When It Was a Game 3 (2000)
*** (out of 4)
The third film in the HBO series takes a closer look at the 1960s as things started to change in Major League Baseball. As with the previous two films, this one here benefits from having all of the footage in color. The one thing that doesn't work as well in this third entry in that the site of color isn't nearly as spectacular or effective as it was in the first two films. When you're watching footage from the 30s-50s, the color was a lot rarer then so seeing Babe Ruth in color was a lot more meaningful than seeing someone like Hank Aaron because we have all kids of color footage of him. I think the producers must have known that because unlike the first two films, this one here tells more of a story because we start at the beginning of the decade and move towards the later part with stories explaining what was going on in baseball. We learn about the NY teams leaving for California, the chase for Babe Ruth's record, the rise of the pitching star and the lowering of batting averages and of course minorities entering the league. There's a section about the fall of the Yankees might have been due to them refusing to sign minorities for long and it's mentioned that they could have had both Mayes and Aaron had they wanted them. Overall this is another good entry in the series but I'd say it's a little less magical than the first two. With that said, fans of baseball will still want to check it out.