Midnight Palace
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- 640
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Does anyone know a place that sells tapes or DVDs of 40's baseball games? I think it would be great to watch the game when it was a game!
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40's baseball games?
- Thread starter Midnight Palace
- Start date
LizzieMaine
Bartender
- Messages
- 35,372
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- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Probably the best source for vintage baseball footage is http://www.raresportsfilms.com -- they have restored copies of World Series highlight films dating back to the early forties, along with various scraps and fragments of TV game broadcasts from the 50s and 60s.
Almost no complete TV broadcasts of games exist prior to the advent of the VCR in the mid-70s -- the small handful that do survive prior to 1970 are mostly kinescopes of World Series telecasts made for Armed Forces Television. The earliest are two complete games of the 1952 World Series -- and were released in edited video versions by MLB a few years back.
Only two complete regular season telecasts exist prior to 1970 -- a kinescope of a 1969 NBC Game of the Week, which is available from Rare Sportsfilms, and the next-to-the-last game of the 1967 season between the Red Sox and Twins, preserved as an original color videotape by WHDH-TV in Boston. This game will be released on DVD next month as part of a package called "Impossible To Forget: The Story of the 1967 Red Sox." (I just pre-ordered this today -- watching that game with my grandparents as it originally aired is my earliest memory of baseball!)
Of course, many radio broadcasts exist -- the earliest dating to 1934. Most of the surviving pre-1950 radio baseball broadcasts are World Series games, and many are available on CD from MLB itself, at http://www.baseballtapes.com
Almost no complete TV broadcasts of games exist prior to the advent of the VCR in the mid-70s -- the small handful that do survive prior to 1970 are mostly kinescopes of World Series telecasts made for Armed Forces Television. The earliest are two complete games of the 1952 World Series -- and were released in edited video versions by MLB a few years back.
Only two complete regular season telecasts exist prior to 1970 -- a kinescope of a 1969 NBC Game of the Week, which is available from Rare Sportsfilms, and the next-to-the-last game of the 1967 season between the Red Sox and Twins, preserved as an original color videotape by WHDH-TV in Boston. This game will be released on DVD next month as part of a package called "Impossible To Forget: The Story of the 1967 Red Sox." (I just pre-ordered this today -- watching that game with my grandparents as it originally aired is my earliest memory of baseball!)
Of course, many radio broadcasts exist -- the earliest dating to 1934. Most of the surviving pre-1950 radio baseball broadcasts are World Series games, and many are available on CD from MLB itself, at http://www.baseballtapes.com
Midnight Palace
Vendor
- Messages
- 640
- Location
- Hollywood, CA
Thanks Lizzie! 
It's a shame that there aren't really any full surviving games! But those websites are definitely interesting
It's a shame that there aren't really any full surviving games! But those websites are definitely interesting
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dhermann1
I'll Lock Up
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I've seen a couple of those old early 50's Wordl Series games. There is (or was?) a Classic Sports Channel that showed them. I also saw an old episode of Happy Felton's Knothole Gang. Anyone remember that?
It was broadcast from Ebbetts Field before Dodger games. I watched Happy Felton before I even understood what baseball was.
Happy Felton wore an umpire's uniform, and interviewed 3 kids from various Brooklyn Little League teams, along with their coaches. Then they'd get some tips from a Dodger player (Peewee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Hodges, Snider, sort of a demi-god of the week thing). Then they'd go and practice taking grounders or whatever.
Because of the early technology Happy had to haul a huge hundreds of feet long cable along with his mike everywhere he went on the field. It was such a delight to see that old show again.
Anyhow, those old World Series games are great to watch. They're kinescopes, and not great quality, but we were watching on little 17 inch or smaller TV's in those days anyway.
It was broadcast from Ebbetts Field before Dodger games. I watched Happy Felton before I even understood what baseball was.
Happy Felton wore an umpire's uniform, and interviewed 3 kids from various Brooklyn Little League teams, along with their coaches. Then they'd get some tips from a Dodger player (Peewee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Hodges, Snider, sort of a demi-god of the week thing). Then they'd go and practice taking grounders or whatever.
Because of the early technology Happy had to haul a huge hundreds of feet long cable along with his mike everywhere he went on the field. It was such a delight to see that old show again.
Anyhow, those old World Series games are great to watch. They're kinescopes, and not great quality, but we were watching on little 17 inch or smaller TV's in those days anyway.
