Where Have You Gone, Game of the Week?

It’s Fourth of July weekend, and baseball, the national pastime, is as much a part of it as family barbecues and fireworks.

So, let’s see what CBS, the baseball network, has to offer.

What, no baseball on CBS this weekend? That can’t be.

You would think that even CBS, which has obliterated what once was a baseball staple--the “Game of the Week”--wouldn’t dare leave baseball off its schedule on Fourth of July weekend.

If nothing else, it needs a baseball game to help promote Tuesday’s All-Star game.

But the schedule-maker at CBS, for some reason, has thrown American tradition out the window.

There is no baseball on CBS this weekend.

At least, Channel 5 will show the Angels’ games at Texas tonight and Saturday, and there is also baseball on cable.

Why baseball isn’t on CBS makes no sense. The only sports event it will show is a golf tournament.

CBS has turned regular-season baseball on CBS into an anomaly. There is no continuity, no pattern.

For 32 years, the “Game of the Week” was a viewing habit for millions of Americans.

Now, that habit has been broken.

At CBS, it’s become the “Occasional Game of the Week.”

CBS has admitted to losing $75 million to $80 million on baseball last season and figures to lose about $200 million during the four years of its $1.08-billion contract.

Part of the loss can be blamed on the recession, but CBS hasn’t done itself any favors in the way it has handled baseball.

Reasoning that there isn’t big money in regular-season baseball, CBS originally planned to televise only 12 regular-season games.

Public pressure got the network to increase the number to 16. CBS has 14 Saturday games and two Sunday games on this season’s schedule, with varying game times.

Where a Saturday morning game used to be automatic, you have to check the listing to figure out what CBS is doing.

The next CBS baseball telecast after the All-Star game will be Sunday, July 14, at noon, with the Angels playing host to the New York Yankees. Originally, CBS planned to show the Baltimore Orioles-Oakland Athletics game.

There is one more July telecast after that, then only two in August.

Somehow, CBS figures that less is more. But it isn’t.

CBS’ CPA approach to the national pastime isn’t working.

In 1989, the last year NBC televised baseball, it had carried 15 telecasts at this juncture, averaging a 4.8 rating.

CBS has had only seven telecasts this season and is averaging a 3.9 rating. That’s a 19% drop.

Recommended viewing: There is some good news for baseball fans. On HBO Monday at 10 p.m. is a show that you don’t want to miss. It’s a one-hour documentary titled, “When It Was a Game.”

The show is made up solely of 8-millimeter and 16-millimeter film, most of it in color, that was solicited from former players, coaches and equipment managers, who delved into their basements, attics, lockers and trunks.

There are never-seen shots of such stars as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson.

The show takes viewers back to a time when baseball was the focal point of sports in our society, back before billion-dollar television contracts and multimillion-dollar player contracts, back to the true golden age of baseball.

Peter Kessler is the main narrator, but there are dozens of voices used in the show. Many of the players from that era reflect, and James Earl Jones, Jason Robards, Roy Scheider and a number of authors and poets narrate historical passages from baseball lore and other pieces.

“In my 14 years at HBO, I can say without question that this is the most spellbinding program I’ve ever been associated with,” said Ross Greenburg, HBO’s executive producer of sports.

A publicist for a rival network, after viewing a preview tape, said: “I’d love to be able to promote that show. You sure wouldn’t have to worry about any negative reviews. It’s NFL Films quality.”

Add baseball show: New York producers George Roy and Steve Stern, who call their production company Black Canyon, came to Greenburg nearly two years ago with some Brooklyn Dodger footage. They hoped to sell a show to HBO on the Brooklyn team.

Greenburg liked the idea but had a better one.

“If this footage exists, surely there is more out there,” Greenburg told the producers.

Roy and Stern, joined by HBO’s Dave Harmon, began a scavenger hunt for more film, and came up with nearly 50 hours worth that have since been edited into a one-hour show.

Besides Monday’s play date, there are six others--July 10, 13, 16, 18, 23 and 28. Set the VCR. This is a keeper.

Boxing beat: Viewers who happened to watch the pay-per-view telecast of last Friday night’s Mike Tyson-Razor Ruddock fight to its conclusion were treated to an outburst by commentator Ferdie Pacheco.

Earlier, during the postfight interviews, promoter Don King attacked Pacheco for not speaking out against referee Mills Lane for penalizing Tyson, King’s fighter, for low blows.

Never mind that Lane was right.

“You criticized Richard Steele (for stopping Tyson-Ruddock I), but now you’re holding your tongue,” King screamed while Pacheco was trying to interview the fighters.

Later, after the credits--which, by the way, listed King as the executive producer--and after, supposedly, Kingvision was signed off the air, Pacheco’s voice could be heard.

“What the . . . was that all about?” Pacheco said. “I’m so . . . off. King, what the . . . was he doing? He kept saying, ‘You go after a black man (Steele) and you let a white guy (Lane) get away. I said, ‘Didn’t you listen to our commentary?’ ”

King obviously wants to control everything, even the commentary.

As for Pacheco, he embarrassed himself when, during the postfight interviews, he cut off Ruddock in mid-sentence to go back to Tyson. Ruddock, fittingly, gave Pacheco an I-can’t-believe-this look.

Add boxing: Early indications are that Tyson-Ruddock II will take in about $43 million, $8 million more than Tyson-Ruddock I, and the closed-circuit revenue will be another $1.5 million to $2 million.

TV-Radio Notes

Stephanie LaMotta, daughter of boxer Jake LaMotta, talks about her fight against multiple sclerosis on Prime Ticket’s “Press Box” Monday at 10 p.m. The segment was put together by senior producer Tom Reilly, whose twin sister also has MS. Reilly, taking on a new role, also is the field reporter and narrator of the piece. . . . “Up Close” with Roy Firestone featured Lyle Alzado Wednesday night, and the show will be repeated in its entirety on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Monday night at 9. . . . KNX will carry CBS Radio’s All-Star game coverage, beginning at 5:15 p.m., PDT, Tuesday. The radio announcers are John Rooney, Jerry Coleman and Johnny Bench. . . . On CBS-TV, Jack Buck and Tim McCarver will call the game, Pat O’Brien will be the host of the coverage and Jim Kaat the field reporter.