Last night’s game was an example of a game that baseball TV production teams enjoy televising.
There was a nice flow to the game throughout. The visiting Cardinals tied the game in the top of the ninth inning and won the game in the 12th inning.
The game was well-pitched, there was a home run, and there was a bang-bang play at the plate that resulted in the winning run scoring. The replays on the play at the plate were excellent. Our replay sequence went from the throw by the outfielder to the runner sliding into home plate to a tight shot of the ball falling out of the catcher’s glove.
We were taking the back end of a dual feed so I utilized the centerfield camera (# 4) and the high home camera (#2) from the Pittsburgh feed. The three cameras that I controlled were located at mid-first base (camera 3), low first base (camera 5), and tight center field (camera 6).
The combination of the brisk flow of the game and the excellent work by the camera operators on our telecast made for a very nice telecast. These operators worked hard to find shots and did not waste any time in delivering these shots. So, not only was there a good flow to the game, the telecast had a nice flow as well.
Until the ninth inning that is.
Before the top of the ninth inning began, I released the low first base camera operator to go to the booth with his hand held camera that he used in the dugout. The score at the time was 2-0 in favor of the home team Pittsburgh Pirates. There is a post-game show on the network and a camera must be in the booth for the announcers’ on-camera segment.
This segment begins 2 minutes and 30 seconds after throw to the final break so there must be a camera in the booth and ready to go.
The Cardinals tied the game in the top of the ninth and won the game in the twelfth inning.
So for the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth innings I was only able to utilize my two cameras, which were located at mid-first base and tight centerfield, into the telecast with the two other cameras (high home and centerfield) from the primary feed.
These two camera operators worked even harder to “get the shot’, and even though the telecast may have lost some of the earlier flow, the last four innings had a fairly good pace.
We are the only TV feed out of the ballpark tomorrow and I am looking forward to doing a telecast with a full compliment of equipment. The Pittsburgh crew that works the visiting side of the telecast is a pleasure to work with.
We will have a full complement of cameras and tape machines and a crew that does a great job.
I am excited for tomorrow’s telecast.