Baseball: They’re Not Even Talkin’ About The Game

As far as Curt Smith is concerned, “Voices of the Game II” couldn’t come at a better time. “This is the baseball that was and, hopefully, can be again,” says Smith, coproducer of the 90-minute documentary that airs at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.

Right now, baseball “is in a coma,” adds Smith, whose latest anecdotal book on baseball broadcasters, “The Storytellers,” was released earlier this summer. “Its leadership is MIA. Bud Selig may be the most inept, bungling leader of a major sport in the 20th century. The leadership is not worthy of the game. You talk to talk-show hosts around the country and baseball is off callers’ radar screens.”

Smith, a former speechwriter for George Bush, currently hosts a morning talk show on WISN-AM in Milwaukee, where he’s alarmed by the lack of baseball interest.

“What worries me is that people aren’t talking baseball,” says Smith. Baseball “has to do something concerning network television. What they do in terms of Fox and CBS is crucial. They can’t afford any more TV mistakes. … You can’t blame for what they did. The interest in baseball has never been at a lower ebb.”

Conversely, the “Voices of the Game” sequel recalls baseball at its highest tide and is filled with the familiar Midwestern voices of Jack Brickhouse, Earl Gillespie, Bob Elson and Milo Hamilton.

“There were things we were able to do in this show that we didn’t have time for in the first show,” says Smith. “This one is more Midwest-oriented. In the first show, we decided to focus on the icons - Barber, Scully, Allen, Dean, Harwell, Gowdy. In this show, we were able to focus on announcers as metaphors for baseball’s unforgettable teams - the good, the bad and the ugly. This show, we were able to focus on broadcasters I’ve admired for a long time.”

Smith hopes to complete his “trilogy” next April with a show on the craft of baseball broadcasting as an art form and as entertainment. “There will be a lot of interviews with broadcasters about what baseball broadcasting means to them,” says Smith. “There will be a lot of humor in the third show.”

Which is just what baseball needs these days.

Notes

USA Network has picked up its two-year option on the French Open. “We’re very pleased to continue our relationship with this event,” says USA Vice President Rob Correa. USA had 33 hours of live tennis coverage from Paris this year. … TBS has signed a multiyear agreement to televise the Senior Bowl, starting Jan. 20, 1996. … TNT has four sports specials planned or next season, three in conjunction with NFL Films and a figureskating show starring Nancy Kerrigan. “Joe Montana: The Fire Inside” debuts at 7 p.m. Sept. 12, “Six Days to Sunday” at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 and a Super Bowl 30th anniversary special (as yet untitled) the weekend of Jan. 27-28, 1996. Kerrigan and other ex-Olympians will appear with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters in “Halloween on Ice” at 7 p.m. Oct. 28.

And speaking of cartoon characters, ESPN launches a weekly animated prime-time series titled “Hoyt ‘n’ Andy’s Sportsbender” in November. While calling the 13-week show “a real departure for us,” ESPN senior Vice President John Wildhack notes the success of other prime-time animated programs like “The Simpsons” and “Ren & Stimpy.” The series will chronicle the adventures of two sports fanatics who work for the fictitious cable-TV All Sport Network.