BOSTON — In 1994 Ken Burns’ series “Baseball” was a grand slam home run, a nine-“inning” exploration of the American pastime that was the most popular documentary in American television history. But shortly before it aired in September, the game’s history was abruptly changing. Baseball players had gone on strike, a work stoppage that would ultimately result in the first-ever cancellation of the World Series.

The strike and its devastating consequences for Major League Baseball was the first of many dramatic events — “among the most consequential in the history of the game,” said Burns — that moved him and his filmmaking partner Lynn Novick to revisit the game and add “The Tenth Inning,” airing in two chapters on PBS Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Since the original film, baseball not only endured the devastating strike, but a burgeoning steroids scandal that transformed some of the game’s greatest heroes into fallen idols.

“We have been drawn to the story because of the classical tragedy, the Shakespearean dimension, the hubris that has brought these great stars down,” said Burns. “When you’re in the midst of it, it feels really bad and the Cassandras among us will wring their hands and say, ‘The game is over.’ But in fact, we’ve made it through the steroids scandal and we’re looking at it through the backside now.”

Despite all the self-inflicted wounds that damaged the game over the past two decades, baseball has not only endured, but, the filmmakers insist, is once again thriving. No change has been more responsible for its revival than globalization, which has bolstered baseball both on and off the field. Burns and Novick talked to GlobalPost columnist Mark Starr about globalization and its impact on the American game.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/sports/100924/globalization-baseball