MLB: How New Yorkers "Watched" the 1919 World Series at Times Square

Every member of the large crowd filling Times Square had his or her eyes glued to a large green board laid out with a regulation baseball diamond in brown lines. The batter's box, the bases and each defensive position were marked in white. A baseball's movement followed the line of hits, fly balls, grounders, throws and balls and strikes.

The technology produced a fascinating view of the opening game of the 1919 World Series being played at Redland Field in Cincinnati.

Despite a steady drizzle, most of those watching the simulation remained until the game ended. It was necessary to use one's imagination, which was no problem. The crowd cheered or became depressed to the same degree as the fans watching the game live in Cincinnati.

When the board showed a runner on first taking a big lead, many turned to the person standing next to them to say, "Gee, look at the lead he's taking."

After the batter hit a fly ball that was caught, the same person declared, "He had to hustle to get back to the bag on that fly."

At a key point in the game, one fan complained to those around him, "Three on base and Eddie Roush up, and a moving van has to get in my way."

Between innings, the "ball" moved from the pitcher to the catcher and then was fired around the bases. Most of the crowd forgot they were standing in the rain watching a simulation rather than actually being at the ball park.

When the pitcher threw a curve ball, the simulation accurately reproduced the path of the pitch. "That pitch is a strike" was heard before the strike (or ball) was posted on the scoreboard.

The first radio broadcast of a game was in 1921.

Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, with Harold Arlin at the microphone, brought the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies to listeners on August 5th.

Until recently, KDKA was still the Pirates' flagship station. Harold Arlin's grandson, Steve, pitched for the San Diego Padres.
 
The 1921 World Series between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees was the first to be broadcast. Grantland Rice did the play-by-play on KDKA, while Tommy Cowan worked for WJZ in Baltimore.

Neither man was at the ball park. They recreated the game from the information they received off a telegraph wire. Probably the last time that was done was in 1960.

When the New York Giants moved to San Francisco, Les Keiter recreated their games on WINS for New Yorkers. He used a pencil to hit the microphone to recreate the sound of the bat hitting the ball.

When I started watching—I mean, following— baseball near the end of the 1951 season, teams didn't televise road games. The only way to follow a team on the road was by radio. The better announcers, such as the Yankees' Mel Allen, the Brooklyn Dodgers' Red Barber and the Giants' Bob Delaney, gave such descriptive accounts of the games that listeners who paid attention didn't need television.

Most fans today listen to games on the radio only when they cannot put themselves in front of an HD large-screen television. Telecasts are filled with graphics, crawl lines at the bottom and technology that allegedly illustrates the exact pitch location.

It is sometimes overwhelming.

There was and still is a charm to listening to a game, especially when a broadcaster, as the great Bob Murphy used to say, paints a word picture. Too many individuals no longer use their imaginations to create the images in a game.

The many fans who "watched" the first game of the 1919 World Series missed none of the excitement and thrills experienced by the fans at the ball park. The game was the most important thing. 

Reference:

Huge times square crowd sees game. (1919, Oct 02). New York Times (1857-1922), pp. 14-14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/100364458?accountid=46260