TV : CBS Weathers Its Prime-Time Baseball Debut

Well, at least there was more scoring than in the World Cup final.

But the 2-0 All-Star game wasn’t much more exciting than Sunday’s 1-0 soccer game.

However, the television coverage of Tuesday night’s rain-delayed game overall was pretty good, and not merely because CBS didn’t miss any live action because of commercials.

This was CBS’ first prime-time baseball telecast, and the network showed it can cover the sport.

With Vin Scully or Al Michaels in the play-by-play seat, there no doubt would have been more anecdotes. There was sure plenty of time for storytelling.

But the announcing team of Jack Buck and Tim McCarver is easy to listen to. Buck’s laid-back style goes well with McCarver’s delivery.

If CBS can be criticized, it’s for overdoing things a bit. Did we really need all those dugout interviews, even at the expense of some live action?

You knew CBS was pulling out all stops early when you saw that CBS baseball promo that has Tom Lasorda blowing kisses to the tune of the Temptations’ “Get Ready.”

The highlight of the telecast was the Nike commercial with a lot of Bo Jacksons and one Sonny Bono.

Says one of the Jacksons, “What are you doing here?”

Says Bono, “I thought this was another one of those Bono’s (or Bo knows ) commercials.”

Someone should earn a Bo-nus for that one.

One thing that didn’t work, as things turned out, was the takeoff on the famous Ernie Banks quote during the pregame show. “I never thought I’d say this,” Banks said on tape, “but it’s a beautiful night for a ballgame. Let’s play two!”

Well, on this night, they could barely get in one.

At the start, Buck, who rarely gets carried away, did a little, reciting such cliches as, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” and “The horses are in the starting gate.”

As Buck himself noted, a simple “Play ball” will suffice.

CBS had Pat O’Brien all over the place--on the Wrigley rooftop, in the inner-workings of the old scoreboard, across the street at a fan’s house, and in Harry Caray’s booth, where he asked this penetrating question: “What does having the All-Star game mean to Chicago?”

Of the scoreboard, O’Brien said, “It may be a dinosaur, but I don’t know one kid who doesn’t like dinosaurs.” O’Brien must be a fan of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbs. Young Calvin, as his many fans know, is obsessed with dinosaurs.

CBS even had O’Brien prod Bill Murray into singing happy birthday to Andre Dawson, who was celebrating his 36th.

McCarver summed things up in the sixth inning, saying: “It’s been a terrible offensive display so far.”

Then came the rain, and “Rescue 911” as a fill-in. It was a lot more intriguing than the game.