Back When There Was Baseball

Tommy McCraw  is our guest this week. Tommy, or Mac as he likes to be called, played in the Majors from 1963-1975 with the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, California Angels and back with the Indians to finish out his career. Mac played for Ted Williams in 1971 and credits Ted for helping him become a better hitter. He also coached 24 years in the Majors as a hitting coac...

Our guest this week is  Rance Mulliniks . Rance played from 1977-1992 for the California Angels, Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays. He was traded to the Blue Jays in 1982, where he finally got a chance to play every day. He credits Cito Gaston for elevating his hitting. Rance was also an outstanding glove and for several years in the mid-1980s, was one of the top 3rd basemen in the Amer...

Tim Foli  joins us on the podcast this week. Tim played in the Majors from 1970-1985. His statistics don't jump out at you, but he was a very good defensive shortstop and hit very well, mostly out of the 2nd spot in the batting order. Tim played for the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, then the Mets again before he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979. He and the acquisition of Bill Madlock...

Steve   Kealey  joins us this week on our look  Back When There Was Baseball . Steve came out of Torrance, California in the mid-1960s where there was a boatload of talent. He was signed by the California Angels in 1966 and made his major league debut in 1968. Steve played for many years in the minors and majors with manager Chuck Tanner who he credits for giving him a chance. He played for the An...

Our guest this week is  Mike Epstein . Mike played in the Majors from 1966-1974 with various clubs and was part of the 1972 Oakland A's world championship team. He went to Cal-Berkeley on a football scholarship but ended up switching to baseball. Mike was nicknamed "Superjew" and played for quite a host of managers, which include Hank Bauer, Gil Hodges, Ted Williams and Dick Williams. Mike has som...

Dave Ford joins us this week. Dave was a 1st round draft pick in 1975 by the Baltimore Orioles. He was one of the many hot prospects and dominant pitchers that were a part of the Orioles organization at that time. Listen as Dave talks about the amazing pitching staff of the Orioles during the years he was in their organization (1975-1983) and what it was like to play for Earl Weaver as we go  Back...

Our guest this week is former National League umpire  Jerry Crawford . Jerry comes from a family of officials.  His father Shag was a Major League umpire from 1955-1975 and his brother Joey, was an NBA official from 1977-2016. Jerry started out in the National League in 1976, then became a Major League umpire for the last 10 years of his career, which ended with the 2010 season. He shares some gre...

Rick Wise  joins us this week to talk about his outstanding career. Rick's career was lengthy, 1963-1982, with only parts of 3 seasons in the Minor Leagues. He started 8 games for the 1964 Phillies in a year in which the Phillies collapsed at the end of the year. Rick was traded for Steve Carlton in 1972 and gets a bad rap for that trade, but he had a good year with the Cardinals that year (16-16)...

Zack Minasian  joins us this week to talk about his book  Lasorda University: A Recollection of My Summer of '68 with Tommy Lasorda and the Ogden Dodgers  in our combined  Sports Authors Showcase  and  Back When There Was Baseball podcasts. Zack shares some great stories about that 1968 Ogden Dodgers team (Pioneer League) which had some great players: Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Steve Garvey, T...

Steve Whitaker  joins us this week. Steve played from 1962-1972 with parts of 5 seasons in the Big Leagues. He started out in the Yankees organization and talks about playing in Yankee Stadium (when the monuments were in the field of play) with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bobby Richardson to name a few. Steve ended up in the expansion Seattle Pilots organization and played in their inaugural se...

Greg Terlecky  joins us this week. We've had the privilege of hosting several pitchers that had great resumes, but for some reason or other, just didn't quite pan out. Greg is one of those pitchers and had he not been "rushed", could have had a different career. He played one season at the Big-League level in 1975 for the St. Louis Cardinals and just when he thought he was going to factor into the...

Some of you may never have heard about our guest this week, but you will come away impressed with what this gentleman brought to the game when he was healthy.  Gil Patterson  joins us to talk about his career. He only played in the Majors for one year and it was 1977 with the New York Yankees. Gil can reminisce about "The Bronx Zoo" year and the many things that happened during that season. When y...

Tom Trebelhorn  joins us on the podcast this week. Tom played in the Minor Leagues in the early 1970s, starting with the Bend Rainbows (Hawaii). After his playing career, he started his coaching venture, which culminated in a managerial position with the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986-1991 and then the Chicago Cubs in 1994. Tom shares some great stories surrounding his career as we travel  Back When...

Claude   Osteen  joins us for Part 2 which focuses on his coaching career and quite a career it was. Claude had stints as a pitching coach with the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Philles, Texas Rangers and L.A. Dodgers. He survived several coaching changes in Philadelphia and produced 3 Cy Young award winners in a 6-year span (Steve Carlton, John Denny and Steve Bedrosian). Claude shares some g...

This week we air Part 1 of a 2-part interview with  Claude Osteen  which focuses on his playing days. Claude played in the Majors from 1957-1975 as a left-handed pitcher. He compiled a 196-195 record with a career ERA of 3.30. He is most noted for his days with the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching alongside Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Claude won game 3 of the 1965 World Series which helped propel t...

Our guest this week was headed for a stellar career as a pitcher until a torn rotator cuff cost him his career. Do you remember  Steve Busby , Kansas City Royals pitcher 1972-1980? Steve talks about his career from high school into his stint at USC during their great days in the late 1960s/early 1970s. He had three very good years in the Majors from 1973-1975, which included two no-hitters. Let's...

Our guest this week is  Gary Lavelle . You should remember Gary as a left-handed relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants (1974-1984). When you look at Gary's career stats (80-77 with an ERA of 2.93), you wonder why he gets lost in the shuffle. Gary discusses his career, from his minor league years and getting called up with the Giants in 1974. He talks about how tough it was to pitch in Candle...

Greg Pryor  joins us this week. Greg is one of those guys we love to interview. He was a solid player during his day, but not necessarily a household name. Greg played from 1971-1986 after being drafted by the Washington Senators which became the Texas Rangers in 1972. He finally got his chance to play regularly in the Chicago White Sox organization in 1978 and earned his stripes as a solid infiel...

We take the time machine back to the late 1950s through the late 1960s with our guest this week.  Gary Bell  joins us to talk about his great career. Gary was a pitcher with a career record of 121-117 with a 3.68 ERA. He was on that great Cleveland Indians pitching staff in the mid-to-late 1960s. Gary was moved to Boston and the Red Sox appeared in the 1967 World Series. He was also the starting p...

Our guest this week is  Steve   "Bye Bye"   Balboni . Our co-host, Steve Schaaf, played in the 1977 Division II College World Series with Steve Balboni, which adds an interesting take to this podcast. Balboni was introduced to America during the MLB strike of 1981. ESPN started to cover minor league baseball and Steve played for the Columbus Clippers as he was featured during the strike. He had a...

Who was the last New York Yankees pitcher to win a game in "Old Yankee Stadium" before the refurbishment? It is our guest this week,  George   "Doc" Medich . Doc won the last Yankees victory in "Old Yankee Stadium" on September 29, 1973, before the Yankees moved to Shea Stadium for the 1974-1975 seasons. Doc Medich is an incredible story of a very good baseball pitcher who also went to medical sch...

This week we take a look at another catcher from the late 1960s to the late 1970s.   Ken   Rudolph  is our guest.  Ken played in the Majors from 1969-1977 with the Cubs, Giants, Cardinals and Orioles.  In this era of baseball, the backup catcher was vitally important.  Ken talks about what it was like to play sparingly, keep in shape not only defensively, but also at the plate with the bat.  He al...

We go  Back When There Was Baseball  this week to the late 1960s through the late 1970s with our guest  Joe Lahoud . Joe broke into the Majors with the Red Sox organization in 1968 as an outfielder competing with Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith and Ken Harrelson for playing time. He was traded to and played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1972-1973, then was shipped to the California Angels. Joe had a...

We take the time machine  Back When There Was Baseball  this week to the late 1960s into the early 1970s with our guest, pitcher  Bill Denehy . Bill's career was not a long one due to arm injuries, but he has some great stories surrounding his playing days. An interesting tidbit was that he was traded from the New York Mets to the Washington Senators in 1967 for manager Gil Hodges. Bill played for...

Lynn Jones  joins us this week on the podcast. Lynn is a very interesting story and it starts at Thiel College in Erie, PA where in his last 2 years of college he was a 3-sport athlete. Name me 3-sport athletes that made it to the Major Leagues. The list is short. Lynn started out with the Cincinnati Reds organization but was traded to Detroit where he made the Major League club. He was a member o...