Hardball (1994 TV series)

Hardball is an American baseball sitcom that aired Sunday nights at 8:30 pm on Fox from September 4, 1994, to November 4, 1994. The series premiered in the middle of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike and was canceled around the time that the year's World Series would have been played.^[1] YouTube channel "Baseball's Not Dead" published a 30 minute video detailing the series in September 2023 which caused a minor cult following of people revisiting the show.^[2]

Hardball
Created by	Jeff Martin Kevin Curran
Starring	Bruce Greenwood Mike Starr Joe Rogan Phill Lewis Dann Florek
Composer	Jonathan Wolff
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Interbang, Inc. Magic Beans, Inc. Touchstone Television
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	September 4 (1994-09-04) – November 4, 1994 (1994-11-04)

Premise

The series focused on the players and staff of the Pioneers, a fictional American League baseball team. Among those shown were pitcher Dave Logan, who has been largely overlooked by MLB; catcher Mike Widmer, who is past his prime; team owner Mitzi Balzer, who is sharp-tongued and trying to get her team out of last place; public relations girl Lee Emory, who has her hands full with Mitzi and the team; and centerfielder Frank Valente, whose cocky high-priced "superstar" ways put him at odds with Dave. The first episode showed Mitzi firing the manager and replacing him with a timid man named Ernest "Happy" Talbot, who is unsure how to get the Pioneers working as a team.

Cast

• Bruce Greenwood as Dave Logan
• Mike Starr as Mike Widmer
• Joe Rogan as Frank Valente
• Phill Lewis as Arnold Nixon
• Chris Browning as Lloyd LaCombe
• Dann Florek as Ernest 'Happy' Talbot
• Steve Hytner as Brad Coolidge
• Alexandra Wentworth as Lee Emory
• Rose Marie as Mitzi Balzer
• Adam Hendershott as Nelson Balzer

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Pilot"	John Whitesell & Peter Baldwin	Kevin Curran & Jeff Martin	September 4, 1994 (1994-09-04)
2	"Mike's Release"	Peter Baldwin	Tracy Newman & Jonathan Stark	September 11, 1994 (1994-09-11)
3	"The Butt Winnick Story"	Peter Baldwin	Bill Freiberger	September 18, 1994 (1994-09-18)
4	"Whose Strike Is It Anyway?"	Peter Baldwin	Mike Barker & Matt Weitzman	October 2, 1994 (1994-10-02)
5	"Frank Buys an Island, Mike Pays the Price"	Peter Baldwin	Lona Williams	October 9, 1994 (1994-10-09)
6	"Lee's Bad, Bad Day"	Gil Junger	Lona Williams	October 16, 1994 (1994-10-16)
7	"My Name is Hard B."	Gerry Cohen	Bill Freiberger	October 23, 1994 (1994-10-23)
8	"See Spot Run"	Unknown	Unknown	October 30, 1994 (1994-10-30)
9	"The Rookie, the Batgirl, the Coach and His Wife"	Unknown	Unknown	November 4, 1994 (1994-11-04)