This Week in Baseball - WGN Channel 9 (Complete Broadcast, 7/26/1980) 📺 ⚾

Here's the complete broadcast of an edition of the highlights series This Week in Baseball, aired over WGN Channel 9. The narrator was Mel Allen who was the "Voice of the Yankees" in New York from 1939 to 1964 (and, from 1951, seen over WGN's sister station, WPIX Channel 11.) Mr. Allen also did voiceovers for the sponsor billboards and Volkswagen Quiz.
[NOTE: A few of the library music cues used in the show had to be modified or removed to prevent blocking.]
Includes:
WGN "Last Farewell" ID (voiceover by Len Johnson)
Previews of week's games (with humorous highlights emphasized), followed by opening titles and sponsor billboard for Gillette Trac II
Commercials for:
Gillette Trac II razor (with George S. Irving as man behind the counter)
Miller Beer - "Miller Time" (on fishing boat ride) (voiceover by Gene Barry)
Stroh's Beer
Polyglycoat liquid cleaning compound
Games highlighted in Segment 2 include a Yankees-Royals game (with a camerawoman for WPIX shown for a few seconds; entire audio is silent and George Brett is seen moving his lips at the end); and a Pirates ceremony honoring Willie "Pops" Stargell - and highlights of a game against Dodgers that ended Pirates' 7-game winning streak, followed by Bucs' win in doubleheader nightcap
Volkswagen Quiz (Which rookie of the year in the late '40's is currently a manager?)
Commercials for:
Volkswagen Rabbit (filmed in Belgium)
Creative Mirrors (voiceover by Len Johnson; with "Pam the Creative Mirrors Girl" at the end)
Stroh Light beer
Promo for The Mike Douglas Show (starting August 11th; this was the version produced by Syndicast, after Group W unceremoniously fired him earlier in the year and replaced him with John Davidson)
In Segment 3, spotlight on American League rookie players including Detroit's Kirk Gibson (manager Sparky Anderson speaks) and Rick Peters, Cleveland's Joe Charboneau, Minnesota's Doug Corbett and Rick Sofield, Chicago's Harold Baines, Rich Dotson and Britt Byrnes, Kansas City's Rennie Martin, Toronto's Alfred Griffin and Damaso Garcia (with words from manager Bob Mattick), Boston's Dave Stapleton, and Yankees' Dennis Werth; plus a look at Steve Balboni of Class AA Southern League's National Sounds
Answer to Volkswagen Quiz
Commercials for:
Rolaids Relief Man Award (with Mel Allen)
Gillette Atra razor (with pivot)
Polo at Glendale Heights Polo Club
Segment 4, with looks of play screwups at games of Tigers-Angels, Pirates-Phillies, (?), the Phillie Phanatic doing his thing, Tigers-Mariners, Cubs-Dodgers, Giants-Cardinals, Mets-Braves, Yankees-Twins (audio completely muted until midway through Yanks game; "Guitar Pickin' Man" by Glenn Sutton and Lloyd Green from KPM library heard); and looks at Yankees' Willie Randolph, Texas' Pat Putnam, Atlanta's Bob Horner, Minnesota's Dave Edwards, San Diego's Bon Joshua, California's Don Baylor, Cleveland's Ron Hassey, Yankees' Ron Davis, and Minnesota's Pete McCannon; plus record-breaking from Cincinnati's Johnny Bench, Yankees' Graig Nettles, Boston's Carl Yastrzemski, and Yankees' Reggie Jackson (winner of Gillette Special for week); Steve Busby speak of "Reg"
After Allen's close, audio is muted as ending credits come:
Narrated by: Mel Allen
Technical Supervisor: Joseph L. Reichler
Written by: Mark Durand
Script Editor: Warner Fusselle
Film Editors: Mario Bucich, Tony Tocci, Mike Kostel, Ken McIlwaine
Sound Mixer: Vincent Gizzi
Videotape Editor: Ron Wandler
Production Assistants: John Bacchia, Carl Vandevender, Chris Martens
Production Coordinator: Bill Brown
Associate Producers: Elise Backus, Jack O'Hara
Produced By: Tim Parker
Supervising Producers: Jody Shapiro, Geoff Belinfante
Executive Producer: Larry Parker
Post-Production by Teletronics
Commercials for:
The Shower Saver
Olympia Beer (incomplete; recording ends ten seconds in)
This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, July 26th 1980 during the 12:30pm to 1:00pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: [e-mail] Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail [e-mail] Thank you for your help!

[@dougbrowne9890]

Thank you for posting this. I tried to never miss an episode of TWIB. It was a staple of Saturday television during the season. I would even miss a Godzilla or Frankenstein movie to watch it. Thanks again.

[@kandtherestcandtherest9080]

Used to dance to the opening theme, and I would get so excited about this show during the baseball season. It was like being at the ball park. Thank you

[@dawnjensen5615]

Thank you for taking me back to my childhood..

[@davesammarco799]

I miss this so much

[@jeffmatthews6443]

In the days before MLB Network and the Internet, this was the only way to see weekly baseball highlights from around MLB unless you had ESPN back then. I used to watch this show religiously on WGN-TV every weekend. This definitely brings back great childhood memories!

[@sleestack13]

I was 11 when this aired. Watched on channel 9 every week during the season. Hearing that voice and theme song again really hit me.

[@theylied1776]

I have the same reaction when I hear Frasier Thomas on Family Classics.

[@sleestack13]

@@theylied1776 And just you mentioning "Family Classics" makes me want to watch Mysterious Island again.

[@theylied1776]

@@sleestack13 whatever I hear Frasier Thomas or Marlin Perkins from mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom, that is just memory lane for me.

[@josephambrose2852]

Please post positive proof pronto Pics preferred

[@richieboy6825]

Hell, I want chef it every DAY!! Let’s just say I was loosely supervised as a kid. Watched the cubs nearly every day. Didn’t need much else - if it wasn’t watching baseball I was surely playing.

[@DARK24-7]

This show was the best mlb scores and highlights show-and Mr.Mel Allen was superb!!!

[@80swerethebest]

This gives me goosebumps. I was at my first major league baseball game in Cincinnati sitting in the yellow seats when Bench hit the home run that landed the green seats that broke Yogi's record. I remember one guy with a fishing net on the raling just below where my dad and I were sitting...he missed the ball by a few feet. My dad probably knew about the significance as it was a big crowd, but I don't think as a kid I even knew. This is why KZbin is so good and why the American League used to be foreign until October. Thanks for posting video. ❤

[@mikek7190]

For the last half hour, I was 12 years old again.

[@WayneProctor-w9v]

That theme music Mel Allen's golden tones takes me back to a great time when my only worries was how my beloved Tigers did

[@mysticakhenaton1701]

as a kid growing up here in Chicago. doing the baseball season, I watched this EVERY Sunday afternoon. right before my Cubs came on. on WGN channel 9...a LONG-time bygone era, if you ask me.

[@rfmonii]

Thank you for this. This was wonderful. The editing was tight, the pacing exciting, the narration focused on the players and games (not on annoying hot takes), the information voluminous, and the coverage relevant. All in a half an hour. I loved it. Harken to my Saturday afternoons when I was a young lad in love with the game. Again, thank you!!

[@ericdulyon4601]

I was 12 and I remember these shows well. Always looked forward to watching them

[@RickinBaltimore]

Oh does this take me back! TWIB was a must watch every week for me as a kid.

[@danmount9462]

I grew up with TWIB. Miss it a ton.

[@burtoncapps5477]

Love TWIB it's one of my best childhood memories. I watched it on Saturday before the game of the week. Now, we can watch every game every single day. Times have changed....

[@RichardSleyster]

Late Saturday summer mornings. Was 8 at this time. Gives me goosebumps

[@jmbrendan53]

me too

[@davidratti5555]

Remembering this week in baseball is wonderful! What I would give to watch it again back when my brother Jim was still alive! Baseball was pure back then!

[@jackbagley640]

Ah ... back when baseball was baseball. AL teams only played AL teams, NL teams only played NL teams, no DH in the National League ... baseball of my youth.

[@3243_]

Yep. Houston was in the National League, Milwaukee was in the American League, and the uniforms were a LOT better than today.

[@dickborg452]

So true

[@DAVYMAC]

Jack, this is when players bunted to advance base runners, and batters would willingly sacrifice their at-bats to move base runners ahead. Less selfishness, higher batting averages, and more runs being scored. And STILL superb pitching. No Maple-wood bats back then!

[@rickmontgomery3037]

@@3243_ Exactly.

[@joerules829]

7:30 is definitely a sign of the times. Dad smoking a cigarette in the stands at a baseball game with a kid in his lap.

[@andrewmohler5131]

back then, guys were smoking in the dugout.

[@jimwerther]

Thank you for posting! I used to watch TWIB every Sunday at 1:pm, right before the Mets' game, on Channel 9 in NYC. My favorite show growing up.

[@hoganshero19]

I was in my junior year of high school, our crazy part of upstate NY had finally brought through cable TV after all that time. This was one show I would watch every time it came on,Mel Allen, you can't forget that voice for sure, and from where I lived we had NYC channels, Pittsburgh channel and when of Chicago. So I had my choices of what games to watch, FINALLY!!!

[@commentingcollector]

This is my childhood! 44 years ago- how about that👍❤️

[@unc23sports]

Yeah boy 🎉

[@baxter6504]

This Week in Baseball aired on WBAL or WMAR in Baltimore. I loved watching TWiB as a kid in the '70s and early '80s! Mel Allen was the perfect host!!👍🏿

[@davidkeith7087]

Wow! I was 15yr old in Chicago suburbs.Cubs fanatic- brings back great memories thank you...

[@nflmlbclassics]

Thank you so much for finding and posting this jewel. I love these old TWIB's and haven't seen this (since at least 1980). Thank you!!!

[@CVSoprano]

I looked forward to this show every week during the baseball season.

[@ken_danerdiest1]

Great stuff as always, Fuzzy! Cool to hear the NBC Jackpot theme as the main theme for This Week in Baseball.

[@romelovesdan]

This was a special episode I remember well.....great to see clips again from Willie Stargell day!

[@Amber90125]

Happy memories of my childhood. My little brother always watched every Saturday morning in Dallas.

[@brenthenshaw3585]

I loved This Week In Baseball. Watched it on Saturdays on WGAL Channel 8 back in the 1980s.

[@SantiagosFakeBeard]

I was 1 when this aired. So many memories

[@chuckrawlings9518]

The music in the polo club commercial was the theme from "Now You See It" also known as "Chump Change" by Quincy Jones

[@jasonnstegall]

Mel Allen. TWIB Notes (both leagues, of course). THAT MAJESTIC CLOSING THEME. How About THAT?

[@andyrose5616]

Peter Tomarken, the host of Press Your Luck, plays the man at 2:45 who rolls his eyes in the Stroh’s commercial. (And a bit of an error by WGN, running two competing beer commercials back-to-back with no separation.)

[@cdelano81]

Peter's not "Pressing His Luck" here.

[@royalsfan]

In WGN's defense, they were drunk

[@jeffreylc]

I was 10. Loved TWIB. Thanks for posting.

[@ozzzy3z946]

I saw the thumbnail and the opening music immediately came to mind.

[@CatStanleySpaceDemon]

Sparky Anderson famously called Kirk Gibson, "The next Mickey Mantle." He didn't quite live up to that comparison but he managed to put together a nice career including an MVP award and two of the most famous home runs in World Series history.

[@TimEric4d3d3d3]

I remember watching TWIB on Ch. 9 at 1230 on Saturdays back in the early 90's.

[@jimwerther]

Saturdays? Not Sundays?

[@JRSmith-i3u]

@@jimwerthersaturdays 100pct

[@MSMMr1982]

Thank you do some more of this week in baseball ok i love it and keep up the good work your awesome you rock 🎸 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

[@RusstheTroubadour]

Thank Fuzzy . Longtime Yankees announcer Mel Allen was the narrator/host for TWIB from the programs inception in 1977 until just prior to his death in 1996 .

[@Sköldpadda-77]

Mr. October, Johnny Bench, George Brett, Willie Wilson, Frank White, Rookie Kirk Gibson, Skinny Tommy Lasorda, Sparky Anderson…what a time to be alive. Too bad I was only about 3 at the time. And this was when baseball was still a great game, long before current Commissioner Rob Manfred could get his hands on it and start screwing up the rules.

[@andrewsavilia8368]

Screwed up long before Manfred my friend…this WAS a great time

[@nathanstranges]

The theme music at the end is so classic and my best memory of TWIB!

[@robertjohnson4246]

This was on Milwaukee’s NBC station every Saturday just before the Game of the Week.

[@elbob17]

One of the greatest TV shows in American history. I still have the iconic theme song as my ringtone.

[@troynov1965]

Hard to believe that was about 45 years ago now .....I was 14 going on 15.

[@mysticakhenaton1701]

44

[@troynov1965]

@@mysticakhenaton1701 about = Approximately; nearly.

[@somerandomguy5977]

At least you're younger than the guy in your profile pic.

[@niceguy4875]

I was 8 in 1980 but remember twb well layed on floor watching going through my baseball cards. Simple times

[@Ontariosound]

We only had 2 or 3 Blue Jays games on TV per week back then. And one Expo game per week. As a kid in Toronto, TWIB was the only way to see my favourite players. Dave “King Kong” Kingman was my top favourite.

[@bigkatspoker]

13:00 min mark - Gibby

[@theworldwariioldtimeradioc8676]

One of the cardinal sins I learned in broadcast school was never to air spots back to back selling similar products. The first spot set featured Miller and Stroh’s Beer back to back. Was something edited that was originally in between those spots?

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

Nope - nothing edited in the commercial breaks.

[@andyrose5616]

@@theworldwariioldtimeradioc8676 I have a feeling that the Miller commercial was a national barter spot and the Stroh’s spot was local, and WGN’s traffic department just didn’t notice they were running back-to-back.

[@3243_]

Or maybe they figured there were a lot of thirsty people in the viewing area that day. 🙂

[@humanbeing2420]

6:55 KC swept the Yankees in the ALCS later that season, winning game 3 at Yankee Stadium when George Brett absolutely crushed a Goose Gossage fastball into the upper deck for a 3 run HR. I was at that game.

[@fjr70ify]

Yes! Even though the Yankees had a better record, you could sense all year that it was the Royals time. I cried when Brett hit that homerun.

[@robrodarme1730]

George Brett, the Greatest player of all time!! Love ths, thank you!

[@buckynance]

I miss this show!!! I miss baseball the way it used to be too!!! I remember being in 4th grade in 1982 and my Mom would come in and wake me up to tell me that TWIB was about to start. If not for that, I would have slept longer.

[@Salvatore1268]

What a great show from my childhood

[@kevinkhoy7171]

"HOW BOUT THAT!"

[@Joe-ov1ut]

The guy selling the Trac II razors was the voice of Heat Miser on The Year Without a Santa Clause!

[@centralpete6044]

22:28 I was a Minnesota kid and for some reason have always remembered this weird at bat Jose Morales had and saw on TWIB all these years ago. Seeing it here 44 years later makes me smile. Also, Like a lot of kids, we “adopted” players when we played sand lot ball. I was George Brett. My brother was Dave Parker etc. there was one neighbor who wasn’t so familiar with who the best players were and we convinced him into being Jose Morales for a while before we came clean explained he was just a backup catcher with the Twins.

[@adriangaushausindahaus20]

I was six when this aired and was probably about the time i started watching. I was too young to understand what TWIB (notes) stood for, always thought it was a variation on crib notes...i figured twib is a word i just don't know. 😂 and oh! the Gathering Crowds song! wow!

[@TimEric4d3d3d3]

17:49 *step*father of future MLB All-Star Jayson Werth

[@jimwerther]

Never knew that. I just read up, and found out that Werth is actually a Schofield.

[@Madisonrvr]

Oh my God, the Chicago White Sox softball uniforms with the big wide collar and untucked shirts - fantastically hideous!

[@peterburke8388]

so weird when the music cuts out at around the 8 minute mark. it seems like the music's always there. when it's not it's like stepping into a twilight zone of silence.

[@Qboro66]

Wow! I'm 13 years old going on 14 again watching this...📺👀

[@andrewmohler5131]

Would watch this week in baseball and start hustling up a neighborhood game after.

[@michaelleroy9281]

New York and Kansas City would meet in October this time it was KC on top

[@chumbersdee]

I don't think I'm imagining this. Baseball was just more fun back then

[@Jeff-n6w6t]

I was a huge Baseball Bunch kid also. 👍🏾💪🏾

[@Marcuswelby-nx2te]

WGN TV 9 would sometimes air this when it was rainin

[@forceghostburtreynolds7597]

We used to be a real country...

[@jamesl1130]

Miss this show

[@DiscipleofHim]

Who says you cant go back?

[@illinijake15]

Geesh…George Brett batting .375 at the end of July? Insane.

[@larsulrich2761]

People in Europe had Volkswagen Golfs not Rabbits.

[@craigpinkava6256]

I think I am not the only baseball fan that says to MLB... PLEASE BRING BACK TWIB!!!!

[@NOcode]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@PoliticusRex632]

Best show ever

[@kengeorgejones6855]

Thanks. This isn't long before Mike Douglas was replaced with John Davidson.

[@manonthemoog]

When I was a kid back in the late 70s I used to love this show, but it seemed like, at least in NY, it changed its airtime weekly or it would be on a different network from season to season. Maybe it was sometimes played during rainouts? Whenever I managed to see it at all, I only seemed to catch the last ten minutes at most. I used to get so upset.

[@jimwerther]

I watched it every Sunday, just before the Met game.

[@WBTVHistory]

@@jimwerther - Did WOR AND WPIX air this show, at differing times?

[@jimwerther]

@@WBTVHistory I used to watch as a kid in the early-to-mid 80s, 40 years ago. Makes it tough to remember. I know I used to watch TWIB from 1- 1:30, then watch the Mets on WOR Channel 9 starting immediately thereafter. My best recollection would be that TWIB was also on Ch 9.

[@andyrose5616]

@@manonthemoog Lots of these types of shows were just slotted wherever there was open space on the weekend, without a regular time slot. And yes, TWiB was often the go-to time filler during a rain delay.

[@Eddie42023]

Is this show even produced anymore, or is is just highlights on MLB's YT channel?

[@RussellPavlov]

KDKA in Pittsburgh and WUAB in Cleveland also had TWIB back then

[@maltmustang5075]

KDKA never seemed to air it on a regular basis [to my chagrin]; it was mostly used as a time-filler for 8PM game starts, and during rain delays. WTRF aired it regularly on Saturdays before the Game of the Week. I remember every Saturday I used to head to the upstairs TV with my dad where we would set up the rabbit ears and tune in [WTRF had been removed from out cable by that point]

[@higgy04]

Did Roger Whittaker make money from the WGN Station ID? The opening of 'The Last Farewell' was used.

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

It was probably covered under a standard broadcast music license back then. They wouldn’t have had a special deal with Whittaker in all likelihood.

[@higgy04]

@@FuzzyMemoriesTV Sounds like what happened when a Calgary TV station used a snippet of Tom Cochrane and Red Rider's 'White Hot' for their news intro. And George Baker Selection's 'Una Paloma Blanca' was used at a TV station in Ottawa for it's station ID.

[@phish66]

It's Miller time!

[@robrubio7583]

I don't know why channel 9 didn't stay great like it did in 1970s and 1980s. Then ya let the cubs go. Everybody watched wgn.

[@v4m.pir3]

Shame that there is t going to be no WGN-9 anymore

[@randalls9822]

TWIB Notes!!!!

[@danj312]

why pick this episode with no Cubs??!! uggg

[@nicksimon7364]

Dan I watched religiously - they weren’t in many episodes unfortunately

[@danj312]

@@nicksimon7364 yes sir me as well and no they did not make it that much at all if ever growing up in the 70s and 80s in Chicago area as a sports fan was a very very hard thing to do LOL not like it's a pleasure now lol

[@hectorlopez6900]

And bring back the Baseball Bunch!

[@cdub4693]

Baseball needs a new campaign to make it Americas game again. Baseball is its own worst enemy. It’s too difficult to get games locally these days. On day one as commissioner I will make baseball games free on every streaming device available. I will fight fight for a salary cap to make every team competitive like football and basketball have. Not where the teams with the most money can cover their bad management, scouting and drafting jobs by having more money to outbid for their lack of a quality front office.

[@jerryking45]

Steve Howe would later be banned from baseball for multiple violations of their substance abuse policy.

[@patrickt6642]

Baseball is the one sport you can imagine how ruths yankees would do against mantles yankee teams or jeters teams.the physical difference in football and basketball players over the decades eliminate that thought.

[@CatStanleySpaceDemon]

Baseball players have undergone just as drastic physical changes as any other sport. Just look at the physiques of the players in this show compared to what they were during the steroid era or now. It's huge.

[@hectorlopez6900]

Let’s turn back time!

[@andrewmohler5131]

that pirates team was loaded, could have won a couple world series.

[@millypoo7713]

George Brett... 4:08... 4:38... 6:56

[@Matthew19Vexthem]

They should definitely remake this weekly show.

[@jude999]

Before ESPN, before interleague play...

[@sdne1959]

. GOTTA go order that "Shower Saver " (28:08)..........anybody happen to know their web address ?? 😉 .

[@jms3195]

Why all the dead air? Copyright issue?

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

There were a few library music cues that had to be removed. Let’s be grateful most of them are intact. 😊

[@millypoo7713]

Why cry about it?

[@southamcaballero]

I predict the Phillies will win this year against the Royals in the WS, 4 games to 2

[@nn26376]

Sparky was right about Kirk Gibson, but Charboneau would win AL ROY.

[@rrmond]

We used to be a nation

[@royalsfan]

*NASHVILLE Sounds

[@millypoo7713]

Tongo the Ape Man... 2:21... 2:25