Baseball Tonight
US television program
Baseball Tonight is an American television program that airs on ESPN and ABC. The show, which covers the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since 1990. Its namesake program also airs on ESPN Radio at various times of the day during the baseball season, with Marc Kestecher as host.
Baseball Tonight is also the title of a daily podcast hosted by Buster Olney with frequent appearances by Tim Kurkjian, Karl Ravech and others from ESPN and more places.
In 2017, daily airing of the show, other than its Sunday airing, was replaced by MLB Network's Intentional Talk, which stopped airing on ESPN2 in December 2018 From 2019 to 2025, Baseball Tonight aired on Sundays before Sunday Night Baseball, and during the week for major events such as the MLB All-Star Game, College World Series, MLB Postseason, MLB Trade Deadline and Winter Meetings, along with SportsCenter segments during the season.
With the loss of Sunday Night Baseball after the 2025 season, Beginning in 2026, Baseball Tonight will now air in various time slots throughout the week prior to any game on ESPN and ABC.
History
On January 3, 2000, the segment "Web Gems" was coined and created by then-producer Judson Burch. The segment originally featured great defensive plays followed by viewer internet voting on the "web." The phrase "web gem" is now common vernacular in baseball broadcasts and circles to describe outstanding glove work.
In 2007, a new segment entitled "That's Nasty!" was introduced. The new segment featured top pitching performances of the day, including the best individual pitches. These clips often include extremely high velocity fastballs, 12–6 curveballs, or changeups that completely fool the opposing batters.
In 2013, Adnan Virk replaced Steve Berthiaume as one of the program's hosts, joining Karl Ravech.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Baseball Tonight” is uS television program. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Baseball, Tonight and television, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “uS television program” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2886690. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Baseball Tonight”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Baseball Tonight primary sources, Baseball Tonight archive and Baseball research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Baseball Tonight”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Baseball Tonight” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.