finished in last place[57] and was looking to get themselves out ofthe slump[58] that they had gotten themselves into. They decided that sports would be a very powerful tool[59] to put CBS back on the map. So on that end, they paid a huge sum of money to broadcast Major League Baseball.
On December 14, 1988, CBS announced the results of guidance provided byCommissionerPeter Ueberroth, Major League Baseball's broadcast director Bryan Burns, CBS Inc.CEOLaurence Tisch as well as CBS Sports executives Neal Pilson andEddie Einhorn in making a decision.[60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71] The network paid approximately US$1.8 billion (equivalent to 2.65 billion in 2024)[64] for exclusive over-the-air television rights for over four years (beginning in1990). CBS paid about $265 million each year[72] for theWorld Series,League Championship Series,All-Star Game, and the SaturdayGame of the Week. CBS replacedABC[73] (which had broadcastMonday and laterThursday night baseball games from1976 to1989) and NBC (which had broadcast Major League Baseball in some shape or form since1947 and theGame of the Week exclusively since1966) as the national broadcast network television home of Major League Baseball.[74]
It was one of the largest agreements[75] (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[76] than in the previous television contract with ABC and NBC.[77] The deal with CBS was also intended to pay each team (26 in1990 and then, 28 by1993) $10 million a year. CBS would also be paying an estimated $7.1 million per game or $790,000 per inning, and $132,000 per out; a separatecable television deal would bring each team an additional $4 million. Each team could also cut its own deal with broadcast and cable television channels and radio stations to serve as their local broadcasters (for example, theNew York Yankees signed a cable deal withMSG that would pay the team $41 million annually for 12 years). Reportedly, after the huge television contracts with CBS andESPN were signed, baseball clubs spent their excess millions onfree agent players.[78]
Author and presidentialspeechwriterCurt Smith however, said 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 deal with ESPN, 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."[79]
One possible key factor towards why NBC lost the baseball package to CBS was due to their commitment tobroadcasting the1992 Summer Olympics fromBarcelona.[80][81] 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.
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,[82] with its weak prime time programming,[83] dared go for that.
Before[84] the previous television contract (which ran from1984 to1989) with Major League Baseball was signed, CBS[85] was at one point, interested in a pact which would have called for threeinterleague games airing only on Thursday nights during the season.[86] The proposed deal with CBS involved respectivelyAmerican League East teams playing theNational League East, and theAmerican League West playing theNational League West. At the end of their coverage of the1989 World Series,ABC commentatorAl Michaels said:
If you'll indulge us just another moment, this is the end of our association with baseball. I think as many of you may know, the primary package goes to CBS. And to our friends at what's known in the industry as "Black Rock",[71] good luck in1990 and beyond.
A trademark of CBS' baseball coverage was its theme music,[87] composed by Bob Christianson and Tony Smythe. One writer in 2015, noting that CBS' coverage of that era was considered by many fans to be "low-quality", remarked that the majestic, mature, and soaring theme music could be considered "the best part of CBS’ baseball coverage".[88] Besides the prologues (with the play-by-play announcer previewing the upcoming matchup) for the SaturdayGame of the Week, the music was usually set to the opening graphic of anopaque rendition of theCBS Eye entering a big, waving red, white and bluebunting and then a smaller, unfolding red, white and blue bunting (over a white diamond) and floating blue banner (which usually featured an indicating year like for instance, "1991 World Series") complete with dark redOld English text.Pat O'Brien was made the host of the All-Star Game, the postseason, and the World Series, despite having watched, by his own admission, a total of "perhaps two" baseball games in his entire life at that point.[89]
The network used the slogan "Baseball's biggest moments are on CBS!" to promote its regular seasonGame of the Week broadcasts.[90]
For Pat O'Brien's prologue for Game 3 of the1990 National League Championship Series, between theCincinnati Reds andPittsburgh Pirates, CBS usedDavid Arkenstone's "Desert Ride", which would subsequently be used duringBob Costas' prologue forNBC's coverage of Game 6 of the1993 NBA Finals between theChicago Bulls andPhoenix Suns.
During the closing credits of CBS' coverage of Game 4 of the1990 World Series[91] (after theCincinnati Reds swept theOakland Athletics), CBS usedJames Horner's score from the end credits of the 1989 filmGlory.
A recurring theme during CBS' coverage of the postseason was the usage ofMichael Kamen's "Overture" fromRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves. From start to finish, an audio montage of baseball's most memorable moments played over it, followed by a video and music (with no narration) recap of bothLeague Championship Series and the World Series from1991 to1993. The "Training" cue fromRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves was played against an all slow-motion montage of the entire series. AsTim McCarver recapped the first six games of the 1991 World Series before Game 7, CBS usedHans Zimmer's "Fighting 17th" from the movieBackdraft for the soundtrack.
During Pat O'Brien's prologue for CBS' coverage of the1992 Major League Baseball All-Star Game,[92]Ennio Morricone's theme from the 1987 filmThe Untouchables was used. CBS previously used this particular theme for the prologue of their1990 National League Championship Series[93] coverage. NBC would subsequently use Morricone's theme during the closing credits for their coverage of Game 6 of the2000 American League Championship Series (the network's final Major League Baseball broadcast for the next 22 years).
During Pat O'Brien's prologue for Game 1 of the1991 American League Championship Series between theMinnesota Twins andToronto Blue Jays[94] andDick Stockton's prologue for Game 5 of the1992 American League Championship Series between theToronto Blue Jays andOakland Athletics,[95] CBS used "In Celebration of Man" byYanni, which is now known for being the theme music forNBC'sU.S. Open golf coverage. Also during CBS' 1992 ALCS coverage, CBS enlisted thecast ofSesame Street such asBig Bird,[96]Oscar the Grouch andTelly Monster to help with the intros.
During the1993 All-Star Game and postseason, highlights of past All-Star Games and postseason moments were scored using theJohn Williams composedtheme[97] from the movieJurassic Park. Also during the commercial breaks of the 1993 All-Star Game, CBS provided a snippet ofDon Henley's "The Boys of Summer".Van Halen's "Right Now" was used during the opening for the network's coverage of Game 4 of the1993 American League Championship Series[98] between theToronto Blue Jays andChicago White Sox.
During the prologue for Game 1 of the1993 World Series, CBS usedHans Zimmer's "The Walk Home" from the movieCool Runnings. During the prologue for Game 6 of the 1993 World Series[99] (CBS' final Major League Baseball telecast to date), they usedJerry Goldsmith's "Tryouts" from the movieRudy. Meanwhile, during the closing credits for Game 6 of the 1993 World Series, they usedBob Seger's "The Famous Final Scene" followed byBilly Joel's "Famous Last Words".[100]
CBS for the most part, bypassed the division and pennant races. Instead, its schedule focused on games featuring major-market teams, regardless of their record.
Major League Baseball's four-season tenure with CBS (1990–1993) was marred by turmoil and shortcomings[101][102] throughout.[103] The original plan was forBrent Musburger[104][105][106] to be the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS' baseball telecasts (thus, having the tasks of calling the All-Star Game,National League Championship Series, andWorld Series[107]), with veteran broadcaster and lead CBS Radio baseball voiceJack Buck to serve as the secondary announcer[108] (which would involve calling a second weekly game and theAmerican League Championship Series). Former ABC color commentatorTim McCarver[109][110] was hired by CBS to be Musburger's partner[111] while NBC'sJim Kaat[112] was hired to be Buck's. However, weeks before CBS was to debut its MLB coverage, on April 1, 1990, Musburger was fired[113][114][115][116] by the network over what CBS perceived to be a power grab by Musburger[117] in taking on the assignment (at the time,[118] Musburger was CBS' leadcollege basketball announcer,[119] host ofThe NFL Today, and was the main studio host for theNBA and had felt that he had been given too many broadcasting assignments[120] by the network).
With Musburger's firing, Buck was moved up[121][122][123] to the lead broadcast team alongside McCarver.[124] His position as backup announcer alongside Kaat was taken by CBS' lead NBA announcer,Dick Stockton.[125][126] Studio hostGreg Gumbel[127] took over for Stockton as the secondary play-by-play announcer in1993. Gumbel was in return, replaced by Andrea Joyce, who served as a field reporter for the first three seasons of CBS' coverage. On the teaming of Buck and McCarver,Broadcasting magazine wrote "The network has exclusivity, much rides on them." Joining the team of Buck and McCarver wasLesley Visser (who was, incidentally, married to the aforementioned Dick Stockton), became the first woman to cover theWorld Series in 1990. It was initially speculated that Dick Stockton[128] would not have been available to contribute as the secondary play-by-play announcer due to his football and basketball commitments for CBS.
In the interim between Brent Musburger's firing and Jack Buck's promotion, there had been speculation that ifAl Michaels[129] won anarbitration case involving ABC, he would join CBS[130] as its lead baseball announcer. Michaels had been feuding[131] with the network over an alleged violation of company policy. Michaels' contract with ABC was originally set to expire in late 1992. Ultimately however, ABC announced a contract extension that sources said would keep Michaels at ABC through at least the end of 1995 and would pay him at least $2.2 million annually with the potential to earn more. That would make Michaels the highest-paid sports announcer in television.
Meanwhile, Jim Kaat earned rave reviews for his role as CBS' backup analyst (which flashed a considerable "good-guy air"). Ron Bergman wrote of Kaat's performance during the1990 ALCS,[132] "This was a night for pitchers to excel.Dave Stewart.Roger Clemens. Jim Kaat [on commentary]." Despite the rave reviews, Jim Kaat admitted that he was frustrated. He felt that at that point and time, the idea of figuring out what to talk about during a three-hour broadcast had become intimidating. As a result, Kaat would bring notes into the booth, but in the process, found himself providing too much detail. He ultimately confided in his broadcasting partner, Dick Stockton, that he wanted to work without notes. So Stockton hooked Kaat up with then-leadNFL on CBS color commentator,John Madden for a telephone seminar. Madden said if he brought notes into the booth he felt compelled to use them and would "force" something into a telecast. On his seminar with John Madden, Jim Kaat said "Then John told me if he did his homework it would be stored in his memory bank. And if it is important it will come out. If it doesn't, it probably wasn't that important."
A mildly notorious moment came during CBS' coverage of the1990 All-Star Game[133] fromWrigley Field[134] inChicago. In a game that was marred by rain delays for a combined 85 minutes (including a 68-minutemonsoon during the 7th inning[135]), CBS annoyed many diehard fans by airing theWilliam Shatner-hosted reality seriesRescue 911[136] during the delay.
On April 7, CBS aired a special program calledSeason of Dreams: Baseball 1990.[137] Hosted byGreg Gumbel, the special not only previewed the1990 Major League Baseball season, but also CBS' upcoming baseball coverage in general. Joining Gumbel were CBS Sports analystTim McCarver andPat O'Brien, who presented a segment on the numerousplayer transitions, leading up to the start of the 1990 season.
CBS initially did not want to start their 1990 coverage[138][139] until after CBS had aired that year'sNBA Finals (which was the last timeCBS aired the Finals before the NBA's move toNBC[140]). Therefore, only 12[141] regular season telecasts were scheduled[60][142] The broadcasts would have been on each Saturday from June 16 through August 25 and a specialSunday telecast on the weekend of August 11–12 (theNew York Yankees against theOakland Athletics in Oakland on both days). Ultimately, four more telecasts were added – two in April[143] and two on the last two Saturdays of the season.
On September 22, CBS was scheduled to televise a game between theBoston Red Sox andNew York Yankees[144] fromYankee Stadium at 12 p.m.Eastern Time. The start of game was however, delayed for approximately, five hours due to rain. Instead, CBS broadcast theSt. Louis Cardinals–Pittsburgh Pirates game fromThree Rivers Stadium inPittsburgh in the national window at noon. Following their baseball coverage, CBS was scheduled tobroadcast acollege football gamebetween theAlabama Crimson Tide andGeorgia Bulldogs[145] at 3 p.m. EST. Consequently, CBS was unable to televise the Boston–New York game once the rain finally ceased just around 5:30 p.m. EST, including in the local teams' markets.
The 1990 postseason started on a Thursday,[171] while World Series started on a Tuesday due to the brieflockout. Major League Baseball and CBS went with some rather unconventional scheduling during the LCS round, with two consecutive scheduled off-days[172] in theNLCS[173] after Game 2.
After NBC lost the Major League Baseball package to CBS, NBC aggressively counter-programmed[174][175] CBS' postseason baseball coverage withmade-for-TV movies andminiseries geared towards female viewers.[176]
CBS' first year of Major League Baseball postseason coverage in general, proved to be problematic for the network. First and foremost, none of the teams involved in theALCS (Boston andOakland),NLCS (Cincinnati andPittsburgh[177]), andWorld Series (Cincinnati and Oakland) involved teams frombaseball's largest media markets.[178] This more than likely, helped reduce playoff ratings by 9.4% forprime time games and 3.4% for weekend daytime games. This was below the levels of the playoffs the year before, when they aired on NBC.
While the ratings for the 1990 World Series improved to 26.2[179] compared to1989, the 1989 Series (which aired on ABC) was interrupted for 10 days by theLoma Prieta earthquake. All in all, the 1989 World Series was at the time, the lowestrated World Series ever. More to the point, the ratings for the 1990 World Series on CBS were significantly lower than any World Series between1982 and1988.
Although the 1990 NLCS lasted six games, that year's ALCS and more importantly, the World Series, lasted only four[180] out of seven possible games. To put things into proper perspective, by one estimate, CBS lost $5 million for each playoff game not played and US$15.4 million for each World Series game not played.[181] Ultimately, CBS lost $12 million to $15 million on each of the League Championship Series and World Series games not played, for a total of $36 million to $45 million.
CBS claimed to have lost about $55 million on its baseball coverage in after-taxes revenue in 1990.[182][183][184] The losses eventually totaled $170 million by the end of the four-year contract. The losses were partially due to a shorter-than-usual postseason, which ended when theCincinnati Reds swept the defendingWorld ChampionOakland Athletics in theWorld Series in four games.[185][186] CBS made several adjustments for 1991. Regular season telecasts were reduced to a meager handful. In return, pregame shows during the League Championship Series were eliminated, to minimize the ratings damage.
On Sunday, May 5, CBS broadcast games involvingCleveland atOakland (with Jack Buck and Tim McCarver on the call) andBoston at theChicago White Sox (with Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat on the call). On Sunday, July 14, Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat called a game inAnaheim between theNew York Yankees andCalifornia Angels.
For CBS' coverage of the1991 All-Star Game fromToronto, CBS started their broadcast at the top of the hour with the customary pregame coverage. BecauseAmerican PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush andCanadian Prime MinisterBrian Mulroney were throwing out the first ball, there was a slight delay from the 8:30 p.m.EDT start. The game eventually started about 15–20 minutes late. CBS began starting the prime time broadcasts at 8:30 for the final two years of the contract, with little or no pregame content.
In the1991 World Series between theMinnesota Twins andAtlanta Braves, four games were won during the teams' final at-bat, and three of these, including the seventh and decisive game, were in extra innings.[187][188] In the sixth game, Jack Buck famously called Minnesota left fielderKirby Puckett'sgame-winning home run[189] off ofCharlie Leibrandt with the line "And we'll see you tomorrow night!" Ultimately, the tightly contested, seven-game affair[190] between Minnesota and Atlanta earned CBS the highest ratings for a World Series[191] since the1986 World Series between theNew York Mets andBoston Red Sox on NBC. InWashington, D.C., Game 7 of the 1991 World Series was pushed aside toindependent stationWDCA 20 so that CBS'WUSA 9 could air theWashington Redskins'NFL game against theNew York Giants. Meanwhile,CBS' affiliate inMinneapolis,WCCO 4, had to miss the beginning of the pregame show for Game 7 because anNFL contest thatCBS broadcast between theMinnesota Vikings andPhoenix Cardinals ended late.
TheTwins are going to win theWorld Series!!! The Twins have won it! It's a base hit, it's a one-nothing...ten inning victory!!!
— Jack Buck callingGene Larkin's 1991 World Series clinching hit.[192]
Earlier in the postseason, CBS' coverage of theALCS meant that they could not carry the live testimony ofClarence Thomas, whose confirmation to theUnited States Supreme Court was put into question because of charges ofsexual harassment from former stafferAnita Hill. Meanwhile,ABC,NBC,CNN andPBS all carried the testimony.[193]
As previously mentioned, as CBS' baseball coverage[194][195][196][197] progressed, CBS dropped its 8:00 p.m. pregame coverage[198] (in favor of airingsitcoms such asEvening Shade), before finally starting their coverage at 8:30 p.m.Eastern Time. The first pitch would generally arrive at approximately 8:45 p.m. Perhaps as a result,Joe Carter'sWorld Series clinchinghome run offMitch Williams in 1993, occurred at 12 a.m. on theEast Coast.
After two years of calling baseball telecasts for CBS,[106] Jack Buck was dismissed in December 1991. According to theradio veteran Buck, he had a hard time adjusting to the demands of a more constricting television production.[210] CBS felt that Buck should have done more to make himself appear to be a set-up man for lead analyst Tim McCarver.[211][212] Buck was also criticized for miscalls and anticipating the outcome of plays. Jack Buck's sonJoe[213] tried to rationalize his father's on-air problems by saying "My dad was brought up in thegolden age of radio, I think he had his hands tied somewhat, being accustomed to the freedom of radio.[214] I'm more used to acquiescing to what the producer wants to do, what the director wants to do."
Ric LaCivita, CBS' coordinating producer for baseball, said in July 1992 in regards to working with Jack Buck for two seasons: "There were different styles in the booth that made it difficult to create the type of production that benefited from Tim's skills. My job is to create an atmosphere where our people can do the best job, with people talking in the truck and an announcer who was doing radio calls instead of TV calls."[215]
Buck himself sized up CBS' handling of the announcers by saying "CBS never got that baseball play-by-play draws word-pictures. All they knew was that football stars analysts. So they said, 'Let [analyst Tim] McCarver run the show.' In television, all they want you to do is shut up. I'm not very good at shutting up." Buck though, would add that although he knew Tim McCarver well, they never developed a good relationship with each other on the air[212] despite high hopes to the contrary.Phil Mushnick added insult to injury to Buck by accusing him of "trying to predict plays, as if to prove he was still on top."[216]
My biggest problem was understanding my role. They wanted him to dominate the broadcast and have me be the mechanic and stay out of the way. I didn't want to broadcast that way. I guess I should have accepted it, but relying on my experience onGrandStand[217] (NBC's NFL pregame show that Buck hosted in1975) when I had not challenged anyone, I couldn't let others make all the decisions that put me in a position where I couldn't perform at all.
— Jack Buck in his autobiographyThat's a Winner.[218]
Buck also got into deep trouble with CBS executives (namelyexecutive producer Ted Shaker) over questionable comments made towards singerBobby Vinton in 1990. While on-air prior to Game 4 ofthat year's NLCS inPittsburgh, Buck criticized Vinton's off-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner", making a comment towards Vinton that sounded like a prejudicial remark centered on hisPolish heritage.[219][220][221] Joe Buck believed that the situation was ironic because his father was "trying to help the guy." Buck began receiving death threats fromPirate fans and discovered a footprint on his pillow once he returned to his hotel room.
Buck's replacement wasBoston Red Sox announcerSean McDonough.[222][106] Ted Shaker called McDonough about his interests for the top announcing job, and after McDonough hung up the telephone, he claimed that he did not want to "act like a 10-year-old" but he "jumped so high that he put a hole in his ceiling." McDonough, who was 30 years old at the time, became the youngest full-time network announcer to call a World Series when he called that year's Fall Classic alongside McCarver.
For CBS' coverage of the1992 All-Star Game,[223][224] they introduced Basecam,[225] a lipstick-size camera, inside first base.
Throughout Game 2 of the1992 ALCS, Jim Kaat was stricken with a bad case oflaryngitis.[226] As a result,Johnny Bench had to come over from theCBS Radio booth and finish the game with Dick Stockton as a "relief analyst."[227] There was talk that if Kaat's laryngitis did not get better,Don Drysdale was going to replace Kaat on television for the rest of ALCS, while Bench would continue to work on CBS Radio.
Tim McCarver ran afoul ofAtlanta Braves outfielderDeion Sanders during the 1992 postseason,[228][229] when he made comments on-air criticizing Sanders for his two-sport athletic career; Sanders was playing for both the Braves and the NFL'sAtlanta Falcons at the time and participated in both the baseball postseason and the early NFL regular season for the first time in 1992 (Sanders was unable to do this in1991, as his NFL contract with theFalcons would not allow him to). Sanders retaliated following Game 7 of theNLCS[230] by dumping a bucket of ice water on McCarver (who was wired for sound and feared electrocution).
He was not immune to criticism from outside sources, either, asNorman Chad wrote a critique of him inSports Illustrated during the postseason. Chad said that McCarver was someone who "when you ask him the time, will tell you how a watch works", a reference to McCarver's perceived tendency to overanalyze[231] things. Chad went further by saying "What's the difference between Tim McCarver andappendicitis? Appendicitis is covered by most health plans."
He was also known to make gaffes from time to time. One of his more amusing miscues came during the1992 National League Championship Series when he repeatedly referred toPittsburgh Pirates pitcherTim Wakefield as "Bill Wakefield.[232] He finally explained that Bill Wakefield was one of his old minor-league teammates, and he laughed at himself because "I forgot my own name!" The year prior, during Game 6 of theWorld Series, McCarver's broadcast colleague, Jack Buck talked aboutAtlanta third basemanTerry Pendleton, who hit .367 in the series. Buck said, "TP. That's what his teammates call him." A few seconds later, McCarver rather oddly added, "TP. An appropriate name for someone who plays on the Braves."[233]
During the 1992 postseason, CBS missed covering one of thethree debates[234] among U.S. presidential candidatesGeorge H.W. Bush,Bill Clinton. andH. Ross Perot. CBS had planned to join other broadcast and cable networks in the telecast; however, Game 4 of theALCS between theToronto Blue Jays andOakland Athletics did not end until 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, about the time the debate ended. The Blue Jays won the game 7–6 in 11 innings. The other networks reported very good ratings for the debate, part of one of the more compelling election campaigns in recent times.
The 1992 NLCS between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates meanwhile, ended in dramatic fashion; in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7, with Atlanta down 2–1 and the bases loaded, the Braves'Francisco Cabrera cracked a two-run single that scoredDavid Justice andSid Bream. Bream famouslyslid to score the Series-winning run, beating the throw by Pirates left fielderBarry Bonds.Don Ohlmeyer, the former head ofNBC Sports and President of NBC West Coast, supposedly called the event "one of the most exciting baseball moments he had ever seen," albeit regretting the time of day it took place.[235]
Line-drive and a base-hit!Justice has scored the tying run,Bream to the plate...and he isSAFE! Safe at the plate! TheBraves go to theWorld Series![236] The unlikeliest of heroes wins theNational League Championship Series for theAtlanta Braves.Francisco Cabrera, who had only ten at-bats in the major leagues during theregular season, singled through the left side, scoring Sid Bream from second base with the winning run. Bream, who's had five knee operations in his lifetime, just beat the tag from his ex-mateMike LaValliere and Atlanta pulls out Game 7 with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. This place is bedlam. There will be no second nightmare forBobby Cox. Final score in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series: the Braves 3 and thePirates 2.
— Sean McDonough's description[232][237][238] of the final moments of Game 7 of the1992 National League Championship Series.
For the1992 season, CBS chose from three games on most Saturdays, thus giving them more flexibility. TheChicago Cubs,St. Louis Cardinals,Boston Red Sox,Atlanta Braves, andLos Angeles Dodgers all agreed to increase their maximum number of network exposures before the final two weeks of the season from four to five. This would've been when any scheduled game was eligible for broadcast. More to the point, with two or three matchups tentatively scheduled for each date, CBS had the option[239] to select the best game two weeks before the telecast. For instance, the Red Sox could appear on CBS as many as five times, theNew York Mets four times, and theNew York Yankees once.
On May 22, 1993,WIVB 4, CBS' affiliate inBuffalo, New York, bypassed CBS' Saturday afternoon baseball coverage for the second consecutive week.[249] According to a CBS spokesperson, theKing World owned Channel 4 was the only affiliate in the country to drop baseball the previous Saturday and would be the only affiliate to skip May 22's game, too. WIVB in baseball's place, ranpaid programming. Channel 4's Twila Henneberger said "We're not carrying the games this month and we're looking at them on an individual basis after that. There is minimal interest in viewership of baseball, plus a lot of opportunities to watch all week and during the evenings. Interest on part of the advertisers is not there, either." Their decision to drop baseball for two weeks came about a week after CBS appeared to fail in its bid[250] to keep the sport after the1993 season.
Lesley Visser missed the first half of the 1993 season due to injuries earlier suffered in a bizarre jogging accident in New York City'sCentral Park. Visser broke her hip and skidded face-first across the pavement, requiring reconstructive plastic surgery on her face and more than a decade later required an artificial hip replacement. She missed theMajor League Baseball All-Star Game.[251][252]Jim Kaat would replace her while she recuperated. Jim Gray also served as a reporter for the All-Star Game[253][12] andWorld Series.
As previously mentioned, for 1993, CBS made a broadcast booth change by removing Dick Stockton from his role as secondary play-by-play announcer after three seasons, and replacing him withGreg Gumbel.[254] Also as previously mentioned, also during the 1993 season,Andrea Joyce replaced Gumbel[214] as studio host. Joyce would be joined at the anchor desk by Pat O'Brien. At the1993 World Series, she became the first woman to co-host the network television coverage for a World Series. Sean McDonough[255] filled in for O'Brien, who was suffering fromlaryngitis,[256] as the pregame host for Game 6 of the1993 National League Championship Series. Game 6 of the NLCS by the way, didn't have its first pitch until nearly 8:50 p.m.EST so that CBS could run60 Minutes in its entirety.[255]During CBS' coverage of the World Series,[257] umpires were upset with theoverhead[258][259] replays being televised by CBS.Dave Phillips, the crew chief, said just prior to Game 2 that the umpires want "CBS to be fair with their approach."Rick Gentile,[260] senior vice president for production for CBS Sports, said thatRichie Phillips, the lawyer for theMajor League Umpires Association, tried to call the broadcast booth during Saturday's game, but the call was not put through. Richie Phillips apparently was upset when Dave Phillips called thePhiladelphia Phillies'Ricky Jordan out on strikes in the fourth inning, and a replay showed the pitch to be about 6 inches outside.National League PresidentBill White, while using a CBS headset in the broadcast booth during Game 1, was overheard telling Gentile and the producer Bob Dekas, "You guys keep using that camera the way you want. Don't let Phillips intimidate you."
After the fallout from CBS' financial problems[276][277] from their exclusive, four-year-long, US$1.8 billion[278][279] television contract with Major League Baseball (a contract that ultimately cost CBS approximately $500 million[280]), Major League Baseball[281] decided to go into the business of producing the telecasts themselves[282] and market these to advertisers on its own. Therefore, in May 1993, Major League Baseball officially announced arevenue sharingagreement withABC andNBC that would call for Major League Baseball to receive 85% of the first US$140 million[141] in advertising[283] revenue (or 87.5%[284] of advertising revenues[285] and corporate sponsorship[286] from the games until sales topped a specified level), 50% of the next $30 million, and 80% of any additional money. Prior to this, Major League Baseball was projected to take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks. When compared to the previous television deal with CBS, The Baseball Network was supposed to bring in 50% less of the broadcasting revenue. The advertisers[287] were reportedly excited about the arrangement with The Baseball Network because the new package included several changes intended to boostratings, especially among younger viewers.
The final Major League Baseball game that CBS has televised to date was Game 6 of the1993 World Series on October 23.[288][289] Before Major League Baseball decided to seek the services of other networks,[290] CBS offered US$120 million in annual rights fees over a two-year period,[291][292][293][294] as well as advertising revenues in excess of $150 million a season.
Upon being asked about the news of CBS having to end their relationship with Major League Baseball after only four years, Sean McDonough told theNew York Times[257] "It's all the words you can think of, frustrating, disappointing and sad, particularly because it's going so well. Hopefully, this will just be a cyclical thing and we can get back into it, maybe in two years." WhenToronto'sJoe Carter hit his 1993 World Series clinchinghome run off ofPhiladelphia PhilliescloserMitch Williams, McDonough said[295] "Well-hit down the left-field line! Way back and GONE![296] Joe Carter with a three-run homer! The winners and stillworld champions, theToronto Blue Jays!"
You know asTony Kubek once said aboutMickey Mantle "Just as he was learning to say hello, he was saying goodbye!" This is kind of the way we feel here atCBS Sports. It doesn't seem possible that our four years as the caretaker of the "National Pastime" are over, but here we are...saying goodbye. And in that short time, not only did we have probably one of the greatestWorld Series ever betweenAtlanta andMinnesota, the seven gamer, we also had arguably, one of the greatestWorld Series games the other night. And folks, how about this one tonight!? In all, and you're looking at them now, a lot of memories...a lot of good memories! And we hoped that you cherish these pictures and these sounds as much as we enjoyed bringing them right into your homes. Time to say goodbye, but knowing full well...that the grand ol' game will never say goodbye! It's just keeps rolling up...the memories![297] For all of us here at CBS Sports, I'mPat O'Brien, thank you...for watching and...goodnight everybody!
— Host Pat O'Brien at the conclusion of CBS' coverage of the Game 6 of 1993 World Series and its four-year-long coverage of Major League Baseball as a whole.
Shortly after the start of the1994–95 Major League Baseball strike,Stanford University's Roger Noll[276] argued that theBaseball Network[298] deal (and the bargain-basementESPN cable renewal, which went from $100 million to $42 million because of their losses) reflected "poor business judgment on the part of management about the long-run attractiveness of their product to national broadcasters." He added that the $140 million that owners expected to share for the 1994 season (before the strike) from TBN was underestimated by "one-third to one-half" and fell below the annual average of $165 million needed to renew the TBN deal after two years. Meanwhile, Andy Zimbalist, author ofBaseball and Billions, and aplayers' union consulting economist, insisted that baseball "could have done better than the TBN deal with some combination of CBS (which as previously mentioned, offered $120 million last-ditch bid for renewal),Fox andTBS. Baseball shut out CBS and could have waited longer before closing them out."
In October1995, when it was a known fact that ABC and NBC were going to end their television deal/joint venture[257] with Major League Baseball, preliminary talks[299] arose about CBS resuming its role as MLB's national over-the-air broadcaster.[300] It was rumored that CBS would showThursday night games[301][302] (more specifically, a package ofWest Coastinter-league games scheduled for the 11:30 p.m.Eastern/8:30Pacific Time slot) while Fox would show Saturday afternoon games.[303] CBS and Fox were also rumored to share rights to the postseason.[304] At the time, CBS sports President David Kenin said in a statement,[305] "We are interested in all major sports properties and obviously Major League Baseball is one of them. If we can conceive an arrangement that makes sense, naturally we'd be very interested in acquiring some kind of baseball package." In the end however, CBS' involvement did not come to pass and NBC became Fox's over-the-air national television partner. Whereas each team earned about $14 million in 1990 under CBS, the later television agreement with NBC and Fox beginning in 1996 earned each team about $6.8 million.[306]
After CBS' contract with Major League Baseball expired following the 1993 season, Tim McCarver[307] returned to ABC (and to his broadcast partners prior to coming to CBS,Al Michaels andJim Palmer) for the next two years under the short-lived "Baseball Network" joint-venture. After calling Games 1, 4–5 of the1995 World Series for ABC (NBC'sBob Costas,Joe Morgan, andBob Uecker called the other games), McCarver moved to Fox to form the lead broadcast team withJoe Buck. With the exception of 1997 and 1999 (when NBC held the broadcasting rights), McCarver would help broadcast every World Series from1996 until his retirement from national TV broadcasts in2013.[308][309] Ten years prior to that, McCarver set a record by broadcasting his 13thWorld Series on national television (surpassingCurt Gowdy); in all, he called 24 Fall Classics for ABC, CBS, and Fox.
Meanwhile, despite the loss of Major League Baseball, Sean McDonough[310] stayed on at CBS Sports calling among other things, theCollege World Series. In fact, three years after calling Joe Carter's World Series clinching home run in Toronto, McDonough while calling theCollege World Series for CBS alongsideSteve Garvey, McDonough called another series clinching home run. This time, it wasWarren Morris, who hit atwo out, 9th inningwalk-off home run that won the1996 College World Series[311] for theLouisiana State UniversityFighting Tigers againstMiami. Sean McDonough's run at CBS came to an end in December 1999, when CBS Sports PresidentSean McManus informed McDonough that his contract would not be renewed.[312] OnceDick Enberg, late ofNBC became available, McDonough basically became the odd man out.[313]
In 1994, Jim Kaat was the lead analyst onBaseball Tonight for ESPN's coverage ofMajor League Baseball. In 1995, he was nominated for a New YorkEmmy Award for "On Camera Achievement." Also in1995, Kaat called the American League playoffs withBrent Musburger forABC/The Baseball Network including theNew York Yankees–Seattle MarinersDivision Series. He served his second stint as an announcer for Yankees games on theMSG Network/YES Network (1995–2006),[314] where his straight-shooting style was much in the mode of former Yankees broadcastersTony Kubek andBill White. Towards the end of his second stint with the Yankees, his workload decreased. In 2006, he only broadcast 65 games.[315] Despite his decreased work load, Kaat won another Emmy for on-air achievement in 2006. In an on-air broadcast on September 10,2006 with booth partnerKen Singleton, Kaat acknowledged his plan to end his broadcasting career. His final appearance in the booth was to be aNew York Yankees–Boston Red Sox game on September 15, 2006 (Kaat was also set to throw out the first pitch). However, the game was postponed due to rain. Kaat later announced that he was going to record a special farewell message to the fans, but would not return for any additional broadcasts. However, the following day, Kaat did announce one full inning of the first game of Saturday September 16's doubleheader onFox along with Tim McCarver andJosh Lewin. During that Fox telecast he was able to say goodbye to the Yankees fans, an opportunity that the previous night's rainout had deprived him of doing on the YES Network. In2009, Kaat joined the recently launchedMLB Network as a color commentator for theirMLB Network Showcase series. Kaat also writes a weekly on-line blog for the Yankees (YES) Network, Kaat's Korner, and contributes video blogs and interviews regularly with national and international media outlets. One of the reasons he got back into regular broadcasting was because after his wife died, Tim McCarver and Elizabeth Schumacher, his friend and business manager, urged him to get back into the game. He also called Pool D in Puerto Rico for the2009 World Baseball Classic games for an international feed.[316]
Greg Gumbel[317] moved toNBC in 1994 following CBS' losses of the NFL[318][319] and Major League Baseball broadcasting contracts (Gumbel's last on-air assignment for CBS was providing play-by-play for theCollege World Series[320]). While at NBC, Gumbel hostedNBC's coverage of the1994 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. He also did play-by-play for the1995 Major League BaseballNational League Division Series andNational League Championship Series (on both occasions, teaming withJoe Morgan), did play-by-play forThe NBA on NBC, hosted NBC's daytime coverage of the1996 Summer Olympics fromAtlanta, Georgia, hosted the1995 World Championships of Figure Skating, and served as the studio host forThe NFL on NBC. Gumbel left NBC after the network broadcast ofSuper Bowl XXXII to return to CBS. His first major assignment was to serve as studio host for the network's coverage of college basketball, including theNCAA men's basketball tournament, which he continued through 2023. He also assumed the role as lead play-by-play announcer for theNFL on CBS, and in January 2001, became the first African-American to serve as play-by-play announcer for aSuper Bowl when he calledSuper Bowl XXXV. Gumbel later resumed hostingThe NFL Today on CBS (swapping places withJim Nantz) before transitioning back to play-by-play duties, primarily as No. 2 NFL announcer, when CBS hiredJames Brown away fromFox to hostThe NFL Today. Gumbel died on December 27, 2024.
Dick Stockton left CBS in 1994 forFox Sports, which employed him onNFL andMajor League Baseball telecasts for nearly three decades. For Fox's MLB coverage, he worked withEric Karros,Joe Girardi,Mark Grace andTim McCarver and others. From1993 to1995, Stockton also calledlocal TV broadcasts of theOakland Athletics. From2007 to 2013, Stockton called postseasonMajor League Baseball games onTBS. In 2007, he partnered withRon Darling to call theNational League Division Series for the network. In2008, he called theAL Central tiebreaker game with Darling andHarold Reynolds, followed by theNLDS with Darling andTony Gwynn. In2009, he teamed withBob Brenly to call theNLDS for TBS, and the two have worked together for the NLDS every year since until 2014, when TBS began carrying only two LDS, rotating between AL/NL each year. (TBS and Fox began splitting the LDS from 2014 on.) TBS was previously the exclusive home of the LDS from 2007 to 2013. Stockton split play-by-play duties during the2010 regular season on TBS withNBA on TNT studio hostErnie Johnson Jr. andMilwaukee Brewers announcerBrian Anderson. In2011, he partnered withRon Darling andJohn Smoltz to call Game 5 ofNational League Division Series between theSt. Louis Cardinals andPhiladelphia Phillies forTBS as his normal partner Brenly was away at a family event. After 2013, Stockton focused mainly on calling NFL games on Fox before retiring in 2021.
Over the course of the 1990s, Jack Buck decided to reduce his schedule to calling only Cardinals home games (or 81 games a year, unless there was a special occurrence). Health concerns obviously could have played a factor in this, as Buck suffered from such ailments asParkinson's disease,diabetes, requiring apacemaker,cataracts,sciatica, andvertigo.[citation needed] Buck once joked,"I wish I'd getAlzheimer's, then I could forget I've got all the other stuff." In 1998, the Cardinals dedicated a bust of Buck that showed him smiling with a hand cupping his left ear. In 1999, he lent his name to a restaurant venture calledJ. Buck's, with the restaurant's name being shared with sonJoe and daughter Julie.[321] One of Buck's final public appearances was on September 17, 2001, atBusch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. It was the first night that Major League Baseball resumed after theterrorist attacks of September 11. Although looking rather frail (Buck at the time was sick withlung cancer) and struggling to maintain his composure (Buck was obviously showing the signs of Parkinson's disease as well), Buck stirred emotions[322] by reading apatriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies. He concluded by silencing critics who thought baseball had come back too soon:"I don't know about you, but as for me, the question has already been answered: Should we be here? Yes!" Jack Buck died on June 18, 2002, in St. Louis'sBarnes-Jewish Hospital from a combination of illnesses. He had stayed in the hospital since January 3 of that year to undergo treatment forlung cancer,Parkinson's disease, and to correct anintestinal blockage.
As previously mentioned, in the end, CBS wound up losing approximately half a billion dollars[323][324][325][326] from their television contract with Major League Baseball. CBS repeatedly asked Major League Baseball for arebate,[327] however the league was not willing to do this. According toCurt Smith's bookThe Voice – Mel Allen's Untold Story, one CBS executive wore aSt. Louis Cardinals cap at a 1988Christmas party. However, by1992, pining to shed baseball, that same executive wore a cap styled "One More Year."[328]
CBS alienated[329] and confused fans with its sporadic treatment of regular season telecasts.[330] With a sense of true continuity destroyed, fans eventually figured that they could not count on the network to satisfy their needs (thus, poor ratings were a result). CBS televised about 16[181] regular season Saturday afternoon games[331] (not counting back-up telecasts) which was 14 less than what NBC televised during the previous contract. According toCommissionerPeter Ueberroth, the reason for the reduction in regular season telecasts was in order for teams to sell them locally in order to make a direct profit.[64] CBS used the strategy of broadcasting only a select number of games in order to build a demand in response to supposedly sagging ratings. In theory, the limited regular season package would require the network to sell lessadvertising during the year so it can charge more for its postseason events.[332]
In response to this,NBC Sports chairmanDick Ebersol grinned "I assume [its] baseball strategy has to be a big disappointment." Counting the All-Star Game, both League Championship Series and the World Series, CBS would have televised just 38 games.[333] This comes on the account of both League Championship Series and the World Series going to a full seven games. Ebersol criticized Peter Ueberroth for negotiating the four-year, $1.06 billion deal with CBS. According to Ebersol, Ueberroth was totally focused on business. Ebersol said "Ueberroth wanted his legacy to be the maximum amount of money. Baseball got this enormous overbid with CBS, coupled with expanding the cable package (on ESPN) from zero to four nights a week. Now, when they find themselves in trouble, they've got no place to expand. There just wasn't a lot of foresight. (Baseball was) just looking for the big score."[334]
In their first year in1990,[335] CBS Sports had a pretty loaded schedule[336] (much came at the expense of the regular season baseball coverage): theNBA Playoffs (the1989–90 season markedCBS' final year with the NBA before the over-the-air package moved over toNBC),College World Series, andcollege football (like the NBA, CBS would lose theCollege Football Association (CFA) package soon after being awarded the Major League Baseball contract).
CBS never scheduled baseball onMasters weekend, and seldom on other weekends when it was scheduled to air aPGA Tour event. It was around this time that CBS started expanding its weekendcoverage from two hours to three on weekends when there was no baseball, generally from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Most of its baseball dates landed on weeks when other networks covered golf.
Marv Albert, who hostedNBC's baseball pregame show for many years said about CBS' baseball coverage "You wouldn't see a game for a month. Then you didn't know when CBS came back on." When interviewed byThe New York Times in August 1989[337] Albert when asked, 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 theNBA, 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.
Sports Illustrated joked that CBS stood for "Covers Baseball Sporadically".USA Today added that Jack Buck and Tim McCarver "may have to have a reunion before [their] telecast."Mike Lupica of theNew York Daily News took it a step further by calling CBS' baseball deal "theVietnam of sports television."
NBC play-by-play announcerBob Costas believed that the fact that a large bulk of the regular season coverage ended up on cable (namely,ESPN[146][303][338]) beginning in the 1990s was because CBS, when it took over the MLB the television rights from NBC in 1990, did not really want the SaturdayGame of the Week. Many fans who did not appreciate CBS' approach to scheduling regular season baseball games[330] believed that they were only truly after the marquee events[339] (namely, the All-Star Game, League Championship Series, and the World Series) in order to sell advertising space (especially the fall entertainment television schedule[64][330][340][341]).
Costas[115][342][343] had previously said that he would rather do aGame of the Week that got a 5 rating than host aSuper Bowl.[344] "Who thought baseball killed its best way to reach the public? It coulda kept us and CBS[328] – we'd have kept the 'Game'[345] – but it only cared about cash. Whatever else I did, I'd never have left 'Game of the Week' Costas claimed. Meanwhile,Tony Kubek,[346] who teamed with Bob Costas on NBC's baseball telecasts since 1983, said "I can't believe it!" when the subject came about NBC losing baseball for the first time since 1947.
TheToronto Blue Jays were in back-to-back World Series in their championship seasons of1992[234] and1993, as well as the1991 ALCS. All of CBS's postseason telecasts were simulcast on CTV (which earned CBS approximately $7.5 million per year) in Canada, and received very high ratings north of the border when the Blue Jays were involved. Unfortunately, Canada does not factor in the AmericanNielsen ratings so as a consequence, CBS earned the lowest U.S. ratings in over 20 years for a World Series (not counting theearthquake interrupted1989 World Series that was televised by ABC). In any other World Series, viewership would have likely been higher since two American[296] teams would have been involved, to say nothing of spikes to off-the-chart ratings shares in the two competing cities (especially in1991, when CBS was fortunate to cover the riveting, ultra intense, seven-game battle between theMinnesota Twins andAtlanta Braves). Another reason behind the poor ratings likely had to do with the gradual attrition of the audience for almost all network programming.
The country at the time to the deal was going through arecession.[347] More to the point, in 1990, CBS had asked for about $300,000 for 30-second spots during theWorld Series, but ended up filling some of its inventory for just $240,000.
CBS could not properly maximize the deal because theDivision Series had not yet been created (thus automatically giving CBS more games to carry) and the network did not have a cable outlet to air some of the games (likeFox would eventually have withFox Sports Net and laterFS1). In reality, it competed with ESPN and local broadcasts outside of CBS' broadcast window. More postseason games could have increased the advertising inventory.[340] Both ABC and NBC[348] lost money on their in-season games the last three years of their respective Major League Baseball television contracts (1987–1989).
It should also be noted that CBS' baseball coverage came about just prior to the league making some major changes and innovations, beginning with the mid-1990s. Besides the aforementioned addition of a third round of postseason play called the Division Series, which doubled the number of playoff teams at the time from four to eight, there was also a renaissance in stadium construction. This began in1992, whenBaltimore'sOriole Park at Camden Yards opened. Camden Yards (which was showcased by CBS in their final year with baseball in1993, when they broadcast theAll-Star Game) led to many other fan (and revenue) friendly ballparks being built, and helped expand interest in the game. Instead, CBS was for the most part, handed a declining product that was played in many outdatedcookie cutter stadiums.
CBS simply made far too high of a bid[60][349][350] (especially for a network that wound up frustrating fans with its lack of regular season coverage) and sustained a shortfall inadvertising revenue. Perhaps it is somewhat ironic that back in1987, CBS Sports president Neal Pilson[351] said of ABC's then ongoing contract with Major League Baseball "Three years ago, we believed ABC's package was overpriced by $175 million. We still believe it's overpriced by $175 million."[352] Whereas from 1976 to 1989, ABC split the television contract with NBC, and therefore logically, split the financial risks,[348] CBS in sharp contrast, aggressively negotiated exclusive postseason rights. In December 1988, Arthur Watson,[353] the president of NBC Sports, criticized CBS saying "We made every effort to keep it. Regretfully, someone bid far more than was responsible. Everybody evaluates things differently. That bid was beyond our reach. Let them explain that bid."[354]
For their inaugural season in 1990, CBS lost between US$75 million and $80 million[355] More to the point, CBS as previously mentioned, took a $55-millionafter-tax[356] loss for its 1990 playoff andWorld Series coverage and a $115 million charge against earnings in the fourth quarter for losses during the remaining three years of its $1.06 billion contract.[357]
In 1991, it cost CBS $4.8 million per game in venue productions alone to televise theNational League Championship Series, not including studio backup operations or the satellite time needed to transmit the game to New York City for broadcast on their network frequencies. TheAmerican League Championship Series (between theMinnesota Twins andToronto Blue Jays) was another problem because of thetariffs andlabor laws they had to endure going into Canada. CBS averaged $1.9 to $2.4 million[358] per regular season game. In return, it was typical for the production cost to double come playoff time. Ultimately, CBS reported a loss of around $169 million in the third quarter of 1991. A drop of in advertiser interest caused revenue from the sale of ads during CBS' baseball telecasts to plummet. All the while, CBS was still contractually obligated to pay Major League Baseball around $260 million a year through1993.[359]
Back in1990, when CBS first launched their baseball coverage, Major League Baseball according to CBS Sports senior producer Ed Goren,[360] did not have any atmosphere for discussion on how to improve the game. They retorted to Goran by saying "'This is thenational pastime and it's fun the way it is.'" CBS however, would secretly install microphones inbullpens after Major League Baseball turned down their request.
When CBS broadcast the1990 All-Star Game fromChicago'sWrigley Field, they arrived[361] with four 48-foot vans, a 40-foot trailer, two 60-foot office trailers and a 48-foot maintenance vehicle; 18 cameras positioned around and moving about the ballpark.Rick Kogan of theChicago Tribune wrote that while CBS' 1990 All-Star Game telecast did not display any grievous gaffes, on almost every level it was workmanlike to the point of being mundane.
AfterBoston Red Sox pitcherRoger Clemens was pulled out of a1990 American League Championship Series game andJim Gray interviewed him on CBS, MLB's public relations department was upset when they found out that CBS intended to run it before the game ended. CBS Sports executive producer Ted Shaker also recalled the time that MLB said that they went too far in regards to CBS experimenting with a tiny camera on an umpire's face mask. Come that year'sWorld Series, CBS announced that they would have 16 cameras and 12 videotape machines ready to cover the moment.
CBS all around, was criticized[357] in 1990 for placing their cameras too tight in certain situations and not giving viewers a greater sense of what it is like to be at the ballpark.Ted Nathanson,[362] who served as a director forNBC's coverage of postseason baseball before CBS bought the rights, said in regards to CBS' World Series coverage "What they are doing is wrong, in my opinion. They are losing the relationship of the action by using too many close-ups when the ball is in play." For example, Nathanson noted that CBS would cover aground ball to shortstop by first using a camera with amedium view from a high position and then switching to a similar camera position for a tight closeup. According to him "By the time they cut to the close-up of the shortstop, he's thrown the ball already so it looks like ajump-cut. It's impossible for a director to cut that fast. It looks like aglitch." Nathanson suggested that CBS' high camera should have gradually tightened in on the shortstop and thenpan toward first base as the ball is thrown. If there was something important to be shown in close-up, they would have it onreplay.
Nathanson also criticized camera work in regards to when the ball was in the outfield and runners were circling the bases. He said that "They cut to the baserunners and they are not getting the relationship of the ball being fielded and thrown to the bases. If you are not aTV director, you don't know exactly what's wrong, but you know something is not quite right." Harry Coyle, who was NBC's top baseball director from1947-1988 and cited as writing thebook on how to show baseball on television, agreed with Nathanson about the camera close-ups, but he thought that the overall effort has been good. Coyle said that CBS got in too tight once in a while. His premise had always been to follow the ball. But, on the whole, Coyle gave CBS high marks. He said that they were lucky they got the playoffs to do first so it gave them a lot of experience for the World Series.
While Arne Harris, who produced and directed 150Chicago Cubs games a season since1964 forWGN Television, said that he had no problem with tight closeups, he still felt that CBS had trouble getting into the flow of the game. According to Harris, baseball is the toughest sport to cover because two things happen at the same time. The ball is in the hands of the defense and the runner is moving in a different part of the field. Harris added that he knew that CBS got some problems, but it is all a matter of experience.
For the 1991 postseason,[70] CBS announced[363] that they would be using up to 11 cameras in the League Championship Series and 14 for theWorld Series.[216] According to producer Ric LaCivita, CBS' production division in its entirety had been impacted by arecession.[364] So they had to do a telecast with less.[365] To give you a better idea, during the 1991 regular season, CBS would've been unable to use asuper-slow-motion camera behind home plate[17] unlike during the League Championship Series and World Series. According to director Bob Fishman, the$250,000 camera (which was capable of capturing 90frames per second) andtape machine that created the shots were aluxury item. Therefore, Game 1 of theAmerican League Championship Series would mark the first time that they would be using it on baseball all year. It during the 1991 World Series[366] that CBS unveiled Supervision,[367] which was device that that used animation to show the flight and speed of a pitch.
In conjunction withSuper Bowl XXVI on January 26, 1992,CBS unveiled a new network-wide graphics package for itssports coverage. With a few minor tweaks, the red, white, and blue graphic displays stayed in place until 1996, when CBS rolled out a new orange and yellow package.
CBS was cited[368] for failing to showDwight Smith's game-winning double for theChicago Cubs in their1992 baseball opener on April 18 against theSt. Louis Cardinals. During that same telecast, the camera was on St. Louis trainer camera was on Gene Gieselmann long before analystTim McCarver said his name. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' batting order was presented for the bottom of the first inning—a different version than had been presented a half-inning earlier. Play-by-play announcerSean McDonough however, presented the new lineup without acknowledging it had changed.
During an interview withRichard Sandomir of theNew York Times on July 14, 1992, Ric LaCivita not only previewed what CBS had in store for their upcoming broadcast of that year'sAll-Star Game fromSan Diego, which would feature 16 cameras, imbedded in the first base bag (which would allow viewers to be able to see the runner dive back to the bag[369]), and two in blimps, but responded to the various criticisms that CBS received concerning their postseason coverage from the year prior.
On the argument that CBS overused replays, including as many as 133 in Game 6 of the1991 National League Championship Series, LaCivita said "The number of replays has nothing to do with how you replay. You could use five or 500 and be right. . . . Replays re-create a play or keep the viewer's attention from going forward to something else. Viewers can't appreciate everything until the replays are over. If it's an ordinary replay, you don't replay it." When asked about why CBS cut to a tight, low first-base camera, rather than a higher, more inclusive shot, to coverMark Lemke of theAtlanta Braves eludingMinnesota Twins catcherBrian Harper's tag to end Game 4 of the World Series, LaCivita said "Joe Aceti"—the director -- "made the right cut.Jack Buck said the game was over. Joe made his decision to cover him coming low across the plate. The mistake started with the call. To this day, the executive producer"—Ted Shaker -- "and I disagreed. You saw it from five different angles until we could identify where Harper's elbow was." As for the criticism from Harry Coyle about over-replays and dubious angles, LaCivita responded by saying "We've had extraordinary coverage of difficult plays that I'm not sure Mr. Coyle would have had. I don't know if they would have had the Lonnie Smith play in Game 7"—in which he was decoyed by the Twins'Chuck Knoblauch -- "because their cameras covered the ball and ours cover the baserunners. Those guys from the 50's weren't risk-takers. I'm a risk-taker."
When assessing CBS' coverage of the 1992 postseason, Jerry Trecker of theHartford Courant wrote[106] that their baseball coverage was at its best pictorially. Trecker said that the usage ofclose-ups, although criticized in some quarters, was powerful and conveyed the game's tense moments better than any turn of an announcer's phrase. He went further by saying that a better selection of replays, including a judicious use of super slow-motion views, had elevated the network's coverage since it struggled in the first year of their contract. Trecker also made note that even though CBS had finally developed a fine sense of the rhythm of baseball come 1992, the network still occasionally spent too much time on irrelevant crowd shots. Not only that, but CBS in Trecker's eyes, didn't seem confident enough to let Sean McDonough and booth partner Tim McCarver roam and ramble through the game. Instead, there were too many graphics that had to be explained and too many "little notes" that somebody thought are important.
Whereas CBS used six cameras for their regular season coverage by1993, they planned on using 13[12] for that year'sAll-Star Game inBaltimore. CBS also planned to take advantage of theremote camera atop theBaltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards, that provided panoramic views on theOrioles' games that were broadcast onHome Team Sports. Producer Bob Dekas even wanted to put microphones on All-Star managersCito Gaston of theAmerican League andBobby Cox of theNational League. The audio wouldn't be live, but CBS still had to gain permission from Major League Baseball.
Sonny Dearth of theDaily Press wrote[370] that while CBS' coverage of the 1993 baseball playoffs was insightful and generally good, he did note that the camera from center field and the one from high above the plate often didn'tagree on whether some pitches were balls or strikes, thus confusing the viewer. Dearth also wondered why the director had to showPhiladelphia Phillies first basemenJohn Kruk's ripped pants (with the camera focused below the belt) so many times in Game 6 of theNational League Championship Series.
Prior to the start of the1993 World Series, CBS announced[371] that they would use 14 cameras to cover the Series, including a controversial one located above the plate that was intended on providing excellent shots of the strike zone. Before Game 6 of the NLCS, CBS had discussions with National League presidentBill White, who asked the network to only use the camera "judiciously."[372] This was after White had been approached by theMajor League Umpires Association, which said the camera was being used to second-guess and "show up" the plate umpires' calls of balls and strikes.
In 2020, Ed Goren said to theNew York Business Journal[373] that in the four years that Major League Baseball was on CBS, the attitude of baseball was that they were America's game. They however according to Goren, lacked innovation; they fought innovation. By the time thatFox came on board in1996, part of what they were looking for was innovation. Therefore, among the immediate changes Fox brought were theFoxBox, which showed the score, the runners on base and the count at all times; frequent and extreme close ups of players; and the use of ahard-rock,guitar-heavy theme music.
On the July 2, 2011, edition ofCBS Sports Spectacular,TBS' Atlanta-basedMajor League Baseball studio crew ofMatt Winer,Dennis Eckersley,Cal Ripken Jr. andDavid Wells presented a2011 Major League Baseball midseason report.[374] This was followed byMLB 2011: Down the Stretch, which aired on September 24.[375] CBS Sports andTurner Sports have also partnered on coverage of theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and in the past, on theWinter Olympics in1992,1994 and1998. On August 29, 2012,The New York Times reported a potential alliance between CBS and TBS[376] on a Major League Baseball television contract beginning in 2014.[377] According to theTimes report, CBS "would most likely want only the All-Star Game and World Series," an arrangement almost similar to the one NBC had with Major League Baseball from1996 to2000. On September 19, 2012,Sports Business Daily[378][379] reported that Major League Baseball would agree to separate eight-year television deals[380] withFox Sports and Turner Sports[381] through the 2021 season.
On May 19, 2015,CBS Sports Network[382] resurrected CBS Sports' Major League Baseball theme music[383] for the first time since Game 6 of the 1993 World Series for theAmerican Athletic Conference Championship.[384] Under the terms of the package, CBS Sports Network would air threeHouston Baseball games in 2015, as well as the first two contests of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship.Carter Blackburn provided play-by-play for all seven games of the package, while analyst duties would be handledDarryl Hamilton andRay King along with Brandon Tierney.
WBZ-TV has aired local sporting events over the years, that have originated either in-house, or throughNBC orCBS. Besides the Braves (from 1948 until the team moved toMilwaukee before the 1953 season) and the Red Sox (1948–1957,1972–1974, and a handful of games in2003 and2004, along with certain games aired nationally onNBC from 1948 to1989).
As previously mentioned, as an ABC station, WJZ-TV broadcast limitedBaltimore Orioles games via ABC's MLB broadcast contract from 1976 to 1989.
During the 1980s, KPIX was the flagship station for theOakland Athletics baseball team (at times preempting or delaying CBS network shows for the live broadcasts), before the A's broadcasts moved to then-NBC affiliateKRON-TV the early 1990s; select A's andSan Francisco Giants games were aired on KPIX from 1990 to 1993 as part of CBS' MLB broadcast contract.
In2002, WCBS-TV acquired the over-the-air rights toNew York Yankees baseball games, replacing Fox owned-and-operated stationWNYW. The games, produced by the newYES Network, remained in the station until the2004 season; the rights moved toUPN affiliate (nowMyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station)WWOR-TV beginning in2005. It also aired any Yankee orMet games as part of CBS' MLB broadcast contract from 1990 to 1993.
Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio.
cbs major league baseball 1990.
