Today, September 11, is a day to honor and pay tribute to the fallen victims and the heroes of that horrific day.
Every Major League team had pre-game ceremonies surrounding that event.
The first segment of our telecast followed suit and showed some of the pre-game ceremony, policemen and fire fighters, the giant American flag unfurled in centerfield, and fans dressed in red, white, and blue. The segment ended, fittingly, with the late, great Jack Buck reading his beautiful and touching poem during the pre-game ceremony of the first game back after September 11, 2001.
The second segment developed the main theme for the game/telecast. The starting pitcher for our home team is a top candidate for his second consecutive Cy Young award. We aired a graphic showing the outstanding home ERA that this pitcher had this season. It was, in fact, the second best home ERA in a single season in the past thirteen years.
The visiting club scratched their scheduled starter, a left hander, about an hour before the game. So, our third segment highlighted the fact that this move by the visitors may be a good thing because the home club has the worst batting average in the National League against lefties.
The home starter pitched a complete game shutout and the home club knocked the visiting starter, a right hander, out of the game in the fourth inning.
The game themes established in the Open stand-up followed suit. The telecast had a nice flow and, once again, a member of the home camera crew came through with one of the greatest shots this season.
It was the fourth inning.
The bases were loaded.
The player who some consider to be the best player in the game was on third base. The batter hit a bases clearing triple. Camera 1 (left field corner) was shooting (isoing) the runner at third as he scored. This player then directed the trailing runners to stand up and not slide as no play was attempted at the plate.
The camera cut for the television viewer showed the ball off the bat from centerfield (camera 4), high home camera, camera 2, followed the ball off the wall, camera seven showed the first runner scoring, back to camera 2 as the outfielder hustled after the ball which got away from him off the wall, camera 7 showing the next two runners scoring, then camera 6 shooting the player who hit the triple sliding into third base and clapping his hands together. There was excellent framing in this shot as well. The home crowd was going crazy in the background.
The fans in the stands watched the ball, thinking grand slam, bang off the wall and then saw the runners scoring and the batter sliding into third base.
What nobody saw live, except the camera 1 operator, was the unbelievable reaction from the first runner who scored. After the third runner scored, the player who scored first and then directed traffic at home plate, pointed to his teammate at third base with a huge smile on his face. This shot was taken as a waist shot, fairly tight, and was a shot that can only be taken by a camera operator who “feels” the moment and grabs it.
On the replay of this fantastic shot, I thought “Wow.” Not for the emotion displayed by the great baseball player, I was “wowed” by the incredible skill of this operator. This operator was able to “feel” that moment in the game, and then capture that moment.
The replay sequence on this bases loaded clearing triple was set up perfectly by the Producer. It ended with the iso of the player at the plate and his emotional reaction to what just occurred.
The third mix in this wonderful sequence was the audio. During the live action the crowd was going nuts, and this energy continued during the replays.
It was a memorable moment on a memorable night.