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Dan Caesar

FIRST THERE WERE newsreels, films that miraculously brought world events to wide-eyed Americans still marveling at the notion that moving pictures could be shown on a big screen in a grandiose auditorium. Years later, the creation of television condensed the world into the little black-and-white boxes springing up in living rooms all across the country.

The newsreel, however, eventually went the way of the manual typewriter, the steam engine, and regular visits from the milkman--its time had passed. Yet, one modem-day form of the old newsreel remains in this era of instant communications: the World Series video. The days of grainy, colorless films are long gone, though. Time has marched on with the video chronicling of one of sports' premiere events. In fact, the production is not even on film, or video cassette for that matter. It is released strictly on DVD.

The production of the video--if that still is the right word for it--is quite an undertaking. It certainly is a far cry from a couple of cameras being set on tripods at the ballparks of yesteryear. Five crews, encompassing about two dozen people, were scattered throughout Boston's Fenway Park and Busch Stadium in St. Louis to record the action as the Red Sox and Cardinals battled it out last fall. There were three stationary positions and two roving crews.

The term "all-access" often is overused in networks' promotion of their TV shows, but that tag is applicable here. The roving crews really were on the move. There they were on the field before the game. There they were in the upper deck--and then the dugout--while play was in progress. There they were in the box seats the next inning. They were using fans in the stands to hold up props or decorate the footage with their signs and unusual outfits. All this left the Major League Baseball Productions crews churning up and down ramps and steps like they were training for a triathlon.

"We chronicle the whole World Series experience, not just the action on the field," notes Mitchell Scherr, who oversaw the production. "We have a different perspective than TV. We want to tell the story of how [the teams] got there, how the fans react. They're already going to know what happened [by the time the DVD is released], so we want to do an overview of the whole scene. We want something that will be just as [relevant] in 15 years or more as it is today."

So, the finished product is much more all-encompassing than the films of the old days, when the only off-field shots seemingly were brief glimpses of men in white shirts and ties and ladies wearing their Sunday-best hats going bonkers in the stands.

"We want to paint a portrait of everything going on," explains David Gavant, vice president and executive producer of MLB Productions. "We try to capture the big picture."

The MLB Productions crew was able to concentrate on the activities off the field because MLB's contract with the Fox network, which televised the World Series, allows the use of Fox footage in the video. Since the crew primarily was augmenting the nuts-and-bolts material, much of its attention was turned to off-field events.

To wit, MLB Productions set up a mini-studio in the belly of the stadiums in order to record player interviews, but that set-up presented many challenges. First, there were logistical issues. At Busch Stadium, space was borrowed from KMOX, the flagship station of the Cardinals' radio network, which has a small studio nestled between the home and visiting lockerrooms. Interviews for the video had to be squeezed in when the station was not on the air with one of its many World Series programs.

It was even more challenging in Boston, where the games were played in ancient--and cramped--Fenway Park. "In Boston, we were in a laundry room," Scherr points out. "[We were] dealing with the grounds crew and maintenance guys coming in and out."

Yet, there were more problems than setting up--and having access to--the makeshift interview rooms. There also was the issue of cooperation from players, some of whom were more eager than others to appear on camera.

Before Game 3 in St. Louis, rain poured all afternoon. That washed out batting practice, on-field jogging, and most other normal pregame activities as the players sat around waiting for the weather to clear. This provided an extended opportunity for interviews, supposedly a real coup for the video crew. Although several Boston players agreed to talk about their performance in Game 2, the producers also wanted to bring in Cardinals losing pitcher Matt Morris for a chat. Morris--pounded in his only Series start--declined.

Marc Caiafa, field producer for the video, realizes that this is just one of the occupational hazards of the job. "You want to get as much as you can, but you don't want to be a pest. When your team is down 0-2 in games, you understand why some people might not want to talk. You still want the starting pitcher, but he's not feeling like it."

Still, the crew got most of the people they hoped to interview as it painted the big-picture story--and the picture keeps getting bigger and bigger. Boston's first World Series title in 86 seasons has created a fervor of interest, especially in New England. As a result, a record half-million copies of the video were produced. Knowing the Bosox faithful, however, that might not be enough.

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The Boston Red Sox finally, at long last, reversed the curse, at the expense of the St. Louis Cardinals, but there wasn't much cursing among Redbird enthusiasts. The mood in St. Louis, where the Red Sox completed their four-game World Series sweep, was more along the lines of "If we can't win it, I'm glad they finally got a title." Or, more to the point, "It's better to get to the World Series and lose to the Sox than to have the [arch-rival] Chicago Cubs get to it and win."

Boston won the World Series for the first time in 86 years. The drought--which included heartbreaking seven-game setbacks to the Cardinals in 1946 and 1967--stretched all the way to 1918, two years before the Red Sox sold a fellow named Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Hence, the "Curse of the Bambino" was born.

Fans in St. Louis (touted by many as the best baseball town in the country) remained hopeful when the team returned home down two games to none. That hope was short-lived, however, after Bosox ace Pedro Martinez dominated the Cards' normally heavy-hitting lineup in Game 3, setting up the clincher the following evening. It was time for the glum reality: St. Louis gave up as many runs (24) as it had hits. The Cardinals' batting average was .190; their earned-run average was 6.09. Plus, they never led in the Series.

Some fans sold their Game 4 tickets to Boston followers who had made their way to town, evidently feeling that it was better to make a tidy profit than sit sulking in Busch Stadium if the Redbirds happen to lose.

Nancy McNiff was one of the lucky Red Sox fans to attend the Series-deciding game. She grew up in suburban Boston, moved to Florida for 11 years, and has lived the last six years in St. Louis, where she is the general manager of a printing plant. She has become a Cardinals follower, too, and attended the game with St. Louis fans.

"It was very interesting being a Boston fan and a St. Louis fan at the same time; it made it kind of odd," she says. However, there was absolutely no doubt where her deepest loyalties lied. "In my heart of hearts, Boston is my roots and it was their time."

Although she shouldn't have been (considering their reputation), McNiff was surprised by the reaction of the Cardinals fans toward the small, but vocal, group of Red Sox rooters who attended.

"What stuck out was how incredibly gracious the St. Louis fans were to the Boston fans," McNiff marvels. "I didn't see anything other than them offering congratulations, that it was a long time coming. Having grown up in Boston, it was something fun to experience."

Dan Caesar is a sports media critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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