What is the most exciting play in baseball?
What is the most exciting moment in a baseball telecast?
I think the answer to both questions is a walk-off home run.
Other than a walk-off home run or a walk-off base hit, what is the most exciting play of any baseball game/telecast?
I would say a grand slam home run.
Once again, tonight, our telecast reaped the rewards of luck.
Not only did we have a walk-off home run, we also had two, let me repeat, two grand slams in one game.
This is only the beginning of the story of tonight's telecast.
Tonight's telecast featured:
The two best teams (record wise) in the National League.
and
Two of the best power hitters in the National League.
So what happened?
Each power hitter hit two home runs which included each hitting a grand slam.
The game ended on a walk off home run by the home team.
It was a very exciting game and the ballpark was "rocking" the whole game.
It was particularly exciting in the truck each time each team's power hitting star was at the plate because the TV truck fed off that energy and, I think, delivered with crisp shots, sharp replays, timely graphics, and a memorable telecast.
There were many "moments" in the game that I felt were covered as well as could be covered and I think, overall, this was one of our best telecasts.
I wasn't so confident early in the day that this was going to be one of those memorable affairs.
Here's why.
Many of our elements in the telecast are pre-produced. These pre-produced elements include graphics (lineups, defense, full pagers meaningful to the telecast, etc.) One of the main elements of our pre-production is an segment we call "tight faces". This is a sequence of shots that we record during the batting practice sessions of each team.
After our tease (the element that is the first video the viewer sees) is the open animation and after the open animation is the sequence of "tight faces" from players of each team. This is a nice bridge between the produced open animation (which is seen every telecast) and the announcers on camera segment.
It was during the taping of this "tight faces" segment that I thought we might be in for a long night.
The list of players for this segment included (for the Mets) David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, and Carlos Beltran. The Cardinals included Albert Pujols, Aaron Miles, Scott Rolen, and Preston Wilson.
After the video was recorded to each respective machine, our lead elvis operator (elvis is the name of our main replay machine) started to put together the "tight faces" sequence. He asked each of the two other replay machine operators to cue up their respective "tight faces" and he specifically asked one of the operators to cue up Pujols. The operator stated "which one is Poojoels?"
It reminded me of Spring Training 1999, the year after Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's memorable homerun race with Mark McGwire setting the all-time single-season record for home runs. We were in the top of the first inning and I said, "Camera One - give me McGwire." The camera one operator said, "Which team is he on?"
My response, "Never mind."
If a person is working in television sports, the least that operator can do is recognize the performers on the field. At the very least, know the stars of the sport. (Read the paper!)
I truly believe that every sports television production crew member should have a vested interest in each and every sport that that crew member is involved in.
This not only makes that operator a more valuable member of the crew, it makes the telecast better.