The Baseball Bucket List Podcast

Brad Balukjian is a life-long Phillies fan and the author of the LA Times Best Seller The Wax Pack . The premise behind the book is simple. Brad took a pack of Topps baseball cards from 1986 (the first year he remembered collecting cards as a kid), and set out on an epic adventure to find and talk to all of the players included in the pack. As Brad attempts to get to know the actual people behind...

In this special Thanksgiving episode, hear directly from baseball fans why they are thankful for the game of baseball.  In order of appearance:  Charles Dennis: @51stubs Victor DiTommaso Derek Malinowski: @ChicagoDerek7 Spencer Schwartz: @Muzixndmd Donnie Wise: @wisedrjr Jason Bohn: @jasonbohn9 Gary Matthews  James Christopher: @ballparknation Kelly Robinson: @kelabration Shane Barclay: @JapanBall...

Bob Fontaine Jr. is a former MLB scout known for signing several big time players including Ozzie Smith, Randy Johnson, Tony Gwynn, Jim Abbott, Tim Salmon and many more. We discuss how he got his start as a scout by learning the ropes from his dad (former big league scout Bob Fontaine Sr.), the qualities he’d look for in a young ball player, and how the game has changed over the last several years...

Taylor Robinson is a life-long Texas Rangers fan currently living in Keller, Texas. We chat about how she got started with game, disappointments of seasons past, and our separate experiences at Game One of this year’s World Series, which ended in a Walk-Off home run from Adolis Garcia.  We also discuss Taylor’s time as social media manager with the Cleburne Railroaders and her current position wit...

Alan Mindell is a baseball lifer who started in little-league, played college ball at Cal. Berkley, and played a handful of games with the California Angels Rookie Ball team. We chat about how he found his love for the game, what it is like to attend a major league tryout, and about how baseball can act as the fabric that ties together relationships that might not exist as deeply without it.  Alan...

Greg Finch and Tom D’Agostonio are Orioles fans living in Rochester, NY who have been friends for over 45 years. This year, to celebrate their 60th birthdays, the duo saw 60 games over the course of the 2023 season. This is the third time they've celebrated milestone birthdays with baseball. Greg and Tom  marked turning 50 with 50 ballgames, turning 55 with 50 games, and this year 60 games at...

Tim Lillis is a Rays fan currently living in the Philadelphia area. He’s lived in many places across the country thanks to a former career in business sports management, working in just about every level of baseball imaginable. We chat about the differences between Double-A, Triple-A, Summer Collegiate ball, Independent ball, and MLB through the eyes of a business management perspective. We also t...

James Christopher is a life-long Astros fan from South Austin, Texas. He’s also a filmmaker and the creator behind Let’s Get Two, which was a video series focused on highlighting the best parts of minor league baseball from coast to coast.  We chat about his upcoming project Ballpark Nation, favorite baseball memories, how each of us is trying to focus a bit more on our “baseball zen”, and what it...

Jake Plocher currently lives in Philadephia, PA but is a life-long fan of the Detroit Tigers thanks to his dad. He’s lived in several different places across the country including the Tampa Bay area where he enjoyed the Reading with the Rays program as a kid. Jake is also a huge roller coaster enthusaist and shares a pretty cool way he combines his loves of baseball and coaster counting.   We also...

Flobo Boyce is a life-long Mets fan currently living in Los Angeles whose love of baseball started with watching Mets games on TV from his childhood home in Brooklyn. Flobo is a comedian, DJ, and host of Knew Amsterdam Radio. He’s also a contributor to Black Baseball Mixtape, and has starred in a commercial for MLB Play.  We chat about what it’s like to make a commercial, why the younger generatio...

Paul Willems is a life-long Brewers fan from the Milwaukee area. His love of baseball comes from a combination of family memories and his childhood hobby of collecting baseball cards. We discuss how the game has changed since we were kids, how baseball mimics life, and how many teams are embracing social media to connect with the next generation of baseball fans.  Find Paul Online: Twitter: @paul_...

Valerie Ruiz is a life-long Texas Rangers fan currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is known on social media as Stadium Food Girl, where she highlights the best eats at each ballpark and stadium she travels to. We discuss how ballpark fare has transitioned from boring, standard concession items towards more intricate and unique signature food offerings, and how minor league clubs in particula...

Rob Ullman is a life-long Pirates fan currently living in Richmond, Virginia. He is a professional cartoonist who publishes a weekly comic strip highlighting the history of sports in Pittsburgh, and has also worked with his local minor league team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels. We discuss how his love of baseball developed, how he got started as an illustrator, and about an epic tradition he and...

Marcel Bieler is a Cubs fan born and raised in Switzerland. He fell in love with the game thanks to being able to listen to ballgames via the US Armed Forces Network on transistor radio. Marcel has been to all 30 MLB ballparks and several minor league parks on various trips to the US over the years. We discuss how he keeps up with the Cubs from overseas and how American baseball fans compare to Eu...

Evan Christie is a Canadian sports journalism graduate and content creator based in Toronto, Canada. His favorite MLB teams are The Boston Red Sox and The Toronto Blue Jays. More recently, Evan became interested in Japanese Baseball and the lesser-told stories of Nippon Professional Baseball.  We discuss what sparked Evan’s interest in NPB, why he favors the Hiroshima Carp, and strategies for a ne...

The Hill is a movie based on the remarkable real-life story of Rickey Hill and his journey overcoming incredible amounts of adversity to achieve the impossible. As a kid, Rickey was burdened by leg braces and a degenerative spine condition that should have prevented him from ever walking. Despite those challenges, Rickey couldn’t shake the belief that he was meant to be a professional baseball pla...

Jon Walk is a life-long baseball fan from The Woodlands, TX. He’s currently in the middle of visiting all 16 Texas professional and semi-professional ballparks in a single year. We chat about his inspiration for that trip, how he ties his loves of baseball and running together, and how he originally fell in love with the game.  Jon is also a public address announcer for a few different sports, so...

David Conde is a life-long Mets fan living in Florida. We discuss how his love of baseball and the Mets came courtesy of his mom taking him and his sister to Shea Stadium as kids. David is the co-founder and executive editor of Legends on Deck, a website that highlights all levels of baseball, but focuses primarily on minor league prospects.  We also chat about why it’s important to let kids embra...

Gary Matthews is a life-long Dodgers fan who grew up listening to the legendary Vin Scully all the way from his childhood home in Lake Tahoe. Gary shares how his grandfather passed his love of the game down to Gary and how Gary now shares that same love of baseball with his own sons.  We also hear stories about witnessing Dennis Martinez throw a perfect game, seeing a near Randy Johnson no-no, mee...

Shane Barclay is the owner of JapanBall, which offers baseball tours to Japan, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, and many more incredible baseball locations. On this episode of Extra Innings, Shane and Anna recap and discuss their recent baseball adventure on the JapanBall Pacific Northwest and Alaska tour. Over the course of 8 days, the group saw 7 ballgames ranging in level from Collegiat...

Robb Wolf is a life-long Pirates fan living in Ohio. He’s also in the middle of his journey to see all 30 ballparks and collect many fitted hats along the way. We discuss Roberto Clemente’s lasting legacy, seeing Mark McGwire hit number 52 during the 1998 home run chase, and what it’s like to revisit the game of baseball through the eyes of a kid.  Find Robb Online:  Instagram: @olddude5950 Baseba...

On this episode of Extra Innings we welcome back Episode 54 guest Tarri Haina. Tarri, also known as Stadiumman, discusses what it was like to watch the Houston Astros throw a combined no-hitter against his New York Yankees, and what else he’s been up to since we last spoke. Tarri also describes the excitement and energy of being at the World Baseball Classic's semifinals and final and why he...

Jim Seimas is a Giants fan living in San Jose, CA. He is also the sports editor for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. In addition to the Giants, Jim is a fan of most other bay area sports teams, which led him to be at Domingo Germán's perfect game in Oakland. We also hear about the time Jim nearly caught a José Canseco home run, and learn what it's like to run in the famous Milwaukee Sausage race...

Adrian Nesta is a life-long Padres fan currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Adrian works as a data journalist and his natural propensity towards analyzing data and statistics goes a long way in influencing how he watches the game. We discuss our favorite statistics, how casual fans are becoming spoiled by our ever increasing access to data, and how each of us feels about the new rule changes now that...

On this Extra Innings episode of the Baseball Bucket List Podcast, I catch up with Paul Caputo about attending Game 3 of the 2022 World Series featuring his Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros.  We also discuss his podcast Baseball By Design, and what is now at the top of his Baseball Bucket List.  Find Paul Online: Twitter: @Count2Baseball Podcast: Baseball By Design Find Baseball Bucket...