Pitch - The Revisit

My favourite (only?) sports tv series came to dvd a while back, finally.  This week I get the chance to crack it open and watch all ten episodes.  I gotta say, just the first two minutes reminded me just how fuckin' cool this show was and what a total fuckin' shame it didn't find enough of an audience to get a second season.

Like science fiction, once in a while a network television show can be predictive in a way that might actually drive the future.  I really, truly believe that in my lifetime we will see a female pitcher in the majors, probably with a very Ginny Baker arsenal of a high 80s fastball and a serious trick pitch.  Ginny has a screwball but I believe whoever she is will have a knuckleball dancing 60 feet 6 inches.  I hope that Pitch inspires that young lady to great heights.  It sure as hell made this baseball fan happy to think that one day this fictional story could be paralleled in real life.

The show does something special in the pilot, allowing the main character to succumb to the overwhelming pressure that would surely be bearing down on a woman in this position.  It's hard to watch but it's just so fuckin' real.  Baseball is really, really difficult and that's the truth.  Ginny Baker is often compared to the great Jackie Robinson in the show and one must remember that Jackie put up on 0fer in his major league debut.  Ginny, like so many before her folds under pressure but comes back with true heart and athletic prowess, winning over the fans, the team and finally the ghost of her father who drove her to this place.

If you read me here at all, you know I love a few things: Sci-fi, Superheroes, Swords and Sorcery and Baseball.  Add Kylie Bunbury, aka Ginny Baker, to that list.  She's just that good here.  I don't know what the future holds for her but she won me over with her fierce, real, beautiful portrayal of greatness.

Damn, how I wish there could have been a season 2.  We will never know what might have been.  Such a damned shame.