FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Baseball has been using artificial means to show games since 1897. Here is an excerpt from "A Game of Brawl, The Orioles and Beaneaters and the battle for the 1897 Pennant." Written by Bill Felber:  

In exchange for the ten-cent or twenty-five cent admission price, patrons watched a board that reflected the movement of marionette ball players, as relayed by wire. It was called "Automatic Baseball." At the Park Theatre in Boston, Lawrence McCarthy's variation was like this: Instead of a display board, his stage featured a diamond with fences marking the limits of the field as a backdrop. The marionettes were replaced by automations that were three-foot-tall replications of the players. Each took its proper position in the field, and each had a white bulb in its hand (to indicate a caught ball) and a red bulb at its feet (to denote an error). More bulbs were placed in front of the automations to indicate ball movement, and four were suspended by wires to indicate ball movement in the air. If the player was retired, that was indicated by a flashing of the white light at the appropriate base. If he hit safely, a gong sounded once for a single, twice for a double and three times for a triple. There was even an automation for umpire. 

The only automations that had moving parts were the pitcher and the catcher, whose arms could be moved. As they entered the theater, fans were given scorecards so they could record and track the action. 

As players batted, they were moved around the diamond as the action dictated. When the pitcher threw a pitch his white light would go out and the lights between the mound and home came on in succession, leading to the light in the glove of the catcher. The Automation umpire called ball one. 

If baseball fans 111 years ago paid to watch games that were acted out, what do you think they would do today to see those games? I really think you could act out an entire game in less than 30 minutes and see all the action by using the play by play. Retrosheet has all the games. Combine that with newspaper stories from Hugh Fullerton, Tim Murnane and even baseball players like Tris Speaker's account of the last game of the 1912 World Series. Instead of the marionette players they could be computer generated to look like the real ones, and their athletic ability will act out every play as it really happened.

By using avatars and the play by play of any game, you could watch a complete game in a 30 minute time slot. There is a site called http://www.machinima.com/.  There you can create your own programs using avatars. If you take players from MLB The Show you could get them to look just like the real ones. In 2006 I asked Curtis Jackson to recreate one at bat of Babe Ruth in 1919. He tried to recreate this scene from the book "The Big Bam, the life and times of Babe Ruth" by Leigh Montville.

There was a game played on September 20, 1919 in which over 30,000 people came to Fenway Park for a "Babe Ruth Day." Babe pitched the first game of a double header at Fenway. He gave up three runs and nine hits when he was brought out in the sixth inning.  Barrow took Ruth out and sent him to left-field in order to keep his bat in the lineup. It paid off. With the score tied at three in the ninth inning with one out, Ruth was fooled by a low Lefty Williams curveball, but he reached out with one hand on the bat and flicked it over the left field wall. The Boston Globe reported the next day the ball went through an open window on Lansdowne Street. Between games Buck Weaver passed by the Boston bench and commented, "That was the most unbelievable poke I ever saw." It also was the last game Ruth played in Fenway as a Red Sox.

This is what he made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ketDY_iVsSo 

He had Ruth pitching as a righty, but otherwise he proved that it could be done.

In 2009 there will be a MLB TV network. This would be great for fans of all teams to see.  No other sport has the records like baseball does. They were keeping score in 1897. By combining the scorecards of the past with the technology of the future baseball fans can see any game ever played. I think Boston fans would like to see the last game of the 1912 World Series

Do you think baseball fans of today would want to watch a game from 100 years ago? Do you know what happened in the seventh game of the 1924 World Series? Do fans really care? 

By Rick Swanson of www.DugoutCentral.com