Center Field Shot

InBaseball Weekly's list of things that most affected baseball in the twentieth century, television ranked secondbehind only the signing of Jackie Robinson. The new medium of television exposed baseball to a genuinely national audience; altered the financial picture for teams, owners, and players; and changed the way Americans followed the game.Center Field Shotexplores these changesall even more prominent in the first few years of the twenty-first centuryand makes sense of their meaning for America's pastime. Center Field Shottraces a sometimes contentious but mutually beneficial relationship from the first televised game in 1939 to the new era of Internet broadcasts, satellite radio, and high-definition TV, considered from the perspective of businessmen collecting merchandising fees and advertising rights, franchise owners with ever more money to spend on talent, and broadcasters trying to present a game long considered "unfriendly" to television. Ultimately the association of baseball with television emerges as a reflection ofperhaps even a central feature ofAmerican culture at large.

James R. Walker is professor of communication and chair of the Department of Communications at Saint Xavier University. Robert V. Bellamy Jr. is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Multimedia Arts at Duquesne University.