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Major League Baseball - Awesome All-Star Action
Warner Music // Unrated // July 6, 2004
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
There was a time when the baseball All-Star game was a big deal. No, really. It was a time of fathers and sons sitting down and watching all of their heroes in once place at one time. It was a time when athletes put on a show for the fans. It was a time to celebrate the first half of the longest season in sports.
Tonight is the 75th edition of the midsummer classic, which is as good a time as any for a commemorative release. Awesome All-Star Action is a collection of footage and interviews centering on the exhibition contest, where the fans (for better or worse) pick the players and "anything is possible." Even ties.
The disc is broken down into easily definable segments: "All-Star Atmosphere," a look at what makes the game special; "From Babe to Bonds," covering the game's history; "The Lighter Side," bloopers and other such funny antics; Midsummer Classic Classics," the top contests; "It's Outta Here," the greatest offensive moments, "Swing and a Miss," the greatest pitching moments; and "75 and Beyond," the future of the game.
As with most league-created sports videos, Awesome All-Star Action is slickly produced. The highlights and interviews flow together nicely, and the footage of the league's most recent games (in widescreen, suggesting a down-converted HDTV feed) is sparkling. The league has the weight to get any music it wants, meaning that the soundtrack cues are exciting and well matched to the action on the screen.
The difficulty with a DVD set up like this one is that Major League Baseball, in producing Awesome All-Star Action, must try to top both the Fox network (and its cable sports affiliates) and ESPN. Before and during the All-Star festivities both networks go all out with features, trying to dig up every bit of information on the game and re-examining the years past. Most of the big highlights on this disc make highlight reels on cable television at least once in the run-up to the game annually. In addition, neither network is paid to talk only about the positives. For instance, there are no mentions on this disc of the disastrous "commissioner's tie" game of just a couple years ago.
But the most difficult of all is watching footage of the old games and realizing that the modern incarnation of the game simply doesn't compare. With seemingly more players begging off from the game (claiming to have minor injures caused in the last series before the break, then becoming miraculously healed quickly after play resumes) and more joking around, it is obvious that the stars treat the game like a winter exhibition. The All-Star game used to be a matter of pride. Players went out and played hard, because that was how you became a star and that was what the fans wanted to see – the best players, playing at their best, in competition with each other. Now, athletes can become a star by pulling out a cell phone during a touchdown celebration, being charged with a crime or starring in a funny commercial. When they get selected to this game (still by fans' ballot, no matter how flawed), they think the fans want to see hi-jinks rather than talent on display. It goes against the spirit of the game.
The DVD
Video:
Major League Baseball did quite well with the transfer of Awesome All-Star Action. All of the old game footage has either been kept in pristine condition or cleaned up somewhere along the play; some of the shots are nicer than DVD releases of films of the same time period. There are no noticeable or distracting transfer flaws, either.
Sound:
The DVD is encoded in 2.0 stereo, sounding like it would on a digital cable broadcast. The lone quibble here is with the levels while athletes are talking; at times the music competes with the voice, especially with older players.
Extras:
About 30 minutes of bonus footage finds it way onto Awesome All-Star Acton. There is a year-by-year rundown, giving a five to ten second video clip of each game with the final score, ten minutes of extended interviews from the feature, "The Best of the Home Run Derby," which is nothing more than a collection of big guys hitting batting practice pitching out of the park, and "All-Century Team Highlights," focusing on Ted Williams being surrounded at the pitcher's mound and greeted by every all-star. For a league that has such a big video library, it is very disappointing to see only 30 minutes of extras. How about more raw footage from the first-ever game? How about something on the top announcer calls from All-Star games past? How about more from the locker rooms, as promised on the back cover ("From their cameras in the clubhouse…" boils down to a couple of shots at the beginning and end of the main program)?
Final Thoughts:
Only the most diehard baseball fan needs a disc like Awesome All-Star Action to keep him or her self warm in the baseball-less winter months. After all most of the content on this disc is available once a year on the ESPN networks. But the disc itself doesn't appeal much to the hardcore fan, settling for quick highlights and surface reports on what makes the game "great."
Tonight is the 75th edition of the midsummer classic, which is as good a time as any for a commemorative release. Awesome All-Star Action is a collection of footage and interviews centering on the exhibition contest, where the fans (for better or worse) pick the players and "anything is possible." Even ties.
The disc is broken down into easily definable segments: "All-Star Atmosphere," a look at what makes the game special; "From Babe to Bonds," covering the game's history; "The Lighter Side," bloopers and other such funny antics; Midsummer Classic Classics," the top contests; "It's Outta Here," the greatest offensive moments, "Swing and a Miss," the greatest pitching moments; and "75 and Beyond," the future of the game.
As with most league-created sports videos, Awesome All-Star Action is slickly produced. The highlights and interviews flow together nicely, and the footage of the league's most recent games (in widescreen, suggesting a down-converted HDTV feed) is sparkling. The league has the weight to get any music it wants, meaning that the soundtrack cues are exciting and well matched to the action on the screen.
The difficulty with a DVD set up like this one is that Major League Baseball, in producing Awesome All-Star Action, must try to top both the Fox network (and its cable sports affiliates) and ESPN. Before and during the All-Star festivities both networks go all out with features, trying to dig up every bit of information on the game and re-examining the years past. Most of the big highlights on this disc make highlight reels on cable television at least once in the run-up to the game annually. In addition, neither network is paid to talk only about the positives. For instance, there are no mentions on this disc of the disastrous "commissioner's tie" game of just a couple years ago.
But the most difficult of all is watching footage of the old games and realizing that the modern incarnation of the game simply doesn't compare. With seemingly more players begging off from the game (claiming to have minor injures caused in the last series before the break, then becoming miraculously healed quickly after play resumes) and more joking around, it is obvious that the stars treat the game like a winter exhibition. The All-Star game used to be a matter of pride. Players went out and played hard, because that was how you became a star and that was what the fans wanted to see – the best players, playing at their best, in competition with each other. Now, athletes can become a star by pulling out a cell phone during a touchdown celebration, being charged with a crime or starring in a funny commercial. When they get selected to this game (still by fans' ballot, no matter how flawed), they think the fans want to see hi-jinks rather than talent on display. It goes against the spirit of the game.
The DVD
Video:
Major League Baseball did quite well with the transfer of Awesome All-Star Action. All of the old game footage has either been kept in pristine condition or cleaned up somewhere along the play; some of the shots are nicer than DVD releases of films of the same time period. There are no noticeable or distracting transfer flaws, either.
Sound:
The DVD is encoded in 2.0 stereo, sounding like it would on a digital cable broadcast. The lone quibble here is with the levels while athletes are talking; at times the music competes with the voice, especially with older players.
Extras:
About 30 minutes of bonus footage finds it way onto Awesome All-Star Acton. There is a year-by-year rundown, giving a five to ten second video clip of each game with the final score, ten minutes of extended interviews from the feature, "The Best of the Home Run Derby," which is nothing more than a collection of big guys hitting batting practice pitching out of the park, and "All-Century Team Highlights," focusing on Ted Williams being surrounded at the pitcher's mound and greeted by every all-star. For a league that has such a big video library, it is very disappointing to see only 30 minutes of extras. How about more raw footage from the first-ever game? How about something on the top announcer calls from All-Star games past? How about more from the locker rooms, as promised on the back cover ("From their cameras in the clubhouse…" boils down to a couple of shots at the beginning and end of the main program)?
Final Thoughts:
Only the most diehard baseball fan needs a disc like Awesome All-Star Action to keep him or her self warm in the baseball-less winter months. After all most of the content on this disc is available once a year on the ESPN networks. But the disc itself doesn't appeal much to the hardcore fan, settling for quick highlights and surface reports on what makes the game "great."
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