Spring is here, and with this new season we anticipate changes from all aspects of life. A new spring quarter brings new challenges and to students. Spring storms signal the beginning of the rainy season in many cities. The weather changes drastically from warm to cold and back to warm, as the summer season approaches. Department stores line the racks with new summer fashions, and breweries switch production from heavier beer to lighter beer that goes better with the warm weather.

Oh, and one other important change takes place, in the world of sports: A transition to baseball. Cold- weather sports entertainment, like basketball and hockey, are gradually replaced by outdoor sports. And the most popular of these is, of course, baseball. So, without further ado, here is my entry to the “Baseball Write- off”, in celebration of this new season of the great American past time. My review is on a baseball video that was originally released in 1989. It’s called “Super Duper Baseball Bloopers”, a video that (supposedly) features some of major league baseballs greatest blunders.

Contents of This Video:

This video is about 43 minutes in total length, and it starts off with a few bloopers from the past, showing baseball players in the act of attempting to catch, throw, or bat and ending up as part of the highlight reel as they run into walls, bounce off of each other, and do all sorts of somersaults and gymnastic maneuvers as they attempt to make a play.

There is no order to the sequence of bloopers, and much of the video doesn’t even focus on bloopers at all, but rather on great plays from the past. There are no dates given, and the teams are not announced or indicated on the screen. Some of the highlights are narrated, some feature the actual commentary that was taking place when the play occurred, and others are set to music.

Toward the middle of the video, the producer goes directly to some of baseball’s best- known players and asks them to choose their most embarrassing moments from their days as a player. Some of the major- league stars included here are Don Sutton, Hubie Brooks, and Tug McGraw.

Certain “streaks” are highlighted in this video, like a rookie pitcher who went 0 for 48 to start his career and finally got his first hit on his 49th trip to the plate; Orel Herschiser’s consecutive scoreless inning streak; and a streak by a player who had more than 1,300 times at bat before he finally hit a home run. There is also a five- minute piece called “catch of the day” that highlights some outstanding catches from baseball’s past.

Credit Lineup:

This VHS tape was produced by Helen Ruddick. The Executive Producer was Geoff Belinfante; the Associate Producer was David Israel; and the Director of Programming was Mike Kostel. The video was written by Jeff Scott and the narration is performed by Curt Chaplin and Larry Kenney.

Final Thoughts:

Baseball bloopers can sometimes be entertaining to watch. It’s often amusing to see some of the acrobatic moves, head- on collisions, thrown bats, and other mishaps that have occurred in the game of baseball since its early beginnings.

With this video, however, the blooper segments are mostly weak and to make matters worse, the video is not strictly about bloopers, like its title clearly suggests. Many of the bloopers are on the boring side, too, and they often include very ordinary scenes that we frequently witness when we watch a game, like players hitting the outfield wall while they attempt to catch a fly ball; players swinging the bat so hard that they lose the grip on the bat and it goes flying; and players swinging too hard at a strike ball who then end up falling over. These are pretty dull bloopers, mainly because we have seen them so many times before. They are not all that unique.

The other bad thing about this video is the fact that only about half of the segments are about bloopers. The rest of the video includes completely unrelated things, like the “catch of the day” or the “streaks”, which I mentioned earlier. These are all nice to watch, but they have nothing to do with bloopers. I’m not sure why the writers/producers decided to do this. It’s fine that they wanted to highlight some great catches, but why did they choose to add this to a video that’s supposed to be about bloopers? Added together, the bloopers segment of the tape comprises only about one- half of the total length. The rest includes completely unrelated material.

Yet another annoyance with this video is the narration. Sometimes, you hear music in the background. Sometimes you hear the actual commentary from the moment the play took place. Sometimes you hear narration from either Curt Chaplin or Larry Kenney. And other times you are subjected to goofy narration with storytelling, similar to what you used to hear on the television show “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. It’s this latter narration that I didn’t like, because it made the video seem childish and stupid. For example, there’s one segment of plays that includes narration from a guy trying to talk in a dark tone, like a magician or sorcerer. He tells a “magic” story while you watch major league players trying to catch fly balls. I thought this was idiotic and immature- the type of mindless drivel that a four- year old would laugh at, but anyone at the kindergarten level or higher would find boring and absurd. I would rather hear the actual commentary from the announcers who were there when the play was taking place rather than listen to some pathetic storytelling. Equally bad is some of the footage of major- league players trying to imitate (very poorly, I might add) well- known celebrities like Jimmy Stewart and Sammy Davis Jr. Again, I have no idea why the writer decided to add things like this to the video because they have nothing to do with bloopers.

On a positive note, there are a few humorous moments on this video, some of which I have seen before and others which were new to me. One particularly funny moment that’s captured in this video occurred when a fan threw a hamburger onto the field. The burger landed squarely in the center of third base. Another hysterical moment occurred when a fountain suddenly sprouted from the ground in the middle of the outfield during an afternoon game. Yet another humorous “blooper” occurred when a player from the Kansas City Royals tried to make a slow- rolling hit go foul by lying down on the ground and blowing the ball toward the foul line.

This VHS is not very easy to find. This video is no longer produced, so you can only obtain a copy by browsing on- line through a used retailer. When this video first came out, it was only available through Sport Illustrated. After a while, it was made available to the public but now it’s completely out of production. It can be found in Amazon.com for $1.00, which is a fair price when you consider how outdated it is and how poorly made it is, taken as a whole.

Overall, “Super Duper Baseball Bloopers” is a lame effort. It claims to be a “blooper” video, but it includes other footage, most of which is silly and pathetic. The video ends with the sound of canned laughter and photos of major- league players laughing. It’s appropriate, if you think about it. With a few small exceptions, this video is a laughable joke from beginning to end, full of bad narration, less than memorable bloopers, and miscellaneous garbage thrown in here and there to add some more minutes. It’s a miserable effort- 43 minutes worth of forgettable footage and poor writing. Don’t waste your time- there are better baseball videos to watch than this. It’s a throwaway!




Special thanks goes out to Epinions member aliventiasylum for sponsoring this write- off. Be sure to read the contributions from these other Epinions participants:

Debbie26
chad8246
kld718
sleeper54
Susie-34668
Donnie013
Bryan_Carey
lisa_j
chaospump
quasar
pmills1210
thegeniusx
Jbduckling
marinermoose22


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4