It carried various types of programs (for instance, late night band remotes were another feature carried by Liberty) but McLendon, known as the "Old Scotchman", and his daily ball game recreations off the
Western Union ticker provided the big money maker. The recreations used himself and future sportscasting stars such as
Lindsey Nelson and
Jerry Doggett. It was a live, not recreated, game that provided McLendon and Liberty with their greatest career moment. The Scotchman himself was behind the Liberty mic at the
Polo Grounds in New York on October 3, 1951, for the finale of the three-game
National League play-off series between the
New York Giants and
Brooklyn Dodgers. Radio was still the more popular nationwide medium then. With
Russ Hodges' famous radio call limited to the Giants' network, McLendon's call is how most Americans heard the NL clincher, including Giant
Bobby Thomson's ninth-inning three-run homer into the left-field stands to win it for New York. Excerpts of the McLendon broadcast were highlighted in the 2001
HBO documentary ''Shot Heard 'Round the World''.
Rights fees According to
Time magazine articles of the era, McLendon only paid Major League Baseball
$1,000.00 per year for the rights to broadcast the games, but in 1951, the leagues raised the price to $250,000.00 per year, and prohibited broadcasts in any city which had a
minor league franchise and in the
northeastern and
midwestern United States.
Liberty baseball commentators •
Bud Blattner (
1950–
1951) •
Jerry Doggett (
1950–
1951) •
Gordon McLendon (
1949–
1952) •
Lindsey Nelson (
1950–
1951) •
Don Wells •
Wes Wise Demise Sports were the lifeblood of Liberty. Restrictions on Major League Baseball broadcasts in minor league franchise areas, as well as bans on
National Football League broadcasts within a 75-mile range of league cities, were the one-two blow which ended the network. Since the baseball games were a major draw for both listeners and affiliates, the
blackout was a disaster for the fledgling company, which had only posted modest profits during its first few years of operation. More than 100 stations left the network, and, faced with mounting debts, on May 16, 1952, the network ceased broadcasting. ==National Basketball Association==