Monday, November 26, 2007

1957 World Series: Milwaukee vs New York

With the 1957 Milwaukee Braves World Championship team wrapping up their 50th Anniversary, it seems like as good a time as any to look at just what is available from that game.

Over the past 2 years, Doak Ewing, the President of Rare Sportsfilms has opened up his archive (which rivals that of MLB) and allowed rarely seen full broadcasts of the Series to be displayed.

Firstly, there was the pentiultimate Game 7. For some time, Rare Sportsfilms has had available a DVD that included the majority of the first 5 innings of the clinching game. Little was known about a complete broadcast. However, this year, through an agreement with the SABR Keltner Chapter, a full broadcast of Game 7 appeared:

On Saturday, February 3, 2007, The Ken Keltner Chapter, Milwaukee, WI, of The Society For American Baseball Research presented Game 7 of the 1957 World Series in its entirety. Doak Ewing, President of Rare Sportsfilms, Inc., shared the only known copy of the game at the Chapter's quarterly meeting.
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/bernieclemente/61571
Sometime, during the past year, Ewing added a new DVD to the available titles on the Rare Sportsfilm website, that included Game 3 of the Series in almost entirety:
1957 World Series Game #3 at County Stadium, Milwaukee - Bob Turley vs Bob Buhl - the entire game, missing only Kubek’s second home run! It was the first World Series game ever played in the state of Wisconsin! It was also the first time that centerfield and behind-the-plate cameras were used for telecasting a World Series game, a new idea that brought NBC rave reviews from fans around the country! Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Tony Kubek (2) hit home runs! The game sets a W.S. record with 19 walks and the Braves leave the bases loaded four times! Mel Allen and Al Helfer. 3 hours, 1 minute, Kinescope.


Finally, it seems Game 4 of the 1957 World Series has poked its head out. Again, with another meeting of the SABR Keltner Chapter:
Our next meeting will take place on Saturday, February 2, 2008, 11 AM, at Long Wong's Chinese-American Sportsbar, 5230 W. Bluemound Road. This meeting will feature, courtesy of Doak Ewing, President of Rare Sportsfilms, a showing of the ENTIRE game 4 of the 1957 World Series. You know what happens, but this will be great to watch. We'll also have a 50-50 raffle, raffles for neat items, and memorabilia for sale. Reservations are recomended.
[…]
Don't forget to circle Saturday February 2nd, 2008 on your calenders! The meeting that day will feature a showing of the ENTIRE game 4 of the 1957 World Series. Thanks again to the President of Raresports Films....Mr. Doak Ewing! If you're interested in the films Doak has available...visit his website at
http://www.raresportsfilms.com/
http://www.quicktopic.com/34/H/g6gAVs5S6rqCj
I was able to find another rumor on an internet message board that Ewing had a completely copy of Game 1, but was unable to confirm the existences of that kinescope.

The games known to exist in practical totality are:

1957 World Series Game 3(available on DVD)
1957 World Series Game 4(to be displayed Feb. 2, 2008)
1957 World Series Game 7(displayed February 3, 2007)

For an idea of what these games entail, see the link:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1957_WS.shtml

11 comments:

  1. There's also Game 6, which has pieces of it,but only most of the first 6 innings.

    A low scoring game(3-2),all the runs were driven in by four home runs, but we see only one of them.

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  2. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. That's very unfortunate about Game 6 being cut up. Do you have any idea if it is in Doak's possession or if another collector has the footage you talk about?

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  3. I'm convinced that Game 1 exists in full. Danrick Enterprises sells a tape of the complete game, with audio taken entirely from the TV broadcast.

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  4. By the way, I think Ewing is a bastard who should rot in hell all his days for not sharing this stuff with the rest of us. I'm willing to bet that the entire 1957 Series is out there, just as was the case with 1965 and 1968 for so long. The games will be released slowly, one by one, just as was the case with the others. Why don't the people who own the rights to this stuff just sell it and make their profits already?

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  5. I agree with Dan about Ewing he is a real a$$hole I have talked to him before ,and acts like he can walk on water or something close to it look how long it took Game 5 of the 56' Series to be put on DVD. One question I have is why the long wait to put all of this on to DVD? If they know that people are going to buy then get it out on DVD to the public.

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  8. Ewing has the entire 1957 World Series, although some of them have missing reels. He also has Game 1 from 1955 as well.

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  9. So, he has the famous Jackie Robinson stealing home play in game broadcast form? I'm shocked that hasn't been released.

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  10. The Robinson steals home play was shown once in the old 1992 HBO special "Play By Play: A History of Sports Television."

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