EPISODE 426: The 6th Annual(-ish) Year-End Holiday Roundtable Spectacular!

December 21, 2025

It's our year-end Holiday Roundtable Spectacular, featuring a look back at the year's newest additions to "what used-to-be" in big-time sports (RIP Pro Volleyball Federation, Utah Hockey Club, three UFL teams, half of Major League Rugby, and the NCAA's LA & Bahamas Bowls); AND semi-educated guesses as to what might be ahead for 2026 - with three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com; Episode 46); Kenn Tomasch (Kenn.com, Soccer Rewind; Episode 39); and Scott Adamson (A damsonmedia.com; Episodes 184 & 240).

Buckle up for our annual mashup of amusement and bemusement at the fringes of the pro sports establishment, as we simultaneously marvel at and lament some of the most curious events of the past year, debate who and what might be next to stumble into oblivion, and conjecture about future scenarios for the next generation of defunct and otherwise forgotten pro sports teams and leagues - including:

UFL Year 3
NASCAR antitrust trial aftermath
MLB's A's, Rays & realignment
NFL international expansion & flag football
MLS calendar reset & conference realignment
An NBA European league?
MiLB's private equity boom
The Savannah Bananas' Banana Ball Championship League
Major League Rugby contracts
Major League Cricket bickers
Major League Volleyball vs. LOVB & Athletes Unlimited
The Women's Pro Baseball League steps up to the plate

PLUS: Will FIFA's greedy delusions of World Cup grandeur in 2026 catapult North America into soccer's global firmament - or spark a revolt among the fans it claims to serve?

AND: Are we in a sports investment bubble?

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The Home Team: My Bromance With Off-Brand Football - buy book here

The United States Football League, 1982-1986 - buy book here

EPISODE 417: When Minor League Baseball Almost Went Bust - With George Pawlush

October 19, 2025

In the immediate years after World War II, the trajectory of America’s pastime looked unstoppable.

By 1949, Minor League Baseball had swelled to 59 leagues, 448 teams, and some 10,000 players - the largest network in its history. But within a decade, the advent of television, suburban migration, and shifting leisure habits began to drain fans and revenue. Hundreds of teams folded, and by 1963, the entire minor-league system was on the brink of collapse.

We explore that turbulent era - the golden age of small-town clubs and ballparks, the struggles of owners and players to stay afloat, and the rescue plan that reshaped the minors for the rest of the twentieth century - with SABR baseball researcher George Pawlush, whose current books "When Minor League Baseball Almost Went Bust: 1946–1963" (a SABR-driven collection of essays); and "Dawn and Dusk of the Colonial League," which chronicles a short-lived Class B circuit from 1947 to 1950, both illuminate this fascinating period.

Pawlush describes stories of teams traveling on dangerously aging buses, cash-strapped franchises uprooting for survival, and the rise of players both transformative (like Jackie Robinson, whose minor-league stints with the Montreal Royals in 1946 helped pave the way for MLB integration) - and forgotten (like Ron Necciai, whose early 1952 strikeout feats dazzled fans and earned a call-up to the Pittsburgh Pirates later that summer) before injuries ended their careers.

We'll dig into how the minors were both a proving ground for future stars and a fragile ecosystem vulnerable to social and economic change: What caused the rapid collapse of so many leagues in the 1950s? How did the Colonial League embody both the promise and fragility of postwar baseball? And how did the 1963 Player Development Plan finally stabilize the farm system?

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When Minor League Baseball Almost Went Bust: 1946 - 1963 - buy here

Dawn and Dusk of the Colonial League - buy here

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EPISODE 385: Batavia's Baseball "Homestand" - With Will Bardenwerper

March 9, 2025

America’s pastime has long been more than just a game - it’s a reflection of the country itself. But what happens when the heart and soul of small-town baseball is threatened by the forces of modern sports economics?

We sit down with New York Times-bestselling author ("The Prisoner in His Palace") and former Army Ranger Will Bardenwerper to discuss his new book "Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America" - a poignant memoir that explores the fate of minor league baseball in Batavia, New York, and what it reveals about the state of America today.

Bardenwerper takes us behind the scenes of a declining Rust Belt town’s fight to keep its baseball tradition alive after Major League Baseball's contraction of Batavia's beloved Muckdogs (née Clippers, Pirates, Trojans & Indians) - along with its history-laden circuit, the Class-A New York-Penn League - in 2020.

Through rich storytelling and a cast of unforgettable characters, Bardenwerper paints a picture of resilience, community, and the enduring magic of the game. As Batavia fights to keep baseball alive, Homestand captures not just the town’s defiance in the face of MLB’s power grab, but also the broader struggles of small-town America against economic forces beyond its control.

We also explore Bardenwerper’s unique perspective as a veteran, journalist, and author - connecting themes of war, political division, and the still uniquely unifying power of a simple summer night at the ballpark.

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Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America - buy here

EPISODE 376: The 5th Annual(-ish) Year-End Holiday Roundtable Spectacular!

December 29, 2024

It's our year-end Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring a look back at the year's newest additions to "what used-to-be" in professional sports (RIP MLB's "Oakland" Athletics & the NHL's Arizona Coyotes), and a predictive glimpse into what might be in store for 2025 - with two of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Steve Holroyd (Crossecheck, Philly Classics & Episodes 92, 109, 149, 188 & 248); and Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46).

Buckle up for our yearly mélange of amusement and bemusement at the fringes of the pro sports establishment, as we simultaneously marvel at and lament some of the most curious events of the past year, debate who and what might be next to stumble into oblivion, and conjecture about future scenarios for the next generation of defunct and otherwise forgotten pro sports teams and leagues - including:

Spring football's unified UFL
Arena Football League 2.0 RIP (and Arena Football One 2025)
MLB's now-Sacramento-and-someday-Las Vegas (maybe) Athletics
The NHL's Utah Hockey Club (fka Arizona [née Phoenix] Coyotes, via the WHA's original Winnipeg Jets)
Major League Cricket
Baseball's genre-bending Savannah Bananas - and its soon-to-launch Banana Ball Championship League
Indoor soccer's new Baller League
Premier League Lacrosse's pivot to city teams and a new women's division
The new League One Volleyball (LOVB) takes on the 2nd-year Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF)
NWSL soccer
PWHL hockey

PLUS: Can Diamond Baseball Holdings (41 MiLB teams and counting!) be stopped?

AND: Will Michael Jordan, et al. break up the NASCAR stock car monopoly?

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EPISODE 330: The 4th Annual(-ish) Year-End Holiday Roundtable Spectacular!

December 24, 2023

We press the rewind button on a most interesting 2023, and peer ahead into the uncharted waters of 2024 with our fourth-annual(-ish) Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring three of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Andy Crossley (Fun While It Lasted & Episode 2); Paul Reeths (OurSportsCentral.com, StatsCrew.com & Episode 46); and Steve Holroyd (Crossecheck, Philly Classics & Episodes 92, 109, 149, 188 & 248).

Takes of varying temperatures fly as we review some of the most curious events of the past year, debate who and what might be next to wobble into obscurity, and conjecture about future scenarios for the next generation of defunct and otherwise forgotten pro sports teams and leagues - including:

USFL 2.0 + XFL 3.0 = TBD 2024
Oakland A's to Las Vegas (maybe)
Major League Cricket
Savannah Bananas
MiLB ownership consolidation
Premier Lacrosse League: from tour to teams
Professional Box Lacrosse Association (RIP)
Women's pro volleyball
MLS vs. US Soccer
NBA, NHL & MLB expansion/relocation rumors
NWSL expansion & TV deal
Women's hockey 3.0: PWHL

PLUS, we speculate on the dubious reincarnation of the Arena Football League!

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EPISODE 309: Minor League Monikers - With Tim Hagerty

June 19, 2023

El Paso Chihuahuas Triple-A baseball play-by-play broadcaster Tim Hagerty ("Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball's Most Off-the-Wall Team Names and the Stories Behind Them" and "Tales from the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational and Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball") joins the show this week to spotlight some of the most memorable names and events in "forgotten" minor league history.

When Hagerty isn't calling games for the San Diego Padres top minor league affiliate, he can usually be found digging deep down a variety of research rabbit holes, in a never-ending quest to refine his encyclopedic "double-asterisk" knowledge of baseball factoids and historical lore.

For us, it's a callback to minor-league teams of yore like the: Tucson Toros, Huntsville Stars, Mobile (AL) BayBears, Portland Beavers, Hutchinson Salt Packers, Ilion (NY) Typewriters, Montpelier (VT) Goldfish, Kalamazoo Celery Pickers, Saskatoon Berrypickers, Greenville (MS) Cotton Pickers, Porterville (CA) Orange Pickers, New Orleans Baby Cakes, New Orleans Pelicans, Midland (TX) Cubs, Texarkana (TX & AR!) Casket Makers, Agua Prieta (Sonora, MX & Douglas, AZ!) Charros, Corsicana (TX) Oil Citys, Bluefield (WV) Blue Jays, Princeton (WV) Rays, and Pittsfield (MA) Astros - among others.

And, of course, we get Hagerty's take on the current state of MiLB, now that Major League Baseball is fully in charge - and where it's likely headed in the years to come.

Tales From the Dugout: 1,001 Humorous, Inspirational & Wild Anecdotes from Minor League Baseball - Buy Book Here

Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball’s Most Off-the-Wall Team Names and the stories behind them - Buy Book Here

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EPISODE 303: The Huntsville Stars - With Dale Tafoya

May 7, 2023

It's a reassignment back to the minors again this week, as baseball writer Dale Tafoya ("One Season in Rocket City") joins the 'cast for a look back at the unforgettable inaugural 1985 season of the Southern League's Huntsville Stars - the Oakland As' talent-laden, then-Double-A affiliate that took both the city and the sport by storm.

Named after Huntsville’s celebrated space industry, the Stars became one of the biggest attractions in all of Minor League Baseball that season - boasting a dugout full of top Oakland prospects who would ultimately fuel the Athletics' big-league success later in the decade, including a 1989 World Series title sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

Led by hot prospects/future MLB notables like Tim Belcher, Stan Javier, Luis Polonia, Terry Steinbach, and José Canseco, the Stars also featured a solid cast of gutsy minor-league role players who, despite never getting called up to "The Show," proved crucial to the team's championship that magical first season.

Though merely an opening chapter in Huntsville's baseball history now (the Stars moved to Biloxi, MS in 2015 to become the Shuckers; the Southern League's Rocket City Trash Pandas brought minor league ball back to the nearby suburb of Madison in 2020), the team and their story is one worth remembering.

One Season in Rocket City: How the Huntsville Stars Brought Minor League Baseball Fever to Alabama - Buy book here

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EPISODE 298: The Asheville Tourists - With Ryan McGee

April 2, 2023

ESPN multi-platform writer/reporter/host Ryan McGee ("Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time") joins us this week to reminisce about his early-career experiences as a $100-a-week intern with 1994's Class A South Atlantic League Asheville Tourists - a proud minor league baseball team in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

Asheville's history with minor league ball dates all the way back to 1897 (think Moonshiners, Redbirds and Mountaineers), and its venerable 99-year-old (and twice-renovated) McCormick Field has seen multiple teams across numerous leagues sport the Tourists nickname - with legendary future Hall of Famers like Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Jackie Robinson in the club's rosters at one time or another.

In 1994, however, the "Sally League" Tourists were a consolation prize of a job for the newly minted University of Tennessee communications grad McGee, who, after bombing an interview for an entry-level gig with his long-coveted ESPN, instead settled in for a life-altering and lesson-teaching summer of literal "inside baseball" - with often hilarious results.

Join us for a look back at a quintessentially classic old-school minor league baseball season - and hear how McGee ultimately parlayed the experience into a second chance at the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" - with very different results.

Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer, At the Perfect Ballpark, At the Perfect Time - Buy book here

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EPISODE 296: "Bill & Sue's Excellent Adventure" - With Bill Craib

March 19, 2023

In 1991, twenty-something baseball fanatics Bill Craib and Sue Easler did something no one else had ever done before - they went to a game at all 178 major and minor league baseball parks in one season.

Craib and Easler drove nearly 54,000 miles and shot home-movie-style video (remember VHS?) at each stop - selected footage of which was featured on a segment that became known as "Bill & Sue's Excellent Adventure" on ESPN's weekly "Major League Baseball Magazine" program.

The couple became celebrities of the moment long before social media - spotlighted in major outlets of the day like ABC's "Good Morning America", Sports Illustrated, CNN, The New York Times - and prominently featured in local media wherever they stopped.

30+ years later, Craib ("In League With America: The Story of an Excellent Adventure") has finally written the book he intended to write then; a story about more than just baseball parks, but a tale about what it's like to chase a dream and have it come true - and, more deeply, a tableau of 1990s America as seen through the lens of its official pastime.

In League With America: The Story of an Excellent Adventure - Buy book here