The Baseball Bunch is an American educational children's television series that originally aired in broadcast syndication from August 23, 1980 through the fall of 1985. Produced by Major League Baseball Productions, the series is a 30-minute baseball-themed program that aired on Saturday mornings featuring a combination of comedy sketches and Major League guest-stars, intended to provide instructional tips to Little League aged children.[1]
Throughout its five-season run, the series starred Johnny Bench, Tommy Lasorda and the San Diego Chicken alongside a group of eight children (boys and girls ranging in age from 8–14) as "The Bunch".
Production
Produced by Major League Baseball Productions, and starring Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench, and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, the series was envisioned as a fun, but informative way for Little League aged children to learn the fundamentals of baseball.[2] The original pilot for what would become The Baseball Bunch was filmed at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles in 1980, and did not originally include the San Diego Chicken (Ted Giannoulas).[2] In a 2007 interview with JustMyShow.com, Giannoulas recounted how he became part of the series, saying "The producers called me up and they said 'We want to shoot this again. We think it's a little dry for kids to be watching this. A lot of good baseball information, but not enough color to it, so can you come in and just improvise around what we've done, and we'll re-shoot the whole thing.' I did that, and suddenly they had magic in the can, and they sold the show."[2] The pilot, starring Bench, Lasorda, and Major League guest-star Steve Garvey, aired as a "special" presentation on August 23, 1980 (with some stations airing it the next day instead).[3][4][5]
As preparations for the first full season began, production for the series was moved to Tucson, Arizona to begin filming in February 1981.[6] According to several cast-members, the location and time of year were selected for two main reasons; citing the ideal weather (70° temperatures in February), and Tucson's proximity to the Major League's spring training camps, which accommodated the Major League stars who could come in and film an episode during the month of February, then head directly over to their camps for spring training.[2] Youngsters auditioned to be part of the original "Bunch" were selected from the Tucson, Arizona Little League as well as some brought in from talent agencies as far away as Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.[2] The eight children ultimately chosen, boys and girls of varying ages and ethnicities, were selected for their "boy/girl-next-door" appeal, and to reflect the diversity of the intended audience,[7] rather than for extraordinary athletic prowess or singing abilities (contrary to popular belief, the eight children who made up "The Bunch" did not sing the show's theme song).[2] In his interview with JustMyShow.com, Giannoulas added, "I think they kinda were looking for kids that didn't have that polished 'Hollywood' look to them, that seemed more real and (would) come across as free and easier that way."[2]
Filming each entire season within a three-week period during the month of February would become the standard production practice throughout the five season run of the series.[6][8] Erik Lee ("Rick", seasons 1–4) recalled, "Each 30-minute episode took basically a day, so we would start early in the morning and just go all day. [...] We would film for a couple weeks at a time and (while filming) we would get out of school for a couple weeks at a time. It was glorious."[2] While the Tucson location was selected specifically to accommodate the Major League players just prior to spring training, segments featuring Lasorda ("The Dugout Wizard") were filmed without him. Linda Coslett ("Kate", season 1) recalled, "We would pretend. We would look at this chalk-board that was blank, and then they would go back to Los Angeles and film it separately with Tommy and then plug him into the show. So Tommy Lasorda was never on the set.", with Erik Lee adding, "We never met (Lasorda), unfortunately."[2] Departing from the traditional fall-through-spring television season, the first official season of The Baseball Bunch debuted in broadcast syndication on Saturday May 2, 1981,[9] with new episodes airing throughout the summer months on Saturday mornings and/or early afternoons, usually either right before or right after the networks' line-ups of Saturday morning cartoons.[9] Although airing in reruns year-round, the format of debuting each new season in the spring (April or May) and airing new episodes throughout the "summer vacation" season was used for all five seasons of the show's original run.[7][10][11]
Premise
Season 3 cast of The Baseball Bunch
The series starred Johnny Bench as the coach to a fictional baseball team of eight little league aged children known as "The Baseball Bunch". The ninth team member was "The San Diego Chicken" (played by Ted Giannoulas) who served as a comic foil to Bench as he would attempt to mentor the children. Each episode was divided into two segments. The first segment featured a current or former Major League player demonstrating a baseball fundamental to the children (e.g., learning to pitch within a hitters' strike zone) as well as the children's sometimes humorous attempts to imitate the star. The Major League guest-stars would also serve to steer the children clear of what not to do (e.g., explaining why a growing child should not attempt to throw a curveball). The second segment featured a skit with "The Dugout Wizard" (played by Tommy Lasorda), a mystical turban wearing "Swami" character who taught a second baseball fundamental (e.g., how to catch a fly ball). This second instructional segment was often accompanied by a music video (a genre then in its embryonic stage), composed of clips of Major League players either performing the act or failing at it-for instance, the episode which featured knuckleballer Phil Niekro mentions how difficult a knuckleball can be to catch and showed several clips of frustrated catchers trying to do so. In addition to the technical fundamentals of the game, the series would also touch on some of the psychological challenges youngsters face, including addressing performance anxieties (an adolescent boy's fears of not being "good enough" before a big game) and sportsmanship (a "little league father" criticizing his son unmercifully from the sidelines gently being urged to relax and enjoy the game).[3][7][9][10][12][13][14]
The Bunch
Throughout the show's five-season run, the series featured a rotating cast of eight children who starred as "The Bunch", usually ranging in age from eight to fourteen.[2][7][15] As the youngsters entered adolescence and outgrew their roles, they would be replaced by younger children closer in age to the target audience. Linda Coslett ("Kate", season 1) said of her time on the series, "I was eleven (when the show started). I turned twelve actually during the month of February, during the filming, and I was on (the show) for one year. [...] As you know, women get mature during those years and (by the second season) I didn't look like a little girl anymore, so they wanted to go with somebody that was younger looking."[2] Erik Lee ("Rick", seasons 1–4) said of his run on the series, "I was all of twelve years old when I started with The Baseball Bunch. I stayed with The Bunch for four incredible years, until my voice changed and I was taller than Johnny Bench."[2] With a rotating cast that included new children every season, only three youngsters appeared as "Bunch" team-members for all five seasons; Stacy Blythe ("Michelle"), Jared Holland ("Sam") and Danny Santa Cruz ("Louie", sometimes credited as "Luis"). The children who appeared as "The Bunch" team-members at one time or another during the show's five-season run are, in alphabetical order:[2][15][16][17][18]
Stacy Blythe as Michelle
David Cenko as Doug
Linda Coslett as Kate
Lance Crawford as Ossie
Rolon Culver as Zack
Hurst Dorman as Harold
John Fordney as Sherman
Priscilla Hassel as Debbie
Jared Holland as Sam
Erik Lee as Rick
Jackie Masei as Jessie
Tom McCabe as Andy
John Podesta as Billy
Danny Santa Cruz as Louie
Eddy Tonai as Freddie
Wendy Haralson as Krista
Guest stars
With the rare exception of the occasional "Best Of" episode (which were composed of clips of previous episodes), most every episode featured a well-known guest-star from the Major Leagues brought in to mentor the children in their particular field of expertise and included many future Hall of Famers. Some of the Major League guest-stars to appear on the series include, in alphabetical order:[2][9][15][16][17][18][19]
The Baseball Bunch aired in broadcast syndication, with local stations carrying the original run of the series from the spring of 1981 through the fall of 1985.[15] During this time, the series also aired nationally on the basic cable network WTBS[20] and later, in reruns on ESPN.[21]
Reception
During its run, The Baseball Bunch was well received by children and adults alike.[7][14][15][22] Throughout its five years on the air, the series won multiple Emmy Awards for outstanding achievement in special programming, a gold medal from the International Film and Tape Festival in New York, and an award from Action for Children's Television, as well as receiving an endorsement from the National Education Association.[7][9][23][24] In its time, the series also spawned a fan club, (known as The Baseball Bunch "Fun Club"), which young fans of the show could join for a fee of $4.99. Members received a "membership certificate", a Baseball Bunch T-shirt and wrist-bands, a full-size color poster of "The Bunch", and The Baseball Bunch "Fun Book", which included color photos and biographies of Bench, Lasorda and the kids, puzzles, sheet music and lyrics for the show's theme song, and a comic strip known as "The Baseball Bunchies".[15]
In his March 1984 review of the series, The Miami Herald Head Sports Writer, Bob Rubin praised the show, writing "'The Baseball Bunch' is a humorous, marvelously creative blend of entertainment and instruction. With the glut of dreck that passes for children's programming on the weekends, it's a breath of fresh air. And you don't have to be a kid or a baseball fan to enjoy it, either. [...] Serving as both participants and pupils is an eight-kid rainbow coalition that represents a typical neighborhood group. There are six boys and two girls, ranging in age from 9 to 14." Rubin also praised Giannoulas's contribution to the series, writing "The Chicken may be the most gifted physical comic since Curly, Larry and Moe. [...] It's a laugh and a lesson, which is SOP (standard operating procedure) on 'The Baseball Bunch'".[7]
In a March 2001 Sports Illustrated article about his younger days, writer Mark Bechtel looked back fondly on his childhood memories of the series writing, "The first three letters of the word notwithstanding, there's very little fun in fundamentals. Still, the creators of Baseball Bunch, a half-hour TV program that aired in the early 1980s, made learning the game's intricacies a joy. Each week, host Johnny Bench was joined on a sandlot in Anywhere, U.S.A., by one of his big league buddies and a group of preteens. Tommy Lasorda, in his Dugout Wizard get-up complete with absurd turban, competed for laughs with the San Diego Chicken. The result was sublime Saturday-morning fare, equal parts Tom Emanski and Barney. [...] The Bunch didn't make me a major leaguer, but it did make a lasting impression — and I can proudly say that in my days as a Little League catcher, no runner ever absconded with second."[13]
In his 2007 interview with JustMyShow.com, Ted Giannoulas recalled Major League players also secretly enjoying the show, saying "That was a real highlight being on that program [...] During the show's existence, I had professional baseball players tell me that they would sneak a peek at the show and pick up tips because the information that Johnny and our guests would put on the show was very very good inside baseball information. [...] So I took that as a real compliment because it signified how credible and good the advice that Johnny and the players were giving, and that not only were kids picking up good advice, but I can attest that professional ball-players were also tuned in as well."[2]
Home video
After the series' original run ended in the Fall of 1985, Scholastic-Lorimar, along with the show's long-time sponsor Kool-Aid, released three one-hour "Best Of" VHS tapes in April 1986.[25][26] Each tape was dedicated to a particular aspect of the game; "Pitching", "Hitting" and "Fielding", and compiled segments of various episodes from all five seasons. Hosted by Johnny Bench and the only three children to appear on all five seasons of the series; Stacy Blythe as "Michelle", Jared Holland as "Sam" and Danny Santa Cruz as "Louie", the three tapes also included new "Drill" segments, in which Bench would recommend basic drills young viewers could use to improve their game, while the three children (by that time, teens) demonstrated each exercise. As compilations of previous episodes, no segments of Lasorda as "The Dugout Wizard" were included on the videos, instead, the tapes focused exclusively on segments which had featured The Bunch with Major League guest-stars. The tapes also did not include the show's well-known "The Baseball Bunch" theme song, replacing the opening and closing theme with an alternate instrumental version of the music.[16][17][18]
Church began development on another Baseball Bunch, this time under a production shingle CG Entertainment Partners with actor John Goodman, This re-boot still has an MLB star as host and Phillie Phanatic, alongside a new cast of kids. In describing his vision for the premise of the show, Church stated "We're still going to have that Big guest star and the big League tip as the narrative". The host's friends come on the show and teach the kids how to play the game. Those elements will still be there." (2016) WME/IMG Sports went into contract with Church repped by The Dravis Agency in Studio City, California, (properties include Hunger Games, Hugo) the IMG development deal expired. Development is underway for the reboot of the Baseball Bunch with Church and MVP Sports Group. Albert Pujols is rumored to host, along with the Phillie Phanatic. Sources close to the project say MLB sees the Baseball Bunch Series as a launch to expand its ancillary programming of its new MLB broadcast and streaming deals.
Related Research Articles
Johnny Lee Bench is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career, which lasted from 1967 to 1983, with the Cincinnati Reds, primarily as a catcher. Bench was the leader of the Reds team known as the Big Red Machine that dominated the National League in the mid-1970s, winning six division titles, four National League pennants and two World Series championships.
The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised for four seasons, from 1955 to 1959, by ABC. This original run featured a regular, but ever-changing cast of mostly teen performers. ABC broadcast reruns weekday afternoons during the 1958–1959 season, airing right after American Bandstand. The show was revived three times after its initial 1955–1959 run on ABC, first from 1977 to 1979 for first-run syndication as The New Mickey Mouse Club, then from 1989 to 1996 as The All-New Mickey Mouse Club airing on The Disney Channel, and again from 2017 to 2018 with the moniker Club Mickey Mouse airing on internet social media.
The Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three girls. After its cancellation in 1974, the series debuted in syndication in September 1975. Though it was never a ratings hit or a critical success during its original run, the program has since become a popular syndicated staple, especially among children and teenage viewers.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States.
The San Diego Chicken is a sports mascot played by Ted Giannoulas.
The Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot for the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team. He is a large, furry, green flightless bird with an extendable tongue. He performs various routines to entertain fans during baseball games at Citizens Bank Park and makes public relation and goodwill appearances for the Phillies. The Phanatic is widely acknowledged as one of the best ballpark mascots, and one of the most recognizable mascots in North American sports.
Thomas Charles Lasorda was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997.
Youppi! is the official mascot for the Montreal Canadiens, and former longtime mascot of the Montreal Expos. Youppi! wears an "!" instead of a jersey number.
The Brady Kids is an American animated television series and a spin-off based on the ABC live-action sitcom The Brady Bunch, produced by Filmation in association with Paramount Television. It aired on ABC from September 9, 1972, to October 6, 1973, and also spun off another Filmation series, Mission: Magic!, starring Rick Springfield.
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pioneering African-American player Jackie Robinson was a member for the 1946 season. The 1946 Royals were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.
Eight Is Enough is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC from March 15, 1977, to May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book by the same title.
Cheap Seats without Ron Parker, or Cheap Seats: Without Ron Parker commonly shortened to Cheap Seats, is a television program broadcast on ESPN Classic and hosted by brothers Randy and Jason Sklar. The brothers appear as fictional ESPN tape librarians who amuse themselves by watching old, campy sports broadcasts and lampooning them. Produced by Mark Shapiro, Showrunner, Todd Pellegrino, James Cohen and Joseph Maar, Cheap Seats was originally an hour-long program. There were eight one hour-long episodes in the first season, all of which were edited to fit a 30-minute time slot.
Where the Action Is is a music-based television variety show that aired in the United States from 1965 to 1967. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon. Created by Dick Clark as a spin-off of American Bandstand, Where the Action Is premiered on June 28, 1965. The show was another step in the then-current trend of entertainment programs that targeted the teenage audience by focusing on pop music, following in the footsteps of Shindig! and Hullabaloo. Dick Clark's voice could be heard doing the artist introductions, and he sometimes did filmed interviews.
Kurt Anthony Bevacqua is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder from 1971 to 1985. Bevacqua is notable for his performance during the 1984 World Series when he hit two home runs and had a .412 batting average as the San Diego Padres' designated hitter. He also played for the Mayaguez Indians in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League from 1977 to 1981.
Romanus"Monty"Basgall was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout. A former second baseman who appeared in 200 Major League Baseball games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Basgall became a longtime member of the Los Angeles Dodgers' organization who served as the bench and infield coach for Hall of Fame managers Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda for 14 seasons (1973–86). During that time, he worked with four National League pennant winners, as well as the 1981 World Series-champion Dodgers. Basgall was born in Pfeifer, Kansas, graduated from high school there, and attended Sterling College.
The 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers season saw Tommy Lasorda in his first full season at the helm of the Dodgers, replacing longtime manager Walter Alston as manager of the team near the end of the previous season. The Dodgers won the National League West by 10 games and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the NLCS, then lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. This edition of the Dodgers featured the first quartet of teammates that hit 30 or more home runs: Steve Garvey with 33, Reggie Smith with 32, and Dusty Baker and Ron Cey, who both hit 30. The Dodgers duplicated this feat again 20 years later in 1997.
The 1960 Los Angeles Dodgers finished the season at 82–72, in fourth place in the National League race, 13 games behind the NL and World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.
All That is an American sketch comedy children's television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and by Schneider's Bakery in season ten. The pilot episode was originally shown as a special "sneak peek" on April 16, 1994, with the show officially debuting as a regular series on January 21, 1995.
Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run was a baseball play that occurred in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, on October 15, 1988, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Gibson was initially held out of the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup with injuries to both legs, but after being called upon to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, he hit a two-run, walk-off home run against Oakland Athletics pitcher Dennis Eckersley. The home run won the game for the Dodgers by a score of 5–4.
Kids Are People Too is an American television series that ran on Sunday mornings from 1978 to 1982 on ABC. The series was a variety/news magazine show oriented toward kids, with the intention of recognizing them as people. During its four-year run, the series was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won the 1978 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series. The series included celebrity interviews, cartoons, music, and other information that appealed to children.
References
↑ Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp.53–54. ISBN0-8108-1651-2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
