12 Comments

I want to send a special shoutout to the third base line sky cam thing in Seattle. I love watching games at that stadium because the way that camera shows the choreography on the field is unparralled. It should be mandatory in every park.

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Niche or not, I am hoping someone with some connections gets this message across to an announcer and/or a broadcast director, because Sam you are so so right. That wide shot is incredible!

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Agree 100%

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Came here to say three things:

1. Nat's comment below beat me to it, but that third base line cam is Seattle is excellent and should be added everywhere immediately to make this shot possible. Add one to every first base line while you're at it.

2. This shot from SNY from an early-season Mets game was incredible and one of the few times I've seen any sort of innovation in this sort of play from a baseball broadcast in years. This absolutely fits the "tag" requirements, even a traditional split screen would work for me.

https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1651754607314456576

3. Video games figured out long ago to have the little base icons in the corner show the runners in motion. For video games the purpose is obvious since they largely mirror the TV broadcasts but the player at home - who cannot see the baserunners - is responsible for sending the runners. Why can't big league broadcasters include this feature?

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I hadn't seen that from SNY before today; very cool. I like the idea of being creative based on where the ball is in the OF. The Mets had game winning hits last August against Colorado and also one v Miami in September, both ground balls to LF where the camera zoomed out so you could see the ball, the runner and home plate all in the same shot. It was very good and I'm not sure how common it is but I liked it. Similar idea to these, but the one to RF is definitely cooler given trying to score from first on a double is one of the more exciting plays in baseball IMO.

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I didn't read all the comments before I commented, not realizing I copied all your bullet points.

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Would be interesting to compare with how they film World Chase Tag action

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F1 is also notorious for having the zoom effect. The cars are going 150 MPH turning left going up a hill pulling a couple Gs. But it's hard to appreciate to acceleration in zoomed isolation (more zoomed compared to older videos posted). The most common excuses I've seen are 1) sponsors and 2) cameraperson increased skill. Nihilistic corporate sponsorship aside, the camera people (and camera technology) are better! They can zoom and hold a steady shot while zoomed in a higher magnitude. But it's like broadcast folks fully acknowledge TV resolution improvements by using smaller, less obtrusive and more detailed scorebugs, but forgot the to improve gameplay viewing.

Agree with Nate on the Mariners broadcast. I think the Mets do some atypical things. Having *at least one* alternative field shot seems like such an obvious win. Why don't they have multiple? idk. 250 pitches per game and the variety is non-existent. Humans hate change, but love variety. I guess broadcast folks settled on not upsetting people at the expense of better.

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There was a broadcast of an NBA playoff game on TNT, maybe 15 years ago? maybe the Nuggets? Where when the game winning shot went up they cut to a wide shot of the arena and you got to see the entire place jump when the ball went in. Then they kept trying to do it but never got it JUST right again and now I don't think they try anymore.

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Made a joke on Twitter earlier today about Pirates fandom being all about getting crapped on at random times and now I'm being forced to watch Sid Bream again. It never ends hahaha.

Totally agree with the premise of the article though, fwiw.

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Something like this just happened in the first inning of Marlins-Rangers tonight: Adolis Garcia makes a nice running grab on a ball into the right-center gap, then throws the ball on an absurd parabola all the way practically to shortstop — only the broadcast didn't show that, instead cutting to second base to show a runner standing there who hadn't moved and a fielder now going off to catch Garcia's cannon blast of a throw. Show us the full throw!

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Oh, and the immediate replay on the broadcast was a wide angle of Garcia making the catch... and then the broadcast cuts away right as he started the throw

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