Episodes

  • Billy ”The KId” Martin

    Billy ”The KId” Martin
    Mar 9 2025
    As a player, Billy Martin was a fundamentally sound second basemen with a .257 batting average over an 11 year playing career, most notably for the Yankees fom 1950 to 1957. On the World Series stage, he was a clutch beast with a .333/.371/.369 slash-line, 5 Home Runs and 19 runs driven in, with flawless defensive play. As a manager, he developed the reputation of a strategical genius, who could ostensibly turn almost any team into a contender. But he was also considered a longterm liability whose erratic personal behavior, usually due to his excessive alcohol consumption. and his inability to handle veteran players, or young pitchers, led to early dismissals. In his 16 seasons as a field general, he would win five divisional titles with four different franchises; two American League Pennants and a World Championship in 1977 with the Yankees. This week we profile the baseball journey of this brash, fearless, and pugnacious leader who would hone his craft on the Oakland sandlots, before implementing his lessons on life and winning in the majors. #BillyMartin #BerkeleyCalifornia #CaseyStengal #MickeyMantle #WhiteyFord #AlfredManuelPesanoJr #JoanPesano #JimmyPiersell #ClintCourtney #JackieRobinson #MattBatts #ReggieJackson #GeorgeSteinbrenner #MinnesotaTwins #DetroitTigers #OaklandAthletics #TexasRangers #NewYorkYankees
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • The Dominican Dandy; Juan Marichal

    The Dominican Dandy; Juan Marichal
    Mar 3 2025
    San Francisco Giants right-handed ace Juan Marichal was among the elite pitchers during the "The Golden Age Of Pitching" of the 1960's, but he always seemed to live in the shadows of Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson during that era. He was the winningest pitcher of the decade, and his 2.57 era during that span is third best behind only Koufax and his 2.37 and closer Hoyt Wilhelm's 2.16. This week we will cover the baseball journey of the kid who from humble beginnings as the poor farmer's kid from the Dominican Republic, would change his stars, becoming the first Dominican superstar player and a baseball immortal, changing the face of baseball forever. #JuanMarichal #SanFranciscoGiants #RamfisTrujillo #SandyKoufax #BobGibson #JohnnyRoseboro #LagunaVerde #JesusAlou #MattyAlou #FelipeAlou #AlmaCaravajal #AndyGilbert #AlDark #WarrenSpahn #BostonRedSox #LosAngelesDodgers
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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • Ferguson Jenkins; Fergie

    Ferguson Jenkins; Fergie
    Feb 24 2025
    This week's focus is on the legendary pitching icon Ferguson Jenkins, who is arguably the greatest ballplayer that Canada has ever produced (with all apologies to Larry Walker) and indeed one of the country's finest all-around athletes ever. During a time that many consider "The Golden Age Of Pitching", Fergie stood shoulder to shouler with the era's greats, and he towered above the rest. He is the only (and most likely the last, cosidering the evolution of the bullpen in the modern game) pitcher in the last 50 years to win at least 20 games a year, for six consecutive seasons, and along with Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, they are the only four pitchers in the game's long history with 3,000 strikeouts to their credit, and less than 1,000 walks surrendered. From Chatham, Ontario to Cooperstown, NY, i give you the life and baseball journey of this pitching great. #FergusonArthurJenkins #Fergie #DeloresJenkins #ChathamOntario #ChathamVocationalHighSchool #TerrysCoalYard #GerryMcCaffery #DaveDziadura #PhiladelphiaPhillies #ChicagoCubs #TexasRangers #BostonRedSox #JimBunning #BobGibson #HarlemGlobetrotters #GaryTempleton
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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Frank Robinson

    Frank Robinson
    Feb 15 2025
    Frank Robinson accomplished as much in the game of baseball, as anyone ever has; National League Rookie Of The Year, An MVP in both leagues, MVP of a World Series. MVP of an All-Star game, a Gold Glove Winner, American League Manager Of The Year, a Triple Crown winner, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. His accomplishments on the diamond, led to his Hall Of Fame induction in 1982, in recognition of being one of the finest players in the history of the game. In 1975, he becomes the first black manager in the history of Major League Baseball, fulfilling Jackie Robinson's dream, and cementing his own legacy as a racial pioneer. But Frank wouldn't want to be remembered as a racial pioneer. He would prefer to be immortalized as a baseball player who perfected his craft, and a leader of men, to do things they never thought possible. This is the great Frank Robinson. #FrankRobinson #McCleymondsHighSchool #VadaPinson #CurtFlood #BillRussel #GeorgePowels #BobbyMattick #CincinnatiReds #BaltimoreOrioles #LosAngelesDodgers #CaliforniaAngels #ClevelandIndians #SanFranciscoGiants #MontrealExpos #WashingtonNationals #JimPalmer #BrooksRobinson #EarlWeaver
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • The History Of Baseball In Oakland

    The History Of Baseball In Oakland
    Feb 8 2025
    The game of baseball is introduced to the East Bay region as far back as the 1840's when entrepreneurial, risk-takers from the east move to Neuva Claifornia in search of gold, and bring the game with them, in their westward expansion of the young country. By 1866, the city is gripped with baseball fever, and Oakland semi-pro teams begin to compete with teams in neighboring San Francisco for regional baseball supremacy. This week we do a deep-depth profile on the History Of Baseball In Oakland from 1866-2024. From the game's infancy, the vaunted Pacific Coast League run as the Oaks, The rich and vibrant Negro League Teams such as the Marysville Colored Giants, the Athens Colored Elite and the Oakland Larks, as well as the third leg of the A's MLB journey by way of Philadelphia and Kansas City. 56 years of Oaland Athletics baseball; from the colorful and successful Charlie Finley era of three consecutive World Championships during the early 1970's, the Bash Brothers era of the late eighties, the Billy Beane Moneyball Era of the 2000's, to their planned departure for the Mojave Desert Of Nevada. This week we say good-bye to one of the brightest stars in the baseball universe being snuffed out of existence, and study the region it called home for all those summers. #NuevaCalifornia #AlexanderCartwright #ColonelTomRobinson #OaklandColonels #PacificCoastLeague #MarysvilleColoredGiants #AthensColoredElite #OaklandLarks #OaklandOaks #Acorns #OaksStadium #Emeryville #OaklandAthletics #CharlesOFinley #EdwardHassJr #BillyBeane #BashBrothers #Moneyball #SutterHealthStadium #LasVegasNevada
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Willie Stargell; Pops

    Willie Stargell; Pops
    Feb 1 2025
    This week we profile the baseball life of the iconic Willie Stargell. Willie, the feared power-hitting slugger and clubhouse leader on and off the diamond, signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1958, and will forever be associated with the franchise. The seemingly larger than life Stargell, after his retirement in 1982 would leave a legacy of winning, leadership, focus and fun in his wide wake, During the magical " We Are Family" season of 1979, he won the National League MVP, as well as the NLCS and World Series MVP, the only player in the history of the game to sweep all three MVP honors durinng a season. His 25 total bases in the 1979 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles stood as the seven game series benchmark until Astros outfielder George Springer bested the output in the 2019 World Series. Manager Chuck Tanner once said that having Willie on your roster is like walking around with a priceless diamond ring on your finger. #WilverDornellStargell #WillieStargell #Pops #BobZuk #PittsburghPirates ##DannyMurtaugh #RobertoClemente #SteveBlass #ChuckTanner #DaveParker #DeloresStargell
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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Mickey Mantle; The Commerce Comet

    Mickey Mantle; The Commerce Comet
    Jan 24 2025
    Yankees former Hall Of Fame Manager once said of Mickey Mantle. " He has more speed than any slugger, I've ever seen, and more slug than any other speedster. Nobody has ever had more of both of them together. This kid aint logical. He's too good and it's very confusing. This week we profile the the MLB journey of the "Commerce Comet", the great Mickey Mantle, who would define the 1950's and 60's era with his stellar play. #MickeyMantle #MuttMantle #SpavinawOklahoma #CommerceOklahoma #CaseyStengal #RogerMaris #WhiteyFord #JoeDiMaggio #GeorgeWeiss #ChuckStobbs #StuMiller #DennyMcLain
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Sadaharu Oh

    Sadaharu Oh
    Jan 17 2025
    This week I profile the Japanese slugger who rewrote the Japanese and international baseball record books in his image, during his 22 year Nippon Baseball League career. No player outside of the great Babe Ruth ever dominated the game for so long, in any of the game's top professional leagues around the world. His 868 career home-runs is over 100 more than MLB Home Run King Barry Bonds. And if baseball is ultimately a game of numbers, then no single batter in any of the world's top baseball leagues, has left behind a more enduring statistical legacy. I dig into his journey from his humble beginnings as the son of a Chinese immigrant father, stigmatized by his foreign ancestry, digging their way out of the rubble of a war-torn Tokyo after World War II, to a career that would utlimately define the rise of the Japanese superstars, we see today on the MLB stage. #SadahauOh #ShifukuOh #TetsuhiroOh #WasedaCommercialHighSchool #Koshien #FlamingoStance #HiroshiArakawa #ShigeoNagashima #TheEmporersGame #BabeRuth #HankAaron #YomiuriGiants #KyokoKoyae #SadaharuOhMuseum
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    1 hr and 27 mins