Baseball ’90 PREVIEW : CBS Kicks in a Buck; ESPN Kicks in Gear

So long Vin and NBC.

They’ve passed to Buck. Jack Buck, that is.

The CBS era of baseball, with Buck as the main man replacing previously scheduled Brent Musburger, begins Saturday in the first year of a new baseball television contract that also includes ESPN.

Buck will work with analyst Tim McCarver as the lead CBS team. Buck was originally scheduled as the play-by-play announcer on the second team with analyst Jim Kaat. Replacing Buck on the second team will be Dick Stockton.

CBS will televise games the first two Saturdays of the season and then will take a seven-week hiatus until June 16.

CBS and ESPN have new four-year contracts--worth a combined $1.46 billion--that will change the nation’s baseball viewing habits.

Fans with cable have greeted baseball’s new alliance with ESPN as great news, since the sports cable network will bring them baseball four nights a week throughout the season.

There will be single games on Sundays and Wednesdays and doubleheaders on Tuesdays and Fridays.

And on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day, there will be tripleheaders.

Plus, ESPN promises it will keep fans abreast of any major developments by switching from one game to another, much the way it did during 11 years of televising the early rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament.

However, fans without cable are not too thrilled about the new setup. And about 40% of the country’s 92.1 million television households are not hooked to cable.

Homes without cable will be getting less baseball.

NBC and ABC provided the nation with 40 regular-season games last season. CBS will show only 16--four more than it originally scheduled.

When CBS announced it would televise 12 games over the 26-week season, there was such a public outcry that baseball officials asked CBS to televise more games. CBS added four.

Baseball officials responded to criticism of the CBS deal by saying that more Saturdays will be freed up for local telecasts.

However, the Dodgers are scheduled for 13 Saturday telecasts--equal to last year. They were on Channel 11, their flagship station, five Saturdays last season and were on NBC eight. This year, they will be on Channel 11 nine Saturdays and CBS four. All but one of the Channel 11 telecasts are late afternoon or evening games.

The Dodgers could make another late-season appearance on CBS if they are in a pennant race. CBS is leaving the final two Saturdays of the season open.

The Angels are scheduled to make two fewer Saturday appearances on commercial television this season.

They made seven Saturday appearances on Channel 5 last season and were on NBC six times, for a total of 13.

This season, they’re scheduled for 10 appearances, eight on Channel 5 and two on CBS. A scheduled ninth appearance on Channel 5 was lost when the first week of the season was postponed because of the lockout. All but two of the Channel 5 telecasts are late afternoon or evening games.

Fans elsewhere will be getting even less Saturday baseball. For example, the Boston Red Sox have no Saturday commercial telecasts scheduled, and the New York Yankees have one.

One of the severest critics of the CBS package is Curt Smith, whose most recent book, “Voices of the Game,” deals with baseball broadcasting.

Smith contends the CBS deal is “the greatest fiasco in baseball’s 69-year broadcast history.” He says it slashes baseball’s network exposure and hurts its popularity.

“Baseball becomes the first sport to ever voluntarily reduce its number of network carriers,” Smith said. “From 1961 through ‘70, the NFL mushroomed from one to three networks, and its popularity exploded.

“Likewise, baseball boomed after 1975 by adopting a dual-network format. CBS’s exclusivity gives NBC and ABC zero incentive to publicize baseball.

“History teaches us that network TV is any sport’s best selling tool.”

Smith believes the CBS arrangement is most damaging to the less privileged.

“It reeks of social Darwinism, survival of the richest,” he said. “It disenfranchises those who lack access to cable or the funds to afford it. The poor, the shut-ins, the elderly, the habitants of inner cities and those on farms and in small towns where there is no TV link to a local team--they are the ones who are being deprived.”

Looking on the brighter side, the ESPN package appears to be a good one for those who can get it.

Bryan Burns, baseball’s director of broadcasting, said: “ESPN’s ability to switch from one game to another will provide viewers with an immediacy they’ve never before experienced.”

For example, ESPN may be covering a Baltimore-Boston game. Meanwhile, Nolan Ryan is getting close to his sixth no-hitter in Arlington, Tex. Kirby Puckett is attempting to hit for the cycle in Minneapolis. And Bo Jackson is going for his third consecutive home run in Kansas City.

“Imagine,” says Burns, “watching all of this either as it happens or within moments after it’s happened.”

Also, ESPN has become known for quality productions, from game coverage to its nightly “Sports-Center” program to special shows such as “NFL GameDay” and “NFL PrimeTime.”

Once the regular season gets under way, ESPN’s nightly “Baseball Tonight” program should be of similar quality.

ESPN has a pretty impressive lineup of game announcers.

The Sunday night team will be Jon Miller, the main voice of the Baltimore Orioles, and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan.

Miller, besides being regarded as a top-notch announcer, is also known for his impersonations. He does an excellent Vin Scully.

The Sunday night package is being called a “Tour of the Major Leagues,” with telecasts originating from a different ballpark each week. The tour stops at Dodger Stadium April 29, when the Dodgers play the Chicago Cubs, and at Anaheim Stadium the following Sunday, when the Angels play the New York Yankees.

Only Texas Stadium in Arlington, Tex., and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium are not on the ESPN schedule. But the Texas Rangers are likely to make at least one Sunday night appearance. They are one of the teams in the backup game eight times.

The Atlanta Braves may get shut out on Sunday nights, but they are scheduled on plenty of other nights. “We have nothing against the Braves,” ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca said.

For ESPN’s other featured game of the week--on Wednesday nights--the announcers will be Gary Thorne, Norm Hitzges and Mike Lupica.

Thorne was with the New York Mets for three seasons and then with the Chicago White Sox last year. Hitzges, a Dallas sportscaster, is a rarity--a baseball commentator who never played the game professionally. Lupica is a sports columnist for The National.

The team for Game 1 of the Tuesday night doubleheaders will be Sean McDonough and Ray Knight.

McDonough, son of Will McDonough of CBS and the Boston Globe, is also starting his third season as a Boston Red Sox announcer.

Knight spent 13 seasons as a major league third baseman, mostly with Cincinnati, Houston and the New York Mets.

The other Tuesday night team will be Chris Berman, recently voted Sportscaster of the Year, and onetime Dodger first baseman Tommy Hutton, who is a commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays. Hutton previously worked as a commentator for the Montreal Expos and the Yankees.

One of the Friday night teams will be Steve Zabriski, a New York Mets announcer, and Jim Palmer, former ABC commentator who also works for the Orioles.

The other Friday night team will be Thorne and Hitzges.

Besides all the baseball on ESPN, SportsChannel is again televising 35 Dodger home games--including today’s opener--and 35 Angel home games, beginning with Tuesday night’s game against Seattle.

In San Diego, Padre games once again will be on pay-per-view through the Cable Sports Network. A 50-game season package is priced at $187.50, with individual games sold for $6.95.

In addition, there are the superstations that will continue to telecast throughout the season: TBS (Braves), WGN (Cubs) and WWOR (Mets).

Yankee flagship station WPIX is also a superstation, but is carried by only one of two Southern California cable companies.

Well, you can’t have everything.