
A look at Hall of Fame inductee Mike Piazza's improbable rise from a 62nd-round draft pick to baseball immortality.


A look at Hall of Fame inductee Mike Piazza's improbable rise from a 62nd-round draft pick to baseball immortality.
2016-07-13
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0.0This 100-year celebration has rare footage of Red Sox southpaw Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove. This superb documentary bridges the gap to Ted Williams, whose hitting heroics are captured in living color along with the history of Fenway Park itself, from Opening Day, 1912, through the "Impossible Dream" season of 1967.
0.0The World Series champion Mets of 1969 and 1986 were embraced by fans for their pitching, personalities, and perseverance. In 1969, the world was mesmerized by man's first steps on the moon. The world of baseball was equally transfixed by the Mets. New York relied on pitching from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, and the hitting of Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones to register the Club's first 100-win season. It took the 1986 Mets two games to recover from a grueling NLCS, and then the fiery Lenny Dykstra led the charge. With two road victories pushing the Fall Classic back to Shea Stadium, the stage was set for Game Six--and arguably the most remarkable comeback in baseball history...
7.5Major League Baseball has been transformed by the influx of Cuban players such as Aroldis Chapman, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu. But a special debt of gratitude is owed to two half-brothers, whose courage two decades ago paved the way for their stardom. "Brothers in Exile" tells the incredible story of Livan and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who risked their lives to get off the island.
7.4On Oct. 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PT, soon after Al Michaels and Tim McCarver started the ABC telecast for Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, the ground began to shake beneath Candlestick Park. Even before that moment, this had promised to be a memorable matchup: the first in 33 years between teams from the same metropolitan area, a battle featuring larger-than-life characters and equally colorful fan bases. But after the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake rolled through, bringing death and destruction, the Bay Area pulled together, and baseball took a backseat.
0.0In this animated short, Tigers ace Jack Morris recalls the adventures of getting his team pizza after winning the 1984 World Series.
6.5A look at the Boston Red Sox's 2003 season, from Spring Training to their meeting with the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, and the team's relationship with their fans.
6.9Mike Veeck, son of MLB franchise owner Bill Veeck, blows up his father's career. Exiled from the game he loves, the younger Veeck spends the next few decades clawing his way up from rock bottom, determined to redeem himself.
0.0Big Papi was at his best when it mattered, heralded as the greatest playoff clutch hitter of all-time. Filmed over the course of just six weeks, David Ortiz: Legend Of The Fall documents the three time world champion's recent induction in the baseball Hall of Fame – capturing the lead-up to this momentous event, the actual ceremony and the afterglow of his enshrinement.
7.5Every day Pete Rose wakes up and goes to work. He's surrounded by bats, balls, gloves, and fans, and approaches each day with the same gusto which defined him on the field. But instead of a dugout, he's seated in a folding chair in a memorabilia store in Las Vegas. Nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his efforts on the field, Rose, now 71, agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on games when he was the manager for the Cincinnati Reds. The ban has left him ineligible for induction into the Hall of Fame. He leads baseball with 4,256 career hits. - Written by ESPN Films
9.5Red Sox Nation rejoiced as its beloved team reached the World Series in dramatic fashion, having just overcome a three-games-to-one deficit in the ALCS by outscoring the Cleveland Indians 30-5 in the final three contests. There they met the sizzling Colorado Rockies -victors in 21 of their last 22 games and just the second team ever to win their first seven in the postseason. But while both teams came into the World Series on fire, only one continued that torrid pace. The Red Sox briskly swept the Rockies aside to capture their second title of the decade and their second straight Fall Classic sweep.
0.0Behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews w/ players, coaches and broadcasters from the World Series Champion Washington Nationals.
6.1In Fernando Nation, Mexican-born and Los Angeles-raised director Cruz Angeles traces the history of a community that was torn apart when Dodger Stadium was built in Chavez Ravine and then revitalized by one of the most captivating pitching phenoms baseball has ever seen. Nicknamed “El Toro” by his fans, Fernando Valenzuela ignited a fire that spread from LA to New York—and beyond. He vaulted himself onto the prime time stage and proved with his signature look to the heavens and killer screwball that the American dream was not reserved for those born on U.S. soil. In this layered look at the myth and the man, Cruz Angeles recalls the euphoria around Fernando’s arrival and probes a phenomenon that transcended baseball for many Mexican-Americans. Fernando Valenzuela himself opens up to share his perspective on this very special time. Even 20 years later, “Fernandomania” lives.
6.5When the night of October 16, 2004 came to a merciful end, the Curse of the Bambino was alive and well. The vaunted Yankee lineup, led by A-Rod, Jeter, and Sheffield, had just extended their ALCS lead to three games to none, pounding out 19 runs against their hated rivals. The next night, in Game 4, the Yankees took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, then turned the game over to Mariano Rivera, the best relief pitcher in postseason history, to secure yet another trip to the World Series. But after a walk and a hard-fought stolen base, the cold October winds of change began to blow. Over four consecutive days and nights, this unlikely group of Red Sox miraculously won four straight games to overcome the inevitability of their destiny. Major League Baseball Productions will produce a film in "real-time" that takes an in-depth look at the 96 hours that brought salvation to Red Sox Nation and made baseball history in the process.
5.5Love them or hate them, the Yankees dominated baseball for more than four decades, then sagged under ownership by CBS until a 42-year-old shipbuilder named George Steinbrenner led a purchase of the team in 1973. He turned that $10m investment into a billion-dollar business, and the 'House that Ruth Built' inspired generations of fans. Deteriorating facilities and changing revenue streams inspired Steinbrenner to build an impressive new stadium marking the end of one grand era and the beginning - perhaps - of another.
5.9An examination of the 1998 MLB season and the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The two sluggers' race to hit the most home runs, later overshadowed by the steroid scandal, left a permanent mark on baseball history.
0.0The 1975 Fall Classic matched the Reds against the Boston Red Sox in a seven-act performance that enthralled the nation. After an extra-innings defeat in Game 6 the night before, the Reds trailed 3-0 in Game 7, but like true champions, they battled back to win the game and take home the series. The taut drama of the previous season's finale was replaced by an awesome display of professionalism and dominance in the 1976 World Series as the Reds swept the star-struck New York Yankees. Fourteen years later, the Reds again swept their opponent, but this time it was a significant upset. The defending champion Oakland Athletics were out-pitched and out-played over four games as the Red Legs completed their wire-to-wire season with their fifth championship in franchise history.
0.0John DeMarsico’s showcase of the cinematic inspirations for the baseball broadcasts he directs at SNY for the New York Mets. DeMarsico pairs clips from some of his favorite films with sequences from his broadcasts that were directly inspired by those films.
6.8When they were good, they were the biggest stars on a team that captured New York City and the 1986 World Series. But when they were bad, Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry broke the hearts of Mets fans. "They were going to be our guys for years," laments Jon Stewart in this evocative yet searing 30 for 30 documentary directed by Judd Apatow ("Trainwreck") and Michael Bonfiglio ("You Don't Know Bo"). Reunited at a diner in Queens, the pitcher and the power hitter look back on the glory days of the mid-'80s and the harrowing nights that turned them from surefire Hall of Famers into prisoners of their own addictions. Listening to Doc talk about missing the parade down the Canyon of Heroes, or Darryl counsel others at his ministry, you can only wish that these two very different men had not followed the same destructive path.
7.4In the world of Major League Baseball no one has created a mythology like Nolan Ryan. Told from the point of view of the hitters who faced him and the teammates who revered him, Facing Nolan is the definitive documentary of a Texas legend.