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We hearken back to baseball's humble beginnings this week, as author/historian Jeff Orens (" Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America ") takes us on a journey through the late 19th century, when the game was rapidly evolving from a casual pastime to America's national sport - with two larger-than-life figures at the center of its transformation....

Ain't no stoppin' us now this week as we lay down the indoor soccer turf and roll out the red carpet for one of the Major Indoor Soccer League 's steeliest defenders and long-time St. Louis Steamers fan favorite Carl Rose . Known best for his seven stellar seasons (1979-86) with the MISL's most commercially successful franchise, Rose actually began his pro indoor career along with the debut of the...

We throw another Duraflame into the hot stove this week for a look back at the sterling, but oddly overlooked career of one of baseball's greatest "golden age" hitters.  Biographer Jerry Grillo (" Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize ") helps us sort out the intriguing story of batting titan Johnny Mize - whose 15-year major league journey playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, th...

[While Tim gets off the mat after a bout with a vaccine-resistant strain of the flu this week, we go back to April 2018 for this classic ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE with the pied piper of classic football history!] Upton Bell grew up at the knee of the National Football League's second-ever commissioner – his father, the legendary Bert Bell – who not only saved professional football from financial ruin in...

Spurred on by a hugely intriguing article in The Athletic penned last November by Episode 274 guest Pablo Maurer (as well as another by Guardian soccer writer Jack Williams back in 2016 ), we delve into the fascinating story of the visionary, yet controversial 1990s American pro soccer league that never was - League 1 America - with its mastermind Jim Paglia .  Born in the wake of the 1989 awardin...

Renowned Presidential speechwriter-turned-sports-historian Curt Smith joins the podcast this week for an erudite look at the not-so-obvious concentricity between the story of baseball in America with both the growth of broadcasting and the evolution of electoral politics.   Drawing from some of his most seminal works on baseball history - most notably 1987's iconic Voices of the Game , the antholo...

It's our year-end Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring a look back at the year's newest additions to "what used-to-be" in professional sports (RIP MLB's "Oakland" Athletics & the NHL's Arizona Coyotes ), and a predictive glimpse into what might be in store for 2025 - with two of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Steve Holroyd ( Crossecheck , Philly Classics & Episodes 92 , 109...

It's a holiday gift-wrapped conversation with American soccer pioneer and US National Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore - whose professional career as a player and coach across the original versions of both the North American Soccer League ( San Jose Earthquakes , Oakland Stompers ), and Major Indoor Soccer League ( Detroit Lightning , San Francisco Fog , Phoenix Inferno & a one-game/one-goal stin...

We welcome pro football historian (and Buffalo Bills memorabilia patron ) Greg Tranter (" The Providence Steam Roller: New England's First NFL Team ") to our microphones this week for a look back at the oft-forgotten Providence Steam Roller - which competed in the early-days National Football League from 1925-31. Based in Providence, RI, the Steam Roller holds a unique place in gridiron history as...

We jump aboard this NFL season's biggest bandwagon with a look back at one of the league's most enduring, yet historically mediocre franchises - and the only club operational for the entirety of the post-AFL era to never appear in the Super Bowl. Bill Morris (" The Lions Finally Roar: The Ford Family. The Detroit Lions, And The Road To Redemption In The NFL ") joins the podcast to help us wallow i...

Former NBA All-Star Michael Ray Richardson and his co-author Jacob Uitti ( Banned: How I Squandered an All-Star NBA Career Before Finding My Redemption ) join the show to discuss Richardson's riveting new memoir that chronicles his extraordinary journey on and off the basketball court. Hailed as "the next Walt Frazier" coming out of the University of Montana as a first-round pick (fourth overall)...

B aseball history writer Scott Longert (" Love and Loss: The Short Life of Ray Chapman ") , joins the show for an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman (1891-1920) whose tragic story continues to resonate more than a century later. Chapman rose from humble beginnings to become one of the American League's top shortstops of the 1910s. His exceptional talent...

Author/biographer Debbie Sorensen ( Beyond the Jump Shot: The Elevated Life of Kenny Sailors ) delves into the story of basketball pioneer Kenny Sailors (1921–2016), one of the most unheralded influencers in both the collegiate and pro game. Widely credited with popularizing the modern-day jump shot, Sailors first stunned audiences in the early 1940s when he elevated mid-air to shoot over taller d...

We gear up for the impending launch of the new six-team Women's Pro Baseball League (set to debut in summer of 2026) with another look back at the original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-54) with sports history writer Jim Sargent . In " We Were the All-American Girls " (2013), Sargent culled insights from over three dozen interviews with former AAGPBL players, detailing the...

With apologies to ice hockey's legendary Lord Stanley, no sport is more synonymous with the awarding of championship cups than soccer.   Long ingrained in the international culture of the sport, the hardware that overwhelmingly awaits the various victors of league titles (e.g., Italy's Serie A Coppa Campioni d'Italia or North America's MLS Cup); major club tournaments (like England's FA Cup or the...

Voice of America news editor and Pittsburgh native Dan Joseph (" Behind the Yoi: The Life of Myron Cope, Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers Broadcaster ") joins the podcast this week for a deep dive into the legacy of one of pro football's most unique broadcast voices. Myron Cope (1929-2008) served as the radio color commentator for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers from 1970 to 2005, becoming an irreplace...

John Madden (1936-2021) was more than a football icon - he embodied the sport itself. As the unmistakable voice of the NFL for nearly 30 years, he brought America's game into TV living rooms across the country. His name became synonymous with football, not just through his legendary broadcast career, but also as the face of his eponymous "Madden" video game franchise. On the field, he was a coachi...

Legendary sports broadcaster Tom Hammond (" Races, Games, and Olympic Dreams: A Sportscaster's Life ") joins host Tim Hanlon for a myriad of career memories from his nearly 35-year journey calling top-tier league packages and prime events for NBC Sports. Plucked from regional sportscasting obscurity in 1984 for a one-time stall reporting gig as part of the network's telecast of the inaugural Breed...

Baltimore-based music historian and unwitting baseball biographer Tim Newby (" The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete Browning ") joins the show to delve deep into the story of one of the most formidable baseball players of the 19th century, whose mastery with a bat is still paying dividends today. Over his 13-year career (including now-defunct stops...

Despite their name, the Harlem Globetrotters weren't originally from New York's Harlem neighborhood, nor did they start out as true world travellers. This all-Black basketball team, founded by Jewish immigrant Abe Saperstein , originated on Chicago's South Side and began touring the Midwest rather humbly in Saperstein's unheated Ford Model T. With his sharp promotional skills and the players' incr...

With the Mets th-i-i-i-i-s close to a rare MLB playoff berth this season, we do our best not to jinx their chances with a look back at the local New York post-game TV show synonymous with the club's first 32 years in Gotham with sports reporter/author Mark Rosenman (" Down on the Korner: Ralph Kiner and Kiner's Korner "). "Kiner's Korner" was a beloved postgame interview show that became a staple...

From the tough streets of Louisville's Smoketown to corporate success, former college hoops standout and American Basketball Association pro George Tinsley 's life is a testament to resilience and opportunity.    In his inspiring new memoir " Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy by Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle ," Tinsley shares his journey from poverty in the racially divided South to th...

Metroplex restauranteur and armchair football historian Mike Cobern ( Wards of the League: The Untold Story of the First NFL Team in Dallas ) joins for a deep dive into the mostly forgotten saga of the 1952 Dallas Texans , the one-year wonder that has nearly vanished from the annals of National Football League history.   Before the Cowboys became "America's Team," the NFL's Dallas Texans were nobo...

Syracuse University communications professor and former Emmy award-winning ESPN producer Dennis Deninger (" The Football Game That Changed America: How the NFL Created a National Holiday ") joins the show to take us through the origin story and unlikely sociological trajectory of the Super Bowl - pro football's annual championship extravaganza that morphed from uncertain beginnings during the late...

The date: June 14, 1974   The place: Cleveland's venerable Municipal Stadium   The event: an evening regular-season game between MLB's Cleveland Indians & Texas Rangers   The added attraction: "Ten Cent Beer Night"   The result: one of baseball history's (and American sports') most notorious promotional fiascos   Cleveland native Scott Jarrett (" Ten Cent Beer Night: The Complete Guide to the Riot...