April 1, 1950:  The Hollywood Stars were worried television was bad for business.

The Stars, coming off a 1949 season in which they won the Pacific Coast League title, were televising their home games locally. But after disappointing attendance figures team officials were considered canceling their contract with television station KLAC.

"I am a great believer in television as a creator of new fans for baseball," said Bob Cobb, then vice president of the Stars. "When the novelty of television wears off, say in one or two years, I think we will find that television has given us a great new audience of baseball fans. I sure hope so."

The Times' coverage was fascinating in part because Braven Dyer moved from a conventional news story to something resembling a blog post. In the middle of the story, Dyer discussed how he thought television could save the day. "The sponsor must insure the promoter against loss or the set owner must pay for what he sees," Dryer wrote. Perhaps only one or two games a week should be shown.

But his best suggestion—something he called phonevision—would allow a viewer to "merely ask the operator for a particular program and get the bill with your phone tab later."

Where do I sign up for that?

–Keith Thursby