Ken Burns is passionately in love with American history. It shows in every frame of every film he has created. Beginning with his 1981 Academy Award-nominated documentary “Brooklyn Bridge,” Burns captures the American story using his unique palette of words, sumptuous images and stirring music.
“Baseball,” originally released in 1994 and being replayed on the new MLB Network, took Burns 4 1/2 years to produce. He was the director, producer, co-writer, chief cinematographer and music director for that 18 1/2-hour history of America’s pastime. That film covered baseball from the 1840s to 1992.
Now Burns, 55, is putting the finishing touches on “The Tenth Inning,” which follows baseball’s path from 1993-2008. It will debut in the spring of 2010 on PBS. Speaking from his New York office, Burns recently talked with Denver Post baseball writer Patrick Saunders about baseball and Burns’ job as one of America’s best-known historians and documentary filmmakers.
Q: You were born in Brooklyn in 1953. What’s your favorite baseball team?
A: The Boston Red Sox. Though my mom worked at a hospital in Brooklyn when I was growing up, I lived principally in Delaware and Michigan. And I’ve lived in New Hampshire since 1971, so I’m a loyal fan of the Red Sox.
Q: Clearly, you believe the game of baseball is central to the American story. Did you find this new chapter, “The Tenth Inning,” tough to do, given the steroid era and the big-money of the last 15 years?
A: Not at all. I think in every decade, somebody has come out and said, “Oh, it’s all over, it’s not the game it used to be.” That’s because baseball so much reflects who we are, for good and bad. I find it’s no different than dealing with alcoholism in the 1900s, the exclusion of African-American players or the White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series.
Q: So you think baseball remains vibrant and alive?
A: Absolutely. The game has never been better; it’s never been more popular. The play on the field is spectacular beyond belief. My first film opens with that amazing catch by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series off the bat of Vic Wertz. We’ve all seen that catch a thousand times. But now you can see that catch made by somebody once or twice a week on “SportsCenter” today. Somebody from the 1920s could not recognize the athleticism in the game today.
Q: When did you first want to be a historian/filmmaker?
A: It’s the other way around. I wanted to be a filmmaker since I was 12 years old. It’s a very personal story. My mom, Lyla, was dying of cancer all of my life. Since age 3, I knew there was something hanging over our family. She died when I was 11. After that, it was just me, my dad and my younger brother. My dad (Robert) had a very strict curfew, but he forgave that curfew if I was out watching old films down at the cinema. And I distinctly remember watching “Rio Bravo” with him. It was the first time I ever saw my dad cry. He never cried at my mom’s funeral, but he cried at that movie, because he had seen it with my mom. I remember thinking, “Wow, there is so much power to this medium!”
Q: You obviously love your work.
A: When I think about it, what is it that I do? I wake the dead. I spend all of my waking life trying to make these historical figures matter to us in this frenetic, digital world. I try to make them come alive and matter to us.
Q: Do people ever tell you that you have the greatest job in the world?
A: There is not a week when someone doesn’t say that to me, and there is not a day when I don’t say that to myself. I ran into a Hollywood movie star at a restaurant in Manhattan. This is somebody that everybody has known for 40 years on the screen. He came up to me and said, “You have the best job in America.” And, you know, I do. I have this incredible freedom and I get to meet some of the most interesting people on earth, and travel all over this country.
Q: You’re not going to tell me the name of that actor, are you?
A: I can’t. I wish I could, but I can’t.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Top 5 favorite baseball players
1. Jackie Robinson: Simply the most important player in history. He transformed the game into what it had always portended to be — our national pastime.
2. Willie Mays: There was nobody more thrilling to watch.
3. Roberto Clemente: He played with such spirit, drive and courage.
4. Babe Ruth: He’s that titanic figure in the game that can’t be ignored.
5. Ted Williams: A great player, of course, but what I found important was his Hall of Fame induction speech when he scolded baseball’s establishment for past treatment of black players.
