Ken Caminiti was one of the most tragic and most controversial players of the last 30 years. His rise from perfectly good third baseman to true superstar was fueled by PEDs, and his life was cut short by substance abuse. Mike and Bill welcome special guest Joe Vasile (@joevasilePBP), whose new podcast, Secondary Lead, chronicles…
When relations between the United States and Japan broke down in the prelude to WWII, no one was more despondent than Lefty O’Doul, who had fallen in love with and become an unlikely icon in the island nation. As the two nations tried to repair their relationship, Lefty was called on 71 years ago this…
Joe Morgan faced down critics who thought a little man couldn’t excel in big league ball, and racists who didn’t want to let him to become the best second baseman in baseball history. After his passing, Mike and Bill recount the unlikely rise of The Little General to become a back-to-back MVP winner and the…
Many people who saw him at his peak consider Sandy Koufax the finest pitcher who ever lived. But that incredible peak came to an abrupt end 54 years ago this week when, wracked with constant pain, Sandy decided he couldn’t continue to pitch. Mike and Bill look back at the long road that Sandy took…
With the Black Sox scandal threatening to ruin Major League Baseball, team owners knew they needed to clean up their sport. And 100 years ago this week, they found the man to do it: Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. But the last century has not been kind to the man once credited with saving baseball. Mike…
Jim Bunning was famously the first pitcher to win 100 games and pitch a no-hitter in each league. But the story of why he got traded to the Phillies 57 years ago this week is a classic tale of Detroit Tigers cutting off their nose to spite their face. Mike and Bill look back at…
Bad teams will often bring home a prodigal son in an effort to gin up unearned fan enthusiasm. It usually ends badly. But for the Mets, the decision to bring Gil Hodges home to manage 53 years ago this week wound up working on both levels far beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Mike and Bill look…
After skipping the last couple months, we’re back with another Zoom hangout with our patrons and with our special guest, Michael Baumann of The Ringer (@MichaelBaumann) to talk about what promises to be a weird and possibly slow offseason, and what that might mean for whether we get baseball in 2022. We also talk a…
It’s often described as one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history, as the Reds sent a young Christy Mathewson to the Giants for former superstar Amos Rusie 120 years ago this week. Or did they? As Mike and Bill go through the lives of two of the greatest pitchers in early baseball history,…
The trade for Gary Carter, 36 years ago this week, turned out to be the final piece that turned the mid ’80s Mets into a juggernaut. Mike and Bill recount the career of one of the best catchers in history, and what he brought to the Mets that made them so great, and simultaneously led…
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