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Celebrating ‘Baseball on Five’

by Matt Smith

As the news that ‘Baseball on Five’ will not return in 2009 slowly starts to sink in, and more and more of you pass on your comments about how much it will be missed, all of the little things that made it such a great show keep coming to my mind. 

If this is the end of an era, better to celebrate the good times than to be beaten down by the loss.  So, I’ve put together a list of some of the things that I loved about the show.  Please feel free to add any more in the comments box. 

“These are a few of my favourite things ..”

Jonny’s opening line: “Greetings fellow baseball nuts”.

The Jonny and Josh high-five.

Erik’s Montreal Expos cap (you don’t see them much nowadays).

The flags at the front of the desk showing which teams were playing that night (not to mention Jonny’s Chipper Jones model).

Jonny being caught eating chocolate as the game heads back to the studio (with Josh merrily throwing him under a bus about it, rather than covering for him!).

Jonny and Josh noting plays down on their scorecards and encouraging many of us to take up the discipline.

Erik’s Spring Training vignettes.

The always entertaining viewer e-mails; from the students to the night-shift workers to the mothers feeding their newly-born children.

Jonny and Josh honouring a ‘hardcore’ viewer.

The literal seventh inning stretch.

Josh answering Erik’s in-game (‘don’t e-mail in, it’s just for fun’) trivia questions like someone swatting a fly.

Jonny’s ability to turn any conversation into an excuse to mention his fantasy team (okay, some viewers won’t miss that so much!).

In recent years, the All Star Game coverage live from the stadium.

World Series

The Fall Classic is always a special time of the year, but Five’s coverage made it even more so, not least because of the following:

The World Series tuxedoes,

Rating the renditions of the Star Spangled Banner,

The specially recorded Dave O’Brien/Rick Sutcliffe pre-game segments,

Erik and Dave bringing us the sights, sounds and (primarily) the local cuisine from the World Series cities.

Finally…

Simply having a British-based MLB show, with presenters who love the game and want to share that passion with the audience.  Presenters who teach Brits about how the sport is played and who make us feel like a part of the show.  A team who understood the skill and complexity of the game, yet who were able to mix in light-hearted banter as well.

Hope you’re back with us soon, guys.

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52 comments

Matt Smith October 8, 2009 - 7:12 am

I’ve not heard anything about the World series, sadly. As you wrote, for Five to not even pick up the Fall Classic is a real shame.

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trevor October 11, 2009 - 11:22 pm

watching a baseball game on tv is like watching no other, some don’t get it, they say they hate it while some merely enjoy watching a game and the rest of us love it we can’t get enough of it.

i’m part of the third group, been watching baseball since the first year five started to show it, i was hooked from the first game. in 2007 i went to denver and saw game 3 of the world series live, it was the most incredible atmosphere i’ve ever felt in a sporting event. i was in the states for the entire world series and because i was in south america all off 2008 i never got to see one final five baseball game, i’m still gutted they didn’t renew their contract to show baseball.

it really was the best sports, no, the best programme on tv, the way they explained everything for new viewers and promoted baseball in the uk was nothing short of outstanding. i can’t believe they haven’t even picked up the post season, they added lots to what is already a fantastic game. and like someone else already said here even if they were showing a really crappy game that no one cared about you still wanted to watch for the studio chats, analysis and all round entertainment.

i really hope they will bring back baseball if not on five on any free to air tv network but with the old team, they deserve it for the work they put in and the many days i went into school or work with only a couple of hours sleep.

i won’t stop watching baseball but with only mlb.tv and espn america now showing games for us the popularity of the sport in this country will pulpit. please bring it back, the fans and the studio team deserve it.

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