The Boys of January

With spring training a mere five weeks away, it's time to start gearing up for baseball. And one way to do that is to tune in to the new MLB Network. It debuted Jan. 1 and is available on most digital cable systems (though sorry, Dish Network, not yours). It'll show a truckful of World Baseball Classic games in March, and regular Thursday night games throughout the season. But until the season starts, it's a struggle to find enough programming to fill 24 hours. But that can be good for viewers.

The broadcast schedule now consists of reruns of recent postseason games (for you Phillies fans), in-studio analysis shows and classic games. This morning's Hot Stove show featured a fascinating interview with recent Hall-of-Fame inductee Rickey Henderson explaining his base-stealing tricks to Barry Larkin and Harold Reynolds, himself a pretty decent base-stealer in his day. It was a terrific bit of insight into one of the game's greatest players, explaining how he'd focus soley on the movement of the pitcher's elbows before stealing third, and that he started sliding head-first because he was hurting his legs too much sliding feet-first. Considering all the stories about Rickey being a semi-literate space cadet, it's nice to see him show what an intelligent player he really was.

That was followed by a replay of Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series (which I'm watching right now -- Mickey Mantle just got the first hit of the game, a home run in the fourth). The game hasn't been shown in its entirety since '56, and this the type of gem where MLB Network could excel. The league owns the network, and controls a vast vault of historic games and documentaries. The game broadcast is refreshingly stripped down -- black and white, two camera angles, no instant replay, no crowd shots, barebones graphics, and an amazing 15 Hall of Famers taking part in one of the greatest performances in baseball history. Mel Allen and Vin Scully do the play-by-play, Allen doing the first half alone in the booth, Scully taking over for him in the bottom of the fifth. I've gotta say, it's a whole lot of fun to watch a World Series game from a 1956 perspective (A day game . . . no shots of celebrities in the crowd . . . no Tim McCarver . . . and lots of classic Gilette commercials). One interesting thing Mel Allen pointed out -- the Yankees removed the batter's eye in center field for that game to squeeze more fans into the park, making it tougher for hitters to see the pitch. And through five innings, there's only been one hit in the game -- Sal Maglie has matched Larsen almost pitch for pitch. Huh, I never knew that.

Figuring out programming can be a challenge (try the online schedule) since -- on my Comcast TV Guide at least -- it says simply "MLB Network" instead of breaking down individual shows. But hopefully that'll change soon. This is a network that could very easily find itself being my default channel of choice.

Ooooh, Mantle just made a great catch to rob a triple in Death Valley and keep the perfect game going.

See what I mean?