1945 – 1953
STARS OF BASEBALL

(Six Vintage Instructional Baseball Films on one DVD)!

1945 “Circling the Bases”
1947 “Batting Stars of Baseball”
1948 “Pitching Stars of Baseball”
1949 “Double Play Kings”
1950 “Infield Play at First and Third”
1956 “Catching Stars of Baseball”

Six vintage baseball films (see above) are now all available on one DVD from Rare Sportsfilms, Inc! Each is an instructional film, with the great stars of the 1945-1953 era individually showing how they play baseball, offensively and defensively.

These were the first purely instructional baseball films ever made by Major League Baseball and were the forerunners of all the other MLBB instructional films to follow in the decades ahead. The films were the culmination of an idea by then major leaguer and motion picture enthusiast Lew Fonseca as far back as the early 1930’s. Under American League president Will Harridge, Fonseca eventually became the founder and director of the Major League Film Bureau. Operating out of Chicago, the bureau became the creator of the first “full length” World Series highlight films!

The first two films are narrated by Bob Elson, voice of the Chicago White Sox, and the others are narrated by Fonseca himself. Here is a complete listing of all players appearing in each film:

“Circling the Bases” George Myatt and George Case (Senators) and Snuffy Stirnweiss (Yankees).

“Batting Stars of Baseball” Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, Al Lopez, Elbie Fletcher, Bob Elliott and Ralph Kiner (Pirates), Barney McCosky and Sam Chapman (Athletics), Grady Hatton, Bert Haas and Lonny Frey (Reds), Hoot Evers, Dick Wakefield and Hank Greenberg (Tigers), Eddie Waitkus, Peanuts Lowery, Andy Pafko and Phil Cavarretta (Cubs), Mike Tresh, Taffy Wright and Luke Appling (White Sox), Frank McCormick and Del Ennis (Phils), Lou Boudreau and Hank Edwards (Indians), Walker Cooper, Sid Gordon, Buddy Blattner and Johnny Mize (Giants), Vern Stephens, Johnny Berardino and Walt Judnich (Browns), Johnny Hopp and Tommy Holmes (Braves), Charlie Keller, Snuffy Stirnweiss and Joe DiMaggio (Yankees), Pete Reiser and Dixie Walker (Dodgers), Mickey Vernon and Stan Spence (Senators), Enos Slaughter, Red Schoendienst, Whitey Kurowski and Stan Musial (Cardinals), Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio and of course, Ted Williams (Red Sox). You’ll even see baseball trickster Jackie Price of the Cleveland Indians demonstrating his batting wizardry!

“Pitching Stars of Baseball” Bob Feller (Indians), Hal Newhouser (Tigers), Harry Brecheen (Cardinals), and Ewell Blackwell (Reds).

“Double Play Kings” Marty Marion and Red Schoendienst (Cardinals), Bill Rigney and Buddy Kerr (Giants), Lou Boudreau and Joe Gordon (Indians) and Bobby Doerr and Vern Stephens (Red Sox).

“Infield Play at First and Third” Ferris Fain (Athletics), Gil Hodges (Dodgers), George Kell (Tigers) and Bob Elliott (Braves).

“Catching Stars of Baseball” Del Crandall (Braves), Sherm Lollar (White Sox), Roy Campanella (Dodgers) and Yogi Berra (Yankees).