This tape (DVD) is definitely for New York City area baseball fans, but the rest of us can enjoy a lot of this, too. The 130 minutes centers on the decade's dominance of the game by the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. This was interesting and I don't dispute the New York City teams' dominance but they could have given more coverage to some of the great stars from the other teams: men like Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Al Kaline, etc. Instead, it's almost all New York.
The highlights, of course, begin with Bobby Thompson's famous 1951 home run, "The Shot Heard 'Round The World." We also see the famous catch by Willie Mays in the '54 classic; Sandy Amoros' catch for Brooklyn the year "the Bums" finally beat the Yankees as Johnny Podres pitched two big wins, then Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees.
Speaking of the Yankees, we get a nice profile on Mickey Mantle. Who knows how good he might have been - maybe the best ever - if he had been healthy. Mays also is a candidate for one of the top three players of all time and Boston's Ted Williams, some still think, was baseball's greatest hitter and he starred in this decade, too.
With so many contributers to this series being New York City-based people, I expected and didn't mind all the New York teams coverage, but the bias went into the political realm here with enormous plus for New York governor Mario Cuomo. It looked like the Liberal Democrat's campaign team put out this tape! I couldn't believe the amount of time they gave him here, but it's not a shock considering it's Burns and PBS, too. Also, I didn't care for George Plimpton's blasphemous statements in this segment. His elitist views fit right in, I suppose.
Despite the incredible decade for the NYC teams, the decade ends on a real downer as the Dodgers and Giants move West to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, in the late '50s.
The highlights, of course, begin with Bobby Thompson's famous 1951 home run, "The Shot Heard 'Round The World." We also see the famous catch by Willie Mays in the '54 classic; Sandy Amoros' catch for Brooklyn the year "the Bums" finally beat the Yankees as Johnny Podres pitched two big wins, then Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees.
Speaking of the Yankees, we get a nice profile on Mickey Mantle. Who knows how good he might have been - maybe the best ever - if he had been healthy. Mays also is a candidate for one of the top three players of all time and Boston's Ted Williams, some still think, was baseball's greatest hitter and he starred in this decade, too.
With so many contributers to this series being New York City-based people, I expected and didn't mind all the New York teams coverage, but the bias went into the political realm here with enormous plus for New York governor Mario Cuomo. It looked like the Liberal Democrat's campaign team put out this tape! I couldn't believe the amount of time they gave him here, but it's not a shock considering it's Burns and PBS, too. Also, I didn't care for George Plimpton's blasphemous statements in this segment. His elitist views fit right in, I suppose.
Despite the incredible decade for the NYC teams, the decade ends on a real downer as the Dodgers and Giants move West to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, in the late '50s.