Bing Crosby, Television Sports Preservationist 148
Hugh Pickens submits news first gleaned from a now-paywalled article at the New York Times (and, happily, widely reported) that "The hunt for a copy of the seventh and deciding game of the 1960 World Series, considered one of the greatest games ever played and long believed to be lost forever, has come to an end in the home of Bing Crosby, a canny preservationist of his own legacy, who kept a half-century's worth of records, tapes and films in the wine cellar turned vault in his Hillsborough, California home. Crosby loved baseball, but as a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates he was too nervous to watch the Series against the Yankees, so he and his wife went to Paris, where they listened by radio. Crosby knew he would want to watch the game later — if his Pirates won — so he hired a company to record Game 7 by kinescope, an early relative of the DVR, filming off a television monitor. The five-reel set, found in December in Crosby's home, is the only known complete copy of the game, in which Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a game-ending home run to beat the Yankees, 10-9."
Any World Series where ther Yankees lose (Score:5, Insightful)
is one of the all time great World Series.
As the years going by - Bing the Singer (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Any World Series where ther Yankees lose (Score:4, Insightful)
Exhibit A: 1991. Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves. Five one-run games, three that went to extra innings, including the crown jewels: Game 6, single-handedly won by Hall of Fame Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett, with his leaping catch against the left-center Plexiglas to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit and a game-winning home run on a 2-1 changeup from Charlie Leibrandt in the bottom of the 11th. Game 7, a masterful ten-inning shutout pitching performance by Jack Morris, and a game-winning single by pinch hitter Gene Larkin with the bases loaded. I've got both games on VHS. Some say THE greatest World Series ever, and I agree (disclaimer: I am a Minnesota Twins fan). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_World_Series [wikipedia.org]
The defense rests.
Re:News for Nerds? Stuff that Matters? (Score:3, Insightful)
It doesn't really matter what a dick like you might think about it, it's something worth preserving because a lot of people at the time cared about it.
And it's news for nerds because it's amazing that a copy exists at all.
Re:News for Nerds? Stuff that Matters? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's amazing?
So if long-lost footage of Mike Smith of Omaha, Nebraska jerking off and drinking Schlitz in his basement suddenly resurfaces, by your logic, that would also be slashdot worthy?
Your interest in such an event doesn't constitute a lot of people caring about it, so no.
Slashdot is the proper forum for random people finding shit they thought was lost?
Really?
Bing Crosby is hardly a random person. And a sports event that a lot of people cared about is hardly 'shit'. They way he recorded it is also rather novel.
The rich are very different from you and I... (Score:4, Insightful)
He was too nervous to watch the game - so he took a trip to Paris? Must be nice to have that kind of disposable income...
As a side note - although Fitzgerald originally wrote the line I used as the subject of this post, I always remember Hemingway's adaptation instead: "The rich are very different from you and I." "Yes - they have more money."
Copyright implications (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it is relevant because it is an example of the usefulness of recording by the public as part of the deal between a creator and society. A copyright holder has the right to stop anyone from using the material for a (ridiculous long) period of time. The reward for society of giving a copyright holder this power, is that in the end the work enters the public domain. What you see here, is that the copyright holder got his end of the bargain from society (it is not relevant whether he actually ever sued over it; he had the right to), society doesn't get anything once the copyright holder loses interest (or trashes the recording).
People should make a mental note of this when it comes to arguing the duration of copyright, and also when it comes to DRM. I don't think that copyright should apply to DRM material because there obviously is no guarantee that the work could end up in the public domain. More likely the DRM technique used is likely to be abandoned before the copyright expires.
Bert
Who refuses to buy anything Blue-ray because of this.
Re:Any World Series where ther Yankees lose (Score:2, Insightful)
I've never understood why its a World Series when it is only ever featuring American teams... On the same level as Miss Universe etc...
Interestingly, the only examples I can think of where things are grossly exaggerated have their roots in America. High School education fail?
Re:Any World Series where ther Yankees lose (Score:2, Insightful)
No one seems to have trouble the format of the World Series. A number of individual contests and the team that wins most of them, wins the series. You don't hear people bitching that the Yankees should have won because they outscored the Pirates 55 to 27.
Take the same determination of victory and apply it to US Presidential elections and suddenly it is "weird" and "antiquated" [huffingtonpost.com].
Re:Any World Series where ther Yankees lose (Score:2, Insightful)