In 1950 theMutual Broadcasting System acquired the television and 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.
On July 11, 1950 theAll-Star Game out of Chicago'sComiskey Park was televised for the first time. On November 8, 1950,CommissionerHappy Chandler and player reps agreed on the split of the TV-radio rights from theWorld Series.
By1950 World Series games could be seen in most of the country,[1][2] 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.
On August 11, 1951WCBS-TV in New York City televised the first baseball game (in which theBoston Braves beat theBrooklyn Dodgers by the score of 8–4) incolor. On October 1 of that year, NBC aired the first coast-to-coast baseball telecast as the Brooklyn Dodgers were beaten by theNew York Giants in the first game of aplayoff series by the score of 3–1 featuring Bobby Thomson's two-run home run. Thomson's famousnow-legendary home run would occur in the third game of the best of 3 series.
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."[3]
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[4] tocoast;[5][6][7] 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 pretty much ignored Johnson since the games on NBC in particular, were gaining a large and loyal following.
In 1953[8]ABC-TV executiveEdgar J. Scherick (who later createdWide World of Sports) broached a SaturdayGame of the Week,[9] TV sport's first network series. At the time, ABC was labeled a "nothing network" that had fewer outlets thanCBS orNBC. ABC also needed paid programming or "anything for bills" as Scherick put it. At first, ABC hesitated at the idea of a nationally televised regular season baseball program. ABC wondered how exactly theGame of the Week would reach television in the first place and who would notice if it did? Also, Major League Baseball barred theGame of the Week from airing within 50 miles of any ballpark.[10] Major League Baseball according to Scherick, insisted on protecting local coverage and didn't care about national appeal. ABC, though, did care about the national appeal and claimed that "most of America was still up for grabs."
In April 1953 Edgar Scherick set out to sell teams rights but instead, only got thePhiladelphia Athletics,Cleveland Indians,[11] andChicago White Sox[12][13] to sign on.[14] These were not "national" broadcast contracts since they were assembled through negotiations with individual teams to telecast games from their home parks. It was until theSports Broadcasting Act of 1961, that antitrust laws barred "pooled rights" TV contracts negotiated with a central league broadcasting authority.
In 1953 ABC earned an 11.4rating for theirGame of the Week telecasts.Blacked-out cities had 32% of households. In the rest of the United States, 3 in 4 TV sets in use watchedDizzy Dean[15] andBuddy Blattner[16] (or backup announcersBill McColgan and Bob Finnegan) call the games for ABC.CBS took over the SaturdayGame in 1955 (the rights were actually set up through theFalstaff Brewing Corporation[17]) retaining Dean/Blattner and McColgan/Finnegan as the announcing crews (as well asGene Kirby, who produced the Dean/Blattner games and alternated with them on play-by-play) and adding Sunday coverage in 1957. As Edgar Scherick said, "In '53, no one wanted us. Now teams begged for "Game"'s cash."
By 1955[18]Dizzy Dean[19] and theGame of the Week would move fromABC to CBS[20] (the rights were actually set up through theFalstaff Brewing Corporation[21][22][23]). "CBS' stakes were higher" saidBuddy Blattner, who left theMutual Broadcasting System to rejoin Dean. 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 with Bill 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[24] and futureWorld News Tonight anchorFrank Reynolds.
Another first for NBC during this period was the firstcolor telecast[25][26][27] of a World Series, the 1955 matchup between theBrooklyn Dodgers and theNew York Yankees.
In 1956 CBS Sports directorFrank Chirkinian devised an earplug called an Intercepted Feed Back (or IFB) to connect the announcer, director, producer and thus, smoothing on-air flow.[28]
In 1957[29] NBC started airing weekendGame of the Week telecasts[30][31] (Sunday telecasts were added in 1959) withLindsey Nelson 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[32] replaced Nelson onplay-by-play in 1962.
Also in 1957 CBS added a SundayGame of the Week.[33][34][35] 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. By 1965, 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,[36] 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]."
In 1958 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."
From 1958 to 1960,[37] 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).
KTTV in Los Angeles aired the first regular-season baseball game ever played on theWest Coast, aLos Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants game fromSeals Stadium in San Francisco, California, withVin Scully announcing. In its first year airing Major League Baseball, KTTV aired only the Dodgers' road games.
Jack Whitaker andFrankie Frisch announced the backup games on CBS from 1959 to 1961. 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.
What may be the first sportsinstant replay using videotape occurred on July 17, 1959, during a broadcast of aNew York Yankees game by New York TV stationWPIX. It came after a hit byJim McAnany of theChicago White Sox ended a no-hitter by the Yankees'Ralph Terry. Since the game was being videotaped, broadcasterMel Allen asked director Terry Murphy to play a tape of McAnany's hit over the air.
In 1959 ABC broadcast thebest-of-three playoff series[38][39][40] (to decide theNational League pennant) between theMilwaukee Braves andLos Angeles Dodgers. The cigarette companyL&M was in charge of all of the telecasts.George Kell[41] andBob DeLaney were the announcers.
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.[42] Elson was, however, allowed to call the Series on the White Sox' radio flagship,WCFL.
