Back When There Was Baseball

Dave Pagan  joins us this week on the show and he is our first player who grew up in Canada. Dave grew up in the middle part of Saskatchewan and shares his story of how he overcame the weather and lack of baseball equipment. He played in the Majors from 1973-1977 with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates before arm trouble ended his career. Join us as we...

We have a special podcast this week to discuss Tommy John surgery and how pitching has evolved from our time period  Back When There Was Baseball  (mid-1960s through the mid-1980s) to today. We are joined by  Rich Hand , former MLB pitcher from the 1970s, and one of the best, if not the best, pitching coaches in MLB history,  Leo Mazzone . Rich and Leo provide their perspective on these topics. Th...

We revisit the success of the "Swingin' A's" this week. Our guest is  Bill North  who arrived in Oakland in 1973 and played there through the 1978 season. Bill was part of two World Series championships (1973-1974) and appeared in the 1975 ALCS along with the 1978 NLCS and World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He led the league in stolen bases twice (1974 and 1976) while playing a stellar cen...

Earl Stephenson  joins us on the podcast this week.  Earl pitched in the Majors/Minors from 1967-1979.  He had to endure military service which disrupted his progress early on.  Earl was a left-handed pitcher that, whatever the reason, never seemed to get a chance.  He had a really good season with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1972 but was abruptly traded to Philadelphia after the season.  He had some...

We are airing this podcast this week in honor of Brant Alyea, who passed away on February 4, 2024. Brant   Alyea  joins us this week on the podcast. He had an illustrious career at Hofstra University on the hardwood playing for Butch van Breda Kolff and also on the baseball diamond. Brant signed a free agent contract with the Cincinnati Reds in 1962, then the Washington Senators chose him in the f...

Bob Galasso  joins us on the podcast this week. Bob had a short, but very interesting career in the Majors. He came out of Connellsville High School (PA) and his high school did not have a baseball team. After being founded in American Legion ball, he ended up converting to a pitcher shortly after joining the Orioles organization in the Minors. Bob had to work his way up through the Orioles organi...

Bob Beall  is our guest this week.  Bob played in the Phillies, Braves and Pirates organizations during his career which lasted from 1970-1981.  Bob was drafted in the 28th round of the 1970 June Draft by the Philadelphia Philles out of Oregon State University.  Bob actually played some 3rd base as a left-handed fielder at Oregon State, which was very unusual.  He worked his way to the Major Leagu...

Bob Randall  is our guest this week. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Kansas State University in 1969. Bob ended up stuck behind those great Dodger infielders in his stint with L.A. (1969-1975) and could not break into the Big Leagues. He got his break when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins in December of 1975. Bob started at 2nd Base with the Twins in 1976 and had a nice year a...

Tom Grieve  joins us this week.  Tom was a 1st round draft pick in the 1966 MLB draft by the Washington Senators.  In fact, Tom and his son Ben were the 1st father-son team to both be drafted in the 1st round.  He made it up to the Big Leagues in 1970, then in 1972 to stay.  Tom was a streaky hitter and finally got a chance to play regularly when Frank Lucchesi became the Texas Rangers manager in...

Our guest this week is  Tom   Burgmeier . You should remember Tom as a left-handed relief pitcher mainly in the 1970s, but do you really know how good he was? Tom pitched in the Majors from 1968-1984, had a record of 79-55 with an ERA of 3.23. The last six years of his career his ERA was under 3.00. That is incredible considering he was over 35 each of those years. The 1978 one-game playoff betwee...

Our guest this week is remembered for his great comeback from cancer, then the ending of his career in Montreal.  But did you remember how effective he was as a left-handed pitcher in the 1980s?   Dave Dravecky  joins us this week to talk about his playing days at Youngstown State University through his last MLB game with the San Francisco Giants.  He broke into the Majors with the San Diego Padre...

Our guest this week is  Fred   Holdsworth . Fred pitched in the Major Leagues from 1972-1980. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1970 MLB Draft and was looked upon to add to the Tiger pitching staff. He got called up to the Majors rather quickly and couldn't break into the Tigers rotation. He then gets traded to the Baltimore Orioles, who had a better pitching staff. Fred talks about his...

Steve Grilli  joins us this week.  Steve came out of Gannon University and was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Tigers in 1970.  He worked his way through the Minors and made his Major League debut in 1975.  Steve stayed up with the Tigers through the 1977 season and was part of that magical season of 1976 where he was part of the pitching staff that included Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.  He is t...

Our guest this week is left-handed pitcher  Gary Lucas . Don't be fooled by Gary's record of 29-44, as Gary had a career ERA of 3.01 which was phenomenal considering he not only started, but also relieved during his career. He played in the Majors from 1980-1987 for the San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos and California Angels. Gary talks about his career and how tough the National League East was wh...

Our guest this week was considered by many who played for the Chicago White Sox as the best batting practice pitcher of all time.  Glen Rosenbaum  signed with the White Sox in 1955, but never made it to the Big Leagues despite a career record of 95-45. Listen to Glen, or "Rosie" as his teammates referred to him, talk about the reason Manager Al Lopez never brought him up to the Majors. Rosie also...

Tom Bruno  joins us this week.  Tom was a pitcher from 1972-1979.  He was childhood friends with Randy Poffo (the infamous Macho Man Randy Savage) and they played a lot of baseball together.  Tom was in the Kansas City Royals organization and was selected in the expansion draft in November 1976 by the Toronto Blue Jays.  After a disappointing season in Toronto in 1977, Claude Osteen helped resurre...

Bob Coluccio  is our guest this week. Bob played in the Majors from 1973-1978 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. He is an interesting subject as he fell 35 games short of an MLB pension according to the pre-1980 rules. You will enjoy the stories Bob shares and we review the fact that he is another player that fell through the cracks. Take a trip  Back When There...

Our guest this week holds a special place in host Rex Naylor's heart.  Rex was presented a Wilson A2150 baseball glove at 10 years of age by his stepfather, with Chris Speier's autograph on the glove.  This inspired Rex to follow our guest this week,  Chris Speier 's career, and a fabulous career it was.  Chris got to the Majors in a hurry with the San Francisco Giants and played in the 1971 NLCS...

Our guest this week is  Billy   Sample . Billy came out of James Madison University and was drafted in the 10th round of the free agent draft in 1976 by the Texas Rangers. He was a career .270 hitter for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves. Billy is a mystery, since he was a very productive hitter and left the game in his early 30s which was rather young. He hit in the .280s his...

Frank Carpin  joins us this week.  Frank played baseball at Notre Dame and was signed into the New York Yankees organization in 1959.  The Yankees were known for their great farm system, but at this time (early 1960s) they stripped their coaches out and moved them up to the Big Leagues.  This story is how bad the Yankees farm system became which led to their mediocre performance during the CBS yea...

This is one of the most inspirational stories you will ever hear. The subject of our podcast today is  Bobby Bonner . He was a great prospect for the Orioles, drafted in the 3rd round of the 1976 MLB draft behind Cal Ripken, to replace Mark Belanger at shortstop. Unfortunately, due to an unbelievable set of circumstances and setbacks, Bobby never truly received an opportunity in the Big Leagues. H...

Bump Wills  joins us on the podcast this week.  Bump is the son of Maury Wills and had a successful career along with his father.  Bump signed his MLB contract with the Texas Rangers after playing for Bobby Winkles at Arizona State.  After only 2 years in the Minor Leagues, Bump made his MLB debut in 1977 and finished 3rd in the running for Rookie of the Year.  He played with the Rangers from 1977...

There are two MLB pitchers that were inflicted with polio that we know of. We had Rich Hand on this podcast a few weeks ago and now we have the second,  Gary   Ryerson . Gary talks about pitching with polio and doing so effectively. He was very close to enrolling at Arizona State, but accepted an offer from the San Francisco Giants. Gary pitched in the Majors and Minors from 1966 through 1976. Lis...

What a better way to celebrate baseball than to revisit the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds. With us is  Pat Darcy . Pat was on the mound when Carlton Fisk hit his infamous home run in Game 6 of this series. Pat shares his memories not only of that game, but of the culmination of the Reds first World Series victory under manager Sparky Anderson. He also discuss...

Who is the only person to officiate All-Star games in both MLB and the NBA? We have him as our guest this week and his name is  Jake O'Donnell . Jake is more noted for his outstanding NBA officiating career (1967-1995), but we are talking with Jake about his MLB umpiring career which spanned from 1967-1971. Jake was the second-base umpire in that momentous 1971 All-Star game held at Tiger Stadium...