Hooks & Runs

Five players in MLB history have driven in 2,000 run in their career. Barry Bonds concluded his amazing 22-year career 4 RBI short of 2,000. This week we examine Bonds' career and try to find out how he came up short. Also this week, Craig and Rex with their favorite new albums released the third quarter of 2024. Errata: The reports are Bonds' head circumference grew by 1 to 1.5 inches,...

This week Craig and Rex review Craig's sketchy pre-season predictions and ruminate about the on-gong MLB playoffs. Errata: Met closer Edwin Diaz has one year left on his contract, not three. -->Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/tT8d3pVUsN -->You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including the books featured in this episode, through our store at Bookshop.org . Here&apo...

After beating the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium 3-2 to wrap up a 6-4 road trip, the Phillies cam home leading the National League by 6.5 games with 12 games to play. What followed remains the most dramatic late-season collapse in Major League history. The Phillies lost 10 straight games, including all seven on the following home stand, and finished one game behind St. Louis. In this episod...

Author Scott H. Longert joins the show this week to talk about his latest book, "Love and Loss: The Short Life of Ray Chapman" (Ohio Univ. Press 2024). Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman was hit by a pitched ball in the temple during a ballgame against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds on August 16, 1920. He succumbed to his injuries the next morning. He is the only player in Major League his...

In the great John Ford western, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," a reporter says, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Few 19th Century players muddled the waters between fact and legend as did the great Louisville slugger, Pete Browning. Author Tim Newby's new book "The Original Louisville Slugger: The Life and Times of Forgotten Baseball Legend Pete...

Our guest this week is Arthur D. Hittner, author of "Honus Wagner, The Life of Baseball's Flying Dutchman," Revised Edition (McFarland, 2024). Originally published in 1996, Hittner's book won the prestigious Seymour Medal for best  baseball historical or biographical book in 1997. Wagner led the National League in batting 8 times and hit .324 in his storied career. Over 100 yea...

Justin Verlander is struggling in his latest return from the injury list. Roger Maris would have celebrated his 90th birthday in the 10th -- he died in 1985. We noticed a lot of pretty famous people were born or grew up Maris's home town of Hibbing, Minnesota (pop. 16,000), including a couple of Hall of Famers (Maris is not one). Finally, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and the Chicago White Sox a...

Timothy Malcolm wrote the newly revised and updated, "Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby" (Moon Travel, 2024) being released September 10. He joins us this week to talk about baseball road trips, favorite ballparks and how baseball contributed to revivals in many large American cities. In part 2, Rex and Craig talk about...

Bobby Mathews pitched in three major leagues from 1871 to 1887 and ended his career with 297 career wins. Why did he stop playing when he was so close to 300? This episode looks into Mathews' career as well as wins as a statistical category and 300 wins as a significant career milestone to kick off this series about players who came very close, but did not quite reach landmark career totals....

On August 6, 2024, the dreadful Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland A's 5-1 at the Coliseum. This win snapped a 21-game losing streak, the longest losing streak in the Majors in 36 years. The Philadelphia Phillies own the modern record losing streak, 23 games, set in 1961. This episode, Craig and Rex will look back on that record losing streak. Episodes Referenced: 212 - Ken Johnson Has a Secr...

Professor Robert Ross, author of The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League (2016) joins us this week to discuss the first attempt at unionization by Major League players -- the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players which had formed in the mid 1880s. The Brotherhood joined forces with supportive magnates to form the Players League in 1890. Unfortunately, the le...

This week Craig and Rex take a deep dive into Houston's Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero contract fiascos and come away glad we're not the Angels. In Part 2, Ken Johnson did something on an April week night in 1964 that had never been done before in a Major League game - and hasn't been done since. Errata: Mike Trout, if healthy, could have played a possible 648 games since 2020. --&gt...

Journalist, author Dave Heller joins us this week to discuss his new book, "Parisian Bob Caruthers: Baseball's First Two-Way Star" (McFarland 2024). Caruthers played in the American Association and National League from 1884 to 1893 where he led the AA in wins twice and played with distinction in the outfield when he was not pitching. In this interview, Heller takes us back to a time...

Craig reports on his short getaway to Cleveland, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Progressive Field. The hosts speculate on stadium drama in Oakland, Tampa and Anaheim. The Mariners blew a 10-game lead in the American League West over a 24-game period, but will anyone remember in October if Seattle hangs on to win the division anyway? Craig and Rex glance at famous late-season collapses in bas...

Rex attended his first in-person Major League game this week - his Rangers beat Craig's Astros and Rex did an okay job suppressing the urge to be a sore winner. Also this week, a look at standings going into the All-Star Break, Wander Franco may be in big trouble, Randy Hennis had a short, brilliant career for Houston and Rex has a few things to say about Globe Life's robot bartenders. F...

Hurricane Beryl dealt a blow to our hometown but 36 hours after it passed Hooks & Runs is on schedule against all odds. This week, Craig and Rex riffing on the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, Adrián Beltré , Todd Helton , Jim Leyland and Joe Mauer (with an obligatory dig along the way on Journey and Bon Jovi from Craig), speculating about Ichiro 's chances for unanimous inductio...

In part one, Craig and Rex recall some memorable Fourth of July baseball fireworks featuring the ubiquitous Guy Hecker , the irrepressible Boom Boom Beck and the simply legendary Rick Camp . In part two, they discuss the three Expansion Era (1961-2024) pitchers who made an All-Star team then went on to lose 20 games in the season. Also, Bobby Bonilla Day and what may have brought an end to  teenag...

Timothy Zarley has written a wonderful new book, "1901: The War of the Baseball Magnates." (Yelraz Publishing 2024) about the chaotic birth of what we now call baseball's modern era. We talked about some of the franchise movements, contract battles (and lawsuits) with players and the backroom dealings that brought competition to the National League, opened new markets for American&a...

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author William "Bill" Ecenbarger is our guess this week to discuss his latest book, "Work, Fight, or Play Ball: How Bethlehem Steel Helped Baseball's Stars Avoid World War I" (Temple University Press 2024). The book chronicles how Bethlehem Steel's "safe shelter" industrial league in 1917 and 1918 helped Major League pla...

Darryl Rhoades has been entertaining audiences with his music and comedy for over half-a-century. As founder and leader of Hahavishnu Orchestra and later as a solo artist, Rhoades recorded several albums and toured across the United States. Rhoades once even opened for The Sex Pistols! He has been featured in Rolling Stone, Village Voice and High Times. Kurt Loder (Rolling Stone, MTV) described Rh...

Kimberly Ridley has written "Matagorda Magic: The Hidden Life of a Texas Bay" (Texas A&M University Press 2024) about our very own Matagorda Bay estuary right here in our home county on the Texas Gulf Coast. Kimberly joins the podcast this week to talk about the book and her experiences visiting our county and the Matagorda Bay estuary. "Matagorda Magic" includes wonderful...

This week Rex and Craig take on Ángel Hernández's retirement, interference & the infield fly rule, Jose Abreu's return, Austin Maddux's arrest and arraignment, Ranger Suarez's hot start, The Chicago White Sox' not-so-hot start, the half-marathon Mom & the pros and cons of embellishing the truth, and the Memorial Day standings and a new album from Riot V. Episodes M...

This week, Craig and Rex talk about closers who had one great year then -- nothing after that, along with anticipating Francis Ford Coppola's new film. -->Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/tT8d3pVUsN -->You can support Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including the books featured in this episode, through our store at Bookshop.org . Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop...

Fred Frommer is an author, journalist, editor and sports and politics historian. He is a regular contributor to The Washington Post, where his stories often top the paper's "most read" sports and history sections. This week, for our 200th episode, Frommer joins us to discuss how Major League Baseball and its teams responded to the June 1968 assassination of New York Senator and pres...

This week Craig and Rex review three newish releases -- Beyonce's brilliant "Carter Country," Pearl Jam's not so bad "Dark Matter" and Motley Crue's ugly new single "Dogs of War." Also this episode, some trivia answers, how AI impacts music from both a creator and fan perspective, black light baseball, the Rangers' big inning, Astro woes continue,...