Movie:		8.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		6.0
Extras:		1.0
Score:		8.0

Director(s):	Various
Starring:	Various
Genre:	Documentary • Sports
Release Date:	November 10, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $199.99
Amazon:

Cinephiles step aside, The Official Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection, along with being a mouthful, is decidedly not for you. While it wouldn’t be hard to put together a 64-film anthology about America’s favorite pastime using the efforts of Hollywood, it’s not what you’ll find here. Instead you get to sink your teeth into 64 years of sports history presented in a way that makes it an excellent choice for either a solid shelf-piece or a coffee table mainstay; it’s pretty clear from the set’s sleek black box appearance and beautiful photography that it was intended for either destination. The films may snag the interest of baseball fanatics but its expert design makes the set an item to behold.

The thick book doubles as the cases for the 20 discs as they slip comfortably into the tops. It’s certainly a convenient way to house a collection of discs this size, but the hard edges of the thick paper pose a potential source of scratches the more often you use them – time will tell. The book, however, couldn’t have a better style. Each page sports an iconic photo from one of the World Series games on the page’s disc and a small blurb helping establish the case as a gem unto itself.

The films themselves are somewhat of a crap shoot. You know how in great sports films there are those climactic moments of suspense where you’re not sure who’s going to win? Real sports don’t always work that way. Accordingly, some of the films have less to say and thus deal in a lot more expository history about the teams and their careers throughout the season. How did the coach elevate the team? What level of contribution did that year’s MVP make in the final games of the season? In the years whose films rely on this tactic, the films tend to be quite a bit drier and cement themselves as being “for the fan only”. Luckily this isn’t always the case. A good two thirds of the films are solid educational, retrospective viewing. The anecdotes of the season actually make the highlights that much more interesting; not only because you’re seeing the moments that will make or break a team’s run at the pennant, but because you’re seeing a single player’s entire season and where it peaked in, what was for many of them, the most important game of their career. I’m not one who subscribes to sports history as being all that interesting, but the World Series films have a lot to keep a fan’s interest.

There’s an obvious catch-22 in this set: it’s devoted to archive footage and yet wants to create as great a presentation as possible. Unfortunately, archive footage from 1943 and 1998 is going to differ wildly in quality and depth. The footage from the earliest years is harder to come by but it’s also poorly maintained and subject to lots of imperfections. It doesn’t make the older tapes any less interesting but it does leave the fan feeling a little frustrated that some of the greatest World Series games have such poor visual record while some of the more blasé games of the last two decades have loads of footage that just doesn’t hold nearly as much interest; it might in another 20 years when enough time has passed that we can look back at those games and consider them “simple” and not just boring (for example any of those World Series games where the Yankees just swept through without any real challenge). Thus, you’ll get to see some rare footage in the earliest films but the picture will be less than stellar compared to the overly abundant materials of the last few decades.

There’s a modest written introduction, written by Bob Costa, at the start of the book and empty slots at the end implying that you’ll be able to buy a single disc for the World Series films compiled for the next four years at some point. Additionally, a final appendix lists the winners of every World Series game just in case you ever need a quick reference chart.

DVD Bonus Features

The entire thing is an extra feature.