Baseball and BBQ

Riley Breckenridge is the drummer for the band Thrice. Riley began playing the drums in high school after tearing multiple ligaments in his legs while playing football. Being unable to play sports for several months, he bought a drum kit and taught himself to play.  Originally, Riley had aspirations of becoming a professional baseball player.  He played college baseball for Pepperdine.  A middle i...

Robert C. Cottrell  is a writer with eclectic interests.  Robert has written numerous books on topics ranging from American radicalism, the 1960s, and the counterculture to baseball, WWII-era conscientious objectors, and popular culture.  His most recent work, The Heyday of Willie, Duke, and Mickey: New York City Baseball's Golden Age Amid Integration , involves a dissection of the ascent and desc...

Robert Harmon better known as Uncle Bob is the founder and creative force behind the brand, Uncle Bob's Sauces and Rubs.  Uncle Bob's love for cooking and BBQ started at a young age, and he quickly became known for his delicious creations. He began entering cooking competitions, where he honed his skills and passion for cooking. As his reputation grew, he decided to share his passion with the worl...

This week we welcome Steve Janaszak , former goaltender and member of the legendary 1980 U.S. Olympic “Miracle on Ice” gold medal-winning hockey team.  Steve is being inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame. Steve shares stories from his hockey journey, including his time starring at the University of Minnesota, where he helped lead the Golden Gophers to two NCAA Championships.  He re...

Sandy Carter is the widow of the late Baseball Hall of Famer, Gary Carter .  Christy , Kimmy , and D.J. are her and Gary's children.  Gary's 19 year Major League Baseball career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.  He was nicknamed, The Kid and was named an All-Star 11 times and was an essential member of the 1986 World Series champion Mets.  In May 2011, Gary was diagno...

Tracy and Jimmy Spruill  are competitive barbecue cooks from Bulverde, Texas who compete as Kickin' Ash BBQ.  They are becoming well known for attention to detail and their passion for creating great Texas barbecue.  How did this husband and wife team meet and become a winning competition barbecue team?   That's just one of the many questions we explore as we hear from two people who are doing wha...

Paul Mound is a member of the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame, having been inducted in the Class of 2017.  He is the Head Baseball Coach at SUNY Adirondack.  Paul previously served as Head Coach at Union College, where he became the all-time wins leader in the program's history.  During his tenure, he built one of the most successful programs in the school's history, leading the team to multi...

Elizabeth Liu is the CEO of Crowd Cow.  She has vast amounts of experience in direct to consumer, marketplace startups, and publicly traded tech companies. As CEO of Crowd Cow, she work in helping with their mission statement, "Our mission is to create an alternative to the current meat commodity system, and to create a meaningful connection between the farmer and the customer, so people can...

Ken Davidoff has been covering Major League Baseball for 30 years. He served as a baseball columnist at the New York Post from 2012 through 2022.  Prior to joining The Post, Ken wrote about baseball for Newsday and The Record . He has appeared on ESPN, the MLB Network, YES Network, CNN, and others. A former president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Ken now works as an adjunct profe...

Rene LeRoux  is the founder and executive director of the New York State Halls of Fame for baseball, basketball, and hockey.  As co-host of this show he is pulling double duty as he is also our guest.  After a very successful New York State Basketball Hall of Fame Dinner, Rene takes us behind the scenes and explains all that was involved in making it happen as well as what is involved with all of...

Steve Somers  nicknamed the Schmoozer, is a sports radio personality, best known for his work on the sports radio station WFAN .  He has been with the station since its inception in 1987.  Steve is originally from San Francisco, California, but his dream was to end up sportscasting in New York City.  The story of how he finally got to New York with some stops along the way is entertaining and fasc...

Kurt Smith i s a staff writer for JerseyMan and MiamiMan m agazines, an occasional contributor to Stadium Journey magazine/blog, and former NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer and the Frontstretch website.  He also writes web content for VisionLine Media, a website design team.  We spoke to him about his website, Ballpark E-Guides:  True Insider Fan Guides to MLB Ballparks, https://ballparkeg...

Marc Kestecher is the lead play-by-play voice for the  NBA on ESPN Radio,  as well as  College Football on ESPN Radio .  He joined ESPN in 1999 as an ESPN Radio   SportsCenter  update anchor, also provides commentary for ESPN Radio’s NFL and college basketball broadcasts, and he is a fixture at major events such as NBA All Star Weekend, NBA Finals, NBA Draft, World Series, MLB All Star Game and th...

Ann Neale and Brian Neale  are the husband and wife team behind the Smoke Freaks competition barbecue team.  Ann aka Ms. Freak and Brian aka Mr. Freak got hooked on competition BBQ at their first backyard contest in 2014.  As per their website, "After entering with the hastily conjured name “Smoking Freaks,” a couple of beat-up WSMs and expectations no greater than having a good time, they en...

Suzyn Waldman is a sportscaster and former musical theater actress.  She was the first voice heard on WFAN, the first all sports, all the time (24/7) radio station in the United States.  She had various roles at the station, eventually becoming the New York Yankees beat reporter.  Since the 2005 season, she has been the color commentator for New York Yankees baseball, partnering with John Sterling...

Bobby Gonzalez is a former college basketball head coach.  Bobby was head coach at Manhattan College and took the team to two NCAA tournaments.  A two-time MAAC Coach of the Year, he is well known for leading 12th-seeded Manhattan College to the second round of the NCAA after the team defeated the fifth-seeded Florida Gators in the first round which was the program's second ever NCAA Tournament wi...

Joe Davis is a television sportscaster and the lead play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also calls national MLB and NFL games for FOX Sports, and since 2022 has served as FOX’s lead announcer for the World Series and MLB All-Star Game. In 2025 he won the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Personality/Play-by-Play.  We talk about his career journey, taking over for the legendary Vin Sc...

Episode 335 features JD Paternoster from JD's Backyard Sauces, Lexi Hastings from the Women's Pro Baseball League, and Gary Looney, spring training correspondent, plus Perry Barber and John Vampatella join us in making this a rare overstuffed triple-header JD Paternoster  is the founder of JD's Backyard Sauces.  The flavors are unique and distinctive and made from ingredients grown by JD, includin...

Episode 334 features Ed Banos, the son of Les Banos, a World War II spy who saved more than 200 lives during the Holocaust and later became a sports photographer, and Aaron Huentelman, competition meat manager at Mr. Brisket Ed Banos serves as the President and CEO for University Health and was recognized as a Healthcare Hero by the San Antonio Business Journal.  However, it is not his story we ar...

Episiode seven of the NYS Halls of Fame Podcast features Emmy Award-winning Nancy Newman, YES Network studio host and reporter, and emcee for the New York State Baseball and Hockey Hall of Fame dinners shares wonderful stories on the NYS Halls of Fame Podcast. Nancy Newman is an Emmy Award-winning journalist for the YES Network. She hosts the Major League Baseball pre-game show, Batting Practice T...

Episode 333 features LC's Bar-B-Q owner, Tausha Hammett carries on her grandfather's legacy and New York State Baseball Hall of Fame member, Tony Morante provide exceptional barbecue and baseball talk Tausha Hammett is the owner of LC’s Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Missouri and the granddaughter of the founder, LC Richardson.  At 12 years old she began learning the business and helping.  Per Tausha, &q...

Larry Berra   was an attendee at the 2022 New York State Baseball Hall of Fame Dinner sporting a tie with his dad, National Baseball Hall of Fame member, Yogi Berra's number eight proudly displayed.  Two years later he was at the dinner again, but this time it was to be part of the ceremony posthumously inducting his father into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame.  There is no doubt that Yog...

Episode 332 features the coauthor of Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame:  A Collection of Biographical Essays , Louis H. Schiff and up-and-coming pitmaster and barbecue aficionado, Brayden Estrela, and Johnny Mags as guest co-host. Louis H. Schiff is a retired judge, attorney, professor, historian and author. During college, he interned with the New York Yankees Class A farm club, serving as p...

Episode 331 features current Major League Baseball content creator and former WFAN New York Yankees beat reporter, Sweeny Murti and granddaughter of Henry Perry, the father of Kansas City Barbecue, Bernetta McKindra Sweeny Murti is a prominent sports journalist, best known as the long-time New York Yankees beat reporter for WFAN radio.  After 30 years at WFAN, he joined Major League Baseball as a...

Bob Robinson, godfather of Pellet grills and Joel Bradley, author of Death By Data, plus guest co-host, Chef Ray Sheehan, and feelings are discussed Bob Robinson is the man credited as being the godfather of pellet grills. Born and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri, Bob found his barbecue roots early on and helped create the barrel lid that pellet grills are known for today. Bob won many barbecue com...