Sean and Eds Do Baseball

Eds continues to deal as he finishes off the Christie Pits saga with the story of the 1933 riot that had been brewing on the streets of Toronto for years. The rise of anti-semitism in Hogtown and around the world catalyzed a six hour race riot between the Jewish youth of the city, their Italian neighbours and the Nazi punks that wished to see them banned from public spaces.  Special Thanks to Step...

Eds returns to the bump with the story of how Hog Town's famed Christie Pits came to be. A beautiful park in the heart of Toronto that hosted the city's early softball leagues soon became the site of an event that catalyzed one of the darkest moments in 20th century Canadian history.

Sean keeps throwing and things get out of hand with Van Lingle Mungo. An arm injury, boozing, trade rumours, adultery, and confrontations with his managers lead to the end of his tenure in Brooklyn; and eventually his career, but not before one of the wildest stories in baseball history.

Sean pitches into extra innings starting with the origin and rise of Brooklyn Dodgers star Van Lingle Mungo. One of the best pitchers of the 1930’s, Mungo had the unfortunate luck of pitching in front of the Daffy Dodgers,  never experiencing team success despite impressive underlying personal stats. A confrontational personality, drinking and finally an arm injury would seal his fate as a forgott...

Sean and Eds share the tools of ignorance this time and catch a story from special guest pitcher; Sports Reference Director of Design and SABR member Adam Darowski who steps to the mound with a spot start. Adam tells the tale of a 1930's Dominican baseball league that was founded by a ruthless dictator who sought to ride the wave of baseball's popularity to both feed his obsession with power and w...

Sean throws a change-up with some late break telling the tragic story of a much hyped Pirates prospect and the scout who promised to stay by his side. Edmead would prove to be everything the organization was hoping he'd be until a routine play in August changed baseball history.

Eds returns to the mound for another tale of Black History with the story of Cecil Cooper. A criminally underrated player who struggled to find a fit in Boston, Cooper was a humble first baseman who eventually found his niche in the small market of Milwaukee, becoming an integral part of one of the most potent line-ups of the 1980's, carving out a place in the Brewers record books and becoming one...

Sean gets on the bump for his first start of 2025 and regales Eds with the story of Luke Easter. A hulking home run hitting, trailblazing black slugger and all around great guy. Easter had a late start to his pro baseball career but made up for it by lying about his age. He'd play until nearly the age of 50, positively impacting hundreds of fans and teammates along the way, before meeting a tragic...

Eds comes from the windup and kicks high with the life story of the man who some consider to be the luckiest in baseball history; Jack Lohrke. Born in the 20's, Lohrke lived into his 80's but not before becoming one of baseball's greatest cheaters, but not on the field or in his personal life. Jack Lohrke earned the nickname "Lucky" by cheating death.......seven times.

Our 2024 Season Finale! Sean's on the bump with the extra long story of William Ashley Sunday. After a rough childhood, Sunday's speed was enough to earn a spot on the Chicago White Stockings but he would leave after a short career yo serve a bigger purpose! Preaching the word of God like no one had ever seen before.

The boys return to the battery after a short break with the life story of yet another fellow country man; this time it's Phil Marchildon.  In the spirit of Remembrance / Veteran's Day Eds toes the rubber and tells Sean about Phil's humble beginnings on the shores of Georgian Bay, his late start into baseball and his heroic venture to war, where he became a POW and suffered the effects that further...

As the MLB season comes to a close and Sean spends time off with a growing family; the boys revisit an old episode from October of 2020 in which Eds tells Sean, and friend of the show Jean Poincelet about a wild offseason almost 50 years ago that nearly brought a struggling west coast franchise back across the continent and north of the border. This is the story of a volatile era in baseball where...

Sean goes from the windup to tell Eds the wild story of the first official World Series in 1903; as well as the legendary group of fans that helped turn the series in Boston's favour. 101 years later the song they sang would gain new life and Boston would once again win it all in October!

Eds throws a knuckler and continues an October tradition with a story from the MLB postseason, but he also continues a Sean and Eds Do Baseball tradition with a story of the Mets. The Miracle Mets; the key cast members that made them and all the reasons that nickname was so apt. They weren't expected to do much of anything but a perfect chain of events helped the Mets go from mediocrity to might f...

Sean throws a quality start with the story of baseball writer and journalist Melissa Ludtke. Her love of baseball lead her to write for Sports Illustrated but a confrontation with Bowie Kuhn during the 1977 World Series changed baseball for the better and set a precedent for women reporters everywhere. https://www.melissaludtke.com/locker-room-talk

In honour of Eds' vacation to Cooperstown we are re-running our early episode on The Savannah Bananas before they blew up to the point of having their own pop up display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.   Sean digs into the relatively young story of the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate wood bat league with some colourful characters throughout its short history.

Sean stands atop the hill and delivers a spitball with the short wild life and career of Arthur "Bugs" Raymond. One of the premier spitballers of his day Raymond's NY Giants Manager John McGraw would do all he could to keep his star pitcher sober but to no avail.

Eds steps to the rubber with a fastball. The story of Guelph, Ontario's own William "Bunk" Congalton; who found his way into his local Sports Hall of Fame after a career gardening for a laundry list of colourfully named clubs, all before his untimely death at the Indians game, at the age of 62 or 59.

Sean winds up with a fastball to tell the story of hard throwing pitcher Moses Yellowhorse. From the Pawnee Nation; Yellowhorse's arm caught the attention of baseball's elite and brought him to the big leagues at a young age. Despite a strong arm and cheers from the Pittsburgh faithful dedicated specifically to young Moses, his career would be very short but very eventful.

Eds heads to the mound with a short outing; telling the story of fellow countryman, The Only Nolan. Born Edward Sylvester Nolan, in Trenton, Canada, Nolan gained what turned out to be one of the most ironic nicknames in baseball history. He stumbled into the major leagues and wouldn't stay long as he could never stray far from controversy. 

Sean twirls a strong outing with the story of Stanley "Frenchy" Bordagaray - who was Basque! Bordagaray made headlines; mostly off the field with his goofy antics and stunts which created some major consternation for his manager Casey Stengel. 

Eds hits the corner with a heater as he blazes through the life story of Hall of Fame Phillie and Broadcasting Legend Don Richie Whitey Ashburn. A story inspired by one fateful afternoon of "Putt-Putt's" career that surely beat the odds.

Sean goes up and in with the story of Joe Sprinz and his attempted record setting catch that on his birthday no less, ended in disaster at the San Francisco World's Fair!  

Eds throws a curveball in a fastball count and brings an old player back onto the roster with a more in depth covering of the life of Randy Bass; the NPB's first American superstar, who due to some poor foresight by his club was railroaded out of town in the most despicable of circumstances. Listen to how those circumstances left a sour taste in the mouth of the Tigers legend and how they created...

Sean winds up for back to back starts with the tale of two friends brought together by baseball and connected forever by one tragic day on the diamond.