On a typical baseball telecast the Producer and the Director spend three hours making split second decisions. This aspect of our profession is what makes our jobs so exciting. Sometimes you get it right and capture the moment. Other times, you could have made a better decision and, thus, had a better result. Either way, a Producer and a Director are constantly “learning” during a baseball telecast.
The decision of replays and replay sequences is up to the discretion of the Producer.
The “live” cut of the cameras is up to the discretion of the Director. It is up to the discretion of the Producer/Director team in how to deliver to the viewer what is occurring or has occurred on the field. Most decisions are cut and dried. There is one instance in any sports telecast that causes some deliberation from the Producer/Director team in its decision making process.
How do we cover an instance where an athlete is severely injured?
The game in San Diego last night provided our TV production team with this unique circumstance. What was so amazing is that two severe injuries occurred not once, but twice in the same inning!
The first incident occurred when a batted ball struck the pitcher in the face. Each member of the crew let out a gasp. As play stopped, I took a shot of the pitcher who was sitting up and facing centerfield. The tight centerfield camera showed blood pouring down the pitcher’s face. I got off the shot and decided that it was too graphic of a shot to repeat it. I concentrated on reaction shots from players and fans and concentrated on the player who hit the ball. This player was clearly shaken up by the incident. We decided that the high home angle would be the only angle we would replay. The camera is far enough away from the mound that while showing the ball hitting the pitcher, this angle was not too graphic as to offend viewers. The tight face shots of players, umpires, and fans told the story anyway.
A few moments later, during a collision at home plate, the catcher’s ankle was severely twisted. A responsibility of the high first base camera is to be fairly tight on the home plate when there is a play at the plate. This angle clearly showed the ankle twisting in a horrible position. Indeed, we felt that the ankle was surely broken. The irony of this incident is that it involved the same player whose batted ball had struck the pitcher moments earlier.
I took shots of the catcher writhing on the ground, the medical staff rushing onto the field, and players looking on at the catcher.
During this time, our Producer contemplated not showing the replay because of its graphic nature. After a discussion, we decided to replay the tight angle but only after our play by play announcer warned the viewers that what they were about to see was very graphic.
Thankfully, capturing images such as these does not happen very frequently. But, when they do occur, these instances are examples of the few times in a TV production unit during a game that the TV production team does not have to rely on split second decisions and can make decisions after some discussion.
We should be thankful that our most difficult decisions during a broadcast are the ones where we can think first, discuss, and then decide.

I like everything about San Diego.
I like the weather, the ballpark, the fish tacos, and the TV crew.
Last night’s game provided our telecast with some of the best moments of the season. There were two mammoth homeruns that the camera operators captured with shots that included reactions from “amazed” teammates on the bench.
The replay sequence of the first home run was great. Our viewers saw the location of the pitch, the concentration from the batter, the flight of the ball, and the icing on the cake – the reaction of the teammates.
The hard work of the camera operators is always greatly appreciated here in San Diego. It is just too bad that we were televising out of a SD truck instead of a HD truck. The EIC of this truck is great to work with. This person deserves a better truck than the “relic” he is in charge of.
I look forward to tonight’s telecast.
The weather will be perfect.
The ballpark will provide some great shots for our crew.
The fish tacos will be delicious.
The local TV crew will be a pleasure (as always) to work with.
The only thing missing from a total pleasurable TV experience is the lack of a high definition signal.
Oh well, I am over it.
After all, this is San Diego.

Sometimes in the TV baseball business the game is good and the production is bad, or sometimes the game is bad and the production is good. The worst case scenario is when the game AND the production are both bad. That leaves the best case scenario which is when both the game and the production are good.
The past two nights here in Denver have followed the best case scenario.
Both games were memorable contests that featured some remarkable athletics feats from some of the players.
Both telecasts were memorable because of some creative, hard working crew members who captured some of the best TV “moments” of the season.
Even though we were in the back end of a dual feed, our telecasts were about as good as they could be because of the total team effort of our crew. In the game “wrap up”, our analyst described the Cardinals’ win as a total team effort with many of the Cardinals players contributing to the victory.
This comment could also describe our telecast.
The camera operators were fantastic. They continually covered the action with crisp shots both during play and during commercial breaks. It is a tremendous feeling to be part of such a hard working and aggressive camera crew. Being in the back end of a dual feed, our production only has three cameras, but this crew made it seem like we had our full complement of eight cameras.
The audio mix was superb as well.
During both telecasts, our graphics Producer continually called up pertinent information that both informed and entertained the audience.
Our lead “tape” Producer edited concise sequences of the action and produced some entertaining video pieces.
Memorable moments of the two games included the winning run scoring from second base on a routine ground ball to the second baseman in the top of the ninth inning of the first game. The second game included TWO plays where the centerfielder threw out base runners at third base. Both of the throws were from a great distance and, as our commentators debated on the air, these throws could be considered two of the greatest throws of all time.
We were fortunate in our telecast to capture these electric moments with concise “live” shots from the great camera crew and with excellent replays that elevated the quality of the play and the production.
Our camera crew also captured moments before and during the game that could not be seen from the fans at the ballpark. One notable example that our lead “tape” Producer noticed occurred in the bullpen while the Cardinals’ starting pitcher was warming up before the game. The Cardinals’ pitching coach noticed that the pitcher was “opening up”
his front shoulder too quickly during his delivery. The pitching coach motioned with his shoulder to the starting pitcher and, after the pitcher threw another warm up pitch, one could read the pitching coaches lips saying “much better”.
When this pitcher took the mound in the bottom of the first inning, our Producer had the tape room cue up this video from the bull pen. Not only did we air this piece then, but we revisited it later in the game when the starting pitcher was pitching brilliantly. Tonight, we are going to revisit this moment again when we get a sound bite from the pitching coach concerning this moment from the bull pen.
The two victories for the Cardinals were, indeed, two total team efforts.
The two successful and entertaining telecasts from our production crew were total team efforts as well.

The quality of our production yesterday rated mediocre to bad. There is a simple explanation for this evaluation – I was horrible.
I could never get into a flow and establish a rhythm. I tried slowing down the cut and I tried aggressively cutting.
I do not remember one time during the game/telecast where I knew where I was going to be in five cuts.
My timing of lower third batter fonts (graphics) never seemed to work. The graphic was either in too long or not long enough.
Many times I found myself going to the centerfield camera (camera 4) for the pitch way too early and there were a couple of instances where I went to camera 4 way too late.
I found myself being “all tied up” and therefore I had to waste shots just to get back to where I could (maybe) get a rhythm going.
I felt like a rookie and I made rookie mistakes.
I struggled during most of the game/telecast, yet I never gave up trying to get a flow going.
I noticed something during my struggle with the telecast yesterday that I have rarely noticed before. As the show/telecast went on, my struggle affected other members of our production team. There were mistakes made that we do not usually see on our show. The camera operators were affected as well. Shots usually taken were not there and some of the camera operators stopped being aggressive. I think these fine technicians were trying in their own way to help me with the struggles I was having.
Mistakes are made in every TV sports production.
It is the goal of every TV sports production team to capture the best shots, show the best replays, mix the best audio, and air the best graphic. Those moments are special to every telecast. This profession is so great because each and every time we go to work, we learn.
Yesterday, I saw and learned how much my struggles affected other members of our production team.
I can only hope that during tomorrow’s game/telecast my work in the TV truck will be of the quality that will elevate the quality of work from the rest of our production team.I brought them all down yesterday, tomorrow I hope to make them better.