The Baseball Bunch
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The Baseball Bunch was a syndicated television show hosted by Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench that ran from March 21, 1982 until January 1, 1985. The Baseball Bunch was shown nationally on WTBS at 7 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday mornings.
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[edit] Format
The show ran thirty minutes and featured children chosen from the Tucson, Arizona Little League. Each show was divided into two halves. The first half featured a current or former major league player demonstrating a baseball fundamental to the children as well as their sometimes humorous attempts to imitate the star. The second half featured a skit called "The Dugout Wizard" (played by Tommy Lasorda) who taught a second baseball fundamental (for example, use two hands to catch a fly ball). This second instructional unit was usually accompanied by a music video (then a genre in its embryonic stage) that showed players either performing the act or failing at it. Another star of the show was the San Diego Chicken.
[edit] Notable guest stars
Numerous major leaguers made appearance on The Baseball Bunch, including Bucky Dent, Tug McGraw, Bruce Sutter, Keith Hernandez, Jim Rice, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose (who appeared twice), Andre Dawson, Cal Ripken, Jr., Ted Williams, Ken Singleton, Dan Quisenberry , Graig Nettles, Tom Seaver and Joe Morgan
[edit] Supporting cast
The following persons were featured the first two seasons of The Baseball Bunch.
- Stacy Blythe as Michelle
- Linda Coslett as Kate
- Lance Crawford as Ozzie
- Hurst Dornan as Harold
- Jared Holland as Sam
- Erik Lee as Rick
- Danny Santacruz as Louie
- Eddy Tonai as Freddie
- Tom McCabe as Andy
In later seasons, other appearances were made by:
- Tom Cribe as Billy
- John Fordney as Sherman (who replaced Hurst Dornan)
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- According to the Jump the Shark website, Jared Holland attended Kansas State University and was a good debater. The same article claims Holland later committed suicide.
- Yankees outfielder Lou Piniella's playing career was ended in 1984 when he injured his rotator cuff on the show while being pitched to by the San Diego Chicken.
[edit] External links
- The Baseball Bunch at the Internet Movie Database
- The Baseball Bunch at TV.com
- Jump The Shark - The Baseball Bunch
| Major League Baseball on national television |
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| Contract history: Sports television broadcast contracts | Television contracts |
| Broadcast partners: ABC | CBS | ESPN | FOX | NBC | TBS | USA |
| Major League Baseball owned and operated entites: The Baseball Network | Extra Innings | MLB Network |
| General media: Game of the Week | Monday Night | DayGame | Wednesday Night | Thursday Night | Sunday Night | Baseball Night in America |
| Local broadcasters: Regional sports networks | Superstations | Current announcers | Braves TBS Baseball | Marlins Television Network |
| News television series: Baseball Tonight | An Inside Look | This Week in Baseball | Race for the Pennant |
| Speciality programming: The Baseball Bunch | Home Run Derby |
| Ratings: World Series television ratings | ABC | CBS | FOX | NBC | TBS |
| Broadcasters by event: World Series | ALCS | NLCS | All-Star Game | ALDS | NLDS | One-game playoffs |
| Landmark events: Cable television | Broadcasting firsts | Telecasts technology |
