Last night’s telecast was the most entertaining, informative show of the season.
The game itself was not very entertaining to the Cardinals’ fans as the Cardinals compiled only three hits and lost 7-0, but, because of great teamwork from our TV crew, this telecast may have been our most effective show of this season.
The starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres was basically untouchable. We highlighted this performance with two different video sequences. The first sequence was a montage of the 10 strikeouts this pitcher had during the game. He used a variety of pitches to get the strikeouts and the video package really showed the arsenal of pitches utilized by this talented starter. While this video clip accentuated the weapons of this starter, the second montage effectively displayed the movement of these pitches. This clip was a pitch by pitch sequence of one of the ten strikeouts from this pitcher and this 5-pitch sequence highlighted the fact that each pitch moved differently. These two video clips demonstrated the quality pitches of the starting pitches, but these clips also showed the quality of the pitches of this player. In summary, our production team not only gave the viewers a look at the different pitches of this player, we also showed the movement of these pitches. Here are the pitches and here is what they do.
These two video snippets were effective, informative, and entertaining.
Later in the game, this same pitcher was dealing a one-hitter and was facing the starting pitcher of the Cardinals. Because of the quality performance of the Padres pitcher, we began to isolate him to a camera. This meant that the low first base camera (camera 1) operator’s responsibilities changed from left-handed batters, runners and defense to exclusively covering this pitcher. During this at-bat, the pitcher became angry for a pitch he had just thrown. He cursed and was visibly upset. On the very next pitch the batter laced a double to left centerfield. Indeed, this was the hardest hit ball of the game by the Cardinals. Instead of showing the double as the replay, we replayed the reaction by the pitcher from the pitch thrown just before the double. This replay was the most telling replay of the telecast.
This replay was effective, informative, and entertaining.
The next inning included two examples of excellent baseball television.
During the top half of the inning, one of our camera operators found two Padres pitchers in the dugout talking about pitch grips. The importance of this camera shot was accentuated because the two players in the shot were Greg Maddox, a future member of the hall-of-fame, and David Wells, who once twirled a perfect game. This great look was so important that I returned to this shot between pitches. Maddox was showing Wells how different grips on the ball affect the movement of the ball. Earlier in the telecast, I took a shot of Maddox in the dugout and he was holding a baseball. Our analyst pointed out that all pitchers like to hold on to a baseball during games just to get a “feel” for the baseball. This earlier shot proved to prophetic as, later on, Maddox was teaching a teammate about getting a “feel” of the baseball. What was even more telling about this shot was the fact that this is David Wells last season. This veteran is winding down a great career yet, here he is in the dugout, talking pitching with a future member of the hall-of-fame.
These live shots were effective, informative, and entertaining.
The second example of excellent baseball television occurred in the bottom half of the inning. The Cardinals” starting pitcher was pitching out of the stretch. We noticed that as his front leg came to rest when he completed the stretch, the pitcher moved it once again. It seemed to be a balk. We started with a replay and the color analyst commented that he thought that this extra movement from the front foot could constitute a balk. We followed up on this story line with live shots of the front foot. Although these shots showed the extra movement of the front foot, no balk was called.
The replay, followed by the live shots, mixed with the color commentary, proved to be effective, informative, and entertaining.
This effective, informative, and entertaining telecast occurred because of total teamwork from the TV crew. The sharp eye of a camera operator, the editing talent of a replay technician, and the baseball knowledge from the announcers and the Producer/Director team all combined to give the baseball viewers and baseball fans a quality telecast.
Being a part of a telecast such as this is very rewarding and exciting.
I can only imagine how great this show would have been if the Cardinals had won.