'Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns' Episode Review: 'Inning 6: The National Pastime (1940-1950)'
Inning 6: The National Pastime (1940-1950) Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns In Europe, in the Pacific, on the homefront, both African-Americans and whites fight to make the world safe for democracy. When the war ends, Major League Baseball becomes, in fact, what it has always claimed to be: the national pastime. But, at the beginning of the decade, Jackie Robinson's debut is still some years away. Meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio sets a consecutive game-hitting streak that still stands. Ted Williams becomes the last man to hit .400. The once-lowly Brooklyn Dodgers win their first pennant. And World War II takes so much talent from the majors that the St. Louis Browns win a pennant. 24 years ago, fans of Major League Baseball in the U.S. and elsewhere were in a funk. For much of the late summer and early fall, a strike had frozen the 1994 baseball season as the players' union and MLB team owners grappled over - what else - salary caps and revenue sharing. After a...