Back When There Was Baseball

Former MLB outfielder  Leon   Roberts  joins us this week. Leon played in the Big Leagues from 1974-1984. He played in two domed stadiums as his home field during his career (The Astrodome in Houston and The Kingdome in Seattle). Leon talks about hitting in those stadiums and how he overcame an eye injury to have a career batting average of .267. He finished 6th in batting in 1978 with the Mariner...

1979 marks the 45th anniversary of the great game between the Cubs and Phillies. The date was May 17, 1979, the location was Wrigley Field in Chicago, and the wind was blowing out at 17-18 miles/hour. Both starting pitchers (Phillies - Randy Lerch, Cubs - Dennis Lamp) only last 1/3 of an inning and the score was 7-6 after the 1st inning was completed. The teams combined for 50 hits of which 11 wer...

June 23, 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest achievements in not only Philadelphia Phillies, but also MLB history.  Rick   Wise pitched a no-hitter on that Wednesday evening in Cincinnati while also hitting 2 home runs. Later in that same season, he recorded 32 consecutive outs in a game vs. the Chicago Cubs (September 18, 1971). We were fortunate to have Rick talk about that n...

Ken Berry  joins us on the podcast this week. Ken played in the Majors from 1962-1975 and was considered one of the best defensive center fielders of that era. He won two Gold Glove Awards (1970 and 1972) and was an All-Star in 1967. You have to wonder why he wasn't awarded more Gold Gloves when you look at his statistics. Ken played his entire career in the American League with the Chicago White...

Lou Klimchock  is our guest on the podcast this week. Lou played in the Majors from 1958-1970 with the Kansas City A's, Milwaukee Braves, Washington Senators, New York Mets and Cleveland Indians. He was a good utility infielder during most of his career and finally got a chance to play regularly with Cleveland in 1969. Lou talks about getting labeled back in the day and how it affected his career....

We are going back into the mid-1960s through the 1970s this week with our guest. You should remember  Jim Rooker  as a Pittsburgh Pirate, but he actually started in the Detroit Tigers organization as an outfielder, then converted to a pitcher. Jim shares some great stories during his career with the Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was pivotal in the 1979 World Series by pitch...

Our guest this week is one of the best switch-hitting power hitters of his time period.  Ken Singleton  joins us this week to talk about his illustrious career. Ken's MLB career spans from 1967-1984 with 3 teams: New York Mets, Montreal Expos and Baltimore Orioles. Ken hit 246 HRs and had over 1,000 RBIs (1,065). He also hit .282 during his career with 4 seasons over the .300 mark. Ken Singleton i...

We are joined this week by former Major League right-handed pitcher  Glenn Abbott . Glenn pitched in the Big Leagues from 1973-1984. He came up in the Oakland A's organization when they won 5 straight AL West titles (1971-1975) and 3 World Series (1972-1974). He was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 1976 expansion draft and played with Seattle from 1977-1983, where he played for the Mariners...

Our guest this week was in the game of baseball for five decades.  Mark Wiley  talks with us, not only about his playing career, but also his coaching and administrative career. Mark was not highly touted out of high school but had a great college career at Cal Poly Pomona and was drafted in 1970. He threw a ton of innings as a young minor leaguer and developed some arm problems, which hindered hi...

Rich Nye  joins us this week on the podcast. Rich was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 1966 draft out of Cal-Berkeley and it didn't take him long to make it up to the parent club. He talks about his time with the Cubs and manager Leo Durocher. The Cubs were contenders when he pitched for them in the late 1960s. Rich left baseball and became a veterinarian specializing in exotic...

Tom Satriano joins us this week on the podcast. Tom was an original Los Angeles Angel in 1961, signed out of USC's baseball program. He played in the infield as well as catcher throughout his MLB career (1961-1970). The Angels were an expansion team, but quickly played .500 or better baseball and were competitive throughout the 1960s. Tom talks about his career, along with some of his teammates an...

Former MLB pitcher  Dick Stigman  joins us this week. Dick was a left-handed pitcher from 1954-1967. He is most remembered for his stint with the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins. Dick had a career record of 46-54 with a 4.03 ERA. But the stat that jumps out is that he started 119 games in his career and completed 30 of those games. Dick also was part of the Minnesota Twins 1965 World Series...

Clay Dalrymple  joins us this week.  Clay played in the Majors from 1960-1971 with the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles. Clay was part of the Phillies collapse in 1964 and also part of 3 World Series teams with the Orioles from 1969-1971.  He reflects on these years and also playing for managers Gene Mauch and Earl Weaver.  Clay threw out almost 50% of the base runners that attempted to...

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...