When it Was a Game: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray]

Back in the late summer of 1991, just before I shipped out for a three-year overseas military assignment, I watched “When It Was a Game” on HBO. This is a film about major league baseball during its “golden age” of the 1930s through the mid-1950s. It primarily features 8- and 16-mm color home movies of the players, owners, ballparks, and fans of the time. I remember as I watched it how completely captivated by it I was. I never forgot the eloquent narrative, the stories told by the players, and especially that hauntingly beautiful opening music.Because my three-year assignment ultimately turned into a six-year stint, I never saw “When It Was a Game” again, and never knew that two sequels were made in the ensuing years.Last week I discovered “When It Was a Game: The Complete Collection” on Blu-ray disc at Amazon.com. This single disc contains all three parts to this wonderful series. Naturally I ordered a copy of it. When I watched Part I, I was able to rediscover the depth of feeling I had the first (and only} time I saw it. I had never seen Parts II and III, so these were new experiences for me. Part II is every bit as good as its predecessor; it contains all new color home movie footage from the mid-1920s through the mid-1950s, and carries forward the history of the game in that era with new detail. Part III is perhaps the best of all. Originally broadcast in 2000, this part features color footage of the players, managers, owners and fans in the decade of the 1960s, when baseball experienced some of the most important and radical changes in the sport’s history.Video and audio quality in this set are spectacular. Video has been remastered in 1080p high definition. Images are sharp and colors are vivid. Audio is DTS-HD Master Multi-channel and is warm, rich, and full.I would term “When It Was a Game: The Complete Collection” a kind of spiritual paean to the game of baseball during its golden age. It doesn’t provide the same chronological history of the game like Ken Burns’ documentary “Baseball” does. Neither does it shy away from baseball’s ugly side. It is quite frank in its discussions of racism, the players’ fight against the reserve clause, and the growing problem of substance abuse within the game.“When It Was a Game: The Complete Collection" is a must-own for baseball fans and those who love the history of the game. Highly recommended.

"When It Was A Game" was a labor of love, and when it was first televised on HBO the eyes of baseball fans were riveted and amazed. All 3 of these projects consist of "home movies" (usually shot in 8 mm), often shot by the players themselves. But almost all of these films are in vivid color - and to see the names that haunt Cooperstown in lifelike tones is an almost religious experience. It would be similar if it were possible to see color footage from the Civil War or the Constitutional Convention. Okay - I'm stretching it a little, but not by much. Baseball fans have always had a little historian in them, and although you'd be hard-pressed to find, for example, the sports fanatic who could tell you how many touchdown passes Unitas threw or how many points Wilt Chamberlain wound up with, even casual baseball fans knew numbers like 61 (the number of Home Runs Roger Maris hit in 1961), 56 (the number of consecutive games Joe DiMaggio hit safely in during the summer of 1941), 714 (Babe Ruth's lifetime home run total) and zero (the number of Brooklyn Dodgers who got on base during Don Larsen's perfect game of 1956.) If you took only the "named events" of the New York Giants at the famed Polo Grounds you could start with "the shot heard 'round the world" (Bobby Thompson's home run off Ralph Branca winning the 1951 National League pennant) and "the catch" (Willie Mays' amazing over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz' 475 foot drive to deep center field, saving the game and inspiring the Giants to win the 1954 World Series.)For fans who like their baseball heroic, "When It Was A Game" brings their heroes to full-color life.Appropriate music and reverent narration add to the historic but vibrant qualities of the works. "When It Was A Game" was eye-catching when it debuted, and so popular that it spawned a sequel that was more or less more of the same. The third volume may be the most interesting of all (especially if you're old enough to remember watching baseball from the 1960s on), but it also adds the historical context that the innovative National League completely dominated the old boy network of the American League because of their willingness to sign Black players like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and Latinos like Roberto Clemente. The NL won 19 out of 20 All-Star Games starting in 1962, and this little documentary doesn't mind saying that it was the narrow-mindedness of the American League that allowed Morgan, Stargell, Banks, Gibson, Marichal and McCovey to join Mays, Clemente and Aaron on teams that regularly trounced the other, whiter, league.Like Ken Burns' "Baseball", this set is a video love-song to baseball.

I know a little bit about the effort it requires to put something like this together, and this was obviously a labor of love. The narration (Costner, Costas, etc.) is done brilliantly. Better than any other BB doc - it puts you in the stands with the rest of the fans. I can smell the cigars and popcorn. When my Son was young, we watched this over and over. We loved every second.

If 1960's baseball is your thing, I can't recommend this highly enough. If like me, you find 1920-1955 more interesting, because you've seen a lot less footage of that time period, this item is not quite as good. The third segment covering the 1960's was great, covering Mays, Mantle, getting quotes from the players themselves. And unlike the first two segments for earlier years, the actual footage was less "New York - centric". Personally, I would have preferred a little more on Jimmy Foxx or Bob Feller (playing in Philadelphia and Cleveland) and little less on the Yankees and Dodgers. But I guess New York was were the majority of the footage was taken. Still, was great to see the ballparks that inspired the current "retro" phase - and Wrigley Field before the ivy. If you're a fan and want to know history that is becoming forgotten (actually footage of the on-armed pitcher!) I definitely recommend.