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Filmmaker pictures the Rays winning

By Peter Couture, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Oct 22, 2008 05:35 PM

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Ken Burns is taking Baseball into extra innings, and the Tampa Bay Rays may be playing in them.

Burns is the Emmy-winning filmmaker known for his PBS documentary series on American epics such as the Civil War and Jazz. He's currently putting the finishing touches on a film about America's national parks.

But ballparks were on his mind Tuesday. Specifically, what's taking place at Tropicana Field.

Even though Burns, 55, is a "died-in-the-wool Red Sox fan," he has nothing but praise for the team that won the American League pennant over his beloved BoSox and is now playing in the World Series.

"This is really a good team," Burns says by phone from the New Hampshire offices of his production company, Florentine Films. "What's impressive is how well-coached they are.

"I'm totally a Rays fan now (for the Series) because they are such a great story. God bless the Rays."

Maybe that's because Burns is working on an update of 1994's Baseball, a saga that traced the national pastime from its origins to the early '90s and is full of compelling stories. (Burns says he still tears up when he recalls an interview with Rachel Robinson, Jackie's widow.)

He is tentatively calling the updated material the "10th Inning" (the nine episodes in the original 18 1/2-hour film were called innings). Burns has even filmed new interviews with some of the commentators in the film, which is scheduled for broadcast on PBS in 2010.

"We're trying to figure out how to put our arms around all this … steroids, strikes, Barry Bonds," Burns says of the challenge of bringing Baseball up to the steroid era and beyond.

Will the new story include the rags-to-riches Rays?

Burns gives the impression that he's waiting to see if Tampa Bay beats Philadelphia in the Series.

Still, the filmmaker says, he knows firsthand what the Rays have been up against in an area in which a lot of baseball fans are transplants.

"I've been in your stadium," he says, "when there have been more Red Sox fans than Rays fans."

Maybe that's why he won't rule out the Rays for his new Baseball.

"Even now you have one of the great underdog stories of all time in the Rays," he says, pointing out baseball's history of the improbable.

So, what is his World Series prediction?

"I think," Burns says, "you're going to win in four."