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List of Major League Baseball Game of the Week broadcasters
BornonJune8: /* 1990s */
The ''[[Major League Baseball Game of the Week]]'' is the [[de facto]] title for nationally televised coverage of regular season [[Major League Baseball]] games. ''The Game of the Week'' has traditionally aired on Saturday afternoons. When the national networks began televising national games of the week, it opened the door for a national audience to see particular clubs. While most teams were broadcast, emphasis was always on the league leaders and the major market franchises that could draw the largest audience.
==1990s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1999 Major League Baseball season|1999]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[Chip Caray]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Frank Robinson]]<br>[[Kevin Kennedy (baseball)|Kevin Kennedy]]
|-
|[[1998 Major League Baseball season|1998]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Frank Robinson]]<br>[[George Brett]]
|-
|[[1997 Major League Baseball season|1997]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Ken Singleton]]<br>[[Steve Lyons (baseball)|Steve Lyons]]
|-
|[[1996 Major League Baseball season|1996]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Ken Singleton]]
|-
|[[1995 Major League Baseball season|1995]]
|colspan="4" align="center"|''No Saturday afternoon games on network TV.''
|-
|[[1994 Major League Baseball season|1994]]
|colspan="4" align="center"|''No Saturday afternoon games on network TV.''
|-
|[[1993 Major League Baseball season|1993]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Sean McDonough]]<br>[[Greg Gumbel]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Steve Stone (baseball)|Steve Stone]]<ref></ref><ref></ref>
|-
|[[1992 Major League Baseball season|1992]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Sean McDonough]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|-
|[[1991 Major League Baseball season|1991]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Jack Buck]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|-
|[[1990 Major League Baseball season|1990]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Jack Buck]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]<br>[[Greg Gumbel]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|}
===Notes===
*CBS initially did not want to start their 1990 coverage<ref></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> until after the network had aired that year's [[1990 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]] (which was the last time [[NBA on CBS|CBS]] aired the Finals before the NBA's move to [[NBA on NBC|NBC]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>). Therefore, only 12 regular season telecasts were scheduled<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The broadcasts would have been each Saturday from June 16 through August 25 and a special Sunday telecast on the weekend of August 11–12 (the [[1990 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] against the [[1990 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] in Oakland on both days). Ultimately, four more telecasts were added – two in April<ref></ref> and two on the last two Saturdays of the season.
*After sustaining huge losses<ref></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref></ref> (CBS claimed to have lost about $55 million<ref></ref> in after-taxes revenue in 1990,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> which would go up to $170 million at the end of its four-year contract) from 1990's abbreviated postseason (which ended with the [[1990 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]] shockingly sweeping the defending [[World Series Trophy|World Champion]] [[1990 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] in the [[1990 World Series|World Series]]), CBS made several notable adjustments for 1991. Regular season telecasts were reduced to a meager handful. In return, pregame shows during the League Championship Series were entirely eliminated, to minimize the ratings damage.
**On [[Sunday Afternoon Baseball|Sunday]], May 5, CBS broadcast games involving [[1991 Cleveland Indians season|Cleveland]] at [[1991 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland]] (with Jack Buck and Tim McCarver on the call) and [[1991 Boston Red Sox season|Boston]] at the [[1991 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]] (with Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat on the call). And then on Sunday, July 14, Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat called a game in [[Angel Stadium|Anaheim]] between the [[1991 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1991 California Angels season|California Angels]].
*After two years of calling baseball telecasts for CBS,<ref></ref> Jack Buck was dismissed in December 1991. According to the [[KMOX (AM)|radio]] veteran Buck, he had a hard time adjusting to the demands of a more constricting television production.<ref></ref> CBS felt that Buck should have done more to make himself appear to be a set-up man for lead analyst Tim McCarver.<ref></ref><ref></ref> Buck's replacement was [[Boston Red Sox]] announcer [[Sean McDonough]].<ref></ref><ref></ref>
*After Major League Baseball's contract with CBS expired at the end of the 1993 season, the league decided to produe its own in-house<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> telecasts of games,<ref></ref> which were then [[Brokered programming|brokered]] to air on ABC and NBC. The package<ref></ref> included coverage of games in [[Prime time|prime time]]<ref></ref> on selected nights throughout the regular season (under the branding '''''Baseball Night in America'''''),<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> along with coverage of the [[Major League Baseball postseason|postseason]] and the [[World Series]].<ref></ref> Unlike previous broadcasting arrangements with the league, there was no national "[[Major League Baseball Game of the Week|game of the week]]"<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> during the regular season;<ref></ref> these would be replaced by multiple weekly regional<ref></ref> telecasts on certain nights of the week. Additionally, The Baseball Network had exclusive coverage windows; no other broadcaster could televise MLB games during the same night that The Baseball Network was televising games.
**After the All-Star Game was complete,<ref></ref> ABC took over coverage with what was to be their weekly slate of games.<ref></ref> ABC was scheduled to televise six<ref></ref> regular season games on Saturdays<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> or Mondays<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> in [[prime time]]. NBC<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> would then pick up where ABC left off by televising six more regular season Friday night<ref></ref><ref></ref> games. Every ''Baseball Night in America'' game was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]] (or 8 p.m. [[Pacific Time Zone|Pacific Time]] if the game occurred on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]<ref></ref>). A single starting time gave the networks the opportunity to broadcast one game and then, simultaneously, cut to another game when there was a break in action.
*On November 7, 1995, [[Major League Baseball]] reached a television deal with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] and [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]], allowing the former to obtain MLB game rights (assuming [[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]'s end of the contract). Fox paid $575 million for the five-year contract, a fraction less of the amount of money that [[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]] had paid for the Major League Baseball television rights for the 1990–[[1993 Major League Baseball season|1993 seasons]].<ref></ref><ref name="BaseballContract"></ref> Unlike the previous television deal, "[[The Baseball Network]]" (a partnership created through the league's joint contract with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and [[NBC]] that began in the 1994 season), Fox reverted to the format of televising regular season games (approximately 16 weekly telecasts that normally began on [[Memorial Day]] weekend<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>) on Saturday afternoons. Fox did, however, continue a format that ''The Baseball Network'' started by offering a selection of games based purely on a viewer's region. Fox's approach has usually been to offer three regionalized telecasts. The initial deal also gave Fox the rights to broadcast the [[1996 World Series|1996]], [[1998 World Series|1998]] and [[2000 World Series]], the [[1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1997]] and [[1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1999 All-Star Games]], as well as coverage of the [[League Championship Series]] (shared with NBC) and five [[Division Series]] games each year.
**Like its predecessor NBC, Fox determined its Saturday schedule by which MLB franchise was playing a team from one of the three largest television markets – New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. If there was a game which featured teams from two of these three markets (involving any combination of the [[New York Yankees|Yankees]], [[New York Mets|Mets]], [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]], [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim|Angels]], [[Chicago Cubs|Cubs]] or [[Chicago White Sox|White Sox]]), that game would be aired on the network.
==1980s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1989 Major League Baseball season|1989]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Charlie Slowes]]<br>[[Mel Proctor]]
|[[Tom Seaver]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Bobby Mercer]]<br>[[Larry Dierker]]
|-
|[[1988 Major League Baseball season|1988]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Steve Zabriskie]]<br>[[Don Chevrier]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Kurt Bevacqua]]<br>[[Steve Garvey]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]<br>[[Fergie Olver]]
|-
|[[1987 Major League Baseball season|1987]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Bob Carpenter (sportscaster)|Bob Carpenter]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Joe Morgan]]
|-
|[[1986 Major League Baseball season|1986]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Joe Morgan]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[John Lowenstein]]
|-
|[[1985 Major League Baseball season|1985]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>Phil Stone<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]
|-
|[[1984 Major League Baseball season|1984]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>Phil Stone
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Bucky Dent]]
|-
|[[1983 Major League Baseball season|1983]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]][[Jay Randolph]]<br>Phil Stone<br>[[Len Berman]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1982 Major League Baseball season|1982]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]] or [[Dick Enberg]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<br>Phil Stone
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sal Bando]]<br>[[Freddie Patek]]<br>[[Tim McCarver]]
|-
|[[1981 Major League Baseball season|1981]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ron Luciano]]<br>[[Tom Seaver]]<br>[[Willie McCovey]]<br>[[Al Kaline]]
|-
|[[1980 Major League Baseball season|1980]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ron Luciano]]<br>[[Tim McCarver]]
|}
===Notes===
*On October 4, 1980,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> [[Bob Costas]]<ref></ref> made his debut calling baseball games for NBC. It was a backup game (the primary game involved the [[1980 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]] and [[1980 Montreal Expos season|Montreal Expos]]) involving the [[1980 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1980 Detroit Tigers season|Detroit Tigers]] from [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]].
*During the [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|1981 players' strike]],<ref></ref> NBC used its Saturday ''Game of the Week'' time-slot to show a 20-minute strike update, followed by a sports anthology series hosted by [[Caitlyn Jenner]] (then Bruce)<ref group=n1 name=n6>Jenner changed her name due to [[gender transition]] in 2015.</ref><ref></ref> called ''NBC Sports: The Summer Season''.<ref></ref><ref></ref>
**Even though [[Dick Enberg]] did play-by-play for the [[1981 National League Championship Series|1981 NLCS]] for NBC (working alongside [[Tom Seaver]]), [[Merle Harmon]] was, for the most part, NBC's backup baseball play-by-play announcer (serving behind Joe Garagiola, who called that year's [[1981 American League Championship Series|ALCS]] for NBC with Tony Kubek) in 1981. Harmon's broadcast partner during this period was [[Ron Luciano]].<ref></ref> In late 1979, Harmon left the [[Milwaukee Brewers]] completely in favor of a multi-year pact with NBC. Harmon saw the NBC deal as a perfect opportunity since according to ''[[The Milwaukee Journal]]'' he would make more money, get more exposure, and do less traveling. At NBC, Harmon did ''[[SportsWorld]]'', the backup ''Game of the Week'', and served as a field reporter for the [[1980 World Series]]. Most of all, Harmon had hoped to cover the American-boycotted [[1980 Summer Olympics]] from Moscow. After NBC pulled out of their scheduled coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics, Harmon considered it to be "a great letdown." To add insult to injury, NBC fired Harmon in 1982 in favor of Bob Costas.<ref></ref> It was in 1982 that Costas started working the NBC backup games on a full time basis, with former [[Oakland Athletics|Oakland A's]] third baseman [[Sal Bando]] as his color man.
*According to his autobiography, ''Oh My'',<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Dick Enberg (then the lead play-by-play voice for ''[[NFL on NBC|The NFL on NBC]]'') was informed by NBC that he would become the lead play-by-play voice of the ''Major League Baseball Game of the Week'' beginning with the [[1982 World Series]] (sharing the play-by-play duties for that game with Joe Garagiola, alongside analyst Tony Kubek) and through subsequent regular seasons. Enberg wrote that on his football trips, he would read every edition of ''[[The Sporting News]]'' to make sure he was current with all the baseball news and notes. He then met with NBC executives in September 1982, who informed him that Vin Scully<ref></ref><ref></ref> was in negotiations to be their lead baseball play-by-play announcer (teaming with Garagiola, while Kubek would team with Bob Costas<ref></ref>) and began with the network in the spring of 1983. Therefore, rather than throw him in randomly for one World Series, Enberg wrote that he hosted the pre-game/post-game shows while the team of Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek did the games. According to the book, Enberg was not pleased about the decision (since he loved being the [[Los Angeles Angels]]' radio voice in the 1970s and was eager to return to baseball) but the fact that NBC was bringing in Scully, arguably baseball's best announcer, was understandable. Enberg added that NBC also gave him a significant pay increase as a pseudo-apology for not coming through on the promise to make him the lead baseball play-by-play announcer.
*On April 7, 1983, Major League Baseball agreed to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package, worth $1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of the [[League Championship Series|playoffs]] (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years), World Series (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) and [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*1984 was the first year that the ''Game of the Week'' was not subject to blackout. NBC and ABC generally still aired two games each week, with a primary game carried to most of the country and a secondary game to mostly the markets that would carry that game. This was mostly done for insurance in the event that a game was [[Rainout (sports)|rained out]]. During the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the "rainout insurance" games involved the [[Houston Astros]] since that team played in a [[Astrodome|domed ballpark]]. Therefore, if the Astros were at home on a given [[Major League Baseball Game of the Week|Saturday]] or [[Monday Night Baseball|Monday night]], then it was a safe bet that the game would be shown on network television, due to the Astros being the only "dome" team (until the [[Seattle Mariners]] began play in the [[Kingdome]] in [[1977 Seattle Mariners season|1977]]).
*Starting in , [[Jon Miller]] would call games for NBC on their occasional doubleheader weeks. If not that, then Miller would appear on Saturday afternoon regionals the day after NBC's occasional prime time telecasts.
*After calling the [[1988 World Series]] with Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola resigned from NBC Sports.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> Although it was not official at the time, NBC was on the verge of losing the television rights to cover Major League Baseball to [[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]].<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> Garagiola claimed that NBC left him "twisting" while he was trying to renegotiate his deal. Joe Garagiola was replaced by Tom Seaver<ref></ref><ref></ref> for the [[1989 Major League Baseball season|1989 season]].<ref></ref>
==1970s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1979 Major League Baseball season|1979]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Monte Moore]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Wes Parker]]
|-
|[[1978 Major League Baseball season|1978]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Monte Moore]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Wes Parker]]
|-
|[[1977 Major League Baseball season|1977]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]<br>[[Don Drysdale]]<br>[[Art Shamsky]]
|-
|[[1976 Major League Baseball season|1976]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Jack Buck]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1975 Major League Baseball season|1975]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]] or [[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1974 Major League Baseball season|1974]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]<br>[[Dick Williams]]<ref></ref>
|-
|[[1973 Major League Baseball season|1973]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill Enis]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1972 Major League Baseball season|1972]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill Enis]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|-
|[[1971 Major League Baseball season|1971]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|-
|[[1970 Major League Baseball season|1970]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|}
===Notes===
*In 1971, [[Sandy Koufax]] signed a ten-year contract with NBC for $1 million to serve as a broadcaster on the ''Saturday Game of the Week''. Koufax never felt comfortable being in front of the camera, and quit before the 1973 season.
*Starting in 1975, Joe Garagiola and Curt Gowdy alternated as the Saturday ''Game of Week'' play-by-play announcers with Tony Kubek doing color analysis. Then on weeks in which NBC had ''[[Monday Night Baseball]]'', Gowdy and Garagiola worked together. One would call play-by-play for 4½ innings, the other would handle color analysis. Then in the bottom of the 5th inning, their roles switched. Ultimately, in November 1975, [[Chrysler]] forced NBC to totally remove Curt Gowdy from NBC's top baseball team. Instead, the company wanted their spokesman, Joe Garagiola, to call all the main regular season games, All-Star Games (when NBC had them), the top League Championship Series (when NBC had it), and the World Series (when NBC had it).
==1960s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1969 Major League Baseball season|1969]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]<br>[[Buddy Blattner]]
|-
|[[1968 Major League Baseball season|1968]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1967 Major League Baseball season|1967]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1966 Major League Baseball season|1966]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<ref></ref><br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1965 Major League Baseball season|1965]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Chris Schenkel]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Keith Jackson]]<ref></ref><br>[[Ken Coleman]]<ref></ref>
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Jackie Robinson]]<br>[[Tommy Henrich]]<br>[[Warren Spahn]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1964 Major League Baseball season|1964]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Buddy Blattner]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1963 Major League Baseball season|1963]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1962 Major League Baseball season|1962]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]] or [[Gene Kirby]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1961 Major League Baseball season|1961]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]] or Bob Finnegan
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="3" nowrap=""|[[1960 Major League Baseball season|1960]]
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]<ref></ref>
|[[Jack Buck]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
|[[Carl Erskine]]<ref></ref><ref></ref>
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]<br>[[Gabby Hartnett]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Fred Haney]]<br>[[Al Rosen]]
|}
===Notes===
*In , ABC typically did three games a week. Two of the games were always from the [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]] or [[Central Time Zone (Americas)|Central Time Zone]]. The late games (no [[Doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheaders]]) were usually [[1960 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants]]<ref></ref> or [[1960 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]' home games. However, the [[1960 Milwaukee Braves season|Milwaukee Braves]]<ref></ref> used to start many of their Saturday home games late in the afternoon. So if the Giants and Dodgers were both the road at the same time, ABC still would be able to show a late game.
**[[Jerry Coleman]]<ref></ref> hosted the pregame show for CBS' ''Game of the Week'' broadcasts.
*Despite temporarily losing the ''Game of the Week'' package in [[1961 in baseball|1961]], ABC still televised several games in [[prime time]] (with Jack Buck returning to call the action). This occurred as [[Roger Maris]]<ref></ref><ref></ref> was poised to tie and subsequently break [[Babe Ruth]]'s regular season home run record of 60. As with all Major League Baseball games in those days, the action was totally [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked out]]<ref></ref> of major league markets. As a matter of fact, as documented in the [[HBO]] film ''[[61*]]'', the Maris family was welcomed into ABC's [[Kansas City, Missouri]] affiliate [[KMBC-TV]] so they could watch the in-house feed of the game, which was blacked out of Kansas City.
*In [[1962 Major League Baseball season|1962]], CBS dropped the Sunday baseball ''Game of the Week''<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> once the [[NFL on CBS|NFL]] [[1962 NFL season|season]] started, dropping the option clause for [[List of CBS television affiliates (by U.S. state)|affiliates]] to carry baseball or football in place since [[1957 Major League Baseball season|1957]].
*By ,<ref></ref> CBS' Dean and Reese called games from Yankee Stadium, [[Wrigley Field]], [[1964 St. Louis Cardinals season|St. Louis]], [[1964 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia]] and [[1964 Baltimore Orioles season|Baltimore]]. The New York Yankees got a $550,000 share of CBS' $895,000. Six clubs that exclusively played nationally televised games on NBC were paid $1.2 million.
*In , ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts<ref>
</ref> on a regional basis. ABC paid [[United States dollar|$]]5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday ''Games of the Week''. ABC's deal<ref></ref><ref></ref> covered all of the teams except the [[1965 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1965 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]]<ref></ref> (who had their own television deals) and called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]], and [[Labor Day]].<ref></ref> Each Saturday, ABC broadcast two 2 p.m. games and one 5 p.m. game for the [[Pacific Time Zone]]. ABC [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked out]] the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games.<ref></ref> Major League Baseball however, had a TV deal with [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]] for the [[1965 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] and [[1965 World Series|World Series]]. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for , citing poor [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]],<ref></ref><ref></ref> especially in New York.
**Until 1965<ref></ref> (when Major League Baseball made its first ever, league-wide regular-season network television deal with ABC), there was no league-wide national television package for regular season Major League Baseball games. As a result, teams, if they so desired, could sell the rights to the networks. Also prior to 1965, regular season Major League Baseball telecasts broadcast by networks had to be [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked-out]] in cities with league franchises. More to the point, by around the year prior, thanks to [[Major League Baseball#Expanding west.2C south and north|expansion]] (in [[1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft|1960]] and [[1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft|1961]]), regular season MLB games shown on network television were blacked out in most major markets. However, the network ''Games of the Week'', up until the late 1980s, still could not be seen in the two cities whose local teams were playing in each respective game.
**From 1965 until the late 1980s, networks would cover two Saturday afternoon games each week: one that went to most of the network (a "primary game"), and the second being seen only in the home markets of the two teams playing in the network's "primary" game. Although the "primary" game would not be televised in each team's home markets, [[Historical Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters|local television rights-holders]] in those cities were free to broadcast that game. The manner that this worked allowed, for instance, a network's two Saturday afternoon ''Games of the Week'' involving the [[Yankees–Red Sox rivalry|New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox]] serving as the primary game and [[Cardinals–Cubs rivalry|St. Louis Cardinals at the Chicago Cubs]] being the secondary game. The Yankees-Red Sox game would as a result, be seen everywhere except in New York City, Boston and possibly markets adjacent to those cities. Ultimately, those markets got the Cardinals-Cubs game instead.
*In , the [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]], which in the [[1965 New York Yankees season|year prior]] played 21 ''Games of the Week'' for CBS (which had actually just purchased the Yankees<ref></ref><ref></ref>), joined NBC's television package. The new package under NBC called for 28 games compared to the 123 aired across the three networks in [[1960 in baseball|1960]].
**The [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]], which, the year before, had played 21 ''Games of the Week'' for CBS, joined NBC's package in 1966. The new package under NBC called for 28 games, as compared to the 123 combined among three networks during the 1960s. On October 19, 1966, [[NBC Sports|NBC]] signed a three-year contract with Major League Baseball. As previously mentioned, the year before, Major League Baseball sold an exclusive league-wide television package for the rights to the Saturday-Sunday ''Game of the Week'' to ABC. NBC covered only the [[1965 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] and [[1965 World Series|World Series]] in 1965. In addition, a previous deal limited CBS to covering only twelve weekends when its new subsidiary, the [[New York Yankees]], played at home. As previously mentioned, before 1965, NBC aired a slate of Saturday afternoon games beginning in 1957. Under the new deal, NBC paid roughly US$6 million per year for the 25 ''Games of the Week'',<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> $6.1 million for the [[1967 World Series]] and [[1967 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]], and $6.5 million for the [[1968 World Series]] and [[1968 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1968 All-Star Game]]. This brought the total value of the contract (which included three Monday night telecasts such as a [[Labor Day]] 1966 contest between the [[1966 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants]] and [[1966 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]) up to $30.6 million.
**On April 16, 1966, in New York City, about 50 baseball, network, and advertising officials discussed NBC's first year with the ''Game of the Week''. New York could not get a primary match-up between the [[1966 Detroit Tigers season|Detroit Tigers]] and [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] with Curt Gowdy and Pee Wee Reese calling the action because of local blackout rules. Instead, that market received a backup game (or "'B' game") featuring Tony Kubek and [[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]] calling a game between the [[1966 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]] and [[1966 Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs]]. That rule would be eliminated after the 1983 season.
==1950s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1959 Major League Baseball season|1959]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]<br>[[Gabby Hartnett]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Al Rosen]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1958 Major League Baseball season|1958]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Frank Reynolds]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Bill Veeck]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1957 Major League Baseball season|1957]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Jim McKay]]<ref></ref>
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><br>[[Jim Woods]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]
|-
|[[1956 Major League Baseball season|1956]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1955 Major League Baseball season|1955]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<ref></ref><br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1954 Major League Baseball season|1954]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1953 Major League Baseball season|1953]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<ref></ref> or [[Gene Kirby]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<ref></ref><br>Bob Finnegan
|}
==Notes==
*In April 1953, ABC-TV executive [[Edgar J. Scherick]] set out to sell teams rights but instead, only got the [[1953 Philadelphia Athletics season|Philadelphia Athletics]], [[1953 Cleveland Indians season|Cleveland Indians]],<ref></ref> and [[1953 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]]<ref></ref><ref></ref> to sign on.<ref></ref> These were not "national" broadcast contracts since they were assembled through negotiations with individual teams to telecast games from their home parks. It was until the [[Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961]], that antitrust laws barred "pooled rights" TV contracts negotiated with a central league broadcasting authority.
*[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]] took over the Saturday ''Game'' in [[1955 in baseball|1955]] (the rights were actually set up through the [[Falstaff Brewing Corporation]]<ref></ref>) retaining Dean/Blattner and McColgan/Finnegan as the announcing crews (as well as [[Gene Kirby]], who produced the Dean/Blattner games and alternated with them on play-by-play) and adding Sunday coverage in .
*In , [[George Kell]]<ref></ref> served as host for the pregame show on CBS.
**From 1958 to 1960,<ref></ref> NBC aired a special regional feed of its games in the [[Southeastern United States|southeast]], where the network had a different sponsor (such as [[National Bohemian]] beer) than for the rest of the country. This feed featured its own announcing team, with [[Chuck Thompson]] calling the games with [[Bill Veeck]] (1958) and [[Al Rosen]] (1959–60). NBC never had a true backup game until 1966, when the network got exclusivity for the ''Game of the Week''. In the process, NBC brought in [[Curt Gowdy]] and [[Pee Wee Reese]] for the primary game, and [[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]] and [[Tony Kubek]] for the alternate game (which was always shown in the markets of teams playing in the primary game).
==See also==
*[[List of Major League Baseball on ABC announcers]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball on Fox broadcasters]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball on NBC broadcasters]]
*[[List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters]]
==References==
==External links==
*[https://ift.tt/2UqLtjl Searchable Network TV Broadcasts]
[[Category:ABC Sports]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on Fox]]
[[Category:CBS Sports]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on NBC]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on television|Game of the Week broadcasters]]
[[Category:Lists of Major League Baseball broadcasters|Game of the Week]]
==1990s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1999 Major League Baseball season|1999]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[Chip Caray]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Frank Robinson]]<br>[[Kevin Kennedy (baseball)|Kevin Kennedy]]
|-
|[[1998 Major League Baseball season|1998]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Frank Robinson]]<br>[[George Brett]]
|-
|[[1997 Major League Baseball season|1997]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Ken Singleton]]<br>[[Steve Lyons (baseball)|Steve Lyons]]
|-
|[[1996 Major League Baseball season|1996]]
|[[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox]]
|[[Joe Buck]]<br>[[Thom Brennaman]]<br>[[John Rooney (sportscaster)|John Rooney]]<br>[[Josh Lewin]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Bob Brenly]]<br>[[Jeff Torborg]]<br>[[Ken Singleton]]
|-
|[[1995 Major League Baseball season|1995]]
|colspan="4" align="center"|''No Saturday afternoon games on network TV.''
|-
|[[1994 Major League Baseball season|1994]]
|colspan="4" align="center"|''No Saturday afternoon games on network TV.''
|-
|[[1993 Major League Baseball season|1993]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Sean McDonough]]<br>[[Greg Gumbel]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Steve Stone (baseball)|Steve Stone]]<ref></ref><ref></ref>
|-
|[[1992 Major League Baseball season|1992]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Sean McDonough]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|-
|[[1991 Major League Baseball season|1991]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Jack Buck]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|-
|[[1990 Major League Baseball season|1990]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Jack Buck]]<br>[[Dick Stockton]]<br>[[Greg Gumbel]]
|[[Tim McCarver]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]
|}
===Notes===
*CBS initially did not want to start their 1990 coverage<ref></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> until after the network had aired that year's [[1990 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]] (which was the last time [[NBA on CBS|CBS]] aired the Finals before the NBA's move to [[NBA on NBC|NBC]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>). Therefore, only 12 regular season telecasts were scheduled<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The broadcasts would have been each Saturday from June 16 through August 25 and a special Sunday telecast on the weekend of August 11–12 (the [[1990 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] against the [[1990 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] in Oakland on both days). Ultimately, four more telecasts were added – two in April<ref></ref> and two on the last two Saturdays of the season.
*After sustaining huge losses<ref></ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref></ref> (CBS claimed to have lost about $55 million<ref></ref> in after-taxes revenue in 1990,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> which would go up to $170 million at the end of its four-year contract) from 1990's abbreviated postseason (which ended with the [[1990 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]] shockingly sweeping the defending [[World Series Trophy|World Champion]] [[1990 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] in the [[1990 World Series|World Series]]), CBS made several notable adjustments for 1991. Regular season telecasts were reduced to a meager handful. In return, pregame shows during the League Championship Series were entirely eliminated, to minimize the ratings damage.
**On [[Sunday Afternoon Baseball|Sunday]], May 5, CBS broadcast games involving [[1991 Cleveland Indians season|Cleveland]] at [[1991 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland]] (with Jack Buck and Tim McCarver on the call) and [[1991 Boston Red Sox season|Boston]] at the [[1991 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]] (with Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat on the call). And then on Sunday, July 14, Dick Stockton and Jim Kaat called a game in [[Angel Stadium|Anaheim]] between the [[1991 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1991 California Angels season|California Angels]].
*After two years of calling baseball telecasts for CBS,<ref></ref> Jack Buck was dismissed in December 1991. According to the [[KMOX (AM)|radio]] veteran Buck, he had a hard time adjusting to the demands of a more constricting television production.<ref></ref> CBS felt that Buck should have done more to make himself appear to be a set-up man for lead analyst Tim McCarver.<ref></ref><ref></ref> Buck's replacement was [[Boston Red Sox]] announcer [[Sean McDonough]].<ref></ref><ref></ref>
*After Major League Baseball's contract with CBS expired at the end of the 1993 season, the league decided to produe its own in-house<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> telecasts of games,<ref></ref> which were then [[Brokered programming|brokered]] to air on ABC and NBC. The package<ref></ref> included coverage of games in [[Prime time|prime time]]<ref></ref> on selected nights throughout the regular season (under the branding '''''Baseball Night in America'''''),<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> along with coverage of the [[Major League Baseball postseason|postseason]] and the [[World Series]].<ref></ref> Unlike previous broadcasting arrangements with the league, there was no national "[[Major League Baseball Game of the Week|game of the week]]"<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> during the regular season;<ref></ref> these would be replaced by multiple weekly regional<ref></ref> telecasts on certain nights of the week. Additionally, The Baseball Network had exclusive coverage windows; no other broadcaster could televise MLB games during the same night that The Baseball Network was televising games.
**After the All-Star Game was complete,<ref></ref> ABC took over coverage with what was to be their weekly slate of games.<ref></ref> ABC was scheduled to televise six<ref></ref> regular season games on Saturdays<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> or Mondays<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> in [[prime time]]. NBC<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> would then pick up where ABC left off by televising six more regular season Friday night<ref></ref><ref></ref> games. Every ''Baseball Night in America'' game was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]] (or 8 p.m. [[Pacific Time Zone|Pacific Time]] if the game occurred on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]<ref></ref>). A single starting time gave the networks the opportunity to broadcast one game and then, simultaneously, cut to another game when there was a break in action.
*On November 7, 1995, [[Major League Baseball]] reached a television deal with [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] and [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]], allowing the former to obtain MLB game rights (assuming [[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]'s end of the contract). Fox paid $575 million for the five-year contract, a fraction less of the amount of money that [[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]] had paid for the Major League Baseball television rights for the 1990–[[1993 Major League Baseball season|1993 seasons]].<ref></ref><ref name="BaseballContract"></ref> Unlike the previous television deal, "[[The Baseball Network]]" (a partnership created through the league's joint contract with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and [[NBC]] that began in the 1994 season), Fox reverted to the format of televising regular season games (approximately 16 weekly telecasts that normally began on [[Memorial Day]] weekend<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>) on Saturday afternoons. Fox did, however, continue a format that ''The Baseball Network'' started by offering a selection of games based purely on a viewer's region. Fox's approach has usually been to offer three regionalized telecasts. The initial deal also gave Fox the rights to broadcast the [[1996 World Series|1996]], [[1998 World Series|1998]] and [[2000 World Series]], the [[1997 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1997]] and [[1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1999 All-Star Games]], as well as coverage of the [[League Championship Series]] (shared with NBC) and five [[Division Series]] games each year.
**Like its predecessor NBC, Fox determined its Saturday schedule by which MLB franchise was playing a team from one of the three largest television markets – New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. If there was a game which featured teams from two of these three markets (involving any combination of the [[New York Yankees|Yankees]], [[New York Mets|Mets]], [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Dodgers]], [[Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim|Angels]], [[Chicago Cubs|Cubs]] or [[Chicago White Sox|White Sox]]), that game would be aired on the network.
==1980s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1989 Major League Baseball season|1989]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Charlie Slowes]]<br>[[Mel Proctor]]
|[[Tom Seaver]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Bobby Mercer]]<br>[[Larry Dierker]]
|-
|[[1988 Major League Baseball season|1988]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Steve Zabriskie]]<br>[[Don Chevrier]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Kurt Bevacqua]]<br>[[Steve Garvey]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]<br>[[Fergie Olver]]
|-
|[[1987 Major League Baseball season|1987]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]<br>[[Bob Carpenter (sportscaster)|Bob Carpenter]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Joe Morgan]]
|-
|[[1986 Major League Baseball season|1986]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Jon Miller]]<br>[[Ted Robinson (sportscaster)|Ted Robinson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Joe Morgan]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[John Lowenstein]]
|-
|[[1985 Major League Baseball season|1985]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>Phil Stone<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Joe Torre]]
|-
|[[1984 Major League Baseball season|1984]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>Phil Stone
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Jim Kaat]]<br>[[Mike Shannon]]<br>[[Ken Harrelson]]<br>[[Bucky Dent]]
|-
|[[1983 Major League Baseball season|1983]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Vin Scully]]<br>[[Bob Costas]][[Jay Randolph]]<br>Phil Stone<br>[[Len Berman]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1982 Major League Baseball season|1982]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]] or [[Dick Enberg]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<br>Phil Stone
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sal Bando]]<br>[[Freddie Patek]]<br>[[Tim McCarver]]
|-
|[[1981 Major League Baseball season|1981]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]<br>[[Jay Randolph]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ron Luciano]]<br>[[Tom Seaver]]<br>[[Willie McCovey]]<br>[[Al Kaline]]
|-
|[[1980 Major League Baseball season|1980]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Bob Costas]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Ron Luciano]]<br>[[Tim McCarver]]
|}
===Notes===
*On October 4, 1980,<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> [[Bob Costas]]<ref></ref> made his debut calling baseball games for NBC. It was a backup game (the primary game involved the [[1980 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]] and [[1980 Montreal Expos season|Montreal Expos]]) involving the [[1980 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1980 Detroit Tigers season|Detroit Tigers]] from [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]].
*During the [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|1981 players' strike]],<ref></ref> NBC used its Saturday ''Game of the Week'' time-slot to show a 20-minute strike update, followed by a sports anthology series hosted by [[Caitlyn Jenner]] (then Bruce)<ref group=n1 name=n6>Jenner changed her name due to [[gender transition]] in 2015.</ref><ref></ref> called ''NBC Sports: The Summer Season''.<ref></ref><ref></ref>
**Even though [[Dick Enberg]] did play-by-play for the [[1981 National League Championship Series|1981 NLCS]] for NBC (working alongside [[Tom Seaver]]), [[Merle Harmon]] was, for the most part, NBC's backup baseball play-by-play announcer (serving behind Joe Garagiola, who called that year's [[1981 American League Championship Series|ALCS]] for NBC with Tony Kubek) in 1981. Harmon's broadcast partner during this period was [[Ron Luciano]].<ref></ref> In late 1979, Harmon left the [[Milwaukee Brewers]] completely in favor of a multi-year pact with NBC. Harmon saw the NBC deal as a perfect opportunity since according to ''[[The Milwaukee Journal]]'' he would make more money, get more exposure, and do less traveling. At NBC, Harmon did ''[[SportsWorld]]'', the backup ''Game of the Week'', and served as a field reporter for the [[1980 World Series]]. Most of all, Harmon had hoped to cover the American-boycotted [[1980 Summer Olympics]] from Moscow. After NBC pulled out of their scheduled coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics, Harmon considered it to be "a great letdown." To add insult to injury, NBC fired Harmon in 1982 in favor of Bob Costas.<ref></ref> It was in 1982 that Costas started working the NBC backup games on a full time basis, with former [[Oakland Athletics|Oakland A's]] third baseman [[Sal Bando]] as his color man.
*According to his autobiography, ''Oh My'',<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Dick Enberg (then the lead play-by-play voice for ''[[NFL on NBC|The NFL on NBC]]'') was informed by NBC that he would become the lead play-by-play voice of the ''Major League Baseball Game of the Week'' beginning with the [[1982 World Series]] (sharing the play-by-play duties for that game with Joe Garagiola, alongside analyst Tony Kubek) and through subsequent regular seasons. Enberg wrote that on his football trips, he would read every edition of ''[[The Sporting News]]'' to make sure he was current with all the baseball news and notes. He then met with NBC executives in September 1982, who informed him that Vin Scully<ref></ref><ref></ref> was in negotiations to be their lead baseball play-by-play announcer (teaming with Garagiola, while Kubek would team with Bob Costas<ref></ref>) and began with the network in the spring of 1983. Therefore, rather than throw him in randomly for one World Series, Enberg wrote that he hosted the pre-game/post-game shows while the team of Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek did the games. According to the book, Enberg was not pleased about the decision (since he loved being the [[Los Angeles Angels]]' radio voice in the 1970s and was eager to return to baseball) but the fact that NBC was bringing in Scully, arguably baseball's best announcer, was understandable. Enberg added that NBC also gave him a significant pay increase as a pseudo-apology for not coming through on the promise to make him the lead baseball play-by-play announcer.
*On April 7, 1983, Major League Baseball agreed to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package, worth $1.2 billion. The two networks would continue to alternate coverage of the [[League Championship Series|playoffs]] (ABC in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years), World Series (ABC would televise the World Series in odd-numbered years and NBC in even-numbered years) and [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] (ABC would televise the All-Star Game in even-numbered years and NBC in odd-numbered years) through the 1989 season, with each of the 26 clubs receiving $7 million per year in return (even if no fans showed up). This was a substantial increase over the last package, in which each club was being paid $1.9 million per year. ABC contributed $575 million for the rights to televise prime time and Sunday afternoon regular season games and NBC paid $550 million for the rights to broadcast 30 Saturday afternoon games.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*1984 was the first year that the ''Game of the Week'' was not subject to blackout. NBC and ABC generally still aired two games each week, with a primary game carried to most of the country and a secondary game to mostly the markets that would carry that game. This was mostly done for insurance in the event that a game was [[Rainout (sports)|rained out]]. During the 1970s and early 1980s, many of the "rainout insurance" games involved the [[Houston Astros]] since that team played in a [[Astrodome|domed ballpark]]. Therefore, if the Astros were at home on a given [[Major League Baseball Game of the Week|Saturday]] or [[Monday Night Baseball|Monday night]], then it was a safe bet that the game would be shown on network television, due to the Astros being the only "dome" team (until the [[Seattle Mariners]] began play in the [[Kingdome]] in [[1977 Seattle Mariners season|1977]]).
*Starting in , [[Jon Miller]] would call games for NBC on their occasional doubleheader weeks. If not that, then Miller would appear on Saturday afternoon regionals the day after NBC's occasional prime time telecasts.
*After calling the [[1988 World Series]] with Vin Scully, Joe Garagiola resigned from NBC Sports.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> Although it was not official at the time, NBC was on the verge of losing the television rights to cover Major League Baseball to [[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]].<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> Garagiola claimed that NBC left him "twisting" while he was trying to renegotiate his deal. Joe Garagiola was replaced by Tom Seaver<ref></ref><ref></ref> for the [[1989 Major League Baseball season|1989 season]].<ref></ref>
==1970s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1979 Major League Baseball season|1979]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Monte Moore]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Wes Parker]]
|-
|[[1978 Major League Baseball season|1978]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Monte Moore]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Wes Parker]]
|-
|[[1977 Major League Baseball season|1977]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Dick Enberg]]<br>[[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]<br>[[Don Drysdale]]<br>[[Art Shamsky]]
|-
|[[1976 Major League Baseball season|1976]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Jack Buck]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1975 Major League Baseball season|1975]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]] or [[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1974 Major League Baseball season|1974]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]<br>[[Marv Albert]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]<br>[[Dick Williams]]<ref></ref>
|-
|[[1973 Major League Baseball season|1973]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill Enis]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Maury Wills]]
|-
|[[1972 Major League Baseball season|1972]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill Enis]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|-
|[[1971 Major League Baseball season|1971]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|-
|[[1970 Major League Baseball season|1970]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]
|}
===Notes===
*In 1971, [[Sandy Koufax]] signed a ten-year contract with NBC for $1 million to serve as a broadcaster on the ''Saturday Game of the Week''. Koufax never felt comfortable being in front of the camera, and quit before the 1973 season.
*Starting in 1975, Joe Garagiola and Curt Gowdy alternated as the Saturday ''Game of Week'' play-by-play announcers with Tony Kubek doing color analysis. Then on weeks in which NBC had ''[[Monday Night Baseball]]'', Gowdy and Garagiola worked together. One would call play-by-play for 4½ innings, the other would handle color analysis. Then in the bottom of the 5th inning, their roles switched. Ultimately, in November 1975, [[Chrysler]] forced NBC to totally remove Curt Gowdy from NBC's top baseball team. Instead, the company wanted their spokesman, Joe Garagiola, to call all the main regular season games, All-Star Games (when NBC had them), the top League Championship Series (when NBC had it), and the World Series (when NBC had it).
==1960s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|[[1969 Major League Baseball season|1969]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]<br>[[Bill O'Donnell (sportscaster)|Bill O'Donnell]]
|[[Tony Kubek]]<br>[[Sandy Koufax]]<br>[[Buddy Blattner]]
|-
|[[1968 Major League Baseball season|1968]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1967 Major League Baseball season|1967]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|[[1966 Major League Baseball season|1966]]
|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Curt Gowdy]]<ref></ref><br>[[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Tony Kubek]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1965 Major League Baseball season|1965]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Chris Schenkel]]<br>[[Merle Harmon]]<br>[[Keith Jackson]]<ref></ref><br>[[Ken Coleman]]<ref></ref>
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Jackie Robinson]]<br>[[Tommy Henrich]]<br>[[Warren Spahn]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1964 Major League Baseball season|1964]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]<br>[[Buddy Blattner]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1963 Major League Baseball season|1963]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1962 Major League Baseball season|1962]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]] or [[Gene Kirby]]
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Bob Wolff]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1961 Major League Baseball season|1961]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]] or Bob Finnegan
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]
|[[Joe Garagiola Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]
|-
|rowspan="3" nowrap=""|[[1960 Major League Baseball season|1960]]
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]<ref></ref>
|[[Jack Buck]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
|[[Carl Erskine]]<ref></ref><ref></ref>
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Pee Wee Reese]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]<br>[[Gabby Hartnett]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Fred Haney]]<br>[[Al Rosen]]
|}
===Notes===
*In , ABC typically did three games a week. Two of the games were always from the [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]] or [[Central Time Zone (Americas)|Central Time Zone]]. The late games (no [[Doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheaders]]) were usually [[1960 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants]]<ref></ref> or [[1960 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]' home games. However, the [[1960 Milwaukee Braves season|Milwaukee Braves]]<ref></ref> used to start many of their Saturday home games late in the afternoon. So if the Giants and Dodgers were both the road at the same time, ABC still would be able to show a late game.
**[[Jerry Coleman]]<ref></ref> hosted the pregame show for CBS' ''Game of the Week'' broadcasts.
*Despite temporarily losing the ''Game of the Week'' package in [[1961 in baseball|1961]], ABC still televised several games in [[prime time]] (with Jack Buck returning to call the action). This occurred as [[Roger Maris]]<ref></ref><ref></ref> was poised to tie and subsequently break [[Babe Ruth]]'s regular season home run record of 60. As with all Major League Baseball games in those days, the action was totally [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked out]]<ref></ref> of major league markets. As a matter of fact, as documented in the [[HBO]] film ''[[61*]]'', the Maris family was welcomed into ABC's [[Kansas City, Missouri]] affiliate [[KMBC-TV]] so they could watch the in-house feed of the game, which was blacked out of Kansas City.
*In [[1962 Major League Baseball season|1962]], CBS dropped the Sunday baseball ''Game of the Week''<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> once the [[NFL on CBS|NFL]] [[1962 NFL season|season]] started, dropping the option clause for [[List of CBS television affiliates (by U.S. state)|affiliates]] to carry baseball or football in place since [[1957 Major League Baseball season|1957]].
*By ,<ref></ref> CBS' Dean and Reese called games from Yankee Stadium, [[Wrigley Field]], [[1964 St. Louis Cardinals season|St. Louis]], [[1964 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia]] and [[1964 Baltimore Orioles season|Baltimore]]. The New York Yankees got a $550,000 share of CBS' $895,000. Six clubs that exclusively played nationally televised games on NBC were paid $1.2 million.
*In , ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts<ref>
</ref> on a regional basis. ABC paid [[United States dollar|$]]5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday ''Games of the Week''. ABC's deal<ref></ref><ref></ref> covered all of the teams except the [[1965 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] and [[1965 Philadelphia Phillies season|Philadelphia Phillies]]<ref></ref> (who had their own television deals) and called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]], and [[Labor Day]].<ref></ref> Each Saturday, ABC broadcast two 2 p.m. games and one 5 p.m. game for the [[Pacific Time Zone]]. ABC [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked out]] the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games.<ref></ref> Major League Baseball however, had a TV deal with [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]] for the [[1965 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] and [[1965 World Series|World Series]]. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for , citing poor [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]],<ref></ref><ref></ref> especially in New York.
**Until 1965<ref></ref> (when Major League Baseball made its first ever, league-wide regular-season network television deal with ABC), there was no league-wide national television package for regular season Major League Baseball games. As a result, teams, if they so desired, could sell the rights to the networks. Also prior to 1965, regular season Major League Baseball telecasts broadcast by networks had to be [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked-out]] in cities with league franchises. More to the point, by around the year prior, thanks to [[Major League Baseball#Expanding west.2C south and north|expansion]] (in [[1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft|1960]] and [[1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft|1961]]), regular season MLB games shown on network television were blacked out in most major markets. However, the network ''Games of the Week'', up until the late 1980s, still could not be seen in the two cities whose local teams were playing in each respective game.
**From 1965 until the late 1980s, networks would cover two Saturday afternoon games each week: one that went to most of the network (a "primary game"), and the second being seen only in the home markets of the two teams playing in the network's "primary" game. Although the "primary" game would not be televised in each team's home markets, [[Historical Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters|local television rights-holders]] in those cities were free to broadcast that game. The manner that this worked allowed, for instance, a network's two Saturday afternoon ''Games of the Week'' involving the [[Yankees–Red Sox rivalry|New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox]] serving as the primary game and [[Cardinals–Cubs rivalry|St. Louis Cardinals at the Chicago Cubs]] being the secondary game. The Yankees-Red Sox game would as a result, be seen everywhere except in New York City, Boston and possibly markets adjacent to those cities. Ultimately, those markets got the Cardinals-Cubs game instead.
*In , the [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]], which in the [[1965 New York Yankees season|year prior]] played 21 ''Games of the Week'' for CBS (which had actually just purchased the Yankees<ref></ref><ref></ref>), joined NBC's television package. The new package under NBC called for 28 games compared to the 123 aired across the three networks in [[1960 in baseball|1960]].
**The [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]], which, the year before, had played 21 ''Games of the Week'' for CBS, joined NBC's package in 1966. The new package under NBC called for 28 games, as compared to the 123 combined among three networks during the 1960s. On October 19, 1966, [[NBC Sports|NBC]] signed a three-year contract with Major League Baseball. As previously mentioned, the year before, Major League Baseball sold an exclusive league-wide television package for the rights to the Saturday-Sunday ''Game of the Week'' to ABC. NBC covered only the [[1965 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] and [[1965 World Series|World Series]] in 1965. In addition, a previous deal limited CBS to covering only twelve weekends when its new subsidiary, the [[New York Yankees]], played at home. As previously mentioned, before 1965, NBC aired a slate of Saturday afternoon games beginning in 1957. Under the new deal, NBC paid roughly US$6 million per year for the 25 ''Games of the Week'',<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> $6.1 million for the [[1967 World Series]] and [[1967 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]], and $6.5 million for the [[1968 World Series]] and [[1968 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1968 All-Star Game]]. This brought the total value of the contract (which included three Monday night telecasts such as a [[Labor Day]] 1966 contest between the [[1966 San Francisco Giants season|San Francisco Giants]] and [[1966 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]]) up to $30.6 million.
**On April 16, 1966, in New York City, about 50 baseball, network, and advertising officials discussed NBC's first year with the ''Game of the Week''. New York could not get a primary match-up between the [[1966 Detroit Tigers season|Detroit Tigers]] and [[1966 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] with Curt Gowdy and Pee Wee Reese calling the action because of local blackout rules. Instead, that market received a backup game (or "'B' game") featuring Tony Kubek and [[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]] calling a game between the [[1966 Cincinnati Reds season|Cincinnati Reds]] and [[1966 Chicago Cubs season|Chicago Cubs]]. That rule would be eliminated after the 1983 season.
==1950s==
{| border="1" cellpadding="1"
|'''Year'''
|'''Network(s)'''
|'''Play-by-play'''
|'''Color commentary'''
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1959 Major League Baseball season|1959]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>[[Jack Whitaker]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Frankie Frisch]]<br>[[Gabby Hartnett]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Al Rosen]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1958 Major League Baseball season|1958]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Frank Reynolds]]
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<br>[[Chuck Thompson]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]<br>[[Bill Veeck]]
|-
|rowspan="2" nowrap=""|[[1957 Major League Baseball season|1957]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>[[Jim McKay]]<ref></ref>
|-
|nowrap|[[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]]
|[[Lindsey Nelson]]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><br>[[Jim Woods]]
|[[Leo Durocher]]
|-
|[[1956 Major League Baseball season|1956]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1955 Major League Baseball season|1955]]
|[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<ref></ref><br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1954 Major League Baseball season|1954]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<br>Bob Finnegan
|-
|[[1953 Major League Baseball season|1953]]
|[[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]]
|[[Dizzy Dean]]<ref></ref> or [[Gene Kirby]]<br>Bill McColgan
|[[Buddy Blattner]]<ref></ref><br>Bob Finnegan
|}
==Notes==
*In April 1953, ABC-TV executive [[Edgar J. Scherick]] set out to sell teams rights but instead, only got the [[1953 Philadelphia Athletics season|Philadelphia Athletics]], [[1953 Cleveland Indians season|Cleveland Indians]],<ref></ref> and [[1953 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]]<ref></ref><ref></ref> to sign on.<ref></ref> These were not "national" broadcast contracts since they were assembled through negotiations with individual teams to telecast games from their home parks. It was until the [[Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961]], that antitrust laws barred "pooled rights" TV contracts negotiated with a central league broadcasting authority.
*[[Major League Baseball on CBS|CBS]] took over the Saturday ''Game'' in [[1955 in baseball|1955]] (the rights were actually set up through the [[Falstaff Brewing Corporation]]<ref></ref>) retaining Dean/Blattner and McColgan/Finnegan as the announcing crews (as well as [[Gene Kirby]], who produced the Dean/Blattner games and alternated with them on play-by-play) and adding Sunday coverage in .
*In , [[George Kell]]<ref></ref> served as host for the pregame show on CBS.
**From 1958 to 1960,<ref></ref> NBC aired a special regional feed of its games in the [[Southeastern United States|southeast]], where the network had a different sponsor (such as [[National Bohemian]] beer) than for the rest of the country. This feed featured its own announcing team, with [[Chuck Thompson]] calling the games with [[Bill Veeck]] (1958) and [[Al Rosen]] (1959–60). NBC never had a true backup game until 1966, when the network got exclusivity for the ''Game of the Week''. In the process, NBC brought in [[Curt Gowdy]] and [[Pee Wee Reese]] for the primary game, and [[Jim Simpson (sportscaster)|Jim Simpson]] and [[Tony Kubek]] for the alternate game (which was always shown in the markets of teams playing in the primary game).
==See also==
*[[List of Major League Baseball on ABC announcers]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball on Fox broadcasters]]
*[[List of Major League Baseball on NBC broadcasters]]
*[[List of current Major League Baseball broadcasters]]
==References==
==External links==
*[https://ift.tt/2UqLtjl Searchable Network TV Broadcasts]
[[Category:ABC Sports]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on Fox]]
[[Category:CBS Sports]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on NBC]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball on television|Game of the Week broadcasters]]
[[Category:Lists of Major League Baseball broadcasters|Game of the Week]]
March 17, 2020 at 06:59PM
