EPISODE 394: The 1985 "Show-Me" World Series - With Marshall Garvey

Though it seems like only yesterday, this season marks the 40th anniversary of one of baseball's most misunderstood and overshadowed Fall Classics - the surprisingly competitive seven-game 1985 World Series. 

While most remember the all-Missouri "Show-Me Series" for umpire Don Denkinger's blown call at first base in Game 6, baseball historian Marshall Garvey joins us to discuss why that single moment, while a significant turning point, shouldn't define what was otherwise a colorfully spirited battle between two well-matched in-state rivals. 

In his new book, "Interstate ’85: The Kansas City Royals, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Show-Me Showdown That Rewrote Baseball History," Garvey peels back four decades of myth and oversight to uncover the full, rich tapestry of the "I-70 Series" — a provincial, emotionally charged showdown between two teams forever linked by more than just geography.

Through more than two dozen exclusive interviews with key figures like George Brett, Ozzie Smith, Bud Black, and even Don Denkinger himself, Garvey explores the human stories, cultural context, and remarkable on-field drama that have long deserved more attention.

Interstate '85: The Royals, The Cardinals, and the Show-Me World Series - buy here

EPISODE 388: "1978: Baseball & America in the Disco Era" - With David Krell

We boot up our trusty Flux Capacitor this week for a trip back to 1978 — a year when baseball provided a much-needed escape for a nation in flux. We sit down with David Krell, author of "1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era," to relive one of Major League Baseball’s most unforgettable seasons — one filled with historic milestones, dramatic showdowns, and larger-than-life personalities.

From Bucky Dent’s legendary home run that crushed Red Sox fans’ hearts to Reggie Jackson’s World Series heroics, 1978 was a year of baseball drama at its finest. We discuss Ron Guidry’s dominance (25-3, 1.74 ERA), Pete Rose’s 44-game hit streak, Tom Seaver’s one-and-only no-hitter, and Willie McCovey’s 500th home run — all set against the cultural backdrop of disco fever, bell-bottoms, gas-guzzling cars, and Hollywood 1950s-era escapist nostalgia.

Beyond the ballpark, America found itself beset with post-Watergate political disillusionment, confronted with rapidly rising economic inflation, and mired in a stubbornly persistent energy crisis. Krell takes us on a deep dive into how baseball intertwined with the era’s biggest moments, making 1978 not just a great season, but a reflection of the times.

So, dust off your turntable, crank up some Bee Gees, and join us for a conversation that captures the magic, madness, and milestones of 1978 — both on and off the field.

1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era - buy here

EPISODE 381: "Selling Baseball" - With Jeff Orens

We hearken back to baseball's humble beginnings this week, as author/historian Jeff Orens ("Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America") takes us on a journey through the late 19th century, when the game was rapidly evolving from a casual pastime to America's national sport - with two larger-than-life figures at the center of its transformation.

In Orens' telling, players-turned-sports-businessmen George Wright (Cincinnati Red Stockings, Boston Red Stockings, Boston Red Caps, Providence Grays, and later, Wright & Ditson Co.), and Albert Spalding (Rockford Forest Citys, Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, and his eponymous sporting goods company still in business today) were the first superstars of "professional" baseball - driven by a competitive rivalry on the field and complementary marketing skills off it, helping modernize the game/industry we know today.

And our conversation doesn't shy away from controversy, either. We'll delve into Wright's and Spalding's roles in perpetuating the infamous "Doubleday myth," which erroneously credited Civil War hero Abner Doubleday with inventing baseball. Orens provides insight into how these influential figures helped legitimize this false narrative, shaping/tainting baseball's origin story for generations to come.

Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America - buy here

EPISODE 379: Baseball's "Big Cat" - With Jerry Grillo

We throw another Duraflame into the hot stove this week for a look back at the sterling, but oddly overlooked career of one of baseball’s greatest "golden age" hitters. 

Biographer Jerry Grillo ("Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize") helps us sort out the intriguing story of batting titan Johnny Mize - whose 15-year major league journey playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York version of the Giants and five World Series-winning seasons (1949-53) with the New York Yankees - generated ten All-Star Game appearances, and a plethora of National League titles in home runs (4x), RBIs (3x) and hitting (1939) - despite missing three full seasons (1943-45) for wartime service with the US Navy.

Widely considered a cinch for the Hall of Fame upon his retirement in 1953, Mize's path to Cooperstown instead took 28 years until a Veterans Committee vote in 1981 finally brought him into the pantheon of the sport's greats.

Find out why the pride of Demorest, Georgia's road to baseball immortality took so long, why one of the sport's greatest underappreciated hitters unquestionably belongs in the Hall - and how the "Big Cat" unwittingly helped influence today's billion-dollar trading card industry!

Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize - buy here

EPISODE 364: The Original "Louisville Slugger" - With Tim Newby

Baltimore-based music historian and unwitting baseball biographer Tim Newby ("The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete Browning") joins the show to delve deep into the story of one of the most formidable baseball players of the 19th century, whose mastery with a bat is still paying dividends today.

Over his 13-year career (including now-defunct stops like the American Association's Louisville Eclipse/Colonels and the Players' League's Cleveland Infants), inveterate power-hitter Pete Browning claimed three batting titles and consistently ranked among the top hitters of his time - immortalized as the namesake and inspiration for the iconic Louisville Slugger bat, which was first custom-made for him by the Hillerich & Bradsby Company. 

Known as "The Gladiator," Browning was famous not only for his batting skills but for his unusual habits - refusing to slide, balancing on one leg, drinking tabasco sauce, and naming his bats after biblical figures - all in pursuit of improving his game. Behind the theatrics, though, lay a more tragic reality. Browning suffered from mastoiditis, a painful condition that gradually took his hearing and hindered his education and career, ultimately leading him to self-medicate with alcohol. His larger-than-life personality, coupled with embellished newspaper accounts, only added to the myth surrounding him.

Newby helps us dance around the thin line between fact and fiction of Browning's life - including why the "Louisville Slugger" is not (yet?) in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete Browning - buy here

EPISODE 362: "Kiner's Korner" - With Mark Rosenman

With the Mets th-i-i-i-i-s close to a rare MLB playoff berth this season, we do our best not to jinx their chances with a look back at the local New York post-game TV show synonymous with the club's first 32 years in Gotham with sports reporter/author Mark Rosenman ("Down on the Korner: Ralph Kiner and Kiner's Korner").

"Kiner's Korner" was a beloved postgame interview show that became a staple of New York Mets broadcasts from the team's inception in 1962  through the 1990s. Hosted by Hall of Fame player and broadcaster Ralph Kiner, the show aired on WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) after Mets games and occasionally before them. Known for its relaxed and casual style, "Kiner’s Korner" gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at their favorite players, with Kiner interviewing the star of the game, reviewing key highlights, and updating scores from other games. The show was both informative and lighthearted, often showcasing Kiner’s warmth, humor, and legendary on-air in-game malapropisms.

The name "Kiner's Korner" was a nod to the left-field seats at Forbes Field, where Kiner hit many of his home runs during his Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. These seats, once known as "Greenberg's Gardens" for Kiner's predecessor Hank Greenberg, were renamed "Kiner's Korner" after Kiner's meteoric rise in baseball. The show maintained a simple, intimate format, with players reflecting on their performances, sharing stories, and connecting with fans on a personal level, which helped strengthen Kiner’s bond with baseball enthusiasts across generations.

Despite its low-key production, the show became a cherished part of Mets culture, especially as it captured memorable moments from New York baseball history.

Kiner’s Korner T-Shirt (from 1986d) - buy here

Kiner’s Korner.com T-Shirt (from TeePublic) - buy here

Down on the Korner: Ralph Kiner and Kiner's Korner - buy here

EPISODE 352: An Appreciation of Vin Scully - With Tom Hoffarth

We celebrate the legendary career and outsized influence of one of baseball's most recognized voices, with veteran LA sportswriter Tom Hoffarth (Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully).

From the "Early Days" dustjacket:

”When Vin Scully passed away in 2022, the city of Los Angeles lost its soundtrack. If you were able to deliver a eulogy for him, what might it include? What impact did he have on you? What do you carry forward from his legacy? 

"Sixty-seven essayists—one representing each season of his career calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1950 through 2016—reflect on the ways his professional and private life influenced them. The contributions include a range of stories and remembrances from those who knew and followed him. The consensus of the contributions is that Scully’s actions spoke louder than his well-recognized words.

"This collection includes fellow broadcasters as well as historians, players, journalists, celebrities, and others connected to the game of baseball, with each piece introduced by sports journalist Tom Hoffarth. Readers can consider Scully’s life through common themes: his sincerity, his humility, his professionalism, his passion for his faith, his devotion to his family, his insistence on remembering and giving context to important moments in the history of not just the game but the world in general, all wrapped up in a gift for weaving storytelling with accurate reporting, fellowship with performance art, humor, and connection.”

[P.S. - As mentioned in this week's episode, check out this amazing 2016 conversation between Scully and the late Willie Mays, who passed away last week at the age of 93.]

Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully - buy here

EPISODE 350: The "Father of Modern Baseball" - With Tom Delise & Jay Seaborg

First-time sports historians Tom Delise and Jay Seaborg ("Foxy Ned Hanlon: The Baseball Life of a Hall of Fame Manager") join the podcast for a biographical look at one of baseball's most innovative managerial minds - and who just may be related to your humble host!

"Foxy" Ned Hanlon was one of the major leagues' earliest tactical visionaries, who recognized the value of speed and strategy in generating runs long before the term “small ball” became popular.  Starting as a fine outfielder, Hanlon played 13 professional seasons with the Cleveland Blues, Detroit Wolverines, the Federal League's one-year Pittsburgh Burghers, Pittsburgh Pirates (neé Alleghenys), and (original American Association-then-National League) Baltimore Orioles - stealing 329 bases after stolen bases were first recorded in 1886.  Despite a modest .260 batting average, Hanlon was renowned for his speed and daring on the bases, as well as his defensive prowess, leading the National League in putouts in 1882 and 1884.

Hanlon’s managerial career began after participating in A.G. Spalding’s “Around The World Baseball Tour” in the winter of 1888.  He became the player-manager of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys in 1889 and supported the short-lived Players’ League in 1890, where he posted a .383 on-base percentage.  Returning to the Alleghenys, Hanlon inadvertently contributed to the team’s name change to Pirates due to his aggressive player acquisition tactics.

In 1892, Hanlon took over the Baltimore Orioles and revolutionized the game with his “Inside Baseball” philosophy.  He emphasized teamwork, speed, and innovative plays like the hit-and-run, sacrifice bunt, and double steal. Hanlon also introduced the "Baltimore Chop" and was among the first to use a platoon system based on pitcher handedness.  Under his leadership, the Orioles transformed from cellar dwellers to dominant forces, capturing five NL pennants from 1894 to 1900.

Hanlon’s strategic genius earned him accolades from peers and successors. Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack regarded Hanlon as the greatest leader in baseball history, and in 1937, The Sporting News dubbed him “The Father of Modern Baseball.”  Ned Hanlon passed away on April 14, 1937, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996, cementing his legacy as a pioneer of the sport.

Foxy Ned Hanlon: The Baseball Life of a Hall of Fame Manager - buy here

EPISODE 307: "Baseball's Wildest Season" - With Bill Ryczek

Sports historian Bill Ryczek (Blackguards and Red Stockings: A History of Baseball's National Association; Crash of the Titans: The Early Years of the New York Jets and the AFL) returns after a five-year absence to help us unpack the intriguing story of 1884 - arguably the wildest season in major league baseball history.

In his latest tome, "Baseball's Wildest Season: Three Leagues, Thirty-Four Teams and the Chaos of 1884," Ryczek details a fragile professional game pioneered by a still-fledgling National League that found itself not only challenged by a two-year-old lower-priced, Sunday-playing, beer-allowing American Association - but also an upstart third circuit called the Union Association whose president just happened to also own its most dominant franchise.

1884 saw the first incarnation of an inter-league "World Series" (the NL Providence Grays defeating the AA New York Metropolitans); the majors' first-ever African-American player (the AA Toledo Blue Stockings' Moses Fleetwood Walker); a (still-standing) record start to a season (the UA's 20-0 St. Louis Maroons) - and more drunken brawls, mid-season team relocations, player league-jumping, and underhand pitching than any time in big league history.

Baseball’s Wildest Season: Three Leagues, Thirty-Four Teams and the Chaos of 1884 - Buy Book Here

EPISODE 299: Charles Stoneham's New York (Baseball) Giants - With Rob Garratt

We point the Good Seats Wayback Machine back a hundred years to the Roaring '20s - for a look at baseball's then-New York Giants and their larger-than-life owner Charles Stoneham - with baseball biographer Rob Garratt ("Jazz Age Giant: Charles A. Stoneham and New York City Baseball in the Roaring Twenties"). 

From the dust jacket of Jazz Age Giant:

"Short, stout, and jowly, Charlie Stoneham embodied a Jazz Age stereotype—a business and sporting man by day, he led another life by night. He threw lavish parties, lived extravagantly, and was often chronicled in the city tabloids.

"Little is known about how he came to be one of the most successful investment brokers in what were known as 'bucket shops,' a highly speculative and controversial branch of Wall Street. One thing about Stoneham is clear, however: at the close of World War I he was a wealthy man, with a net worth of more than $10 million.

"This wealth made it possible for him to purchase majority control of the Giants, one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. Stoneham, an owner of racehorses, a friend to local politicians and Tammany Hall, a socialite and a man well-placed in New York business and political circles, was also implicated in a number of business scandals and criminal activities.

"The Giants’ principal owner had to contend with federal indictments, civil lawsuits, hostile fellow magnates, and troubles with booze, gambling, and women. But during his sixteen-year tenure as club president, the Giants achieved more success than the club had seen under any prior regime."

Jazz Age Giant: Charles A. Stoneham & New York City Baseball in the Roaring Twenties - Buy book here

EPISODE 257: New York's Shea Stadium - With Matthew Silverman

It's the 60th year of New York Mets baseball, and we celebrate this week with a look back at the transformational multipurpose facility they called home for 45 seasons - including three of the club's four NL pennants and its only two World Series championships - Shea Stadium.

Matthew Silverman (Shea Stadium Remembered: The Mets, The Jets, and Beatlemania) takes us back to the origin story behind the conceptually named "Flushing Meadow Park Municipal Stadium" - which began almost immediately after the Dodgers' and Giants' relocation to California in 1958 as a lure for a new expansion franchise to replace them.

Through the combined political efforts of New York City mayor Robert Wagner, city urban planning power broker Robert Moses, and Continental League founder (and future stadium namesake) William Shea, the Queens-based facility opened in 1964 as the mutual home of not only the NL expansion Mets, but also the newly reincarnated AFL football New York Jets (née Titans).

We delve into more than four decades of Shea memories, including the 1969 "Miracle Mets," the Jets' 1968 AFL Championship, Bill Buckner's ill-fated error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, and the insane year of 1975 - when the AL Yankees and football Giants also called the stadium home.

And, of course, the iconic first stop on the Beatles' 1965 tour of North America - the biggest-ever grossing concert of the era that became synonymous with "Beatlemania."

Shea Stadium Remembered: The Mets, The Jets, and Beatlemania - buy book here

EPISODE 252: "A False Spring" - With Pat Jordan

Pat Jordan grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut where, in the mid-1950s, he became a highly pursued pro baseball prospect as a young pitching phenom in local Little League and as a high school ace at Fairfield Prep.

On July 9, 1959, after being pursued by more than a dozen Major League Baseball organizations (MLB's first amateur draft didn't start until 1965), Jordan signed a then-record $36,000 "bonus baby" bounty to join the National League's Milwaukee Braves - where he reported to the McCook Braves of the Class D Nebraska State League, playing alongside future big leaguers Phil Niekro and Joe Torre.

Despite being one of the minors' hardest-throwing pitchers at the time, Jordan floundered through three seasons across obscure Braves posts such as Waycross (GA), Davenport (IA), Eau Claire (WI) and Palatka (FL), and by the end of 1961, was out of the game for good - a victim of injury, hubris and the realities of adulthood.

Baseball's loss was ultimately sports journalism's gain, as Jordan pivoted hard into a prolific, long-form, non-fiction writing career that began in earnest with the publishing of 1975's clear-eyed memoir "A False Spring" - which Time magazine called “one of the best and truest books about baseball, and about coming to maturity in America,” and Sports Illustrated has consistently listed as one of the best sports books of all time.

Like his brusque, straight-ahead writing style, Jordan holds back nothing in this wide-ranging conversation - featuring a multitude of stories featuring some of modern-day sports' most fascinating characters such as softballer Joan Joyce, Tom Seaver ("Tom Seaver and Me"), pro volleyballer/hoopster Mary Jo Peppler ("Broken Patterns"), Wilt Chamberlain, Renee Richards, and even the 56-year-old version of himself attempting a comeback with the the independent Northeast League's Waterbury Spirit in 1997 ("A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir").

Did you know that every week, nearly 40 million job seekers visit LinkedIn? Post your job for free at https://linkedin.com/GoodSeats.

               

A False Spring - buy book here

Tom Seaver and Me - buy book here

Broken Patterns - buy book here

A Nice Tuesday: A Memoir - buy book here

EPISODE 237: Pro Sports in Atlanta - It's Complicated (With Clayton Trutor)

By the time you hear this week's episode, the Atlanta Braves just may be celebrating their second-ever World Series trophy since moving from Milwaukee in 1956. 

If so, it would be the team's first title in 26 years, and only the second time in the region's modern sports history - or fourth, if you include the titles won by the now-defunct NASL's Atlanta Chiefs in 1968 and Major League Soccer's Atlanta United three years ago - that "The ATL" has been able to boast of any true major pro sports championship. 

That kind of futility can make any sports fan question their sanity, and as this week's guest Clayton Trutor ("Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta―and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports") tells us - in Atlanta's case, that self-doubt dates all the way back to the mid-1970s when one of its major newspapers dubbed the city "Loserville, USA".

As Trutor describes it, Atlanta's excitement around the arrival of four professional franchises during a dynamic six-year (1966-72) period quickly gave way to general frustration and, eventually, widespread apathy toward its home teams.  By the dawn of the 80s, all four of the region's major-league franchises were flailing in the standings, struggling to draw fans - and, in the case of the NHL's Flames, ready to move out of town.

While that indifference/malaise has dissipated somewhat in the decades since then (save for a second attempt at the NHL with the short-lived Thrashers), the dearth of team titles continues to loom over Atlanta's pro sports scene.

The resurgent Braves and their paradigm-changing Truist Park complex may just help change all that.

Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta - And How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports - buy book here

EPISODE 229: US Soccer's First Pro Leagues - With Brian Bunk

Quiz any fan of soccer in the US as to the origin of the professional game on American soil, and you're likely to get a myriad of answers - usually rooted in generational identity.

​If you're under 30, the 1996 launch of Major League Soccer looks like a logical starting point - 25 years old, 29 teams strong, and dozens of soccer-specific stadiums befitting a "major" sports league.

Older MLS fans in places like Seattle, Portland, and San Jose point out the original versions of their current clubs being domiciled in something called the North American Soccer League - which featured a bevy of international stars and drew huge crowds in the late 1970s/early 1980s as the then-"sport of the future."

Others with longer memories (and often soccer-playing lineages) will recall the decades-long, ethnically-flavored heartbeat of the sport known as the American Soccer League - dating back to 1933, or even 1921, depending on your guideposts.

But, as soccer historian Dr. Brian Bunk ("From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States") reveals to us this week, the true birth of the pro game dates all the way back to 1894 - when not one, but two leagues sought to bring England's popular fast-growing sport to the colonies - introduced (interestingly) with the financial backing and operational resources of baseball's National League.

From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States - buy book here

EPISODE 228: Candlestick Park - With Steven Travers

Described as a "festive prison yard" by famed New Yorker baseball essayist Roger Angell during the 1962 World Series, San Francisco's famed Candlestick Park was equally loved and hated by sports teams and fans alike during its 43-year-long run as the dual home of baseball's Giants and the NFL's 49ers.

​Curiously (and perhaps illegally) built on a landfill ​atop​ a garbage dump ​at the edge of San Francisco Bay, the "'Stick"​ was notorious for ​its​ tornadic winds​, ​ominous fogs​​ ​and uncomfortably chilly temperatures - especially in its first decade as an open-facing, largely baseball-only park.

​Though fully enclosed in 1971 to accommodate the arrival of the football 49ers (replacing the stadium's grass surface with the more-dual-purpose Astroturf to boot), the aesthetics changed little - made worse by the elimination of the park's previously lovely view of San Francisco's downtown.

B​ut there were sports to ​be had. While the Giants only won two NL pennants during their time at Candlestick (despite some huge talent and multiple future Hall of Famers), the 49ers brought perennial playoff-caliber football to the venue - including five NFL titles and a record 36 appearances on ABC's "Monday Night Football" - before leaving for Santa Clara in 2014.

Sportswriter Steven Travers ("Remembering the Stick: Candlestick Par​k: ​1960–2013​")​ takes us back in time to recount the good, bad and downright bizarre of one of the Bay Area's most unique sports venues.

Remembering the Stick - Candlestick Park: 1960-2013 - buy book here

EPISODE 218: Baseball Goes to War - With Gary Bedingfield

In our Episode 104 with David Hubler & Josh Drazen, we examined the existential crisis faced by organized baseball during the first half of the 1940s, when America's heightened involvement in World War II threatened to shut down pro leagues entirely as the country focused its attention elsewhere.

While President Roosevelt's now-famous "Green Light Letter" to MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis on January 15, 1942 ensured the game would continue unimpeded Stateside, hundreds of major-league and thousands of minor-league players soon found themselves drafted into, or even volunteering for active wartime duty abroad - including some of baseball's biggest stars of the era, like Joe DiMaggio, Pee Wee Reese, Ted Williams, and Stan Musial.

Baseball-in-wartime expert Gary Bedingfield ("Baseball in Hawaii During World War II") joins the 'cast to discuss the travails of these professional players across the war's Pacific and European theaters, who balanced combat-related "day jobs" with surprisingly competitive military league play - especially in Hawaii, where many of the game's best found themselves stationed at one point or another.

Baseball in Hawaii During World War II - buy book here

EPISODE 212: Horace Stoneham & the New York Giants - With Steve Treder

Baseball historian Steve Treder ("Forty Years a Giant: The Life of Horace Stoneham") steps up to the plate this week to delve into the oft-overlooked contributions of influential San Francisco (née New York) Giants owner Horace Stoneham - who quietly stewarded the storied National League franchise through four turbulent decades of baseball history (1936-76).

Inheriting the club at the tender age of 32 from his father after his death in 1936, Stoneham actually began his tenure with the Manhattan-based Giants (and its sprawling multi-sport Polo Grounds venue) twelve years earlier as an apprentice - working his way up from lowly ticketing assistant to (legendary field manager) John McGraw confidante by the early 1930s.

Despite winning only four NL pennants (including the famous 1951 "Shot Heard 'Round the World") and just one World Series title (1954) while in New York, Stoneham more significantly impacted the team's legacy and the game's future off the field.

In the mid-1940s when the Pacific Coast League was angling to gain Major League status, few except Stoneham and Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey took it seriously; twelve years later, the Giants and Dodgers became the first teams to boldly relocate westward.

Stoneham was also an early pioneer in racial integration: he signed Negro League stars Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson in 1949 (enabling the Giants to become the second-ever MLB club to break the color barrier); and he hired the majors' first-ever Spanish-speaking scout to help find and develop Latin American players.

Forty Years a Giant: The Life of Horace Stoneham - buy book here

EPISODE 191: National League Baseball's 1900 Contraction - With Bob Bailey

We celebrate the Society for American Baseball Research's fiftieth anniversary with a look back at one of the most pivotal events in major league baseball history - and featured in the group's newly-released commemorative anthology "SABR: 50 at 50".

Longtime Society contributor Bob Bailey ("Four Teams Out: The National League Reduction of 1900") revisits his 1990 Baseball Research Journal article describing how a fledgling 12-team, 1890s-era National League pro baseball monopoly found itself on the brink of implosion - as financial imbalance, competitive disparity, self-dealing common ownership, and a pronounced national economic Depression collectively threatened the circuit's very survival by decade's end.

As a result, the NL eliminated four franchises for the 1900 season - all former refugees from the previous American Association:

• Ned Hanlon's "small ball"-centric (original) Baltimore Orioles (AA: 1882-92; NL: 1893-99);

• The Cy Young-led Cleveland Spiders (AA: 1887-88; NL: 1889-99);

• The woeful original Washington Senators (AA: 1891 as the "Statesmen"; NL: 1892-99); AND

• Louisville's first and only major league baseball team - the Colonels (née Eclipse)

By 1901, Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington each had new franchises in Ban Johnson's NL-challenging American League - with Louisville never returning to major league play.

SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game - buy book here

EPISODE 182: National League Baseball's Cleveland Spiders - With Eric Nusbaum

Writer/author (and Episode 158 guest) Eric Nusbaum (Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between) returns for a second visit, this time to help us obsess about the curious story of the National League's 1899 Cleveland Spiders - the worst major league baseball team of all time.

While today's current generation of baseball fans will swear that the 1962 NL expansion New York Mets (40-120 record; .250 winning percentage), the 2003 AL Detroit Tigers (43–119; .265), or even the 2018 AL Baltimore Orioles (47-115; .290) might each own the record for on-field futility - none come close to the stunningly woeful 20-134 (.130) performance turned in by Cleveland's first major league team, one that preceded and indirectly influenced today's AL Indians.

The Spiders were a consistently competitive team in the 1890s - loaded with eventual Hall of Fame talents like Bobby Wallace, Jesse Burkett and legendary pitching ace Cy Young. Attendance and ticket revenue, however, were terrible - hindered significantly by Ohio blue laws that prohibited lucrative games on Sundays.

So in the 1898 off-season, team owner-brothers Frank & Stanley Robison took advantage of the NL's liberal "syndicate" ownership rules, purchased the financially teetering but far better-drawing St. Louis Browns, and shipped their more talented Spiders roster to the Gateway City as the "Perfectos" - leaving their Cleveland franchise to founder for 1899, all by design.

Nusbaum takes us through the various layers of ignominy that beset the Spiders' last season of existence, including: losing 40 of their last 41 games (and 70 of their last 74); drawing so poorly by June (a mere 179 per game) that all home games were moved to either neutral sites or visiting teams' home parks; and even proffering a local hotel cigar stand clerk to pitch their final game in Cincinnati (a 19-3 loss).

Plus, how the Spiders helped today's Indians get their now increasingly controversial nickname.

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EPISODE 162: Les Expos de Montréal – Avec Danny Gallagher

We journey north of the border this week to get our first at-bats with the 35-year adventure formerly known as the Montreal Expos, with author and de facto team historian Danny Gallagher (Always Remembered: New Revelations and Old Tales About Those Fabulous Expos).

Created in expansionary haste by the National League in 1969, MLB’s first-ever Canadian franchise was named after the city’s futuristic “Expo 67” World’s Fair, and expected to be domiciled in a new domed stadium by 1972 after a temporary stint at a barely-minor-league field in the city’s Jarry Park.  Chronically delayed and reshaped by preparations for the 1976 Summer Olympics, that permanent home (a cavernous, drafty and still-unfinished Olympic Stadium) didn’t formally arrive until 1977 – with its promised roof not in place until a full decade later.   

The Expos’ locational challenges were only slightly overshadowed by their mediocre play on the field – which, while competitive at times (they had the best cumulative winning percentage in the NL from 1979-83, for example) – netted just one post-season appearance (in a convoluted strike-shortened 1981 season) in the team’s 35-year stay in Montreal.  (The strike-abandoned season of 1994, when the team led the NL East by six games with eight weeks to play, literally and figuratively didn’t count.)

Still, the Expos had their share of talent (buttressed by a reliably prolific farm system) – boasting 11 MLB Hall of Famers (including fan favorites Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tim Raines) – and a panoply of memorable characters like Rusty Staub, Warren Cromartie, Steve Rogers, and Tim Wallach. 

When Major League Baseball voted to contract two clubs in 2001, the Expos were targeted as one of them – beset by dwindling attendances and cellar-dwelling records during the latter half of the 1990s.  A ham-handed league takeover that year led to three final lame-duck seasons – including a bizarre relocation of “home games” in 2003-04 to San Juan, Puerto Rico – before moving to Washington to become the Nationals.

Always Remembered: New Revelations and Old Tales About Those Fabulous Expos - buy book here

Ecstasy to Agony: The 1994 Montreal Expos - buy book here

Blue Monday: The Expos, The Dodgers and the Home Run That Changed Everything - buy book here