Major League Baseball on DuMont

{{main|List of World Series broadcasters}}

Gillette,{{cite web|url=https://dumonthistory.com12/.html |title=Channel 12: Feedback |last1=Gallant |first1=Joseph |website=DuMont Television Network {{!}} Historical Website }} which produced World Series telecasts{{cite web |url=http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/nationalbroadcast.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901155307/http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org/baseball/nationalbroadcast.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-09-01|title=Summer 1997: 75 Years of National Baseball Broadcasts|last1=Pappas|first1=Doug|website=Outside the Lines}} from roughly 1947-1965 (before 1966, local announcers, who were chosen by the Gillette Company, the Commissioner of Baseball, and NBC television, exclusively called the World Series), paid for airtime on DuMont's owned-and-operated Pittsburgh affiliate, WDTV (now KDKA-TV) to air the World Series. In the meantime, Gillette also bought airtime on ABC, CBS, and NBC. More to the point, in some cities, the World Series was broadcast on three different stations at once. For example, the 1947 World Series (for which DuMont only televised Games 2, 6–7 with Bill Slater on the call){{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-21/sports/34607837_1_tv-sets-tv-station-press-box |title=A look back at first TV broadcasts of World Series in 1947 |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Frank |date=21 October 2012 |website=Philly.com |accessdate=13 November 2013 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026043151/http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-21/sports/34607837_1_tv-sets-tv-station-press-box |archive-date=26 October 2013 }} was only seen in four markets{{Cite book|title=The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Company|url=https://archive.org/details/publicimageofhen0000lewi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/publicimageofhen0000lewi/page/466 466]|first=David L.|last=Lewis|year=1976|location=Detroit|publisher=Wayne State University Press}}{{Cite news|title=BASEBALL ON VIDEO; Television, Despite Some Handicaps, Scores in World Series Coverage|date=October 5, 1947|first=B.W.|last=Stewart|newspaper=New York Times|page=X11}} via coaxial inter-connected stations: New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Schenectady, New York; Washington, District of Columbia; and, environs surrounding these cities. Outside of New York, coverage was pooled.

For the {{wsy|1948}} World Series, games in Boston were only seen in the Northeast. Meanwhile, games in Cleveland were only seen in the Midwest and Pittsburgh. The games were open to all channels with a network affiliation.{{Cite news|title=Will Carry Series on 5 Networks|date=September 24, 1948|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Schenectady Gazette|page=21}}{{Cite news|title=All Chains Get Offer on Series TV|date=September 24, 1948|first=Larry|last=Wolters|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|page=C4}} In all, the 1948 World Series was televised to fans in seven Midwestern cities: Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Toledo. By {{wsy|1949}}, World Series games could now be seen east of the Mississippi River.{{Cite news|title=World Series Via Video Destined for 45 Stations|date=September 19, 1949|first=C.E.|last=Buttefield|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The St. Petersburg Independent|page=8}} The games were open to all channels with a network affiliation.{{Cite news|title=Reynolds to Face Newcombe (Maybe) in Opener of Series Today|date=October 5, 1949|first=John|last=Drebinger|newspaper=New York Times|page=38}}

By the start of the 1950s, Major League Baseball was, for the most part, still in the province of the local market television stations. Outside of these markets, however, televised baseball (unlike on radio) was rare. DuMont's sports programming head, Thomas McMahon{{cite book |title=Radio Master: The Life and Times of Sports Broadcasting Great Ted Husing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkaULNjRIm8C&q=thomas+mcmahon+dumont+network&pg=PT303 |isbn= 9781936183869|last1 = Lewis|first1 = John|date = 22 November 2011}} was working with individual owners to televise Major League Baseball's first regular season national games in the summer of 1953.{{cite book |last=Walker and Bellamy |first=James R. and Robert V. |date= June 2008|title=Center Field Shot: A History of Baseball on Television |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kPQhpS-X8YC&q=Major+League+Baseball+DuMont+Television+Network&pg=PA99 |isbn= 978-0803248250}}

McMahon planned (as far back as January 1953) to set up a corporation to sell the national MLB telecasts meanwhile, giving stock shares to minor league teams. More specifically, McMahon's plan was to negotiate with individual teams rather than Major League Baseball as a whole. This way, McMahon could avoid a potential antitrust suit from the Department of Justice. In order to counter the possible negative effect on the minors (which Western League president Edwin C. Johnson most predominately feared), McMahon would offer them a piece of the national television pie. Furthermore, McMahan argued that since the planned DuMont games would be held on Saturday afternoons,{{cite book |last=Shea|first=Stuart|date= 7 May 2015|title=Calling the Game: Baseball Broadcasting from 1920 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5QcCgAAQBAJ&q=Gillette+&pg=PA47|publisher=SABR, Inc.|page=356|isbn= 9781933599410}} the minors that scheduled most of their games in the evening wouldn't have been greatly affected.

Ultimately, however, the first national Game of the Week package didn't air on DuMont, but on ABC. In April 1953, ABC set out to sell teams rights but instead, only got the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians,{{cite news|title=Major League Ball Game on KECA-TV; Topper Series Set as 'Irma' Replacement|date=June 13, 1953|first=Walter|last=Ames|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=A5}} and Chicago White Sox{{cite news|title=Albany Club Owner Asks for Video Of Major League Games in His Area|date=June 6, 1953|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Hartford Courant}}{{cite news|title=L.A.-Las Vegas Relay Ready by Fall; Lamenting Berle Seeks New Home|date=May 8, 1954|first=Walter|last=Ames|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=A5}} to sign on.{{cite news|date=March 11, 1954|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Daily Reporter|title=TV Baseball Ban Denied By Official|page=1}} To make matters worse, Major League Baseball barred the Game of the Week from airing within 50 miles of any ballpark.{{cite news|date=March 14, 1954|title=Club Owners Veto Television of Spring Games|newspaper=The Spokane-Review|agency=Associated Press|page=1}}

{{see also|Historical Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters|List of former DuMont Television Network affiliates}}

DuMont's owned-and-operated stations are highlighted in yellow. The Paramount owned-and-operated stations, which did not carry DuMont programs but were ruled DuMont O&Os by the FCC, are shown in pink. Franchises that were later relocated are listed in italics.

{{reflist}}

• [http://sabrmedia.org/databases/network-tv-broadcasts/searchable-network-tv-broadcasts/ Searchable Network TV Broadcasts]

{{Major League baseball on national television}}

DuMont

Category:1947 American television series debuts

Category:1949 American television series endings

Category:DuMont sports programming