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Spike TV Presents 'Viva Baseball,' a Celebration of the Latino Influence on America's Pastime
Two-Hour Primetime Event Premieres Friday, September 23 at 9:00 pm ET/PT
With Limited Commercial Interruption and Available in SAP
Featured Interviews With Alex Rodriquez, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Tony
Perez, Rod Carew, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and Luis Tiant
NEW YORK, Sept. 8 -- Spike TV and award-winning filmmaker Dan
Klores present Viva Baseball, a film that celebrates the astonishing
achievements of Latinos in Major League Baseball, and how they enthralled
millions of fans and captivated a nation. Viva Baseball, a two-hour primetime
film, focuses on the triumphs as well as the struggle and conflicts of Latino
baseball players in the U.S. -- premieres Friday, September 23 (9:00 -11:00 pm
ET/PT), as part of the network's tribute to Latino Heritage month. Viva
Baseball, narrated by singer/actor Marc Anthony, will be presented with
limited commercial interruption, and will be Spike TV's first ever original
presentation available in SAP.
Viva Baseball features interviews with today's superstars David Ortiz,
Alex Rodriquez, Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran and Miguel Tejada as well as
renowned Latino members of Baseball's Hall of Fame -- Rod Carew (inducted
1991), Juan Marichal (1983), Orlando Cepeda (1999), and Tony Perez (2000),
plus footage of the great Luis Aparacio (1984). In addition, Mr. Klores'
poignant segments with the widow and children of the great Roberto Clemente
helped to make the film an emotional juggernaut. Klores makes use of more
than 100 hours of interviews that he and producer Charles Stuart conducted,
plus rare archival footage and a soundtrack of 30 songs.
The film reveals the plight Latino ballplayers had to overcome in order to
succeed in a new country. Many of them grew up poor, and learned to master the
game simply by using a stick for a bat and a cardboard box for a mitt. When
they finally reached the major leagues and achieved success on the field, the
players endured ruthless discrimination off and on the field. Viva Baseball
tells how these young men coped with intolerance while playing on a national
stage.
Other baseball legends featured and/or interviewed are Felipe Alou,
Fernando Valenzuela, Orestes "Minnie" Minoso, Vic Power, Dennis Martinez,
Preston Gomez, Cookie Rojas, Tony Taylor, Keith Hernandez, and Tony Gonzalez.
"I've tried to make a film about love and pride," says Mr. Klores.
"Baseball became the love for these young men, and therefore we feel all of
their ups and downs."
Viva Baseball is produced by Shoot the Moon Productions with Dan Klores as
director and producer. Charles Stuart is writer and producer. Lou DiBella
serves as executive producer. David Zieff and Gary Levy edited Viva Baseball.
New York Mets' General Manager Omar Minaya serves as consultant. Keith Brown,
Vice President, Documentaries for Spike TV, is executive producer for the
network.
Spike TV, the first network for men, is available in 88 million homes and
is a division of MTV Networks. MTV Networks, a division of Viacom
International Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), owns and operates the following
television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, mtvU, VH1,
NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, MTV
INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 12 digital
services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has
licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its
programming services can be seen worldwide.
SOURCE Spike TV
Web Site: http://www.spiketv.com
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