It’s the Season for Videos Focusing on Sports

Sports mania is reaching a fever pitch. The college and pro football seasons are in full swing. The baseball playoffs began this week. The hockey season starts today and basketball preseason arrives Sunday.

Plus, there are several new sports-related videos on the market.

Bob Dole’s favorite team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, is the subject of “The Original America’s Team” (ESPN Home Video, $20 each; $90 for the set), a five-volume documentary that definitely hits a home run.

The series, which just aired on ESPN, was produced and written by Mark Reese--son of Dodger Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese--and is narrated by Roger Kahn, author of the best-selling book “The Boys of Summer.” The video version features 20% more footage than the TV series.

Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella are among “Da Bums” profiled in the series. The final installment, “The Last Trolley: A Tale of Two Cities,” is a wistful look at what the Dodgers meant to Brooklyn and how the team came to Los Angeles.

“America’s Team” also boasts rare photographs, home movies, historical footage and interviews with players and die-hard Bums fans Larry King, Louis Gossett Jr. and Martin Landau. To order call (800) 250-5998, Ext. 115.

At the plate from Orion Home Video are the retrospective “This Week in Baseball: 20 Years of Unforgettable Plays and Bloopers” ($15) and the documentary “Super Sluggers” ($15), which features interviews with Mike Piazza, Albert Belle, Sammy Sosa and Mo Vaugh.

Polygram Video and NFL Films have just released a flurry of football videos. “The NFL Team” videos ($15 each) offer fans a slick, glossy look at their favorite teams. “NFL’s 10 Toughest Players” ($20) examines the 10 all-time toughest players in NFL history, including Jim Kelly, Ronnie Lott and Walter Payton.

“The Man Behind the Men” ($20) profiles such legendary coaches as Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Tom Landry, George Allen and Paul Brown.

On Oct. 15, ESPN Home Video will release “College Football All-Time Rivalries” ($15), an overview of 12 of the most intense match-ups in college football history.

He shoots, he scores! Hockey fans can relive some of the most exciting moments in recent puck history with “NHL Overtime: Heroes and Drama of the Stanley Cup Playoffs” ($15). The tape includes Wayne Gretzky’s overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1993 Western Conference finals.

The Candy Man: The delicious 1971 musical-fantasy “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (Warner Home Video, $20) is celebrating its 25th birthday with a remastered print and stereo soundtrack. Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum star in Roald Dahl’s tale about a little boy whose life changes when he wins a chance to visit a mysterious chocolate factory. Ostrum, now 38, is a vet specializing in farm animals.

Comedy: Anyone who went to Catholic school will probably get a kick out of “Raised Catholic, (Can You Tell?)” (White Star, $20). Humorist Ed Stivender serves up gentle, nostalgic memories of his parochial school boyhood in this one-hour show based on his book of the same name.

Nature: “Time Life’s 3-D Safari” (Time-Life Video & Television, $20) takes viewers on an up-close-and-personal safari into the jungles of Indonesia. The video features the new Nuoptix 3-D system that allows 3-D viewing with glasses, as well as two-dimensional viewing without special specs. The 3-D effects are fun. The video comes with a pair of 3-D glasses that need to be assembled. To order call (800) 846-3843.

Coming Next Week: Paul Hogan, Elijah Wood and Flipper the dolphin star in “Flipper” (MCA/Universal, $20), a family film based on the 1963 movie and NBC TV series.

Alan Rickman and Greta Scacchi won Emmys for their work in the HBO drama “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny” (HBO Video).

Dutch filmmaker Marleen Gorris wrote and directed “Antonia’s Line” (BMG Independents), the Oscar-winning 1995 best foreign film that spans five decades in the life of a woman.

Lili Taylor received terrific reviews as angry feminist Valerie Solanas in “I Shot Andy Warhol” (Evergreen). Jared Harris stars as Warhol.

Halle Berry and James Belushi star in the teen drama “Race the Sun” (Columbia TriStar).

Samuel L. Jackson, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Beals star in the quirky comedy “The Search for One-Eye Jimmy” (Cabin Fever).

Peter Care directed “R.E.M.’s Road Movie” (Warner Reprise, $20).

“Jupiter’s Wife” (New Video) is a fascinating documentary chronicling two years in the life of a homeless New York woman who believes Robert Ryan was her father and Jupiter is her husband.

Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell star in the thriller “The Craft” (Columbia TriStar). . . . Also new: “Blood & Donuts” (Live) and “Pinocchio’s Revenge” (Vidmark).