Petition for MLB Network to air Dock Ellis no-no

[Southsider101]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/s...er-on-LSD.html

[Brian26]

One disappointment I have had with MLB Network, as great as it has been, has been the lack of classic unedited games being shown similar to what ESPN Classic used to do. I always asssumed that MLB would start showing old All-Star Games, old NBC Games of the Week, maybe classic regional network games from the 70s and 80s. The natural fit, especially during the offseason, is to run these during the middle of the day and let people dvr them. They do show partial old games in some of the series they do (ie Greatest Games) but its only a few innings wrapped around Costas interviewing someone.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by Brian26

One disappointment I have had with MLB Network, as great as it has been, has been the lack of classic unedited games being shown similar to what ESPN Classic used to do. I always asssumed that MLB would start showing old All-Star Games, old NBC Games of the Week, maybe classic regional network games from the 70s and 80s. The natural fit, especially during the offseason, is to run these during the middle of the day and let people dvr them. They do show partial old games in some of the series they do (ie Greatest Games) but its only a few innings wrapped around Costas interviewing someone.

I don't get why they don't show more classic games during the off-season. Do they really need to air "Intentional Talk" so many times? There have been months where even on MLB Tonight (or Hot Stove) where there is maybe 5 minutes of baseball discussion and the rest is talking about whatever movie MLB Network will be airing that night.

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

I don't get why they don't show more classic games during the off-season. Do they really need to air "Intentional Talk" so many times? There have been months where even on MLB Tonight (or Hot Stove) where there is maybe 5 minutes of baseball discussion and the rest is talking about whatever movie MLB Network will be airing that night.

Thanks for reminding me. Yes, I think I've seen Major League II about a dozen times this offseason. Why not throw the '78 All-Star Game on or the Red Sox/White Sox Opening Day 1981 or Cubs/Cardinals 1984 Sandberg game.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by Brian26

Thanks for reminding me. Yes, I think I've seen Major League II about a dozen times this offseason. Why not throw the '78 All-Star Game on or the Red Sox/White Sox Opening Day 1981 or Cubs/Cardinals 1984 Sandburg game.

I have no idea. I know that the NBA Network will air classic games but I don't know if I have seen any on NFL Network or the NHL Network either.

[TheVulture]

Dock Ellis...that appears as Ellis,D. on the roster card. What are the stinking odds?

[TheVulture]

The one and only:

Apparently, there's a new Dock Ellis "Dockumentary" with a soundtrack by Adrock of the Beastie Boys...here's a story from a couple days ago:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...g-on-acid.html

[Lemon44]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

I don't get why they don't show more classic games during the off-season. Do they really need to air "Intentional Talk" so many times? There have been months where even on MLB Tonight (or Hot Stove) where there is maybe 5 minutes of baseball discussion and the rest is talking about whatever movie MLB Network will be airing that night.

Their answer probably is that you can see many classic games if you subscribe to MLB.TV, including Buehrle's Perfecto and Game 4 of the 2005 WS.

[TDog]

Originally Posted by Brian26

One disappointment I have had with MLB Network, as great as it has been, has been the lack of classic unedited games being shown similar to what ESPN Classic used to do. I always asssumed that MLB would start showing old All-Star Games, old NBC Games of the Week, maybe classic regional network games from the 70s and 80s. The natural fit, especially during the offseason, is to run these during the middle of the day and let people dvr them. They do show partial old games in some of the series they do (ie Greatest Games) but its only a few innings wrapped around Costas interviewing someone.

Apparently the programming people at MLB believe they can get and keep more viewers by not showing unedited classic games, just as MTV programmers believed they could get more viewers by moving away from music videos and the History Channel programmers believed they would be better off running a high percentage of speculative history with only the most tenuous connection to any sort of scientific or academic reasoning.

Everyone is chasing audience share, even if they allege to be aimed a serious niche audience. There was a time when Bravo would show unedited operas, ballets and symphonies. The mission of the History Channel, for example, isn't to educate people about history, which actually was programming I used to enjoy. It is to attract and keep viewers. MLB also promotes baseball, so it is more restrictive while striving for audience share, but that reveals another reason the network would have no interesting in showing the Doc Ellis LSD no-hitter.

If you are promoting baseball as drug-free, you aren't going to celebrate a great achievement someone under the influence of LSD.