By 1969, Major League Baseball had grown to 24 teams and the net local TV revenues had leaped to $20.7 million. This is in sharp contrast to 1950 when local television brought the then 16 Major League clubs a total net income of $2.3 million. Changes baseball underwent during this time, such as expansion franchises and increasing the schedule from 154 games to 162, led to a wider audience for network and local television.
From 1972 to 1975 NBC televised Monday games under a contract worth $72 million. In 1973, NBC extended the Monday night telecasts (with a localblackout) to 15 straight. On September 1, 1975, NBC's lastMonday Night Baseball game, in which theMontreal Expos beat the hostPhiladelphia Phillies 6–5.
In the aftermath of the thrilling1975 World Series,[1] attendance figures, television contracts (this time including two networks,NBC and nowABC), and player salaries all soared. In the eyes of some, that particular World Series restored baseball asAmerica's national pastime (ahead offootball).
In 1970, NBC televised the second games of both League Championship Series on a regional basis. Some markets received theNLCS at 1:00 pm. Eastern Time along with a 4:00 p.m.football game, while other markets got theALCS at 4:00 p.m. along with a 1:00 p.m. football game.
In 1971,Sandy Koufax signed a ten-year contract with NBC for $1 million to serve as a broadcaster on theSaturday Game of the Week. Koufax never felt comfortable being in front of the camera, and quit before the 1973 season.
Also in 1971, Game 1 of theALCS was rained out on Saturday, October 2. NBC did not televise[2] the rescheduled Game 1 the following day (the network had only planned anNLCS telecast that day), but added a telecast of Game 2 on Monday, October 4 (which had been a scheduled travel day).
On October 13, 1971, theWorld Series held a night game for the very first time.[3] CommissionerBowie Kuhn, who felt that baseball could attract a larger audience by featuring a prime time telecast (as opposed to a mid-afternoon broadcast, occurring when most fans either worked or attended school), pitched the idea to NBC. An estimated 61 million people watched Game 4 on NBC; televisionratings for a World Series game during the daytime hours would not have approached such a record number.
In 1972,[4] NBC began televising prime time regular-season games on Mondays, under a four-year contract worth $72 million.
In the early years of the League Championship Series,[5] NBC typically televised a doubleheader on Saturday, a single game on Sunday (because offootball coverage). At the time, the network covered the weekday games with a1+1⁄2-hour overlap, joining the second game in progress when the first one ended (unless a rain delay caused the second game to start after the first game ended, as was the case during the1972 NLCS, when thePirates-Reds Game 5 was delayed long enough that by the time that theA's-TigersALCS Game 4 was over, NBC could join the game in time for the first pitch.). NBC usually swapped announcer crews after Game 2.
NBC did not air Game 2[6] of the 1972 NLCS or the1974 NLCS.
In 1973, NBC extended theMonday night telecasts (with a localblackout) to 15 consecutive games.
During NBC's telecast of the Monday nightDodgers–Braves game on April 8, 1974, in whichHank Aaron hit his record-breaking 715th career home run,[7] Kubek criticized CommissionerBowie Kuhn on-air for failing to be in attendance atFulton County Stadium in Atlanta on that historic night; Kuhn argued that he had a prior engagement that he could not break.
Starting in 1975,Joe Garagiola andCurt Gowdy alternated as the SaturdayGame of Week play-by-play announcers with Tony Kubek doing color analysis. Then on weeks in which NBC hadMonday Night Baseball, Gowdy and Garagiola worked together. One would call play-by-play for4+1⁄2 innings, the other would handle color analysis. Then in the bottom of the 5th inning, their roles switched. Ultimately, in November 1975,Chrysler forced NBC to totally remove Curt Gowdy from NBC's top baseball team. Instead, the company wanted their spokesman, Joe Garagiola, to call all "A" regular season games, All-Star Games (when NBC had them), the top League Championship Series (when NBC had it), and the World Series (when NBC had it).
NBC hoped that, in replacingCurt Gowdy, Garagiola's charm and unorthodox dwelling on the personal would stop the decade-long ratings dive for theGame of the Week. Instead, the ratings bobbed from 6.7 (1977) via 7.5 (1978) to 6.3 (1981–82). "Saturday had a constituency, but it didn't swell" said NBC Sports executive producer Scotty Connal. Some believed that millions missedDizzy Dean while local-team television broadcasters split the audience. Scotty Connal believed that the team ofJoe Garagiola andTony Kubek were "A great example of black and white". Connal added by saying "A pitcher throws badly to third, Joe says, 'The third baseman's fault.' Tony: 'The pitcher's'." Media critic Gary Deeb termed theirs "the finest baseball commentary ever carried on network TV."
Another factor behind Gowdy's dismissal was the criticism from the national media which alleged that he sided with theBoston Red Sox (a franchise that he had covered prior to his days at NBC) on a controversial play in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the1975 World Series.Cincinnati Reds pitcherEd Armbrister reached base on what was ruled an error by Red Sox catcherCarlton Fisk on Armbrister's bunt attempt. Gowdy said numerous times that, in his opinion, Armbrister had interfered with Fisk. Gowdy had been given the correct interpretation byNBC Radio Producer Jay Scott (who was aTriple-A fill-in umpire at the time as well), but did not use it.[8] UmpireLarry Barnett claimed he had received death threats on account of Gowdy's criticism. More to the point, Tony Kubek, on the NBC telecast, immediately charged that Armbrister interfered (with the attempted forceout), even though home plate umpire Barnett did not agree. Later, Kubek got 1,000 letters dubbing him a Boston stooge. Prior to Game 2 of the1986 World Series, NBC did a feature on replays narrated byBob Costas. One of the plays cited by Costas was the Armbrister play, and Barnett and Costas both insisted that Barnett had made the correct call, although Barnett declared, "You won't find many people in Boston who believe it was the right call." Costas used the feature to condemn the suggested notion ofinstant replay to settle calls, noting that it was the "same kind of mentality that adds color to classic movies and calls it progress."
While Gowdy was on hand in the press box for Carlton Fisk's legendary home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series,[9] the actual calls went to two of Gowdy's Red Sox successors,Dick Stockton on television andNed Martin on radio. Gowdy was Martin's color commentator on that home run. Meanwhile, according to the NBC cameraman Lou Gerard located above the third base stands, cameramen at the time were instructed to follow the flight of the ball. Instead Gerard was distracted by a rat nearby, thus he lost track of the baseball and instead decided to capture the image of Fisk "magically" waving the ball fair.[10]
NBC's lastMonday Night Baseball game aired on September 1, 1975, in which theMontreal Expos beat thePhiladelphia Phillies, 6–5. Curt Gowdy called the games with Tony Kubek from 1972 to 1974, being joined in the 1973 and 1974 seasons by various guest commentators from both within and outside of the baseball world (among them Dizzy Dean,Joe DiMaggio,Satchel Paige,Bobby Riggs,Dave DeBusschere,Howard Cosell, Mel Allen,Danny Kaye andWillie Mays).Jim Simpson andMaury Wills called the secondary backup games.Joe Garagiola hosted the pre-game show,The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola, and teamed with Gowdy to call the games in 1975.
Except for Game 1 in both League Championship Series, all games in 1975 were regionally televised. Game 3 of both League Championship Series were aired in prime time, the first time such an occurrence happened.
Under the initial agreement with ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (running through the 1976 to 1979 seasons), both networks paid $92.8 million for the league broadcast rights. ABC paid $12.5 million per year to show 16 Monday night games in 1976, 18 in the next three years, plus half the postseason (theLeague Championship Series in even-numbered years and World Series in odd-numbered years). NBC paid $10.7 million per year to show 25 SaturdayGames of the Week and the other half of the postseason (the League Championship Series in odd-numbered years and World Series in even-numbered years).
Major League Baseball media director John Lazarus said of the new arrangement between NBC and ABC "Ratings couldn't get more from one network so we approached another." NBC's Joe Garagiola was not very fond of the new broadcasting arrangement at first saying "I wished they hadn't got half the package. Still, 'Game', half of the postseason – we got lots left." By 1980, income from television broadcasts accounted for a record 30% of the game's $500 million in revenues.
In 1976, ABC picked up the television rights[11] forMonday Night Baseball[12] games fromNBC. For most of its time on ABC, the Monday night games were held on "dead travel days" when few games were scheduled. The team owners liked that arrangement as the national telecasts didn't compete against their stadium box offices. ABC on the other hand, found the arrangement far more complicated. ABC often had only one or two games to pick from for each telecast from a schedule designed by Major League Baseball. While trying to give all of the teams national exposure, ABC ended up with far too many games between sub .500 clubs from small markets. Reviewing the network's first two weeks of coverage forSports Illustrated, William Leggett opined: "It may be unfair to say thatMonday Night Baseball, as it has been presented by ABC so far this season, is the worst television treatment ever given a major sport, because by all odds somebody at sometime must have done something worse. But it is difficult to remember when or where that might have happened."[13]
Just like withMonday Night Football, ABC brought in the concept of the three-man-booth (originally withBob Prince,Bob Uecker, andWarner Wolf[14] as the primary crew) to their baseball telecasts. SaidABC Sports headRoone Arledge "It'll take something different for it to work - i.e. curb viewership yawns and lulls with Uecker as the real difference", so Arledge reportedly hoped. Prince disclosed to his broadcasting partner Jim Woods about his early worries about calling a network series for the first time. Prince for one, didn't have as much creative control over the broadcasts on ABC as he did callingPittsburgh Pirates games onKDKA radio. On the June 7, 1976 edition ofMonday Night Baseball, Prince returned toThree Rivers Stadium, from which he had been exiled for over a year. Although Prince received a warm reception, he was confused when the next day thePittsburgh Post-Gazette read: "Ratings are low, negative reviews rampant."[15]
June 28, 1976, theDetroit Tigers faced theNew York Yankees onMonday Night Baseball, with 47,855 attending atTiger Stadium and a national television audience, Tigers pitcherMark "The Bird" Fidrych talked to the ball and groomed the mound, as the Tigers won, 5–1 in a game that lasted only 1 hour and 51 minutes. After the game, the crowd would not leave the park until Fidrych came out of the dugout to tip his cap.[16]
For ABC's coverage of the1976 All-Star Game, the team ofBob Prince,Bob Uecker andWarner Wolf alternated roles for the broadcast. For the first three innings, Prince did play-by-play with Wolf on color commentary and Uecker doing field interviews. For the middle innings, Uecker worked play-by-play with Prince on color and Wolf doing the interviews. For the final three innings, Wolf worked play-by-play with Uecker on color and Prince doing interviews.
Bob Prince was gone by the fall of 1976, with Keith Jackson,Howard Cosell,[17][18] and guest analystReggie Jackson calling that year'sAmerican League Championship Series. (Warner Wolf,Al Michaels and guest analystTom Seaver worked theNLCS.) On the subject of his dismissal from ABC, Bob Prince said "I hatedHouston, and ABC never let me be Bob Prince."[19]MLB commissionerBowie Kuhn strongly objected to ABC's recruitment of Howard Cosell[20] because of comments by Cosell in recent years about how dull baseball had become. But Roone Arledge held the trump card as the contract he had signed with Major League Baseball gave ABC the final say over announcers. So Cosell worked the 1976 ALCS and became a regular member ofMonday Night Baseball the next season.
Keith Jackson was unavailable to call Game 1 of the1976 ALCS because he had just gotten finished calling anOklahoma-Texascollege football game forABC. Thus,Bob Uecker filled-in for Jackson for Game 1. Uecker also took part in the postgame interviews for Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS, whileWarner Wolf did an interview ofGeorge Brett in theKansas City locker room.
On June 18, 1977, in theNew York Yankees' 10–4 loss to theBoston Red Sox in a nationally televised game atFenway Park in Boston,Jim Rice, a powerful hitter but a slow runner, hit a ball into right field thatReggie Jackson seemed to get to without much speed, and Rice reached second base. Furious, Yankees managerBilly Martin removed Jackson from the game without even waiting for the end of the inning, sendingPaul Blair out to replace him. When Jackson arrived at the dugout, Martin yelled that Jackson had shown him up. The two men argued, and Jackson said that Martin's heavy drinking had impaired his judgment. Despite Jackson being eighteen years younger, about two inches taller and maybe 40 pounds heavier, Martin lunged at him, and had to be restrained by coachesYogi Berra andElston Howard. Red Sox fans could see this in the dugout and began cheering wildly; NBC television cameras showed the confrontation to the entire country.
Still on the disabled list toward the end of the 1977 season, Mark Fidrych worked as a guestcolor analyst on aMonday Night Baseball telecast for ABC; he was subsequently criticized for his lack of preparation, as when play-by-play partner Al Michaels tried talking with him aboutPhiladelphia Phillies playerRichie Hebner and Fidrych responded, "Who's Richie Hebner?"[21] As an American League player, Fidrych had never had to face Hebner, who played in the National League.
The1977 World Series marked the first time that the participating teams' local announcers were not featured[22] as booth announcers on the network telecast of a World Series. 1977 was also the first year in which one announcer (in this case, ABC's Keith Jackson) provided all of the play-by-play for a World Series telecast. In previous years, the play-by-play announcers and color commentators had alternated roles during each game. Meanwhile, Yankees announcerBill White and Dodgers announcerRoss Porter alternated between pregame/postgame duties on ABC and calling the games forCBS Radio. White worked the ABC telecasts for the games in New York (including the clubhousetrophy presentation ceremony after Game 6) while Porter did likewise for the games in Los Angeles.
In 1978,[23]Baseball Hall of FamerDon Drysdale joinedABC Sports with assignments such asMonday Night Baseball,Superstars, andWide World of Sports. In1979, Drysdale covered theWorld Series Trophy presentation. According to Drysdale "My thing is to talk about inside things. Keith [Jackson] does play-by-play. Howard's [Cosell] role is anything since anything can happen in broadcasting." When ABC released and then rehired him in 1981, Drysdale explained it by saying "If there is nothing to say, be quiet." Ultimately, Drysdale seemed to be slowly phased out of the ABC picture as fellow Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer was considered ABC's newposter child "[of] superior looks and...popularity from underwear commercials." By 1989, Palmer would earn $350,000 from ABC for appearing on around ten regular season broadcasts and making a few postseason appearances.[24]
For a national television audience, the1978 American League East tie-breaker game (New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox) aired on ABC withKeith Jackson andDon Drysdale on the call. Meanwhile, the game aired locally in New York City onWPIX and onWSBK inBoston.Phil Rizzuto,Frank Messer andBill White called the game on WPIX whileDick Stockton andKen Harrelson called the game on WSBK. Also in 1978,Keith Jackson called anOklahoma-Texascollege football game forABC and then, flew toNew York, arriving just in time to call Game 4 of theALCS that same night (October 7).
In 1979,[25] 22 teams (all but theAtlanta Braves,Houston Astros,New York Mets, andSt. Louis Cardinals) participated in a one-yearcable deal withUnited Artists Television andColumbia Pictures Television, then-owners of the USA Network.[26] The deal involved the airing of a Thursday nightGame of the Week[27] in markets at least 50 miles (80 km) from a major league park.[28] The deal earned Major League Baseball less than $500,000, but led to a new two-year contract for 40–45 games per season.[29][30] The program ran through the 1983 season.[31][32]
With USA's Thursday night coverage, it endedABC'sMonday night broadcast's position as the exclusive national, prime time television franchise for Major League Baseball.[33]
The start of ABC'sMonday Night Baseball coverage was moved back to June, due to poor ratings during the Maysweeps period. In place of April and May prime time games, ABC began airingSunday Afternoon Baseball games in September.[34] The network also aired one Friday night game (Yankees atAngels) on July 13 of that year. On August 6, 1979 the entire Yankee team attended team captain/catcherThurman Munson's funeral inCanton, Ohio. TeammatesLou Piniella andBobby Murcer, who were Munson's best friends, gave eulogies. That night (before a national viewing audience on ABC'sMonday Night Baseball) the Yankees beat theBaltimore Orioles 5–4 in New York, with Murcer driving in all five runs with a three-run home run in the seventh inning and a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth.[35]
Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio.
USA agreed to the baseball limitations rejected byESPN and shows a Thursday-night game in cities that do not have a major-league team. In New York City, Manhattan Cable broadcasts USA's programs, but cannot televise the weekly baseball game because the Yankees and Mets declined to grant the waivers necessary under major-league statutes.