Rick Reiff is our guest this week to discuss his essay in the Fall 2024 Baseball Research Journal, "Gavy Cravath's Hall-Worthy 200 Home Runs." Cravath, a late arrival, played 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and led the National League in home runs in six of those seasons, from 1913 to 1919. Cravath also led the Senior Circuit in RBI twice, in on base percentage twice and slugging percentage three times. Despite being the preeminent home run hitter in the Deadball Era, Cravath remains on the outside looking in for Hall of Fame induction. Reiff makes the case to remedy this.

In part 2, Craig and Rex talk about the Rays playing their 2025 regular season at the Yankees' spring training home, the latest billion-dollar boondoggle to return the Houston Astrodome, an aging eyesore, to usefulness and how to turn a juice box to an ice box.

Errata: Craig, its the Donner Party, not the Bonner Party.

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
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Craig at Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
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Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.

This episode was recorded on November 5.

Craig and Rex analyze some of baseball's rarest achievements, ranging from Johnny Vander Meer's back to back no-hitters, Fernando Tatis belting two grand slams in the same inning off the same pitcher. Of course we mention Guy Hecker's 7 runs scored in a 9 innings game, a singular feat that has stood for 138 years.

Also this episode, Gerrit Cole's $144 million dance with free agency after the World Series came to an end plus the Hall of Fame's Classic Era Committee's nominees.

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Hooks & Runs on Twitter
Craig at Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.

Dr. Travis Stern's new book, "Ballplayers on Stage: Baseball, Melodrama, and Theatrical Celebrity in the Deadball Era" (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2024) explores the relationship between professional baseball and professional theater in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stern joins us in this episode to talk about his book and the how baseball and the theater contributed to the rise of the American culture, culminating with Babe Ruth's emergence as a national hero in the early 1920s.

Stern is an Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Bradley University.

Travis Stern on Bluesky (@travisstern.bsky.social)
Travis Stern at Bradley University

In Part Two, Craig went to a Duster show and talks about Duster, the show and the unusual opening act, Dirty Art Club.

Errata: At one point Stern mentions seeing the "Yankees and Mets." We believe he meant to say "Yankees and Dodgers" as the Mets were not a team in the Deadball Era.

Episodes mentioned or discussed:
205 - Baseball at War: Working and Playing Ball in the Bethlehem Steel League w/ William Ecenbarger (https://tinyurl.com/hooks2051114)
82 - Rube Waddell Would Make A Hell of a Movie w/ Prof. Alan H. Levy (https://tinyurl.com/Hooks821114)

You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Email: hooksandruns@protonmail.com
Hooks & Runs on Twitter
Craig at Bluesky (@craigest.bsky.social)
Rex (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/
Hosts Emeriti:
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok
Eric on Facebook
Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (via Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2024.