As I progress through this series again, appreciating all that I see now as a mature adult instead of my childish fascination, I find particular interest in these early years of professional baseball. There is a raucous edginess that Burns romanticizes as purely American in this episode with the help of many sportswriters, authors, and journalists. The first decade of the 20th century highlighted in this episode brings light to many staples of the baseball experience we enjoy today, from the ballpark frank to 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'. It also honors the likes of Honus Wagner, John McGraw, 'Ban' Johnson and his formation of the American League, Connie Mack, Fred Merkle, Rube Waddell, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Ty Cobb, my personal favorite. The chapter on Ty has to be my favorite installment in this episode. And boy do I appreciate the organization Burns puts in his early work. Every chapter hangs around ten minutes, making it is easy to put down and come back to. There is also a great appreciation for marginalized groups like African-Americans and women throughout this episode and the whole documentary which I sincerely admire. Burns does a magnificent job at showing Baseball for the widely loved game it was during this time.
"(Cobb) would climb a mountain to punch an echo" has to be my favorite quote from the episode.
"(Cobb) would climb a mountain to punch an echo" has to be my favorite quote from the episode.