Monday Night Baseball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Monday Night Baseball | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Sports |
| Starring | Dave O'Brien Rick Sutcliffe Erin Andrews |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 7th Season |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3 hours (approximate) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC (1967-1975) ABC (1976-1988) ESPN (2002-) |
| Original run | April 7, 2002 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | SportsCenter |
| Followed by | Baseball Tonight |
| Related shows | Sun Night Baseball Wed Night Baseball |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
Monday Night Baseball is a live game telecast of Major League Baseball that airs most Monday nights during the regular season on ESPN and is also available in high definition on ESPN HD. The official name of the game is Monday Night Baseball presented by Holiday Inn. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET, following SportsCenter, and usually lasts around three hours leading up to an hour long Baseball Tonight.
Unlike ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, Monday Night Baseball is not exclusive, but also unlike Wednesday Night Baseball, Monday Night Baseball (beginning in 2007) will co-exist with the local markets' carriers and will not be subject to blackout. The other change in 2007, is that they will now be able to show teams up to three times a year, which is up from two times a year last year.
Contents |
[edit] Features
Several things changed to Monday Night Baseball in the eight year television contract that ESPN signed with Major League Baseball on September 14, 2005. Unlike Sunday Night Baseball, the game is non-exclusive, meaning it will co-exist with the teams local carriers. However, Monday Night Baseball will be allowed to co-exist with local carriers up to three times per club, per year. Beyond that, telecasts will be blacked out in the participating teams' markets (Baseball Tonight is shown in its entirety, beginning at 10:00, with the rest of the nation joining after the game). [1]
Beginning in 2007, there will be an afternoon Batting Practice program generally from the site of the Monday Night Baseball game (similar to the pre-game shows for ESPN's NFL coverage). Also, because ESPN will be airing Monday Night Football games, once that begins with the Pre-Season in mid-August, Monday Night Baseball games will move to ESPN2 for the pre-season, and then to Friday night for the remainder of the season. Monday Night Baseball also brings it's Sports Emmy Award winning K Zone, a computer-generated on-screen graphic that accurately outlines the strike zone and pitch location.
[edit] Commentators
A complete list of broadcasters, with their period of tenure on the show (beginning years of each season shown).
ESPN
- Erin Andrews: (field reporter, 2004-present)
- Tony Gwynn: (analyst, 2002-2005)
- Dave O'Brien: (play-by-play, 2002-present)
- Rick Sutcliffe: (analyst, 2002-present)
[edit] Controversy
On May 10, 2006 after a long day of drinking and golfing with comedian Bill Murray, MNB analyst Rick Sutcliffe attended a night game between the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers in San Diego. He was invited to the booth with Channel 4 broadcasters Mark Grant and Matt Vasgersian where he began a rambling and incoherent interview by saying, "It ain't that busy, it aint that busy." He then rambled on about off-the-wall subjects such as George Clooney and his daughter's "mission." After he asked Matt Vasgersian what he was still doing in San Diego, his microphone was finally cut off.
As a result, he apologized and ESPN suspended Sutcliffe for one game the next week. [2]
[edit] Past History
- For more details on this topic, see Major League Baseball on NBC#1970s.
- For more details on this topic, see Major League Baseball on ABC#1970s.
Monday Night Baseball was born on October 19, 1966 when NBC signed a three year contract to televise the game. Under the deal, NBC paid roughly $6 million per year for the 25 Games of the Week, $6.1 million for the 1967 World Series and 1967 All-Star Game, and $6.5 million for the 1968 World Series and 1968 All-Star Game. This brought the total value of the contract (which included three Monday night telecasts) up to $30.6 million. From 1972-1975 NBC televised Monday games under a contract worth $72 million. In 1973, NBC extended the Monday night telecasts to 15 straight (with a local blackout). On September 1, 1975, NBC's last Monday Night Baseball game, in which the Montréal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5.
ABC would pick up the television rights for Monday Night Baseball games in the following year. Just like with Monday Night Football, ABC brought in the concept of the three-man-booth (originally comprised of Bob Prince, Bob Uecker, and Warner Wolf as the primary crew) to their baseball telecasts. By 1986, ABC only televised 13 Monday Night Baseball games. This was a fairly sharp contrast to the 18 games to that were scheduled in 1978. The Sporting News believed that ABC paid Major League Baseball to not make them televise the regular season. TSN added that the network only wanted the sport for October anyway. For most of its time on ABC, the Monday night games were held on "dead travel days" when few games were scheduled. The team owners liked that arrangement as the national telecasts didn't compete against their stadium box offices. ABC on the other hand, found the arrangement far more complicated. ABC often had only one or two games to pick from for each telecast from a schedule designed by Major League Baseball. While trying to give all of the teams national exposure, ABC ended up with way too many games between sub .500 clubs from small markets.
In 1989 (the final year of ABC's contract with Major League Baseball), ABC moved the baseball telecasts to Thursday nights in hopes of getting leg up against NBC's Cosby Show.
The series returned in 2002 as ESPN created a package under its deal for national cable rights.
[edit] ABC's MNB Announcers
- Gary Bender (1987-1988)
- Lou Brock (1980)
- Norm Cash (1976)
- Howard Cosell (1977-1985)
- Don Drysdale (1978-1986)
- Bob Gibson (1976-1977)
- Keith Jackson (1977-1982; 1986)
- Jim Lampley (1977-1979)
- Tim McCarver (1984-1989)
- Al Michaels (1976-1989)
- Joe Morgan (1988-1989)
- Jim Palmer (1984-1989)
- Bob Prince (1976)
- Steve Stone (1982-1983)
- Gary Thorne (1989)
- Bob Uecker (1976-1982)
- Earl Weaver (1983-1984)
- Bill White (1976-1979)
- Warner Wolf (1976-1977)
[edit] See also
- ESPN Major League Baseball
- Baseball Tonight
- Sunday Night Baseball
- Wednesday Night Baseball
- Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio
- ESPN Major League Baseball broadcasters
- Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio broadcasters
[edit] References
- Sports Business Daily
- Press Release: ESPN’s Signature MLB Franchises Return - Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball
[edit] External links
| Major League Baseball on national television |
|---|
| Contract history: Sports television broadcast contracts | Major League Baseball television contracts |
| Broadcast partners: ABC | CBS | ESPN | FOX | NBC | TBS | USA | The Baseball Network | Baseball Channel |
| General media: World Series television ratings | Major League Baseball Game of the Week | Cable television | Monday Night Baseball | Wednesday Night Baseball | Thursday Night Baseball | Sunday Night Baseball | Broadcasting firsts | Telecasts technology |
| Broadcasters by event: World Series | American League Championship Series | National League Championship Series | All-Star Game | American League Division Series | National League Division Series |
 |
This article about a television show originating in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Categories: United States television program stubs | 1967 television program debuts | 1970s American television series | 1980s American television series | 1990s American television series | 2000s American television series | ESPN network shows | Major League Baseball on television | Monday | ABC network shows | NBC network shows
