Root, Root, Root For The Underdog: 'Pitch Review'

It may not be clear because it rarely comes up as a subject in this column, but I am a huge baseball fan. I may not idealize it the same way certain sportswriter, or think its a metaphor for something larger the way Ken Burns does, but one can not deny that it has been a huge part of America's history, good, bad or otherwise. But the same limitations that make it such a brilliant game make it hard to make work for the medium of television. The fact that its audience has been shrinking every year in comparison to football doesn't help.

Nevertheless, there are still elements of the game - the general equality, the long schedule - that you'd think would make it ideal for TV. So Fox, in the middle of its schedule full of movie remakes and comic book stories, is daring to experiment with Dan Fogelman's Pitch. And, unlike previous incarnations which have tried with fictional teams, this one is set with the San Diego Padres, one of the most pathetic franchises in the history of the game. It therefore makes a certain amount of sense that they try to raise attendance, as well as social awareness, by having the first female player Ginny Baker (newcomer Kylie Bumbry) become a member of their pitching staff.

Now, considering how much gender equality is in the news because of the current election year, you'd think this was just another attempt to stand on a soapbox. But what's more surprising as the series has gone into three episodes is how focused the story mainly seems to be about the sporting world reacting to something that the rest of the world says it ready for. There's lot of talk about locker room talk, but one needs only look back to the stories of the early years of Jackie Robinson to know that some of this has to do with it. And part of the story is how Ginny wants to be treated not like a symbol, but rather like a ballplayer. She clearly has things to say not only to the teammates who resent her, but also to the ones who she thinks are trying to protect her. A big part of the story is about her relationship with aging catcher Mike Lawson (Mark-Paul Gosselaar, finally starting to look his age). The relationship between battery mates is critical to baseball. And as much as Lawson is trying  to play with his part in history, his body is breaking down and he's tired of playing with a losing team.

Half of the series is about the action on the field. The rest is about the game as a business. There has been a war going on between Ginny's three superiors, her manager Al Luongo (Dan Lauria), the GM Oscar Arguella (Mark Consuelos) and the owner who brought her up (Bob Balaban). All are trying to position themselves to lead this time and, by extension, Ginny. When Luongo, perhaps inevitably, gets involved in a scandal about another female sporting controversy, his position puts his job in the crosshairs. The owner wants him fired, and Consuelos, who was brought up by Luongo, is torn. But Luongo has far more tricks up his sleeve then you'd expect, and the way he manages to negotiate himself some breathing room is one of the more clever things about this series.

Some will no doubt make added comments about the fact that Ginny is also African-American, and try to see this as another show where political correctness is leading the day. There is an element of truth to this. But because the series lets us see that Ginny is a woman, whose had more struggles to get through then most - and many not from the places you'd think  - and her determination to treated not as special, but as an equal, is actually refreshing. And I have no doubt the comparisons to Shonda Rhimes' series will be coming eventually. But the fact is I'm glad to see a series where a black woman is defined as strong, not because she can do things as unpleasant and remorseless as Olivia Pope or Annalyse Keating, but rather something that people can actually admire. Even if it something as trivial as playing baseball.

Pitch is operating with two strikes against it. It's up against football, and Thursday night at 9 can be a deadly timeslot, especially when Mom comes back in three weeks. But its a well crafted series, that in additional to all its other accomplishments demonstrates that This is Us'  creator Fogelman is not a one-trick pony. Keep this series  alive. In a way, its only about baseball the way that Friday Night Lights was about football. And it handles the sport in question better than Lights ever did.

My score: 4 stars.