Comments on: The Aesthetics of Baseball

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:58:16 +0000

Hi again, I hope you will continue dialog about televised sports as an art form. I so look forward to your blog!

By: R. Emmet Sweeney

R. Emmet Sweeney — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:35:50 +0000

AS, I have no issue with FoxTrax and the like. It’s a nice tool for the viewer to see how umps are calling the game, since the real-time camera is off-center, we don’t get a clear view of the strike zone. These tools offer a minor corrective. The more information the better…

No problem Keith…and I definitely agree with you. This is the first World Series I watched on an HDTV, and the difference was enormous. Being able to clearly see the path of the ball to home plate adds immeasurably to the detail of watching the game.

Watching hockey on it is even a bigger improvement, what with being able to see every bounce of the puck and all.

I’m a big-time convert, although I believe broadcasts can use statistics more effectively. They are still too hung up on AVG and RBIs, which should be weighed much less than they are. And pitcher vs. hitter stats are used even with very small sample sizes, which aren’t very predictive.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:51:05 +0000

My apologies for the spelling snafus…

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:49:42 +0000

Hi RES, what a great article on televised coverage of baseball. I agree that viewers are usually not conscious of choices made for them.

At the risk of incurring everyone’s wrath I have to say that I have enjoyed viewing baseball for more than ever via HD TV on a large screen. I enjoy the graphics and stats – baseball fans devour states like locusts devour crops. I like the TRAX… it is wonderful to me to get a sense of umpires’ various strike zones and how they impact games.

I am aware of camera angles and notice that FOX wokrs hard at showing the emotions of a game and the ebbs and flows.

The sound is incredible. It was cool to hear Jeter yelling at his
pitchers when men were on or to hear base coaches.

Ok.. I am afraid I have gushed but to me ( a fan over 40+ years) televised coverage of baseball is a marvel.

Being a technologist I think we will come to a point where viewers will have view options much like say browsers.

BTW.. I had ESPN game tracks rolling while I watched the Series.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:21:35 +0000

Illuminating piece on the technical aspects of doing a game. (I wish there was a telecast available of a game done at the Los Angeles Coliseum when the Dodgers spent four years there. With its misshapen (for baseball) proportions, this venue, designed for football and track, must have provided some real challenges.

As a Washington Nationals fan (yes, we do exist!), I note that when a bases-loaded situation comes up on Nats games, they will show a multiple-camera shot of the three runners on base, then below them closeups of the batter and pitcher. The announcers jokingly call this their “Brady Bunch” shot.

By: sitting pugs

sitting pugs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:48:13 +0000

It’s musing and writing like this that reminds me that baseball only seems slow when one doesn’t think about the televised aesthetic.

I used to be a baseball fan (er, should I say a fan of the Braves in the early to mid 90s). While I don’t experience the same amount of joy in watching televised baseball now, I still love the shot-reverse-shots between the pitcher and the catcher as well as high-angle medium close-ups of players in the dugout leaning on the railing. Aware but not terribly concerned that at any moment their image could be broadcast to an international audience.

By: warlock6

warlock6 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:43:43 +0000

i personally do not like this game. maybe it sounds strange because all Americans can not live without baseball. but it is the fact.

By: PK

PK — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:35:46 +0000

This is awesome to the max. Totally awesome!

…and Go Mets.

By: AS

AS — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:42:52 +0000

Great write up. Fascinating. I am surprised there is no mention of Fox Trax, the grid superimposed on one side of the screen that the blabbermouths in the booth remind us every time is “our unofficial look at pitch location.” I find it a huge distraction. As someone who is against instant replay in baseball, Fox Trax and its TBS cousin Pitch Trax just further undermines the authority of the umpires, who deserve to be scrutinized, but who rarely get credit for the vast majority of calls they make – the ones that are right.

By: R. Emmet Sweeney

R. Emmet Sweeney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:35:02 +0000

Thanks for the note on instant replay, TOC, it sounds like another mini-drama in the director’s toolbox.

I thought the same thing Suzi, although there are a few people working subtly with the new technology, including David Fincher.

Moira – Bill Webb is the one who doesn’t like crowd shots, I wasn’t implying that this was the policy of all of Fox Sports. I just want to clarify that.

And I don’t understand the argument against instant replay. I think it’s more “human” to accurately reflect the human actions of the athletes. Instant replay is already in for home-run calls, and it hasn’t impeded the action at all. So I hope it comes in sooner than later…

It’s great to hear you’re a fellow Mets fan! It’s a sad, bitter existence, and I wouldn’t have it any other way…