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Sunday Night Baseball

Sunday Night Baseball is the Major League Baseball game of the week that is televised Sunday nights at 8 p.m, sometimes at 7 pm U.S. ET on ESPN during the regular season. (The official name is ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell; previous presenting sponsors included Nextel and Bank of America.) A few of the Sunday Night Baseball telecasts appear on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD rather than ESPN due to conflicts with other programming. Both Baseball Tonight and Sunday Night Baseball are also televised in high definition on ESPNHD.

The series debuted in 1990, and features play-by-play commentator Jon Miller and color commentator Joe Morgan. From 2004 until 2006, Sam Ryan had served as the field reporter, but left to join New York City's WCBS-TV and CBS Sports in June 2006. On July 2, 2006 Bonnie Bernstein joined the crew as the new field reporter, but did not return in 2007 primarily due to her request to cut back her schedule because of her continued recovery from a bout with deep vein thrombosis in October 2006. Beginning in 2006, Peter Gammons joined the broadcasts as a field reporter in the scouts position. Gammons, however, suffered a brain aneurysm and didn't return until September 2006.

Features

The telecasts also utilize the K Zone, a computer-generated on-screen graphic that accurately outlines the strike zone and pitch location. A Skycam is also used; it is usually mounted 20 feet above the stands in foul territory and travels back and forth along the first base line from behind home plate to the foul pole.

Commentators

A complete list of broadcasters, with their period of tenure on the show (beginning years of each season shown).

ESPN

Bonnie Bernstein: (field reporter, July-September 2006)
Peter Gammons: (field analyst, 2006-present)
Jon Miller: (play-by-play, 1990-present)
Joe Morgan: (analyst, 1990-present)
Sam Ryan: (field reporter, 2004-2006)

In 2008, Miller and Morgan began their 19th consecutive season working together for ESPN. Among U.S. network television sportscasters, only Pat Summerall and John Madden (who called NFL games for CBS and FOX from 1981 to 2001) have had a longer-tenured partnership in the booth.

Notable games aired on Sunday Night Baseball

ESPN was on hand for the Cleveland Indians' historic comeback against the Seattle Mariners on August 5, 2001. The Indians trailed 14-2 after six innings, but scored twelve runs in the final three innings before winning in the bottom of the eleventh, 15-14. The twelve-run comeback tied the Major League record for largest deficit overcome in a game.

Four weeks later, on September 2, Mike Mussina of the New York Yankees came within one strike of a perfect game against the Boston Red Sox. The effort was broken up on a single by Carl Everett, with Mussina settling for a one-hitter. The game itself was an exciting pitchers' duel, with the Red Sox' David Cone also shutting out the Yankees for eight innings, before allowing an RBI double by Enrique Wilson in the ninth. It was the only scoring of the Yankees' 1-0 win.

Rafael Furcal completed an unassisted triple play for the Atlanta Braves against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 10, 2003. It was the 12th such play in baseball history. In the fifth inning, the shortstop caught pitcher Woody Williams' liner with the runners moving in a hit and run attempt, stepped on second base to retire catcher Mike Matheny and tagged Orlando Palmeiro before he could return to first.

On April 22, 2007, the Red Sox became the fifth team in Major League history to hit four consecutive home runs, doing so in the third inning of a 7-6 victory over the Yankees.

On April 29 2007, A canceled broadcast occurred between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals when St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident earlier in the day at 12:35 A.M. while driving under the influence. In place of the game, special programming hosted by Miller and Morgan was shown. The game was later made up on September 10th, 2007, where the Cubs defeated the Cardinals 12-3, though the game was not broadcast as the Game of the Week.

On August 5, 2007, Tom Glavine of the New York Mets became the 23rd pitcher in history to record his 300th win. He did it in a 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

ESPN was on hand for the Washington Nationals' very first game at Nationals Park on March 30, 2008 (coincidentally the 19th season premiere of Sunday Night Baseball). The Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2, on Ryan Zimmerman's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

The final game played at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008 was broadcasted on Sunday Night Baseball.

History missed

ESPN was scheduled to televise the game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles from Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 20, 1998. However, this was also the first season of the new Sunday night pro football contract in which ESPN showed games in every week of the season, instead of just the second half. ESPN sought permission from Major League Baseball to move the game, as well as two other late-season contests, to ESPN2, but Major League Baseball denied the request. (But for some reason, they have never objected when early season games were bumped to ESPN2 by events such as the Women's Final Four and the Stanley Cup playoffs). Therefore, viewers instead saw a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, legendary shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. chose not to play in the Yankees-Orioles game, ending his all-time leading consecutive-games-played streak at 2,632.

It was not until 2000 that Major League Baseball gave ESPN permission to move the late-season games. From 2006 on, there is no real need for switching stations late in the season as the NFL Sunday night package has moved to NBC.

Other networks

In addition to the game being on ESPN, ESPN Domingo de Grandes Ligas (Major League Sunday) is also broadcasted on ESPN Deportes, the Spanish version of ESPN. On ESPN Deportes, Ernesto Jerez does play-by-play, former baseball player Candy Maldonado is the color commentator, and Guillermo Celis is the field reporter. This version is also presented on the Spanish feed of ESPN Latin America. The Brazilian feed, in portuguese, has Everaldo Marques doing the play-by-play and Paulo Antunes as the analyst. They broadcast from ESPN Brasil studios in São Paulo.

ESPN Radio also has a radio broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Excedrin. Gary Thorne calls the play-by-play while Dave Campbell serves as the color commentator on the ESPN Radio broadcasts. From 1998 to 2002, Charley Steiner did the play-by-play along with Kevin Kennedy (1998-1999) and Campbell (2000-2001), while Dan Shulman worked with Campbell from 2002 to 2007. (Shulman continues to occasionally fill in for Thorne on the broadcasts when the latter has other commitments, as do Jim Durham and John Rooney.) Prior to 1998, CBS Radio aired Sunday night games, usually with Jerry Coleman and John Rooney announcing. Outside the USA, this weekly game has also been broadcast live on Five in the UK since 1997 and is the longest running programme on the channel. In Latin America the game is broadcasted on ESPN Latin America. When the NFL season begins, the game is moved to ESPN Dos only for the audience in Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and the Caribbean Islands.