Growing up as a baseball fan in the early to mid 90s, I had no internet, and no Sportsnet. I used the next days' newspapers to find the box scores and the play-by-play wasn't printed in my local paper. Magazines such as Baseball Digest and cards had to be used to keep track of lifetime totals.
Oh, obviously, no YouTube. But every week, if I wanted to catch some real highlights of games outside of my beloved Toronto Blue Jays (Or Montreal Expos), I'd tune into the show, "This Week In Baseball." Hosted by the great Mel Allen ("How about that!"), it was only about half an hour long. When the season was over, various VHS releases were also rented (Or bought) by me to see highlights.
Nonetheless, in my old heyday, This Week In Baseball (Or TWiB) was the show to watch. And some youtube user has put together a montage that caught this blogger's attention. A lot of my favourite players from the 1980s are in it, many of whom (Sans Jim Rice) continued on into the 1990s. In any event, the show had a catchy opening them.
But it's closing theme, "Gathering Crowds," by a British Compser (John Scott), made it worth watching through the credits. Scott did didn't have baseball in mind when he wrote it in 1974, but the theme (Only 30 seconds of it was ever shown) became iconic after TWiB debuted three years later. It had previously been used as the intro to "ABC News in 1975-76.
So along came this week in baseball in 1977. Skip ahead to 20:52 to hear.
The show was an enormous success from the get-go. Mel Allen, who done the play-by-play for the New York Yankees back in the Mickey Mantle-era, was a natural, keeping this entertaining and informative. A lot of heart. He'd even say goodbye at the end, just to make you feel part of the show. But I digress.
This vid, about nine minutes long from YouTuber, "BaseballDaysofYore", put together a great piece for you all to enjoy, from the baseball days of yore! For yore pleasure!
Things To Look For: (I went to some painstaking research!)
0:00, Smith, 1982 World Series
0:11, Winfield,
0:16, Murphy
0:20, Collins drops the ball, Concepcion makes the catch, out!
0:28, Calderon robs Trammell of a home run! 7/27/87.
0:34, Walling
0:40, Carter drops the ball, but Oliver spears it, out! 6/20/82 @ Wrigley!
0:43, Schmidt, 7/18/87
0:50, Jackson, 1987
0:54, Rose, hit #4192, 9/11/85 (He had actually already broken Cobb's record)
1:00, Buckner
1:05, Gedman carries Clemens
1:08, George Bell! (First of two Toronto Blue Jays' clips!)
1:11, Pinella
1:15, Zim!
1:20, Kirk Gibson, after hitting his dramatic walk-off home run of Dennis Eckersley in game 1 of the 1988 World Series, 10/15/88! Watch carefully, you can see Jose Canseco in the background!
1:28, Coleman, 1985
1:32, Rock! PUT HIM IN THE HALL OF FAME. NOW!
1:40, Ball never touched the ground or the wall, OUUUUT!
1:46, OUT!
1:49, Burks. Ball never touched the ground or the wall, OUT!
1:55 Dykstra and Mitchell collide!
1:59, Lynn with an AMAZING catch! Poor Brian Downing goes back first into the wall!
2:06, Rudy Law
2:10, Griffey, SENIOR!
2:13, Carlos Martinez. As long as he doesn't lose possession of the ball, out!
2:25, Randolph to Mattingly, OUT!
2:27, Kevin Mitchell, OUT! As long as he doesn't drop it!
2:30, Boone drops the ball, Rose catches it before it hits the ground, OUT! 10/21/80. Top of the ninth, game 6, one out.
2:36, Schofield
2:43, Fisk makes the unassisted double play!
2:47, McGraw fans Wilson (Who fanned for the 12th time in the series), Top of the 9th, two down.
10/21/80, right after the Rose catch!
2:55, Brett tries (And fails) to catch Pendleton's popup in the bottom of the 7th, Game 5, 1985 World Series, first pitch. 10/25/85.
3:00, Rose scores, Schmidt jumping for joy at third.
3:06, Rick Monday, top of ninth inning, game 5, NLCS, 10/19/81. Don't show this to Expos' fans!
3:15, Sutter and Porter after Thomas fanned in the top of the ninth, two down, game 7, 1982 World Series, 10/20/82.
3:18, Garvey
3:21, Smith
3:28, Angels fans run onto the field, 1986
3:33, Incaviglia
3:36, Strawberry! (Bart and Lisa Simpson: Darrrrrrryyyyylllll, Darrrrryyyyyylll
3:42, Puckett
3:47, Gooden
3:51, Eric Davis
3:54, Horner
4:00, Dykstra scoring the GWR
4:04, Joyner
4:10, Ricky Henderson
4:13, Ripken
4:18, Morris
4:20, Browning, 9/16/88, Perfect Game!
4:24, Nolan Ryan
4:29, Valentine
4:32, Canseco
4:35, Dick Howser, Royals manager
4:43, Rojas ejected, 8/17/88
4:46 Mattingly
4:48, Jack Clark (Jose Bautista inspiration?)
4:54, HAWK!
5:05, Eckersley and co. (McGwire), celebrate after the last out of game four of the 1989 World Series, giving Oakland a sweep. 10/28/89.
5:08, McGwire
5:14, Sundberg slides across home after the walk-off hit by Dan Iorg, A two-run single in game six of the 1985 World Series. 10/26/85.
5:19, Mookie Wilson, after his roller went through Buckner's legs in game six of the 1986 World Series. Bottom of the 10th, 10/25/86.
5:24, Murphy
5:28, Brett, PINE TAR GAME! 7/24/83
5:36, Yount
5:40, Lasorda and co. celebrating after Gibson's dramatic walk-off vs. Eckersley in game 1 of the 1988 World Series, 10/15/88!
5:49, Komminsk, OUT!
5:55, Ken Griffey SENIOR, 8/19/88.
6:10, Ken Griffey...JUNIOR! Robbing Jesse Barfield (Follows me on twitter) of a home run, 4/26/90
6:19, Pettis, with Reggie Jackson watching
6:23, Hershiser breaks Glenn Davis' bat with a splitter!
6:29, Ritz fans Bo Jackson...BREAKS THE BAT!
6:35, Sandberg and two other Cubs go for a spill!
6:38, Burks makes the catch, but he's all WASHED UP!
6:43, Winningham makes the catch, but maybe he should have just stopped.
6:49, Abbott (Only had a stub of a right arm. Saw him throw a no-hitter vs. Cleveland in 1993!)
6:53, Bench, 1980
6:59, Dravecky
7:06, Canseco hits a grounder to short off Witt, but Schofield makes an amazing play
7:15, Rice!
7:20, Shaker scores as George Bell cheers him on! (Second and final Toronto Blue Jays' clip!)
7:24, Reggie Jackson
7:30, Barry Bonds
7:37, Gooden and Carter and co. 1986.
7:45, Brian Downing
7:52, Clemens
7:55, Mike Scott and his teammates celebrate his no-hitter, 9/25/86.
8:01, Will "The Thrill" Clark.
8:04, Valenzuela
8:07, Tony Gwynn
8:12, Dave Henderson. 5-4, Angels, game 5, 1986 ALCS. 2-2 pitch from Donnie Moore, one out away from the World Series is Cal...10/12/86.
8:24, Billy Hatcher, bottom of the 14th inning, game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. Mets up 4-3. Two outs away from going to the World Series. Jesse Orosco pitching, payoff pitch...10/15/86.
8:40, Grich. Bottom of the 11th, game 4 of the 1986 ALCS. 3-3 tie. Single to left for a walk-off! 10/11/86.
8:44, Knight scoring after Wilson hits it through Buckner's legs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Game 6, 1986 World Series. 10/25/86.
8:47, Hershiser and Dempsey and co. celebrate after the last out vs. Oakland in game 5, clinching the 1988 World Series. 10/20/88.
Thank you for watching! Tune in someday for another of Scott's 0.02 On Sports. So long!
Foster, Jason. "The inside Story of How 'This Week in Baseball' Got Its Iconic Theme Music." Sporting News. Buick, 04 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. The article was Sep. 20, 2015. <http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4651637-this-week-in-baseball-theme-music-gathering-crowds-john-scott-composer-twib-mlb>
"“ABC News” 1975 – 1976 Theme." Network News Music. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://www.networknewsmusic.com/wp/abc-news-1975-1976-theme/>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Penner, Mike. "Cookie Bows to Umpire, Angels Bow to Yankees." Los Angeles Times. Sweat Ready Gear, 18 Aug. 1988. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://articles.latimes.com/1988-08-18/sports/sp-906_1_angel-manager-cookie-rojas>
Oh, obviously, no YouTube. But every week, if I wanted to catch some real highlights of games outside of my beloved Toronto Blue Jays (Or Montreal Expos), I'd tune into the show, "This Week In Baseball." Hosted by the great Mel Allen ("How about that!"), it was only about half an hour long. When the season was over, various VHS releases were also rented (Or bought) by me to see highlights.
Nonetheless, in my old heyday, This Week In Baseball (Or TWiB) was the show to watch. And some youtube user has put together a montage that caught this blogger's attention. A lot of my favourite players from the 1980s are in it, many of whom (Sans Jim Rice) continued on into the 1990s. In any event, the show had a catchy opening them.
But it's closing theme, "Gathering Crowds," by a British Compser (John Scott), made it worth watching through the credits. Scott did didn't have baseball in mind when he wrote it in 1974, but the theme (Only 30 seconds of it was ever shown) became iconic after TWiB debuted three years later. It had previously been used as the intro to "ABC News in 1975-76.
So along came this week in baseball in 1977. Skip ahead to 20:52 to hear.
The show was an enormous success from the get-go. Mel Allen, who done the play-by-play for the New York Yankees back in the Mickey Mantle-era, was a natural, keeping this entertaining and informative. A lot of heart. He'd even say goodbye at the end, just to make you feel part of the show. But I digress.
This vid, about nine minutes long from YouTuber, "BaseballDaysofYore", put together a great piece for you all to enjoy, from the baseball days of yore! For yore pleasure!
Things To Look For: (I went to some painstaking research!)
0:00, Smith, 1982 World Series
0:11, Winfield,
0:16, Murphy
0:20, Collins drops the ball, Concepcion makes the catch, out!
0:28, Calderon robs Trammell of a home run! 7/27/87.
0:34, Walling
0:40, Carter drops the ball, but Oliver spears it, out! 6/20/82 @ Wrigley!
0:43, Schmidt, 7/18/87
0:50, Jackson, 1987
0:54, Rose, hit #4192, 9/11/85 (He had actually already broken Cobb's record)
1:00, Buckner
1:05, Gedman carries Clemens
1:08, George Bell! (First of two Toronto Blue Jays' clips!)
1:11, Pinella
1:15, Zim!
1:20, Kirk Gibson, after hitting his dramatic walk-off home run of Dennis Eckersley in game 1 of the 1988 World Series, 10/15/88! Watch carefully, you can see Jose Canseco in the background!
1:28, Coleman, 1985
1:32, Rock! PUT HIM IN THE HALL OF FAME. NOW!
1:40, Ball never touched the ground or the wall, OUUUUT!
1:46, OUT!
1:49, Burks. Ball never touched the ground or the wall, OUT!
1:55 Dykstra and Mitchell collide!
1:59, Lynn with an AMAZING catch! Poor Brian Downing goes back first into the wall!
2:06, Rudy Law
2:10, Griffey, SENIOR!
2:13, Carlos Martinez. As long as he doesn't lose possession of the ball, out!
2:25, Randolph to Mattingly, OUT!
2:27, Kevin Mitchell, OUT! As long as he doesn't drop it!
2:30, Boone drops the ball, Rose catches it before it hits the ground, OUT! 10/21/80. Top of the ninth, game 6, one out.
2:36, Schofield
2:43, Fisk makes the unassisted double play!
2:47, McGraw fans Wilson (Who fanned for the 12th time in the series), Top of the 9th, two down.
10/21/80, right after the Rose catch!
2:55, Brett tries (And fails) to catch Pendleton's popup in the bottom of the 7th, Game 5, 1985 World Series, first pitch. 10/25/85.
3:00, Rose scores, Schmidt jumping for joy at third.
3:06, Rick Monday, top of ninth inning, game 5, NLCS, 10/19/81. Don't show this to Expos' fans!
3:15, Sutter and Porter after Thomas fanned in the top of the ninth, two down, game 7, 1982 World Series, 10/20/82.
3:18, Garvey
3:21, Smith
3:28, Angels fans run onto the field, 1986
3:33, Incaviglia
3:36, Strawberry! (Bart and Lisa Simpson: Darrrrrrryyyyylllll, Darrrrryyyyyylll
3:42, Puckett
3:47, Gooden
3:51, Eric Davis
3:54, Horner
4:00, Dykstra scoring the GWR
4:04, Joyner
4:10, Ricky Henderson
4:13, Ripken
4:18, Morris
4:20, Browning, 9/16/88, Perfect Game!
4:24, Nolan Ryan
4:29, Valentine
4:32, Canseco
4:35, Dick Howser, Royals manager
4:43, Rojas ejected, 8/17/88
4:46 Mattingly
4:48, Jack Clark (Jose Bautista inspiration?)
4:54, HAWK!
5:05, Eckersley and co. (McGwire), celebrate after the last out of game four of the 1989 World Series, giving Oakland a sweep. 10/28/89.
5:08, McGwire
5:14, Sundberg slides across home after the walk-off hit by Dan Iorg, A two-run single in game six of the 1985 World Series. 10/26/85.
5:19, Mookie Wilson, after his roller went through Buckner's legs in game six of the 1986 World Series. Bottom of the 10th, 10/25/86.
5:24, Murphy
5:28, Brett, PINE TAR GAME! 7/24/83
5:36, Yount
5:40, Lasorda and co. celebrating after Gibson's dramatic walk-off vs. Eckersley in game 1 of the 1988 World Series, 10/15/88!
5:49, Komminsk, OUT!
5:55, Ken Griffey SENIOR, 8/19/88.
6:10, Ken Griffey...JUNIOR! Robbing Jesse Barfield (Follows me on twitter) of a home run, 4/26/90
6:19, Pettis, with Reggie Jackson watching
6:23, Hershiser breaks Glenn Davis' bat with a splitter!
6:29, Ritz fans Bo Jackson...BREAKS THE BAT!
6:35, Sandberg and two other Cubs go for a spill!
6:38, Burks makes the catch, but he's all WASHED UP!
6:43, Winningham makes the catch, but maybe he should have just stopped.
6:49, Abbott (Only had a stub of a right arm. Saw him throw a no-hitter vs. Cleveland in 1993!)
6:53, Bench, 1980
6:59, Dravecky
7:06, Canseco hits a grounder to short off Witt, but Schofield makes an amazing play
7:15, Rice!
7:20, Shaker scores as George Bell cheers him on! (Second and final Toronto Blue Jays' clip!)
7:24, Reggie Jackson
7:30, Barry Bonds
7:37, Gooden and Carter and co. 1986.
7:45, Brian Downing
7:52, Clemens
7:55, Mike Scott and his teammates celebrate his no-hitter, 9/25/86.
8:01, Will "The Thrill" Clark.
8:04, Valenzuela
8:07, Tony Gwynn
8:12, Dave Henderson. 5-4, Angels, game 5, 1986 ALCS. 2-2 pitch from Donnie Moore, one out away from the World Series is Cal...10/12/86.
8:24, Billy Hatcher, bottom of the 14th inning, game 6 of the 1986 NLCS. Mets up 4-3. Two outs away from going to the World Series. Jesse Orosco pitching, payoff pitch...10/15/86.
8:40, Grich. Bottom of the 11th, game 4 of the 1986 ALCS. 3-3 tie. Single to left for a walk-off! 10/11/86.
8:44, Knight scoring after Wilson hits it through Buckner's legs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Game 6, 1986 World Series. 10/25/86.
8:47, Hershiser and Dempsey and co. celebrate after the last out vs. Oakland in game 5, clinching the 1988 World Series. 10/20/88.
Thank you for watching! Tune in someday for another of Scott's 0.02 On Sports. So long!
References
Foster, Jason. "The inside Story of How 'This Week in Baseball' Got Its Iconic Theme Music." Sporting News. Buick, 04 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. The article was Sep. 20, 2015. <http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb-news/4651637-this-week-in-baseball-theme-music-gathering-crowds-john-scott-composer-twib-mlb>
"“ABC News” 1975 – 1976 Theme." Network News Music. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://www.networknewsmusic.com/wp/abc-news-1975-1976-theme/>
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Penner, Mike. "Cookie Bows to Umpire, Angels Bow to Yankees." Los Angeles Times. Sweat Ready Gear, 18 Aug. 1988. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <
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