ABL on TV - Foxtel coverage of ABL final series: Initial thoughts

So, here we are, some ten odd years since the demise of the last Australian Baseball League. Ten odd years since a local professional baseball league had any sort of decent TV coverage. Ten (or more) odd years since channel ten (I think) used to show a short Australian Baseball League highlights show on Sunday mornings. Ten odd years since Warren Smith was last the voice of Australian baseball.

Presumably the League worked hard this year to encourage Foxtel that it was worthwhile covering the game. One would expect there would be quite a cost to put on coverage of the series, and there doesn't seem to be an immediate revenue generator for Foxtel. So, I was somewhat unsure of how they would go about things. The Defensive Specialist wrote an excellent post over at Deep in the Hole, in which he talked about the challenges for the broadcast of this game - should the ABL go for a 'showcase' or should they go for educating the masses. This is one of the great questions in terms of sport coverage, and I think that often Australian broadcasters get it wrong by going too much on the ''education" side of things. So, I was a little apprehensive - but super excited - to sit down to see how the game would be covered tonight.

While I missed the very start, I did catch the introduction of the teams and umpires and so on. The presentation looked great straight away. Whoever made the decision to recruit John Deeble for the commentary is a genius! There are not too many Aussies with as much experience, knowledge and credibility as Deebs. The man knows bucketloads about the game, and is close to so many of the players through his scouting work and coaching the National team...and it seems he is doing a great job of breaking down some of the more complex aspects of the game into simple language.

So, some observations on the presentation so far (we are now about five innings in):

• Looks like the ABL has sent over some of the ground announcers from the East Coast, Tyler Maun - who did the Blue Sox announcing is announcing the game tonight, and I am sure I heard the Canberra announcer, or some other familiar voice there too. It was funny to hear Tyler announcing the Heat and Bite lineups with more pomp and respect than they got at Blue Town. Definitely no Cakebread teasing tonight and no Mexican music for de San Miguel. I wonder what the players think....
• They have the umpire wearing a microphone - which is interesting...not something I have seen before. Could be an interesting perspective on the game - particularly if they picked up some of the banter between the catcher and the ump and/or hitter
• The direction/choice of camera angles is pretty good. They seem to be following the standard, Broadcasting Baseball 101 textbook and getting it right by and large. 
• Warren Smith is not a perfect baseball commentator, there are a few little things that he says that are not quite right, but it is clear that he has done a stack of research, and he is able to keep things moving along nicely. He has made a few call backs to earlier series (at least the finals) and referenced David Welch's no hitter. He has also got some decent information on the players who have played minor league baseball. He has been breaking down some of the game into 'non-baseball' speak: relating to cricket for example, but he is not overdoing it. 
• Deeble has added a nice touch of class for baseball enthusiasts - not afraid to shy away from baseball jargon: 'platooning', 'two seam fastball', Latimore's running time to first base, being a ''five-tool" guy etc
• Smith has a lot of optimism about the number of guys who 'we might see in the major leagues' - not sure how accurate his predictions will be.

Overall, it is fantastic to have the game back on TV!