MLB on Five

MLB on Five was a sports television programme on Channel 5 in the UK providing live coverage of Major League Baseball games, broadcast between 1997 and 2008.

The show was first broadcast on Opening Day in 1997 with a game between the defending World Series champion New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners.

It was initially part of the channel's "Live & Dangerous" late night sport strand; however, by the 1998 season it had been separated and renamed MLB on Five.

During this time the show also increased audience participation, encouraging viewers to write (and later e-mail) their comments, questions and anything else.

A replacement was eventually found in the shape of Josh Chetwynd, a catcher for the British national team who had played the game at college and Minor League level and was now working for MLB International in London.

Chetwynd left the show in the middle of the 2003 season to study a postgraduate law degree at the University of Arizona.

The Five team presented coverage on-site for the first time as Gould and Chetwynd hosted Five's broadcast of the 2006 All-Star game, won by the American League, from PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

In 2007, they were again inside the stadium for the All-Star game this time at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

The podcast is a weekly round-up of news and talking points during the Major League Baseball season, aimed primarily at a UK audience.

Because the show generally consists of the ESPN Sunday and Wednesday Night Baseball games there are often many teams that are not shown.

This involves Jonny or Josh ranting about a particular issue, such as Barry Bonds' pursuit of the home run record.

Added during the 2007 season, Josh describes size, shape, key features and other points of interest of MLB fields and stadiums.

One of the more popular segments of the show followed the misfortunes of the pitcher Jeff Weaver, who experienced an unsuccessful spell with the New York Yankees in 2003.

During the "7th-inning Stretch" on Sunday shows throughout 2008, Gould and Chetwynd often threw over to the baseball "curator" Phill Jupitus, who read an excerpt from the week's chosen book.