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 355: Baseball's "Uncommon" Danny O'Connell - With Steve Wiegand

We head back to the diamond this week for a look into the "extraordinarily ordinary" baseball life of 1950s-era infielder Danny O'Connell with biographer Steve Wiegand ("The Uncommon Life of Danny O'Connell: A Tale of Baseball Cards, "Average Players," and the True Value of America's Game").

Wiegand's story is a rich exploration of a player often overlooked in history due to his status as a "common" card in the world of sports memorabilia. However, the book delves far deeper than his on-field statistics, offering a comprehensive look at his life and contributions.

O'Connell's story spans from his upbringing in Paterson, NJ, through his professional baseball career during the sport's "Golden Era" -- including notable stops with forgotten franchises like the Milwaukee version of the Braves, the New York Giants (including the franchise's move to San Francisco in 1958), the first two seasons of the second version of the Washington Senators (now today's Texas Rangers), and even a 1963 managerial stint with the long-forgotten minor league York (PA) White Roses -- to his varied endeavors beyond the field, including singing, shuffleboard, and public speaking. Wiegand paints a vivid picture of O'Connell's life, contextualizing it within the broader landscape of post-war America and the evolution of baseball card collecting.

The narrative challenges the notion of what it means to be "average" -- highlighting O'Connell's "ordinary" baseball achievements and the human spirit embodied in his journey. It critiques the reduction of lives to mere statistics or collectible items and celebrates the overlooked heroes of baseball, urging readers to reevaluate what makes a life truly extraordinary​.

The Uncommon Life of Danny O'Connell: A Tale of Baseball Cards, "Average Players," and the True Value of America's Game - 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 281: "Where Pittsburgh Played" - With Dave Finoi

​​Pittsburgh-native sports historian (and previous Episode 242 guest) Dave Finoli ("Where Pittsburgh Played: Oakland’s Historic Sports Venues") returns to the pod for a deep dive into the notable histories of the Steel City's important first generation of modern-day sports venues.

We dig into some of the memorable (and many not-so) professional teams and leagues that called the city's Oakland neighborhood home, in places like: Pitt Stadium (NFL football's Steelers); the Duquesne Gardens (the early NHL Pirates & numerous minor-league hockey clubs; the BAA basketball Ironmen); and of course, the legendary Forbes Field - which not only housed baseball's Pirates, but also the same-named (pre-Steelers) sister football franchise, two WWII-era NFL contractions (1943's "Steagles" & 1944's "Card-Pitt"), the Negro Leagues' iconic Homestead Grays, and even the 1967 one-and-only season of the NPSL soccer Phantoms.

PLUS: we "send in" a special collegiate nod to the still in-use Fitzgerald Field House !

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Where Pittsburgh Played: Oakland’s Historic Sports Venues - buy book here

EPISODE 171: Pittsburgh's Pro Hoops History – With Stephen J. Nesbitt

Pittsburgh-based The Athletic sportswriter Stephen J. Nesbitt (“How the Pipers, Condors and Pro Basketball in Pittsburgh Went Extinct”) joins to help us dig into the surprisingly rich (though mostly woeful) history of professional hoops in the Steel City.

Though the game has long thrived at the collegiate level (Pitt’s Panthers began playing in 1905; the Duquesne Dukes in 1914), the city’s record of success at the pro level has been distinctly more fleeting.  In fact, some would argue it was never better than the pre-integration Black Fives era of the 1910s/20s, when eventual Naismith Hall of Famer Cumberland Posey led his Monticello (1912) and Loendi Big Five (1919-23) clubs to five “Colored” Basketball World Championships.

As professional (and eventually integrated) leagues took root in the decades that followed, Pittsburgh’s attractive demographic profile made it a natural choice for inaugural – yet ultimately short-lived – franchises in virtually every major hardwood circuit that came calling, including:

• The never-playoff-qualifying Pirates (1937-39) and re-born Raiders (1944-45) of the NBA-precedent National Basketball League;

• The lamentable Ironmen (1947-48) of the NBA tributary Basketball Association of America;

• The Connie Hawkins-led Renaissance (“Rens”) of the one-and-a-half-season (1961-62) American Basketball League; and especially;

• The head-scratching Pipers of the legendary American Basketball Association – who, despite winning the league’s first championship behind regular-season and playoff MVP Hawkins in 1968 – relocated to Minneapolis, moved back to Pittsburgh, and finally re-branded as the “Condors” for two forgettable last seasons (1970-72).

With a checkered pro history like that, it’s little wonder that the basketball team most memorably associated with the City of Bridges wasn’t even a real club – the Pittsburgh Pisces (née Pythons) of the 1979 sports/disco fantasy cult film classic The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

               

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh - rent via Amazon Prime here

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh - buy DVD here

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh - buy soundtrack here

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh - buy book here

EPISODE #77: Before the NHL’s “Original Six” – With Andrew Ross

When quizzed on the historical origins of the National Hockey League, most fans reflexively default to the hagiographic construct known as the “Original Six” – the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings – as the seminal franchise lineup from which the modern-day NHL was ultimately built.

In fact, the league traces its official roots to a much friskier start dating back to 1917 – when, out of the ownership discord of the predecessor National Hockey Association (1909-17), and a rising challenge to Stanley Cup supremacy from other fledgling pro circuits like the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and Western Canada Hockey League – a then-four team (and all-Canadian) NHL made its debut with franchises in Toronto (Arenas), Ottawa (Senators), and Montreal (Canadiens and Wanderers).

Over the next 25 years, the league fitfully expanded and contracted across cities like St. Louis, Quebec, Hamilton, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit – and even a 16-season, dual-franchise odyssey in New York.  But, when the NHL Board of Governors terminated the financially troubled Brooklyn Americans after a World War II-ravaged 1941-42 season, the league settled back to just six reasonably solid clubs – a group that would remain stably intact until 1967, when the ambitious “Great Expansion” doubled its membership to 12, and set the stage for even more meteoric growth in the decades to follow.

Author Andrew Ross (Joining the Clubs: The Business of the National Hockey League to 1945) joins host Tim Hanlon to talk about the league’s surprisingly rough-and-tumble first quarter-century of existence – including the winding economic journey that eventually defined hockey’s place in the North American professional sports firmament.

Thank you to Audible, OldSchoolShirts.com, MyBookie, and SportsHistoryCollectibles.com for their support of this week’s show!

Joining the Clubs: The Business of the National Hockey League to 1945 - buy book here

                

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Ottawa Senators classic NHL knit beanie from Mitchell & Ness - buy here

Brooklyn Americans classic NHL knit beanie from Mitchell & Ness - buy here

St. Louis Eagles & New York Americans Logo T-Shirts from OldSchoolShirts.com - buy here and here