This Week we cover August 26 - Sept 1 . . . We are going to talk Tom Yawkey, Jackie Robinson, Jeff Bagwell, The First Televised Game, Rob Dibble, The Rat and Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell. TRIVIA – Who was the first black/African American player in Major League...

On March 15, 1939 the New York Yankees face the Cincinnati Reds ina spring training game. These two teams will also face off in the 1939 World Series. The Yankees finished with a record of 106–45, winning their 11th pennant, finishing 17 games ahead of the Boston Red...

The Chicago White Sox obtain catcher Jim Essian from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for controversial slugger Dick Allen and a reported $5,000. Allen will refuse to report to Atlanta and retire instead. Richie Ashburn will help coax Allen out of retirement and he will play two disappointing seasons back in Philadelphia before going to Oakland as a free agent to finish his major league career.

Enjoy this exhibition game played on March 24, 1962, vs the New York Mets and Kansas City A's. The 1962 New York Mets season was the first regular-season for the Mets, as the National League returned to New York City for the first time since 1957. They went 40–120...

1951 – In an exhibition game at the University of Southern California, Mickey Mantle propels a home run estimated at 654 to 660 feet. The shot clears Bovard Field and then goes the width of a practice football field before landing. Mantle has two homers, a bases-loaded triple, and drives in seven runs as the Yankees flunk the Trojans, 15 – 1.

The “Duke of Flatbush”, Hall of Famer Duke Snider dies in Escondido, CA at age 84. Snider was a power-hitting centerfielder for the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the 1950s and is immortalized in Terry Cashman’s song “Willie, Mickey and the Duke”.

1996 – One of Major League Baseball’s most controversial owners, Jerry Reinsdorf, and its most controversial player, Albert Belle, join forces with the Chicago White Sox. Belle signs a record five-year, $55 million deal that makes him the first player to surpass the $10 million per year mark. Reinsdorf, seen as the instigator in the owners’ vote against the collective bargaining agreement, draws the ire of owners in both leagues who feel he sold them out.

PODCAST On Friday afternoon April 11, 1969, Major League Baseball came to Seattle with the American League expansion Seattle Pilots debuting at Sick's Stadium. After near misses with Indians and A’s considering a move to the Pacific Northwest Seattle finally had a big...

On April 3, 1987, the Chicago Cubs trade seemingly over-the-hill pitcher Dennis Eckersley to the Oakland A’s for three minor leaguers. Eckersley will emerge as the game’s dominant closer, saving 291 games over the next eight seasons, and earning election to the Hall of Fame in 2004.

On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees becomes the first designated hitter in major league history. In his first plate appearance, Blomberg walks with the bases loaded. He will end up with one hit in three at-bats as the Yankees lose to the Boston Red Sox, 15-5.