Watching – and greatly enjoying – Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary.

He’s divided it up into nine innings (get it?); we’re at the end of the fifth, which ends before WW2.

So far highly enjoyable (I know the names, even if I don’t know the stories), and well weaved.

I like that many different voices – Studs Terkel, George Will, Red Barber (and so on) – providing some balance. Or an unscripted voice.

As I said, we’re at the end of the fifth, before WW2. Negro leagues are still segregated from the regular leagues.

Yep, warming up to Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey.

Update 12/19/2011 – One of the more interesting stories in the Fifth Inning, which told the story of baseball in the 1930s, was how baseball was introduced to radio.

In the 1930s, the US was – of course – in the midst of the Great Depression. There was 25% unemployment, and every industry, including baseball, was adversely impacted. Going to the ballpark was a luxury many could no longer afford, and attendance suffered.

All sorts of gimmicks were used to lure folks into the ballpark – pre-game beauty pageants and give-aways. The usual.

And then someone hit upon the idea of harnessing the then-nascent medium of radio and actually deliver the games live (I think they were telegraphed into the broadcast room and then read out on the air).

Many owners were against this: They feared that broadcasting the games – for free – would undermine attendance, which was their cash cow.

Sound familiar?

At the end of the day, broadcasting the games increased the fan base, especially with women. Before, Burns’ film notes, only men and “women of questionable character” attended games. With radio, the game of baseball was reaching across genders, and now 50% of the population could potentially become a fan.

I’m guessing that as the series continues, more and more stadium shots will contain more and more women.

Those corporate types just don’t learn. Even back in the 1930s there was an unfounded fear of free. History continues to repeat itself…