MLB on Five
Encyclopedia
MLB on Five was a sports television programme on the British Five Network featuring live coverage of Major League Baseball
games. It was usually broadcast on Sunday (going into Monday morning) and Wednesday nights (going into Thursday). The Sunday broadcasts usually began at around 1am BST
leading into the live Sunday Night Baseball
telecast, while the Wednesday programme began at various times and the game usually aired on a 1-2 hour delay. Five also provided live coverage of the All-Star Game and World Series
. The show was presented by Jonny Gould
and EITHER David Lengel
or Josh Chetwynd
as analyst and produced by Erik Janssen. Mark Webster, host of Five's NBA coverage, or former TSN
broadcaster Paul Romanuk sometimes presented instead.
Regular season game commentary was taken direct from ESPN
; All-Star Game and World Series broadcasts typically use the MLB international feed.
The studio show was known for its often irreverent nature.
with a game between the defending World Series champion New York Yankees
and the Seattle Mariners
. The show was initially part of the channel's Live & Dangerous late night sport strand. However, by the 1998 season
it had been spun off and renamed MLB on Five. For its first year-and-a-half, the show was sponsored by Coors
Extra Gold, complete with break bumpers with the voice-over "Major League Baseball: a taste of real America in association with Coors Extra Gold". By June of the 1998 season, this sponsorship deal had ended, and the show has not had a sponsor since.
The original hosts of the show were Tommy Boyd
and Todd Macklin. Macklin had originally been hired as a producer on the show and was only thrust into the analyst role when no one else could be found. However, a little over a month into the show's first season, Boyd phoned in ill before a show and would never return (joking references are still occasionally made on the show to his long illness). Boyd has since made comments stating that he hated baseball, including describing it as glorified rounders
.
"Did Elvis
like baseball?" enquired Boyd in one exchange. "Could he eat it?" replied Macklin.
After a few shows with a number of guest hosts, Jonny Gould
was brought in on a three show trial and remains the host to this day (since the cancellation of the soap opera Family Affairs
Jonny is now also the longest serving Channel 5 employee).
During these first few years, the popularity of the show blossomed with audiences reaching over 1 million (a huge figure for a show broadcast in the early hours of the morning) during the 2000 World Series
. During this time the show also increased audience participation encouraging viewers to write (and later e-mail) their comments, questions and anything else. During the 1998 season, they encouraged viewers embarking on trips to ballparks in the US and Canada to send in postcards of the stadiums they visited with the aim of collecting one from each of the 30 ballparks.
At this point in the programme's history, the show was broadcast from the same studio as 5 News, which went on air at 6am. Therefore, if a game ever went past 5am, hasty alternative studio arrangements had to be made. An example of this was during Game 5, the last game of the 2000 World Series
, in which the presenters, suddenly in a tiny studio without the benefit of monitors to watch the post game presentation, mused on who the MVP may be. Sky News
now produces Channel 5's news bulletins.
In 2001, Todd returned to Canada with his wife, whose job in London was the reason Todd had become involved in the show in the first place. The departure of the man who had educated the majority of the show's audience about the complexities of baseball was a sad occasion and the show was deluged with e-mails, letters and cards wishing Todd well and pleading with him to stay (events that would be repeated during Josh Chetwynd
's and David Lengel
's departures).
, a catcher for the British National Team who had played the game at college and Minor League level and was now working for MLB International in London. Josh quickly became a favourite with the audience. He also demonstrated a great on screen chemistry with Jonny and the two have become very good friends away from the show. His previous experience as a player at a relatively high level also meant that Josh could offer a players perspective on the game and excelled at presenting the more technical aspects of baseball to the audience. In addition, he spotlighted Major League Players with whom he had a personal connection ("the Chet Factor").
Josh left the show in the middle of the 2003 season to study a postgraduate Law degree at the University of Arizona, but has since returned.
who had also been a semi-regular reporter/analyst for Five's MLB coverage. Prior to his stint in the 'hotseat' (as Jonny refers to the pundit's chair) David's reporting duties included on-site coverage from the World Series.
For part of his full-time stint, David was also working as a producer on ESPN
's 25th Anniversary series Who's #1. As a result, he commuted some 7000 miles between shows for ten consecutive weeks in the Spring of 2004. His trip involved leaving New York on Saturday night, arriving Sunday morning, working on MLB on Five that night, and leaving London on the first flight out on Monday morning. He showed no sign of jet lag and also developed a winning repartee with Jonny. Lengel made regular 'off on one' rants, frequently as a result of Jonny's constant references to fantasy baseball.
With the cancellation of Family Affairs
at the end of 2005 the show became Five's longest-running non-news show. The first show was broadcast seven days after the channel's launch.
Prior to the 2006 season, David left Five as he had a new job as a presenter on mlb.com, the league's official website.
, won by the American League, from PNC Park
in Pittsburgh. In 2007 the team were again inside the stadium for the All-Star game
this time at AT&T Park
, home of the San Francisco Giants
. The studio show has yet to originate from the World Series.
Eight different team won the World Series since during the show's 12 seasons on air: Yankees (3), Marlins (2), Red Sox (2), Diamondbacks, Angels, White Sox, Cardinals, and Phillies.
Sunday and Wednesday Night Baseball games there are often many teams that are not shown. To compensate for this David Lengel
created the On the Beat segment, which offers a telephone interview with a beat writer or local TV commentator of a given team. The segment has also featured a handful of Hall of Fame writers and broadcasters.
Seventh-inning stretch
In 2002 Jonny started stretching his arm while saying seventh inning stretch. This quietly became a tradition on the show with Jonny and Josh performing 'the stretch' every show.
) and shown highlights on that week's show.
' pursuit of the home run record.
and stadiums.
who experienced an unsuccessful spell with the New York Yankees
in 2003. The segment was titled "Weaver Watch" and consisted of highlights of his starts coupled with a little mockery. The feature ran sporadically thereafter, ending with his win in the 2006 World Series
for the St. Louis Cardinals
.
In 2007, Five created the Granderson Watch, following Detroit Tigers
outfielder Curtis Granderson
. As part of Granderson Watch, Granderson answers a viewer e-mail question during each Sunday game.
who read an excerpt from the week's chosen book. Books read include The Natural
, The Boys of Summer and Veeck as in Wreck.
was often shown after games on Channel 5.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
games. It was usually broadcast on Sunday (going into Monday morning) and Wednesday nights (going into Thursday). The Sunday broadcasts usually began at around 1am BST
British Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
leading into the live Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball is the Major League Baseball exclusive game of the week that is televised Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN during the regular season...
telecast, while the Wednesday programme began at various times and the game usually aired on a 1-2 hour delay. Five also provided live coverage of the All-Star Game and World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
. The show was presented by Jonny Gould
Jonny Gould (game show presenter)
Jonathan Gould , often known as Jonny Gould, is a British television presenter who was the host of the UK baseball show MLB on Five from 1997 until it was cancelled in 2008...
and EITHER David Lengel
David Lengel
David Lengel is a baseball journalist who formerly worked alongside Jonny Gould on MLB on five, a tv programme on UK channel Five.-Career:David presented five's UK baseball coverage for a period of 18 months between 2003 and 2005...
or Josh Chetwynd
Josh Chetwynd
Joshua Stephen Chetwynd is a journalist, broadcaster, author and former baseball player.-Journalism:Chetwynd has worked as a staff reporter for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and U.S. News & World Report...
as analyst and produced by Erik Janssen. Mark Webster, host of Five's NBA coverage, or former TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
broadcaster Paul Romanuk sometimes presented instead.
Regular season game commentary was taken direct from ESPN
ESPN Major League Baseball
ESPN Major League Baseball is a promotion of Major League Baseball on ESPN and ESPN2, with simulcasts on ESPNHD or ESPN2HD. ESPN's MLB coverage debuted on April 9, 1990 with three Opening Day telecasts. ESPN Major League Baseball is guaranteed to remain on air until 2013.The title is derived from...
; All-Star Game and World Series broadcasts typically use the MLB international feed.
The studio show was known for its often irreverent nature.
1997 - 2001: The Beginning
The show first aired on Opening Day in 19971997 Major League Baseball season
*American League Championship Series MVP: Marquis Grissom**American League Division Series*National League Championship Series MVP: Liván Hernández**National League Division Series...
with a game between the defending World Series champion New York Yankees
1997 New York Yankees season
The New York Yankees' 1997 season was the 95th season for theYankees. New York was managed by Joe Torre and played at Yankee Stadium. The team finished with a record of 96-66 finishing 2 games behind of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East...
and the Seattle Mariners
1997 Seattle Mariners season
The Seattle Mariners 1997 season was their 21st since the franchise creation, and ended the season finishing 1st in the American League West, finishing with a record of 90-72...
. The show was initially part of the channel's Live & Dangerous late night sport strand. However, by the 1998 season
1998 Major League Baseball season
*American League Championship Series MVP: David Wells**American League Division Series:*National League Championship Series MVP: Sterling Hitchcock**National League Division Series*All-Star Game, July 7 at Coors Field: American League, 13-8; Roberto Alomar, MVP...
it had been spun off and renamed MLB on Five. For its first year-and-a-half, the show was sponsored by Coors
Coors Brewing Company
The Coors Brewing Company is a regional division of the world's fifth-largest brewing company, the Canadian Molson Coors Brewing Company and is the third-largest brewer in the United States...
Extra Gold, complete with break bumpers with the voice-over "Major League Baseball: a taste of real America in association with Coors Extra Gold". By June of the 1998 season, this sponsorship deal had ended, and the show has not had a sponsor since.
The original hosts of the show were Tommy Boyd
Tommy Boyd
Timothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
and Todd Macklin. Macklin had originally been hired as a producer on the show and was only thrust into the analyst role when no one else could be found. However, a little over a month into the show's first season, Boyd phoned in ill before a show and would never return (joking references are still occasionally made on the show to his long illness). Boyd has since made comments stating that he hated baseball, including describing it as glorified rounders
Rounders
Rounders is a game played between two teams of either gender. The game originated in England where it was played in Tudor times. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a round wooden, plastic or metal bat. The players score by...
.
"Did Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
like baseball?" enquired Boyd in one exchange. "Could he eat it?" replied Macklin.
After a few shows with a number of guest hosts, Jonny Gould
Jonny Gould (game show presenter)
Jonathan Gould , often known as Jonny Gould, is a British television presenter who was the host of the UK baseball show MLB on Five from 1997 until it was cancelled in 2008...
was brought in on a three show trial and remains the host to this day (since the cancellation of the soap opera Family Affairs
Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
Jonny is now also the longest serving Channel 5 employee).
During these first few years, the popularity of the show blossomed with audiences reaching over 1 million (a huge figure for a show broadcast in the early hours of the morning) during the 2000 World Series
2000 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 21, 2000 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkThe opener fell on two anniversaries. Twenty-five years prior, Boston Red Sox's catcher Carlton Fisk ended Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with his famous home run off the left field foul pole in Fenway Park in Boston to beat...
. During this time the show also increased audience participation encouraging viewers to write (and later e-mail) their comments, questions and anything else. During the 1998 season, they encouraged viewers embarking on trips to ballparks in the US and Canada to send in postcards of the stadiums they visited with the aim of collecting one from each of the 30 ballparks.
At this point in the programme's history, the show was broadcast from the same studio as 5 News, which went on air at 6am. Therefore, if a game ever went past 5am, hasty alternative studio arrangements had to be made. An example of this was during Game 5, the last game of the 2000 World Series
2000 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 21, 2000 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New YorkThe opener fell on two anniversaries. Twenty-five years prior, Boston Red Sox's catcher Carlton Fisk ended Game 6 of the 1975 World Series with his famous home run off the left field foul pole in Fenway Park in Boston to beat...
, in which the presenters, suddenly in a tiny studio without the benefit of monitors to watch the post game presentation, mused on who the MVP may be. Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
now produces Channel 5's news bulletins.
In 2001, Todd returned to Canada with his wife, whose job in London was the reason Todd had become involved in the show in the first place. The departure of the man who had educated the majority of the show's audience about the complexities of baseball was a sad occasion and the show was deluged with e-mails, letters and cards wishing Todd well and pleading with him to stay (events that would be repeated during Josh Chetwynd
Josh Chetwynd
Joshua Stephen Chetwynd is a journalist, broadcaster, author and former baseball player.-Journalism:Chetwynd has worked as a staff reporter for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and U.S. News & World Report...
's and David Lengel
David Lengel
David Lengel is a baseball journalist who formerly worked alongside Jonny Gould on MLB on five, a tv programme on UK channel Five.-Career:David presented five's UK baseball coverage for a period of 18 months between 2003 and 2005...
's departures).
2001 - 2003: JG and JC
A replacement was eventually found in the shape of Josh ChetwyndJosh Chetwynd
Joshua Stephen Chetwynd is a journalist, broadcaster, author and former baseball player.-Journalism:Chetwynd has worked as a staff reporter for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and U.S. News & World Report...
, a catcher for the British National Team who had played the game at college and Minor League level and was now working for MLB International in London. Josh quickly became a favourite with the audience. He also demonstrated a great on screen chemistry with Jonny and the two have become very good friends away from the show. His previous experience as a player at a relatively high level also meant that Josh could offer a players perspective on the game and excelled at presenting the more technical aspects of baseball to the audience. In addition, he spotlighted Major League Players with whom he had a personal connection ("the Chet Factor").
Josh left the show in the middle of the 2003 season to study a postgraduate Law degree at the University of Arizona, but has since returned.
2003 - 2005: David Lengel The Ultimate Commuter
In July 2003, Josh was replaced by David LengelDavid Lengel
David Lengel is a baseball journalist who formerly worked alongside Jonny Gould on MLB on five, a tv programme on UK channel Five.-Career:David presented five's UK baseball coverage for a period of 18 months between 2003 and 2005...
who had also been a semi-regular reporter/analyst for Five's MLB coverage. Prior to his stint in the 'hotseat' (as Jonny refers to the pundit's chair) David's reporting duties included on-site coverage from the World Series.
For part of his full-time stint, David was also working as a producer on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's 25th Anniversary series Who's #1. As a result, he commuted some 7000 miles between shows for ten consecutive weeks in the Spring of 2004. His trip involved leaving New York on Saturday night, arriving Sunday morning, working on MLB on Five that night, and leaving London on the first flight out on Monday morning. He showed no sign of jet lag and also developed a winning repartee with Jonny. Lengel made regular 'off on one' rants, frequently as a result of Jonny's constant references to fantasy baseball.
With the cancellation of Family Affairs
Family Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
at the end of 2005 the show became Five's longest-running non-news show. The first show was broadcast seven days after the channel's launch.
Prior to the 2006 season, David left Five as he had a new job as a presenter on mlb.com, the league's official website.
2006 - 2008
Josh Chetwynd, having completed law school, returned to the show in 2006 and has been the featured studio analyst ever since, however when Chetwynd is unavailable, David Lengel takes his place in the "hotseat." The Five team presented coverage on-site for the first time in the show's history as Jonny and Josh hosted Five's broadcast of the 2006 All-Star game2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 77th playing of the midseason exhibition baseball game between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 11, 2006 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh,...
, won by the American League, from PNC Park
PNC Park
PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It opened during the 2001 Major League Baseball season, after the controlled implosion of the Pirates' previous home, Three Rivers Stadium...
in Pittsburgh. In 2007 the team were again inside the stadium for the All-Star game
2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 78th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 10, 2007, at AT&T Park, the home of the NL's San Francisco Giants...
this time at AT&T Park
AT&T Park
AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....
, home of the San Francisco Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
. The studio show has yet to originate from the World Series.
2009
The end of 2008 brought rumours that as a part of a cost-cutting measure Five would cease its MLB coverage, and would not broadcast the 2009 MLB season, alongside proposals to cut their NFL, NBA and NHL coverage after their respective seasons end. The cancellation of the broadcasts were confirmed in an email sent out by Jonny Gould to all those who were part of the BSUK fantasy baseball. This currently leaves ESPN America as the sole source of broadcast MLB television coverage in the UK.Eight different team won the World Series since during the show's 12 seasons on air: Yankees (3), Marlins (2), Red Sox (2), Diamondbacks, Angels, White Sox, Cardinals, and Phillies.
Presenters
- Jonny GouldJonny Gould (game show presenter)Jonathan Gould , often known as Jonny Gould, is a British television presenter who was the host of the UK baseball show MLB on Five from 1997 until it was cancelled in 2008...
(Host, 1997–2008) - Pat Garrigan (Analyst, 2001)
- Brett Barish (Analyst 2001)
- Josh ChetwyndJosh ChetwyndJoshua Stephen Chetwynd is a journalist, broadcaster, author and former baseball player.-Journalism:Chetwynd has worked as a staff reporter for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and U.S. News & World Report...
(Analyst, 2001–2003, 2006–2008) - David LengelDavid LengelDavid Lengel is a baseball journalist who formerly worked alongside Jonny Gould on MLB on five, a tv programme on UK channel Five.-Career:David presented five's UK baseball coverage for a period of 18 months between 2003 and 2005...
(Analyst, 2003–2005, occasional guest analyst since 2006) - Todd Macklin (Analyst, 1997–2001)
- Mike CarlsonMike CarlsonMike Carlson is the regular pundit of National Football League coverage for the United Kingdom's Channel 4 TV station, having formerly worked on Channel Five's coverage of the sport from 1998-2010. He is originally from Connecticut, USA.- Career :...
(Occasional guest analyst since 1998) - Vince Garcia (Occasional guest analyst since 1998)
- Tommy BoydTommy BoydTimothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
(Host, 1997) - Mark Webster (Occasional guest host)
- Paul RomanukPaul RomanukPaul Romanuk is a Canadian sportscaster and writer. He was born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Romanuk has lived in London, England since 2005.-Early career:...
(Occasional guest host)
Regular features
A number of segments appear before the game or in between innings. In addition to entertaining the audience, these exist because UK broadcasting standards effectively prevent Five from running commercials every time the US broadcasters do so.MLB Roundup
Almost every episode features a brief round up of the main events and games of the last few days. In the early years of the show this was usually done in a half hour segment at the start of the show; however as the start of the show has been pushed back closer to the game's first pitch this is now done during breaks in play. On Wednesdays, ESPN broadcasts scores and highlights from the night's other games, although the entire telecast is usually on a short-delay.On the Beat
Because the show generally consists of the ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
Sunday and Wednesday Night Baseball games there are often many teams that are not shown. To compensate for this David Lengel
David Lengel
David Lengel is a baseball journalist who formerly worked alongside Jonny Gould on MLB on five, a tv programme on UK channel Five.-Career:David presented five's UK baseball coverage for a period of 18 months between 2003 and 2005...
created the On the Beat segment, which offers a telephone interview with a beat writer or local TV commentator of a given team. The segment has also featured a handful of Hall of Fame writers and broadcasters.
In Game Trivia
In Game Trivia consists of the producer of the show Erik Janssen (or when Erik is absent whoever is standing in as producer) setting an obscure trivia question which the pundit has to answer. Despite the questions being jokingly referred to an Erik's Stumper both Dave and Josh have comprehensively beaten the shows esteemed Expo loving producer over the course of the season.Seventh-inning stretchSeventh-inning stretchThe seventh-inning stretch is a tradition in baseball that takes place between the halves of the seventh inning of any game – in the middle of the seventh inning. Fans generally stand up and stretch out their arms and legs and sometimes walk around. It is a popular time to get a late-game snack as...
(Literally)
In 2002 Jonny started stretching his arm while saying seventh inning stretch. This quietly became a tradition on the show with Jonny and Josh performing 'the stretch' every show.British Baseball Roundup
Every Sunday during the British Baseball season the show gives an update on the results and standings of the British National League, the top level of British Baseball. Since 1998 the show has also been at the Final 4 tournament (formerly at Brighton, latterly at Croydon PiratesCroydon Pirates
Croydon Pirates are a British baseball club based in South London, England, who run three teams in various national leagues. They play at Roundshaw, which is one of the best baseball diamonds in the U.K., meaning Croydon are often the hosts of the London Tournament and National Finals.The first...
) and shown highlights on that week's show.
Fantasy Baseball
In the last two seasons the show in conjunction with Baseball-Softball UK has organised an internet-based fantasy baseball league for aspiring players throughout the UK, which they offer an update on every Sunday.1 Minute Blitz
During the middle of the 7th inning, Josh tries to answer as many viewer e-mails as he can in under 1 minute. Josh usually replies yes or no to each question instinctively. The current record for the 1 Minute Blitz is 17 questions.The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Alternatively in the middle of the 7th inning, a series of clips from that weeks MLB games are shown. These range from the best plays of the week (the Good), embarrassing mess-ups (the Bad), and the bizarre or excruciating (the Ugly).1 Minute Rant
This involves Jonny or Josh ranting about a particular issue, such as Barry BondsBarry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
' pursuit of the home run record.
Ballpark Breakdowns
Added during the 2007 season, Josh describes size, shape, key features and other points of interest of MLB fieldsBaseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.-Specifications:...
and stadiums.
Weaver Watch/Granderson Watch
One of the more popular segments of the show followed the misfortunes of pitcher Jeff WeaverJeff Weaver
Jeffrey Charles Weaver is a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has pitched in the majors for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, St. Louis Cardinals, and Seattle Mariners...
who experienced an unsuccessful spell with the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
in 2003. The segment was titled "Weaver Watch" and consisted of highlights of his starts coupled with a little mockery. The feature ran sporadically thereafter, ending with his win in the 2006 World Series
2006 World Series
The 2006 World Series, the 102nd edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 27, and matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the Series in five games, taking...
for the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
.
In 2007, Five created the Granderson Watch, following Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
outfielder Curtis Granderson
Curtis Granderson
Curtis Granderson is an American Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees. Before joining the Yankees in 2010, he played with the Detroit Tigers . A center fielder, Granderson is known for being a five-tool player...
. As part of Granderson Watch, Granderson answers a viewer e-mail question during each Sunday game.
Baseball Library
During the 7th inning stretch on Sunday shows throughout 2008, Jonny and Josh would throw over to the baseball "curator" Phill JupitusPhill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
who read an excerpt from the week's chosen book. Books read include The Natural
The Natural
The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud. The book follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman who seeks to kill arrogant athletes to "better the world"...
, The Boys of Summer and Veeck as in Wreck.
Related shows
Although not strictly speaking spin-offs there were a number of other baseball shows and features on Channel 5 from 1997 to 1999. NASN (now known as ESPN America) exclusively aired baseball programming outside Channel 5's two game broadcasts. TWIBThis Week in Baseball
This Week in Baseball is a weekly television program, originally designed to show highlights of the previous week's Major League Baseball action. TWIB debuted in .-Genesis of the series:...
was often shown after games on Channel 5.