John Chancellor

Unlike his usual long forays into our nation's distant past, Ken Burns turns his eye to recent history with this engrossing four-hour addition to his popular 1990s documentary series Baseball. Spanning the last 20 years, Baseball: The Tenth Inning chronicles the memorable and infamous personalities, teams, games, and scandals that make the national pastime such a topic of significance beyond sport.

After the national success of his 11-hour epic, The Civil War--the highest-rated miniseries in public-television history--many wondered if Ken Burns could capture the same energy and passion with smaller subjects. His reply, the 18-hour history of America's greatest sport, Baseball, not only quieted these worries, it also perhaps surpassed his prior achievement.