Ken Burns is done with making baseball movies — with one potential exception.
“There are no baseball-themed features in the pipeline,” Burns said Monday during a TCA press tour session. But, he added, “If the Cubs win the World Series we will have ‘The 11th Inning.’”
Burns appeared at TCA to promote his new film, “Jackie Robinson,” about the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer who broke baseball’s color barrier. His nine-part documentary series “Baseball” premiered on PBS in 1994 and won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series. In 2010, PBS premiered “The Tenth Inning,” a follow-up that covered the years in the sport since the original series.
That period, Burns noted, “was characterized by strikes and money issues and steroid scandals and things like that,” but, he added, “I really just wanted to tell the story of the 2004 ALCS when the Red Sox came from behind, three games to none.”
The Red Sox went on that year to win the franchise’s first World Series championship in 86 years. The Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908.
“Jackie Robinson” premieres April 11 on PBS.