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

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Release Date: 10/07/2024

378: US Pro Soccer's 378: US Pro Soccer's "League 1 America" - With Jim Paglia

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Spurred on by a penned last November by (as well as another by Guardian soccer writer Jack Williams ), we delve into the fascinating story of the visionary, yet controversial 1990s American pro soccer league that never was - League 1 America - with its mastermind Jim Paglia.  Born in the wake of the 1989 awarding of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the United States, League 1 America was an ambitious attempt to reimagine a post-Cup pro soccer league for an American audience that gravitated toward fast-paced, high-scoring sports like football and basketball. Paglia’s vision centered on...

info_outline 377: Baseball's Historical Concentricities - With Curt Smith show art 377: Baseball's Historical Concentricities - With Curt Smith

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Renowned Presidential speechwriter-turned-sports-historian Curt Smith joins the podcast this week for an erudite look at the not-so-obvious concentricity between the story of baseball in America with both the growth of broadcasting and the evolution of electoral politics.   Drawing from some of his most seminal works on baseball history - most notably 1987's iconic , the anthological , and the newly updated-in-paperback - Smith helps put the game into richer cultural perspective, with astute observations of its unmistakable intertwinement with media and government. + + +  ...

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

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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 (, & Episodes , , , & ); and Paul Reeths (, & ). 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...

info_outline 375: NASL, MISL & MLS Soccer - With National Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore show art 375: NASL, MISL & MLS Soccer - With National Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore

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It's a holiday gift-wrapped conversation with American soccer pioneer and US National Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore - whose professional career as a player and coach across the original versions of both the North American Soccer League (San Jose Earthquakes, Oakland Stompers), and Major Indoor Soccer League (Detroit Lightning, San Francisco Fog, Phoenix Inferno & a one-game/one-goal stint with the Kansas City Comets), and as General Manager of the original Major League Soccer incarnation of the 'Quakes (formerly Clash, now Houston Dynamo) - is the stuff of legend. Also: the "outlaw"...

info_outline 374: The NFL's Providence Steam Roller - With Greg Tranter show art 374: The NFL's Providence Steam Roller - With Greg Tranter

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We welcome pro football historian (and ) Greg Tranter ("") to our microphones this week for a look back at the oft-forgotten - which competed in the early-days National Football League from 1925-31. Based in Providence, RI, the Steam Roller holds a unique place in gridiron history as the first and only team from the Ocean State to win an NFL championship. The team's unusual name reflected the industrial character of the region and was derived from a local steamroller manufacturer. The Steam Roller played their home games primarily at the , an outdoor stadium primarily designed for bicycle...

info_outline 373: The Once and Future Detroit Lions - With Bill Morris show art 373: The Once and Future Detroit Lions - With Bill Morris

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We jump aboard this NFL season's biggest bandwagon with a look back at one of the league's most enduring, yet historically mediocre franchises - and the only club operational for the entirety of the post-AFL era to never appear in the Super Bowl. Bill Morris ("") joins the podcast to help us wallow in the colorful, but supremely confounding history of pro football's Detroit Lions - especially during the last 60+ years of family majority ownership begun in earnest by William Clay Ford Sr. back in 1963. From the "Curse of Bobby Layne" to Billy Sims, from Barry Sanders to Matt Millen, and from...

info_outline 372: 372: "Banned" - With Michael Ray Richardson & Jake Uitti

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Former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson and his co-author Jacob Uitti ( ) join the show to discuss Richardson's riveting new memoir that chronicles his extraordinary journey on and off the basketball court. Hailed as “the next Walt Frazier” coming out of the University of Montana as a first-round pick (fourth overall) in the 1978 NBA Draft, "Sugar" was a force to be reckoned with, leading the league in both assists and steals in just his second season - still New York Knicks team records to this day - and earning four All-Star appearances and two All-Defensive team honors. But behind...

info_outline 371: The Cleveland Indians' Ray Chapman - With Scott Longert show art 371: The Cleveland Indians' Ray Chapman - With Scott Longert

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Baseball history writer Scott Longert (""), joins the show for an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman (1891-1920) whose tragic story continues to resonate more than a century later. Chapman rose from humble beginnings to become one of the American League’s top shortstops of the 1910s. His exceptional talent on the field, coupled with his marriage to heiress Kathleen Daly, positioned him for a life of privilege and success. Yet, his promising future was cruelly cut short during the 1920 pennant race when a high fastball from Yankees pitcher Carl...

info_outline 370: Basketball Jump Shot Innovator Ken Sailors - With Debbie Sorensen show art 370: Basketball Jump Shot Innovator Ken Sailors - With Debbie Sorensen

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Author/biographer Debbie Sorensen () delves into the story of basketball pioneer Kenny Sailors (1921–2016), one of the most unheralded influencers in both the collegiate and pro game. Widely credited with popularizing the modern-day jump shot, Sailors first stunned audiences in the early 1940s when he elevated mid-air to shoot over taller defenders - a revolutionary move in an era dominated by set shots. His innovation not only expanded offensive possibilities but also became a fundamental skill in basketball at all levels.   As a standout player for the University of Wyoming, Sailors...

info_outline 369: The AAGPBL's South Bend Blue Sox - With Jim Sargent show art 369: The AAGPBL's South Bend Blue Sox - With Jim Sargent

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We gear up for the impending launch of the new six-team (set to debut in summer of 2026) with another look back at the original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-54) with sports history writer Jim Sargent. In "" (2013), Sargent culled insights from over three dozen interviews with former AAGPBL players, detailing the league’s evolution from underhand pitching with a 12-inch ball in 1943 to overhand pitching and a standard baseball by 1954, its final year. Conducted between 1995 and 2012, these interviews captured memorable games, career highlights, and the deep bonds...

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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.
 
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