We chart MLB broadcast tech from early radio bulletins to modern multi-angle camera arrays and real-time Statcast telemetry.

INSIDE CNET LABS

How did baseball broadcasts get like this? Over 40 camera angles, shots change every couple of seconds, pitch speeds, exit velocity, spin rate, launch angle and ads everywhere you look. I went back through the archives of Major League Baseball to see how we got here, starting with the very first World Series in 1903.

Timecode chapters
0:00 How did we get here?
0:38 1903: The first World Series
1:21 The megaphone man
1:51 The Playograph
2:39 1921: Radio, baby!
3:36 1939: The first televised MLB game
5:07 1947: The first televised World Series
5:40 1951: Baseball in color
5:57 The center field camera
6:17 The first instant replay
6:56 The 1990s and the Fox Box
7:54 Today: The modern super broadcast
9:11 Is it too much?
9:55 Bring back the local booths
10:54 Why I love this game

Video credits
Host: Dillon Lopez
Scripted by: Dillon Lopez
Producer: Dillon Lopez
Camera: Dillon Lopez
Video editor: Dillon Lopez
Thumbnail designer: Dillon Lopez