Vin Scully and "Flashing Spikes" from "Alcoa Premiere"

As we head into baseball season, it's a good time to look at some curios that are floating around on YouTube. There is a particular gem up there courtesy of--well, I'm not going to publicly thank the uploader by name (or handle) or embed the videos here, but someone did fans a service by posting "Flashing Spikes," a great little representation of the national pastime and also a wonderful bit of show business history . I just don't want to call too much attention to it and risk having it taken down.

Vin Scully, America's unofficial Most Beloved Broadcaster, is the announcer in this baseball episode of the anthology series "Alcoa Premiere" (sometimes "Alcoa Premiere Theatre"),  hosted by Fred Astaire, and while Scully does look quite youthful here, it's still amazing to note that he still gets it done behind the microphone today some 57 years later. I must admit a small part of me thinks maybe we overdo the Scully worship a bit and I almost want to be able to chuckle at how awkward the relative greenhorn broadcaster is in this show, but, nope. Vin is pretty much awesome here. The episode climaxes in a World Series game 7, and his credibility as an announcer, even then, really sells the drama of the situation, no small feat given how compressed the story is to fit its television running time.

Actually, while Scully gives "Flashing Spikes" gravitas, it's not like this production needs it. Besides Astaire, the production features the legendary Jimmy Stewart as a disgraced former player who is embroiled in a fresh scandal involving a young phenom. In addition to that star power, there is a fun cameo by John Wayne under an assumed name (his son Patrick plays the phenom), juicy supporting roles for Jack Warden, Tige Andrews, and Edgar Buchanan, who really seem at home in a baseball story, and, oh, yeah, the whole thing is directed by John Ford.

The story is a little rushed, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I watched the segments that are posted in the correct order. But it's a really fun episode. I won't go into the particulars of the story, but I do want to talk about what could have been the most intriguing moment if it actually happened. Don Drysdale (who else? That dude was in everything on TV in that era) also has a small role in which he gets to pitch to Jimmy Stewart's character, retired and barnstorming long after his disgraceful exit from the majors. So Stewart drops a bunt for a base hit on him. Now, forget the fact that Jimmy is brutally spiked later when his identity is discovered. He could have had it a lot worse. I wanted to see his NEXT at-bat, when Drysdale surely would have knocked him on his ass. Mr. Smith Goes to the Dirt would have been something else.

Again, I highly recommend this to baseball fans, and even non-fans can appreciate this for the talent involved if nothing else. If something like this can be languishing in obscurity, what else is out there in the vaults of those forgotten anthology shows of the 1950s and early 1960s?