The Baseball Bunch

One of the other reviewers hit it out of the park with that review. Saturday morning growing up outside of Boston, no school, mom and dad still sleeping in, TV all to myself, a bowl of sugary cereal. I was about 10-11 years old and would watch a few cartoons, then the Baseball Bunch would come on. Funny, the Gary Carter episode stood out for me also, I don't know why. After, it always got me out practicing and dreaming of the big leagues. It was a great educational show which really did help improve my days playing in little league.

I was looking for a DVD set of this wonderful series and surprised it's not even available. From all the reviews, and nostalgia, I'm happy to see others enjoyed it so much also. PLEASE make it available!! I think it would still hold up today teaching the basics. If after 30+ years I sought it out to see about buying, I think it would sell. I read somewhere it made a brief return on WTBS & ESPN in reruns but not seen since. We want the Baseball Bunch !

When this show premiered in the early eighties,I was in the first of my two interesting,albeit for me largely unproductive in a performance standpoint(i.e. 0 for 17 at the plate,a fielding percentage of .081 and three stolen bases. Did score a number of runs,tho!),years in little league. I'd watch just about anything sports related,particularly baseball. The local network,usually an NBC affiliate in Kansas City,paired this show with "This Week in Baseball",hosted by legendary broadcaster Mel Allen("How about that!"),and both shows practically made my Saturdays.

The basic construct was this: a group of bright,perky,can-do kids playing little league(played by kid actors,of course)are mentored by Cincinnati Red great Johnny Bench. When someone was having a problem with any particular of the game,a fellow big leaguer(often a friend of Johnny's)would materialize out of seemingly nowhere to help out. With just a little demonstration from the star(which would follow a forty second synopsis of the guest's career to date),the kid with the problem in question would go from being an awkward little leaguer with ordinary problems on the field to a near-perfect performer! Wow! If it only was that easy to get good at the American past-time,I might've been able to play the sport well into high school,maybe college,maybe even(dare to dream?)the big leagues! Alas,my baseball career ended after I turned twelve,and not too long after that I stopped watching this show. I don't know how much longer it ran,but it would seem that this show would close shop some time before the eighties was over.

Don't get me wrong:this show was wonderfully campy(one of the co-stars was the once hugely in demand San Diego Chicken!;Dodgers manager Tommy LaSorda regularly appeared as the Wizard of the Diamond!)and a pleasant,informative use of a half hour's time for any kid who loved the sport. Johnny's rapport with the kids(and it was,initially,a put-off to find out that these kids were not authentic)was surprisingly un-wooden and easy. The only thing that would've made me enjoy this show more would've been an appearance from a Kansas City Royal of the time(George Brett,Willie Wilson,Frank White,Hal McRae among them). I kinda hope that maybe some producer out there might try this type of show,if not the exact model,again. If I had kids in little league,I'd at least introduce them to this,seeing if they'd get the kind of warm,fun charge out of this as I once did.

This show evokes big memories for me as a little kid. I must've been 9 or 10 years old when this show was on weekend mornings. Being a huge baseball fan, i loved seeing the guest stars and of course Johnny Bench and Tom Lasorda every week. In my mind, it seemed as if there were at least 25-30 episodes made of this show. This was kind of a TV version of Bad News Bears in that you had a team of kids that you could follow throughout the year. As far as baseball learning goes, i think the lessons of the show are solid and stand the test of time. Learning fielding skills from Ozzie Smith and throwing from Dave Winfield cannot be beat. Of course, the nostalgia of the times biases me on this show, but i think this was a classic. In fact, i am searching for a way to buy all the seasons or some episodes to show to my kids.....someone help....who would have the rights and the tapes of these shows???????????

Tommy Lasorda's character was The Dugout Wizard not The Wizard of the Diamond. And the show was intended as a lighthearted, youth based, look to the techniques of baseball and to teach kids tips on improving their skills. This show was produced at a time when baseball was still considered a sport not a business. Skill and the love of the game were the driving motivators for the sport not how much money you can make or how many performance enhancing drugs you can pipe into your system. For a professional player to even consider being involved in such a venture is considered unheard of in this day and age. Jonny Bench and his 'friends' performed a public service to the children that loved the game not the fame.

The Baseball Bunch was a great show from the early 80's. I don't remember when it was on but I watched it all the time. I would have been 5 when it first went on the air. Johnny Bench's retirement was my first brush with mortality. One episode dealt with that.

Johnny would lead the bunch, all kids, through baseball drills that would be constantly ruined by the San Diego Chicken....THE mascot of ALL mascots! Every episode would have a special guest star. Tommy Lasorda and Ted Williams made appearances, and I believe that Gary Carter made one in his red white and blue Montreal Expos uniform.

I haven't seen this show in 20 years, but I have great memories of it.

I don't know if it is available on VHS/DVD. It would make a great nostalgia gift for those 20-30 year old baseball nuts out there. Also it would make a great gift for those who want their children to see this. Johnny Bench was a class act, and the Chicken is always funny.