1994 All-Star Game Open

[TMC1982Part2]

Even Bob Costas (who was crushed when NBC lost baseball to CBS back in 1989) was aware that The Baseball Network was a poorly thought out idea. If you ever get a chance to read his book "Fair Ball", he called TBN "stupid and an abomination".

[TheSeattlehawk94]

Best thing about The Baseball Network was during regional Saturday Night games and all non "National" games they let the two lead announcers from the opposing teams call the game together...

Saw such pairings as:

Niehaus-Castligliano

Scully-Buck

Harwell-Harrellson

Bill King-Bob Ucker

and many others..

TBN sucked but...That was the coolest thing they ever brought to the table..

[Coastergeekperson04]

That's pretty high tech...

[Grapes428]

This was a pretty good HR derby that year. I remember Frank Thomas hitting a close to 500 foot blast to center field and the crowd going crazy.

[johnnyfive222]

this was one of the best all star games ever. Why can't people post Baseball games on you tube? They do with Football and Basketball

[pujols37105]

Aside from the Expos and challenged records, don't forget that the Texas Rangers were in first place despite being 10 games under .500. We would have seen the 2010 Seattle Seahawks of baseball that year if there were playoffs.

[MavsFan1982]

@pujols37105 I remember that season really well. Back then, the AL West was extremely weak, but the Rangers had their moments as well: Rangers Ballpark was in its inaugural year, and Kenny Rogers threw a perfect game.

[Grapes428]

@pujols37105 I remember that too about Texas. That was the first year they divided each league into 3 divisions.  I remember every team in the AL West that year had really good offense but bad overall pitching. Each team has 1 good starter but that was it. And also I think it was the strike of '94 that caused players to get greedy and thus MLB trying to help out the bigger market cities with their teams. This was before teams like Boston were spending tons of money to get the best players.

[TheSeattlehawk94]

@pujols37105 Bull...The Mariners were streaking when the strike hit...Someone in the AL West would've been over .500....

[gospos1]

The Expos were 34 games over .500 at the all star break....Moises Alou had the game winning hit in this All-Star Game.....Thanks Bud

[woodsy054]

I love bob costas

[sxwrulz]

What would have happened had the season played out? I guess we will never know. The strike started 16 years ago today.

[crowtservo]

Wow, I miss Three Rivers Stadium. I can actually remember winning seasons there...

[TWDtv]

Best intro baseball has ever had.

[Tito1701]

Think about the 1994 Montreal Expos roster, Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Marqiuse Grissom, Pedro Martinez, Wil Cordero, Darren Fletcher(1994 All-Star), Ken Hill, John Wettlelend, just to name a few.

[MavsFan1982]

I agree. Many have said that had the strike not canceled that season, the '94 Expos would have damn well won the pennant and World Series. That team was loaded to win, and it was so sad to see the Expos go downhill after the strike.

[MNTwins033]

i was there

[Railer505]

The guy jumping at 0:13 is Joe Carter hitting the home run that won the 1993 World Series.

[88cutty]

i miss u three rivers!!!

[iamzeroedin]

how could you miss three rivers? the new pirates stadium is gorgeous.

[88cutty]

cause the new stadium is cursed..willie stargell died opening day... 3 rivers was a dump but thats the pirates i grew up with. i've worked at PNC park since 01 so i know the ins and outs... yes the view is great, the stadium is beautiful but the team sucks. they could play at the taj mahal but it dont matter unless they win. PNC is part of the problem...it detracts from the real issue...BASEBALL!!!!

[acceptthis01]

No, the problem is the terrible ownership and management that actually wants the team to lose games.

[88cutty]

wrong... MLB doesnt care.

[simplygu]

3 Rivers Stadium was your typical cookie cutter MLB stadium of the 70's. Their park now is much nicer. Too bad the bastards in MLB had to cancel the season a month after this game was played. It ruined potential great seasons from players such as Tony Gwynn who was hitting .394, Matt Williams had 43 HR & Ken Griffey had 40... and Greg Maddux was 16-6 with a 1.56 era and probably would have won close to 25 games. I also will always wonder how that '94 Expos team would've done in the playoffs.

[shaunnol]

I remember after the clip was over, Costas said "the players tonight will be playing under a cloud......" referring to the then-impending strike.

[hardrockin96]

That was a great game! Fred McGriff took em deep!!

[RockeyJesse20]

The fifth all star game was 2006 PNC park

[bostonbaseball78]

wow thats right! holy shit tito1701 good call. think about how many great players were on or came from the expos?? wow i forgot about that. that yr griffey and matt williams had like 43 home runs before the allstar break also.

[Tito1701]

dont forget Paul O'neill and Tony Gwynn chasing .400

[carlinrulez666]

Paul O'Neill would also win the batting title in 1994.

[chrisuncleahmad]

Given the Pirates' struggles, this was the last great moment in that old stadium.

[jotg789]

hahaha bob costas looked funny

[naruyamcha]

What bothers me the most is while Yankee Stadium hasn't hosted the All-Star game between 1977 and 2008, and Shea Stadium since 1964; Pittsburgh gets to host the Midsummer classic only 12 years apart, and I hope the "but it's a new stadium" excuse isn't used. But it's in the past now. D=

[carlinrulez666]

I agree. You make a great point. I have thought about that myself.

[Tito1701]

Its sad when you think about the 94 season and it getting cut short due to the players strike. Its sad because that couldve been the greatest year of baseball in history when you think about how many records were being challenged that year and How the strike basically ended baseball in canada. Remember the Expos had the best record in baseball when the stike hit.

[SuperMariofB]

Back At Ol' Three Rivers Stadium

[KNS1996DFS]

The intro is pretty cool, with rotating baseball disclosing different scenes between the stitches. But the theme sucks.

[KDviewer07]

The last time they used the Baseball Network was when my Braves won it all. GO BRAVES!!

[MANSHOTS]

Pardon my memory for being so short but WHAT TEAM WON THE 1994 WORLD SERIES??

[IllinoisHighwayMan]

Series Cancelled due to players' strike.

[MANSHOTS]

No shit sherlock, I was hoping I would get a response from a dignified MLB personality like Bud Selig or his hyness donald fehr

[dome1972]

Let it go, man. It was a long time ago.

[bsm2b]

The Montreal Expos would of won the 94 world series, EH!

[MANSHOTS]

Or the Yankees. But The Montreal Expos had the best record in baseball at the time. Then they traded all of their good pitchers to other teams, and got all of the shit players because they don't have Steinbrenner money.

[NASCARfan22k]

If the '94 season had played to a championship, half of the MLB teams would be playing in Canada now.

[seattlehawk94]

[adding to last comment]

Man, kids today don't know what it was like to watch sports back in the day....

It was almost better and more innocent back then....

[seattlehawk94]

One more great thing about TBN...

On Baseball Night in America they always used the local guys from both teams to do games. So being in Seattle you could hear Dave Niehaus share the booth with guys like Greg Papa, Bob Ucker, John Sterling, Hawk Harrelson, etc.

Before the internet and DirectTV making it a moot point, that was a big deal. To hear Scully I used to have to drive to the woods outside Seattle on a clear night and HOPE that I could get a faint signal.

[seattlehawk94]

Costas really is the best baseball announcer out there. Buck thinks he's funny for some reason and McCarver is an asshole.

Miss these REAL telecasts with Costas, Uck, and Morgan. That was probably the best PbyP booth in MLB history. Funny, smart, and loved the game.

Unlike Fox's "A-Team" they didn't sound effects and all that bullshit. They let the game call itself.

[TMC1982Part2]

Costas was better (in my humble opinion) when he was w/ Tony Kubeck back in the '80s. When NBC got back into MLB in the '90s after CBS was finished, Costas seemed to be more interested in doing on-air editorals about what was wrong w/ MLB at the time.

[dome1972]

Good point. The grand ole game tends to bring the "holier than thou" attitude out of writer, commentators, announcers and fans than any other sport. It gets a little old but at least it indicates that baseball holds a far more important hold on our emotions and sentiments than the all powerful NFL.

[dome1972]

I loved Kubeck in the colour chair. He did colour for the Blue Jays during their formative and evolution years. He was a combination of old-school, meat and potatoes ball and interesting cross-cultural issues.

[essentialeugene]

I think The Baseball Network had potential. Originally the venture was supposed to run through 1999 but it was terminated after two years. I liked Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, and Tim McCarver coming back to the booth. FOX did what the TBN did was telecasting games based on your region. I did not like CBS baseball at all but I did like their theme music.

[TMC1982Part2]

What really killed The Baseball Network (besides the '94 strike) was the fact that it made regular season games even more irrelevant (6 games each on ABC and NBC after the All-Star Game) than during the CBS era. They seriously alienated fans w/ their idea to broadcast the first 2 rounds of the playoffs regionally all at once.

[SFFOOL76]

Damm if CBS didn't get the baseball contract from 1990-1993, I think NBC/ABC wouldn't have lost their touch.

[jerseyfla]

I absolutely agree!! Imagine if NBC/ABC had that 1990-93 contract and Fox comes and bids for both MLB and the NFL in the same year!! That would've been the biggest story in the TV business!! Had it happened I think Fox would've taken "Game" from NBC and ABC would've kept Monday Night Baseball and would've given half the games to ESPN which would've really been the beginning of the end for ABC Sports.

[raymieX]

@jerseyfla MLB produced the telecasts, not the networks. It was a time-brokered deal.

[hookem2003]

thank you! the open and music rocks

[crawford371]

oh no, not the baseball network!

[richie137]

Now with this open, we have every single open from 1976 with ABC to the present day with FOX, running the broadcasts.

[richie137]

Now with this open, we have every single open from 1976 with ABC to the present day with FOX, running the broadcasts.

[TMC1982Part2]

This was NBC's first Major League Baseball game since Game 5 of the 1989 NLCS. ABC had the World Series in '89 and the TV contract would move to CBS for the next 4 years.