MLB Network could (finally) be coming to Canada

Major League Baseball’s league-owned all-baseball channel MLB Network launched in 2009, and to date, it sees the largest distribution base of any of the other league networks. But, as of today, MLB Network is not seen in Canada, a case of being caught up in the approval process of the Canadian Television-radio Commission.

As early as 2009, Rogers Cable, who owns the Toronto Blue Jays, was trying to get MLB Network broadcasted in Canada (see MLB Network Reportedly Coming to Canada as "Baseball TV"). Rogers had let the license to pursue MLB Network expire last year.

But, according to a report today in The Globe and Mail, Rogers has begun actively pursuing  the league-owned network, again.

"MLB Network's market research in the U.S. and Canada indicates that Major League Baseball fans have a considerable demand for more information and insight about the sport of baseball," the network wrote in a letter supporting Rogers' application to the CRTC.

"MLB International believes that MLB Network should be added .... in doing so, the Commission will ensure that Canadian consumers are able to access a non-Canadian service that will provide unique programming content in a genre that does not currently exist in Canada."

[…]

Rogers argues in its application that the pay service would be complementary to existing coverage provided by its own spots channel, as well as those operate by RDS and TSN.

 "Of the 2,430 live regular-season games in Major League Baseball, MLB Network only features up to 150," the application states. "In other words, the percentage of live games offered on MLB Network is minimal compared to the number of live games that are available through Canadian specialty services like Rogers' Sportsnet. Any overlap in programming is insignificant to consumers today."

According to the report, the application for MLB Network in Canada is open for comment until mid-July.

MLB Network would not be the first sports channel from the United States to gain access into Canada. The CRTC has previously authorized the NFL Network, the Golf Channel and Speed for Canadian distribution.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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Yu Darvish will have his first US interview tonight on MLB Network

Maybe the excitement will abate at some point, but not for now. Baseball fans of every stripe are watching closely to see how Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish is transitioning to MLB with the Rangers.

Darvish talks with MLB Network's Tom Verducci about playing baseball in the United States today in an exclusive interview on MLB Tonight at 6:00 p.m. ET. In his first one-on-one TV interview with a national U.S. network this season, Darvish talks about the adjustment of playing in Major League Baseball compared with playing in his native Japan. Darvish also discusses his ability to throw all of his pitches left-handed, the difference of the feel of the ball in the U.S., his relationship with teammate Josh Hamilton, and his taste for American food.

Highlights from the interview that was taped Wednesday at Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards are available below via MLB Network. Following MLB Tonight, the interview will be available for viewing at www.MLBNetwork.com.

Yu Darvish on how the attention he receives in the United States compares to the attention he received in Japan:

“I think in Japan, all of the attention that I received over there, also being Japanese, I understood it.  It was natural.  But over here, it’s a different culture, different country.  They’re saying ‘Yu Darvish.’  The way they ask for autographs, the way they cheer my name like, ‘Yuuu,’ those are a little bit different, but I’m thankful for those and I enjoy it.”

Darvish on the hitters in MLB:

“The power is a little bit different.  More power hitters over here, whereas in Japan, there are more contact hitters.  Over there, you might have players who will see a lot of pitches and put the ball in play.  Whereas over here, I have to be careful of not making too many mistakes.  Everyone has the strength to hit for power.”

Darvish on his walk rate and strikeout rate being higher in the U.S. than in Japan:

“The higher rate of walks [means] I’m still not completely adapted to this baseball here.  I think the higher rate of strikeouts, maybe the hitters over here, they’re not used to or they haven’t seen a pitcher like me where I have several secondary pitches and still can throw in the mid-90’s.  On top of that, they haven’t seen me at all.  It’s the first time around.  So I think all of that [combined] maybe is resulting in a higher strikeout rate.”

Darvish on Josh Hamilton:

“Just one word: amazing.  Actually being there and watching [his four-home run game], I don’t think I’ve ever seen a three-home run game.  And the fact that he’s such a nice person, a great teammate, he’s one of the many guys who actually helped me out, I was more happy to see him accomplish that.  Since he’s such a nice guy and we get along very well, I believe he’s going to hit five home runs for me next time I pitch.”
Source: MLB Network

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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You know the season is getting fully underway when the annual conference calls with the various national broadcast teams occur. For MLB Network, this year takes on extra significance with the added playoff round being added into the mix.

On Tuesday, MLB Network host Bob Costas, analyst Jim Kaat and president and CEO Tony Petitti spoke on a media conference call leading up to the premiere of MLB Network Showcase this Thursday, April 12 with the Miami Marlins visiting the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:00 p.m. ET. The game marks the first time in 2012 that Costas and Kaat will call an MLB game and the start of the fourth season that Costas and Kaat have called games together for MLB Network.

Here’s the transcript of that call.

Tony Petitti on the next steps for MLB Network:

“I can’t say whether it will be the new Wild Card [games], but I think the right words are ‘exclusive content.’ We’ve talked about the next step for us being having some exclusive baseball content where we really are the place to go for that particular game, whether it’s Postseason or regular season. I think that’s the next step, whether that will happen in the short run or happen over time as [Major League Baseball] goes through the contract negotiation process, whenever they start that. I think what we’ve done is best position ourselves to have a seat at that table, that was our goal over the last four years and I think we’ve done a really good job of that and I think [Major League Baseball] feels the same way. We’re hoping that that next step, whatever it might be, will happen shortly.”

Bob Costas on whether the five-game suspension of Ozzie Guillen by the Miami Marlins is justified:

“I think the Marlins had to react. They had to react forcefully without any ambiguity. Their original statement had no wiggle room – ‘There’s no reason to respect or admire Castro…’ – this was even before they made the decision about the suspension. I think most people will view that as fair and appropriate and, if anything, I think there’s some people who probably would’ve thought that the suspension would last longer than that, but five games seems equitable to me. It seems reasonable to me. I think there’s also an implication here that regardless of Ozzie’s shoot-from-the-hip history, he better keep it holstered on anything that goes outside baseball. People will just say ‘Hey that’s Ozzie,” if he’s talking about something that happened on the ball field, or he gets mad at one of his players, or he gets mad at someone on the opposition and he speaks colorfully about that, fine. But just keep it between the lines. The other stuff, I don’t think he has very much wiggle room anymore. [Chicago White Sox owner] Jerry Reinsdorf was pretty indulgent through the years in Chicago, but Ozzie’s painted himself into a corner now.”

Costas on whether Ryan Braun can recover his reputation completely and the position MLB is in having its MVP calling into question its drug testing program:

“First of all, completely, there is always going to be somebody, even if [Braun] is a model citizen and a model ballplayer for the next 10, 15 years, there’s always going to be somebody who’s going to recall this and make it a defining issue, but can he regain his standing nearly completely? Yeah, if everything goes well from this point on. He’s still a relatively young player, he’s a very likeable guy, and I think in his defense, he was fine in his defense – and I said this on the air – until he threw the [drug] tester under the bus. That made no sense. There’s no plausible reason to believe that his sample was tampered with. It was triple-sealed. How in the world would A) someone have the motive to do it and risk being charged with a felony; B) skillfully break the triple seal and then reseal it three times; and then C) – and maybe this should be ‘A,’ – be such a skillful rogue chemist that he spiked both the ‘A’ and the ‘B’ sample identically? What Ryan could’ve said was, perhaps plausibly, ‘I have no idea how this test turned out the way it did. I tested negative many, many times before. As soon as I heard about it, I took another test. That came up negative. I never knowingly ingested anything. I have no idea how this happened, it’s an aberrant result.’ If he’d left it at that, given how articulate he is, how likeable he is, I think that would’ve been fine. When he went a step further with these kind of murky accusations, ‘We found out stuff about the tester’ and that sort of thing, I think that undermined his credibility. I don’t think many people believe just because Ryan Braun got off in this case on a technicality, that that calls into question the validity of MLB’s program and I think MLB themselves made that clear immediately and emphatically.”

SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE REST OF THE TRANSCRIPT

When MLB Network launched on New Year’s Day in 2009, it was heraled as a new day for baseball fans that wanted to get their fix of the National Pastime 24/7/365. Now into its fourth year, MLB Network is available to 68 million cable, telco TV and satellite homes throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The question is, when will Canada be getting the network?

Showrtly after MLB Network launched in 2009, word was that it was coming to Canada under the name of “Baseball TV” (see MLB Network Reportedly Coming to Canada as "Baseball TV")

At the time, the Globe and Mail reported, “Rogers would take programming from MLB Network, add Canadian content, and make the channel, titled Baseball TV, available to distributors….. Rogers Cable would carry it. And so, probably, would other companies. A spokesperson for Bell TV said the satellite company would ‘look at it very seriously.’"

That never transpired. To date, no word has come as to whether MLB Network (or under a different branding in Canada) is on the cusp. In fact, as of publication, there is no word as to whether the season opener next week in Japan between the A’s and Mariners will be available in Canada (NOTE: MLB is working to get details back to The Biz of Baseball on the season opener. Look for an update as they become available).

Fans to the north of the US can hope that MLB Network is coming to them… someday. When that will be is the question not yet answered.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

The mergers of several Time Warner Cable operators in Ohio into two separate entities caused a mid-season nightmare for fans with MLB Extra Innings this past week (see Ohio Time Warner Cable Subs Get Caught in MLB Blackout Crossfire Over Pirates, Indians, Tigers Games). That issue has now been fully resolved.

According to an executive at Major League Baseball, TWC has reverted both to the prior configurations that league had at the beginning of the season.  The teams adversely affected were the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, and Detroit Tigers.

(SEE MLB’S TELEVISION BLACKOUT MAP)

According to the league, when the mergers of systems took place, TWC applied blackouts incorrectly. Thousands of subscribers to the out-of-market package were impacted by the blackouts.

Could such a thing happen again? It’s possible. As mergers and acquisitions of systems take place, the configurations of the blackout policy could be impacted.

Asked if there were a chance that the league as a whole would look into the blackout policy, the league said that they continue to look at it as it is the number one customer service complaint. Issues around pulling cable providers in or out of blackouts are a consideration as some have pushed back. Owners, of course, are looking to retain as much territory as possible as it adds revenues to the bottom line.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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A meeting between the top brass at Time Warner Cable and Major League Baseball yesterday appears to have addressed a thorny issue where after more than half the season played, NE Ohio subscribers were suddenly blacked out from Pirates and Indians games on MLB Extra Innings (see Ohio Time Warner Cable Subs Get Caught in MLB Blackout Crossfire Over Pirates, Indians, Tigers Games). A league executive said that the blackouts should be lifted today. Time Warner Cable implemented the blackouts after having three operators in the area merge into one.

While the issue of Pirates and Indians are resolved, a separate issue with TWC in the Columbus, Ohio area still has Detroit Tigers fans being blacked out. The league is scrambling to get that mid-season blackout issue resolved, hopefully as early as today, although sources at the league could not confirm whether that would occur.

LOOK FOR UPDATES AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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UPDATE #2: Reports now are that Tigers games are being blacked out, and area is larger than just NE Ohio

UPDATE: Reports are now that not only are the Pirates blacked out mid-season due to the Time Warner Cable merger, but so are the Indians in NE Ohio.

The mergers of three Time Warner Cable outlets into a single entity has created an unintended blackout headache mid-season for fans in Ohio trying to catching Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cleveland Indians games, while a TWC Columbus system and its newly added served areas are blacking out the Detriot Tigers According to customers, calls to TWC around game time had a recorded message saying, "Tonight’s Pittsburgh Pirates game on the MLB Extra Innings package has been blacked out.  This is not a Time Warner decision, but a decision made by Major League Baseball."

(SEE THE MLB BLACKOUT MAP)

A league executive said that MLB is aware of both situations and have been working on it already, but disputes that it is a league issue saying that Time Warner Cable is the reason for the blackout that should not be. A 3:30pm ET call between TWC and MLB occurred today in an effort to resolve the issue.

“It’s a tough situation brought on by the integration of three TWC headends into one,” said the executive. “This always raises complications and it is not done at our direction but certainly creates problems.

“Why, after they’d been informed/alerted as to the blackout problems such integration would cause, they continued to make the decision anyway and deprive their subscribers of games they’d otherwise been entitled to? Their operational economies of scale clearly don’t consider the impact of blackouts; it’s not MLB greed or policy.”

The league said it hopes to have the issue resolved soon. We hope to update fans as soon as word arises.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, and is a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney blog.. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).

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The results of the 2011 National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot will be announced on MLB Network and simulcast on MLB.com on Wednesday, January 5 at 2:00 p.m. ET as part of a 90-minute announcement show beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET. Featuring National Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, coverage will feature interviews with the newest inductees and be anchored by Greg Amsinger and Matt Vasgersian, with analysis from MLB Network’s Bob Costas, Hall of Fame award-winning baseball writer Peter Gammons, Harold Reynolds and Hall of Fame voters Tom Verducci and Jon Heyman. Costas, Gammons, Reynolds, Vasgersian, Verducci and Heyman will then recap the 2011 Hall of Fame ballot results during the hour-long show Class of 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET and look ahead to the 2011 induction ceremony on July 24 on MLB Network.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame ballot features 33 players, including 14 holdovers from previous elections, including Bert Blyleven, Roberto Alomar, Jack Morris and Barry Larkin, and 19 newcomers. Longtime MLB executive Pat Gillick, who built three World Series championship teams, has already been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Expansion Era Committee, while Dave Van Horne, who has spent the last 42 seasons calling play-by-play for the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins, was selected as the 2011 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting. Philadelphia journalist Bill Conlin was elected the 2011 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award presented annually to a sportswriter for "meritorious contributions to baseball writing.”

The 2011 election marks the 68th Hall of Fame election held by the BBWAA. Any candidate receiving votes on 75 percent of the ballots will earn election to the Hall of Fame. Eligible voters are members of the BBWAA with at least ten years of service and who remain in good standing. Candidates who receive between 5 and 74.9 percent of the vote will return to the BBWAA ballot in 2012 unless they have exhausted their 15-year eligibility window. Candidates who receive fewer than 5 percent of the vote will be no longer eligible for BBWAA Hall of Fame elections.

Source: MLB Network

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for hire or freelance. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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Once thought to be lost forever, the complete original television broadcast of the 1960 World Series Game 7 – regarded by many as the greatest baseball game ever played - will be telecast on MLB Network on December 15 at 8:00 p.m. ET, the first time it will be seen on television since it was originally played more than 50 years ago. The black-and-white kinescope of the game film was discovered earlier this year at the home of the late Bing Crosby, who was a part owner of the Pirates at the time.

Presented exclusively and with limited commercial interruption by Chevrolet, MLB Network Special Presentation: 1960 World Series Game 7 will include exclusive interviews by MLB Network’s Bob Costas with former members of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, including Dick Groat and Bill Virdon, as well as former New York Yankee and 1960 World Series MVP Bobby Richardson, Vera Clemente, wife of the late Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, and actor and Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton. Other former Pirates players and former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris are featured throughout the program. The interviews were recorded in front of a live audience of more than 1,000 at the historic Byham Theater in Pittsburgh on November 13, 2010, where the film of Game 7 was screened. Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski, who was unable to attend the event at the Byham Theater due to illness, was interviewed on December 2, 2010 at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the History Center in Pittsburgh. A preview of the program can be viewed here.

The special presentation will include the original television broadcast of Game 7 in its entirety, interspersed with reactions by Mazeroski, Groat, Virdon and Richardson to key plays in the game, including Mazeroski’s dramatic game-ending home run for the Pirates, a bad hop on a ground ball that hit Yankees infielder Tony Kubek in the throat, a key play at first base by Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and a critical three-run home run in the eighth inning by Pirates catcher Hal Smith, who received a rousing standing ovation 50 years later from the audience at the Byham Theater.

With Hall of Fame award-winning announcers Mel Allen and Bob Prince alternating play by play of the game every half-inning, the program also includes the four-minute-long postgame show, hosted by Prince. Prior to the screening and telecast, MLB Network worked with Technicolor to restore the 50 year-old game footage, enhancing the audio and picture quality. The game film is a sign of its time with limited on-screen graphics and no instant replay.

Prior to the program, MLB Network Remembers with Bob Costas: Bing and Baseball will air at 7:30 p.m. ET as an introduction into the great entertainer’s role in baseball, including interviews with Crosby’s widow Kathryn, his son Nathaniel, Michael Keaton, Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner and Robert Bader, Vice President of Marketing and Production for Bing Crosby Enterprises. Featured in the program is footage of Crosby performing “White Christmas,” whose version of the song is the number-one selling record of all time, as well as clips from the short film Road to Home, starring Crosby’s friend and one of the most recognizable entertainers in the world, Bob Hope.

Highlights from MLB Network Special Presentation: 1960 World Series Game 7 include:

Bill Mazeroski on the game’s score going into the third inning:

“We were up 4-nothing, 4-nothing it felt pretty good.  But by a long shot it didn’t feel like we won this game yet.  There was still a lot of game left to play and … you’re never comfortable with any lead.  I don’t care if it’s a 15-run lead, [I’m] never comfortable with that many innings to go.”

Mazeroski on the game’s ninth inning:

“I was just sitting there and thinking about how in the world we’re going to beat these guys and what’s gonna happen here and somebody yelled, “You’re up.” I forgot I was up and somebody yelled “You’re up,” and that’s when I went and got my helmet and went up and hit.

Mazeroski on his game-ending home run:

“When I hit it, I didn’t know for sure if it was going out.  … You know, it’s 410-feet out there. I hit it good and I knew when I hit it that Yogi wasn’t going to catch it. But I didn’t know if it was going out or not. I heard the noise, the people yelling. I looked down the left field line, the umpire is giving it this shot and I hit second and - I don’t think I touched first or touched the ground the rest of the way home. I just floated home. All I could think about was ‘We beat the Yankees. We beat the great Yankees.’”

Hal Smith on his three-run home run:

“I really didn’t think about it a lot. … I really didn’t know what happened until I rounded second base.  When I went around second base and I looked up in the stands and the people were all in on the dugouts, I thought, ‘What the heck have I done?’  And I get [to] home and Groat and Clemente both lift me up in the air and I was absolutely overwhelmed. … I thought that no matter what happened, I had really helped in a World Series and that had been my lifelong dream.”

Dick Groat on missing a double play off a single by Mickey Mantle:

“Believe it or not, 50 years later, I should have knocked the ball down and made a play.  It’s one of the plays that’s haunted me for 50 years that I did not knock the ball down.”

Bill Virdon and Dick Groat on the 1960 Pirates’ season:

Virdon: “We came from behind in the eighth and the ninth inning. I mean we never gave up and after this happens several times, you just keep thinking it’s going to happen.  And it did.”

Groat: “That was just typical of our whole 1960 year.  That’s the way our year went, everything went our way. … There’s no question the Yankee organization was the finest organization in all of baseball.  They just dominated the American League and even in Spring Training when we’d play another American League team, they were going to Spring Training to see who was going to finish 2^nd.  Cause they just conceded the Yankees were stronger.  And to beat the Yankees makes it something special.  There’s a guy standing out there that made a great catch, he knows what it’s like to win a special game.  Am I right Franco? … When you beat the best, it’s something special, and again, this was, as Bill Mazeroski and Bill Virdon and I have said numerous times when we’ve been together, the 1960 Pirates were a team of destiny. Everything seemed to fall in place for us, we were just supposed to win. And ironically, watching the films of this game [and] we’ve seen the earlier highlights, I was never conscious all those years playing there how awful that infield looked. But it sure paid off, didn’t it?”

Dick Groat on the 1960 Pirates team:

“We’ve been together three or four times this summer and it’s like we’ve never been apart. … Having gone through the pennant race in ‘58 and then again in ‘60, you develop bonds and the closeness and the friendship that never goes away the rest of our lives. Thank God I played with all these guys, they were really special.”

Vera Clemente on her late husband:

“I always remember - I want to tell the fans here – that he used to say he loved his fans so much. He said ‘If someday the Pirates decide to trade me, I will quit because I will not play with [any] other team, only with the Pirates.’  He loved this city so much.”

Michael Keaton on Bill Mazeroski as his idol:

“I played in leagues until I was in my 40’s - various baseball and basketball and softball leagues – and there may have been a couple of times where I wasn’t number 9, but I don’t remember. I [was] a guy in my 40’s and I’m still angry if I don’t get number 9.”

Source: MLB Network

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for hire or freelance. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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Of all the seminal moments in Major League Baseball history, the 1919 Black Sox scandal is likely the greatest. If not for the scandal, there would be no commissioner; Pete Rose would likely be in the Hall of Fame, and; discussions around whether an MLB club should be in Las Vegas might have one less distraction.

The fixing of the 1919 World Series is featured in the latest edition of Major League Baseball Productions’ Triumph and Tragedy: The 1919 Chicago White Sox, airing on MLB Network this Saturday, November 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET. The documentary recounts the events that led eight members of the White Sox - Eddie Cicotte, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Arnold “Chick” Gandil, Oscar "Happy" Felsch, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Risberg and Claude "Lefty" Williams – to become part of a gambling scheme in advance of the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds and turn what could have been a dynasty into one of the most infamous clubs in Major League Baseball history.

Beginning with the players' involvement in the fixing of the series and leading to their later expulsion from baseball, Triumph and Tragedy details the appointment of the first commissioner of Major League Baseball and the steps taken to preserve the game, and role of Babe Ruth in ushering an new era and reinvigorating the sport.

Using photos that have never before been seen on TV, MLB Productions also incorporated player recreation for the first time and gathered new interviews with historians, writers and authors Ken Burns, Frank DeFord, Dr. Susan Dellinger, Robert Lipsyte, Bill Madden, Bert Sugar and John Thorn. The show also features a reading of original MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis's judgment against the "eight men out," read by MLB players Josh Hamilton, Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez, journalists DeFord and Sugar, and MLB Network's Barry Larkin and Al Leiter. Triumph and Tragedy is narrated by MLB Network's Matt Vasgersian.

Highlights of the episode include:

• “One of the greatest tragedies in the history of the sport took place in that Fall Classic.” – Ken Burns
• “Judge Landis’s announcement was succinct and forceful. Basically, it laid the ground rules for a new era in baseball.” – Bert Sugar
• “People still say that if Babe Ruth did not come along at that time and started hitting home runs, that baseball might never have recovered its honor.” – Frank DeFord
• “I couldn’t imagine entering a game where there were rumors of my teammates or players on the other team fixing a game. I think it’s great what Judge Landis did so many years ago because this game is played for the fans. If we don’t have integrity, if those fans don’t know that were playing with 100 percent to win every single game, then they’re not going to show up anymore and we don’t have a game.” – Mark Teixeira
• “The "Black Sox" scandal in its way strengthened baseball. The idea that baseball can go through a crisis, can clean itself up, could come out strong and seemingly pure at the other end, I think gave America the sense that this really was indeed our game.” – Robert Lipsyte

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for hire or freelance. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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