Baseball.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

When historian/documentary maker Ken Burns began work in 1991 on his massive tribute to the National Pastime, there was no reason to believe that the game which traced its roots to the 1840s was heading pell-mell towards Armageddon. Ironically, the week the first episode--or inning, as Burns has divided the series into nine segments in tribute to baseball's seemingly unchangeable symmetry--aired on PBS was the same week that a fatal combination of greed, stubbornness, and stupidity brought the 1994 season to a crashing end.

For the game's loyal fans, the 18+ hours of viewing that encompass this video undertaking represent a joyous examination of baseball's glorious past at a time when its future is uncertain at best. Burns does not neglect the sport's warts, most prominently the bigotry that kept blacks out of the major leagues until 1947, or hesitate to reveal the feet of clay of many of its idols. Nevertheless, this is a paean to the Grand Old Game, and even the criticism is framed in what clearly is a labor of love.

Following the formula that made his Civil War series such a monumental success, Burns blends still photography with interviews and off-camera narration. Here, however, he had the benefit of a century of filmed records--first, thanks to the motion picture camera; later, television archives--to depict baseball's most dramatic moments. With dozens of variations of "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" providing...