Fifty seasons ago, a weekly Major League Baseball highlight show debuted. Its name, fittingly, was This Week in Baseball.
How about that!?!
Regular viewers of TWIB will recognize the previous sentence as one of longtime This Week’s host, Mel Allen‘s, catchphrases. Allen, the 1978 recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting, was the show’s original host (and an excellent choice, in my opinion) and continued in that role until he died in 1996.
He was succeeded by the then-recently retired Ozzie Smith, who took over in 1997, but the show’s waning viewership led to its ultimate cancellation following the 1998 season.
Many may not be aware of it, but This Week in Baseball relaunched this season via MLB’s Twitter/X account. A weekly show of about 12 minutes has been relaunched this season by MLB on Twitter/X. Hosted by Kait Maniscalco, you’re able to find episodes at this link.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning, with the reveal coming to you Sunday.