1979 World Series - Broadcasting

Broadcasting

This was the first World Series in which the participating teams' announcers were not involved in the play-calling on national radio, (Network television had done the same in 1977.) For the '79 Classic, Vin Scully and Sparky Anderson handled the play-by-play work for the CBS Radio Network. But because of their lead-announcer status for CBS Radio, Scully and Jack Buck did wind up calling their regular teams' Series games on CBS Radio in the 1980s—Scully in 1981 (his Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the New York Yankees) and Buck in 1985 and 1987 (Buck's St. Louis Cardinals against the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins), as would Jon Miller for ESPN Radio in 2002 (his San Francisco Giants against the Anaheim Angels and 2010 against the Texas Rangers). The Series was televised by ABC, with play-by-play announcers Keith Jackson (in Baltimore) and Al Michaels (in Pittsburgh), and color commentators Howard Cosell and Don Drysdale, who also covered the World Series Trophy presentation ceremony.

• In 2006 a "collector's edition" DVD box set, featuring the complete ABC telecasts of all seven games, was issued by Major League Baseball and A&E Home Video.