Allan,

My problems with Burn's baseball are probably minor, but as a fan of the game I was disappointed.   For a series that was supposed to document the 100+ year history of the sport, he chose to be selective in what he presented.   The last 3 decades were covered in one installment and the contemporary issues which have changed the game and the public so much were rushed through.   He did not interview enough baseball players and chose to offer commentary from Billy Cyrstal and other celebrities instead of the people who were alive and participating.   While I live in the NYC area and understand the importance of baseball in the area, you would think that the game was primarily a northeastern pastime from his view.   When he chose to talk about other teams, he was often sloppy. I remember there was a segment talking about the Gas House Gang and a picture of Stan Musial came across the screen. Stan was not playing at that time.   There were other "minor" problems from a fan point of view - footage that did not match the story, inaccurate "facts", etc.   I also thought that from a technical point of view, it was rather sloppy. The same images were repeated constantly.   There are so many photos of Babe Ruth, couldn't he have added a few more?

Baseball, at least when I was young, was a passion - nearly a religion for some.   Burns was almost too reverential in his approach and the documentary, for me, lacked the humor and the excitement that the game evokes.   

With that said, I do think that the story he told about race relations and the sport as a reflection of our history was remarkable. This is a story that in 2002 is often forgotten. It is amazing to see where we've come and how different it was, not very long ago.   If Burns focused the documentary on that aspect alone and not tried to cover so much ground (and failing to do so), the documentary would have been wonderful.

I realize that the documentary was produced for a PBS audience and not an ESPN audience, but my feelings are that Burns tried to bite off more than he could chew.   Jazz was pretty much the same.

Ron