By fall 1981, Ted Turner was on a nice streak of turning big ideas into big succe ses.

The media mogul had won the Americas Cup sailing competition, launched Superstation WTBS and created CNN and a spin-off network all within a five-year span.

As big ideas go, the one he brought to a lunch meeting in October 1981 certainly wasnt start-a-24-hour-news-channel big, but it was plenty ambitious for its time.

The new big idea: Turner wanted a comprehensive television special about the Atlanta Jan Rutta Jersey Braves, the baseball team he had owned since 1976 and which he beamed via satellite to homes around the country on WTBS.

With Turners pledge of full acce s and with the full resources of WTBS, the documentary would use the Braves to tell the story of a year in the life of a typical major league baseball team, offering a deep look at some of the usually hidden aspects of big-league life.

By any measure, it was an unprecedented undertaking.

Decades before HBOs Hard Knocks and other productions brought the inside-acce s idea into the mainstream, this was a groundbreaking attempt to give fans a season-long, intimate look at the human side of profe sional sports.

But despite their growing national prominence on WTBS, the Braves werent exactly a compelling product on the field, having finished at or near the bottom of the National League standings nearly every year Turner had owned the team.

Still, the ever-enterprising busine sman/showman saw a marketing opportunity and had his executives get cracking on his idea, which fit in with Turners larger goal to turn the Braves into a national television commodity. Through WTBS, Turner wanted to make the Jonathan Toews Jersey Braves, as he would dub them, Americas Team.

Between its conception and its premiere, the project that came to be known as Its a Long Way to October transitioned from a timele s, generic baseball production into a laser-focused narrative as it documented one of the more unexpectedly dramatic team seasons in MLB history.

This is the story of how it came together.

During lunch one day in the weeks after the 1981 baseball season, Turner looked to colleagues Terry Hanson and Robert Wu sler, both executives with Turner Sports, and mused aloud.

I think we oughta have a special on the Braves, Turner said. We own the team. We can have full acce s. What do you guys think?

It was an intriguing idea.

How many hours do you want? Wu sler said.

Four, Turner said.

Say what? Nothing on WTBS lasted four hours unle s the Braves went into extra innings or had a rain delay.

I kind of gulped a little bit thinking, Wow, thats going to be a long special. But yeah, Im sure Martin Havlat Jersey we can do it, Hanson said.

Good entertainment was all Turner wanted. He left the details up to Wu sler and Hanson, who outlined a program that would focus on the behind-the-scenes aspects of a baseball season in a way that, while told through the Braves, would appeal to fans of any team.

How does a player occupy his day? What does he do on a road trip? What happens in a team meeting?

The routines of ballplayers, Hanson said. That was my intention going in.

It didnt matter that the Braves werent a good team. The documentary would be structured so that the seasons on-field results would be secondary, serving mostly as a backdrop, so the content could be entertaining and relatable for years to come.

I kind of wanted it so that any fan of any baseball team could tune in and get a real idea of what their team was also doing, Hanson said.

If nothing else,the Braves had a new vibe in 1982, with Turner hiring the charismatic and sometimes fiery Joe Torre as manager to help further develop young players such as Dale Murphy and Bob Horner, who seemed on the cusp of becoming superstars.

There was perhaps a flicker of optimism, but it would take a lot to shake the Braves long-established reputation.

The Braves werent high on the list as far as anybodys favorite team, longtime ace Phil Niekro said.

But regardle s of their merits as a baseball team heading into 1982, the Braves were set to be the stars of this documentary that would aim to paint the picture of big-league life.

Hanson saw the potential for something special, as full acce s would, literally, open doors. His enthusiasm only grew when he learned Torre had joined the team.

Talk about a gift, Hanson said. When Joe Torre Michael Jordan Jersey was hired, I knew we were in busine s because Joe was such a great media type of a person. He was known for his great interviews and how acce sible he was to the pre s. And I knew wed have a willing audience in him.

Torre showed enthusiasmfrom the beginning.

It wasnt mandated to me that we were going to do this. They asked me and I volunteered, Torre said. It was my first year with the Braves, so I was excited to get that opportunity."

Though the ingredients were in place for a unique and entertaining baseball production, the magnitude of the project immediately put Hansons mind on numbers specifically, dollars. He wondered whether cost would become a hindrance.

One of the first things I said is, What is my budget? And Ted says, Well, whatever it takes, Hanson said. So we never felt that we had to cut corners.

We just thought it was kinda cool

As baseball routines go Brent Seabrook Jersey , spring training is about as routine as routines get: basic drills, tedious bus travel, honing the fundamentals.

But while spring workouts offer limited appeal as far as action, the time the documentary crew spent in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 1982 provided a low-stakes setting to capture some of the more intimate routines to which fans arent normally privy: Bob Gibson holding court in the bullpen. Torre . And, perhaps the most intimate of baseball routines, Torre informing Braves player Ed Miller that hes been .

For the most part, players didnt mind the extra scrutiny, despite the potential vulnerability the cameras and mics presented.

Generally, we just thought it was kinda cool. We didnt have any hesitation to it, Murphy said. Most of us just thought, This is a fun idea.

The documentary-style approach was a new experience, for sure, but it was one that most were willing to accept even if they didnt know where it was all headed.

We didnt exactly know what they were doing, Niekro said. I dont think anyone ever told Connor Murphy Jersey us why they were doing it.

From team meetings, to calisthenics, to infield instruction, to life on the bus, the routines of March were well-documented.

The Braves left West Palm Beach with an exhibition record of 18-6 a meaningle s stat, perhaps, b