The Journey of My Mother's Son

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with my cousin, Jim Wade. Sandy and I were able to get into Boise, Idaho and visit with my cousin Jim, his wife Patti, their daughter Jen and her husband Anthony.  It was short visit, but we had a great time catching up and trading stories of our travel adventures. Jim, like most of us on the Wade side of our family ha...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with my friend, Erin Pappas. Erin and I first connected through social media back in 2016 during the time that I was building my network of female baseball players and advocates of women and girls playing baseball.  We immediately connected because she was also an avid Red Sox fan.  Like many of the women that I was co...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with my dear old friend, Ray Schell. Ray and I have known each other since high school.  He graduated a year before me.  After graduation, he was a part of a small group of friends that all became very close for a few years.  Our little tribe did just about everything together. Ray went off to work in Alaska in 1990 an...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Alex and Pat from RV Party of 3. I initially connected with Pat and Alex when they were first getting ready to start their RV journey.  I always love connecting with like-minded people and those who are going against the grain of society. Only in their mid-20's, Pat and Alex are still working remotely while living...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Rick Stratton. Rick in a member of the Brandywine Base Ball Club of West Chester.  The club is one of over 150 clubs nationwide that take part of the historical competitive reenactments of the infancy of our American pastime. The modern-day Brandywine Base Ball Club was established in 2013 and modeled after its 19...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Jenna Nimtz. Jenna is the manager of the Baseballism store at the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa.  She is better known as Jenna from Baseballism for her Instagram posts about the events and activities that take place at the site on a daily basis. Her love of the game of baseball is in her blood as...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Dr. Toni Palermo. Toni was one of the youngest players to play in the AAGPBL.  After her playing days, she entered the convent and became Sister Toni. After Toni became a Nun, she went on to earn her Bachelor of Science Degree in English, History and Math from Alverno College.  She then earned three Master Degrees...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Ryan Woodward. Ryan is a board member of the International Women's Baseball Center (IWBC).  We first connected back in 2016 when my old organization, the BIG Vision Foundation, in partnership with the IWBC sponsored the Ruth Hartman Memorial Girl's Baseball Festival. At the time, Ryan was living in Wilmington, Del...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Jack Graham. Jack is now the General Manager of the Aberdeen Ironbirds minor league baseball team. The Ironbirds are a division of Ripken Baseball.  Jack and I first met back in 2015 when he was fresh out of his professional baseball career and working in sales on the amateur side of Ripken Baseball.  His hard wor...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Marge Gibson. Marge is the founder and executive director of the Raptor Education Group, Inc. in Antigo, Wisconsin. Sandy and spent one week volunteering at REGI through the A Year to Volunteer project.  It was one of the most impactful experiences of our lives.  I wrote extensively about it in my blog last week....

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Rachelle "Rocky" McCann-Henley. This was the last podcast that I was able to do while Sandy and I were at the BFA Nationals in Aberdeen, Maryland.  She puts the explanation point on the ten amazing women that I was able to sit down with and talk to at that event. Rocky is the third former Colorado Silver Bullet as...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Beth Greenwood. Beth and I first met back in 2018 when she was on a road trip from New England to Pittsburgh with mutual friends of ours, Erin Pappas and Jacque Reynolds to participate in a women's baseball event that the Pirates were sponsoring.  On the way through, they stopped by the sports complex that I was m...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Jennifer Hammond. Jennifer and I connected a few years ago on social media when my old organization, the BIG Vision Foundation first started to organize the Ruth Hartman Memorial Girl's Baseball Festival. Jennifer literally eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. I'm pretty sure that if you took an X-Ray of her chest...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Denae Benites. Denae is a member of the Evolution Girl's Baseball 19-U program as well as a member of the US Women's National Baseball team that won the gold medal in Mexico in 2019. Still on location at the Baseball for All Nationals, Denae has been participating in the BFA National tournament since 2016 when she...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Alex Oglesby. Alex is a former member of the United States Women's National Baseball team, as well a current member of national team coaching staff and the founder and president of the San Francisco based, Evolution Girls Baseball program. This was another one of the podcasts that I was able to do on location at t...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with a fellow author and storyteller, Anika Orrock. This podcast was truly an honor and surprise for me, I've followed Anika and her work on social media for quite some time.  I had no idea that she would be attending the Baseball for All Nationals until our mutual friend, Donna Eden Cohen had let me know.  Knowing tha...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with another one of the living legends of the AAGPBL, Jeneane Lesko. Another one of the amazing trailblazers that I was able to meet and chat with at the Baseball for All Nationals, Jeneane Lesko is truly an amazing individual.  After her playing days in the AAGPBL, she went on to play in the LPGA as well. Her biograph...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with the secretary and official historian of the AAGPBL Players Association, Merrie Fidler. Merrie is also a published author.  She published the book, The Origins and History of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 2006.  The book was originally her master's thesis, and as she became more involved wi...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with another former player of the AAGPBL, Gloria Rogers. As I continue with the series of podcasts that I conducted during our week in Aberdeen, MD attending the Baseball for All Nationals , I met a little firestick of a women in Gloria Rogers.  She was a treasure to hang out with and she made Sandy and I smile every t...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Maybelle Blair and Shirley Burkovich. Maybelle and Shirley were former players in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), the league in which the movie, A League of Their Own was based on. I originally met them back in 2016, when I was still with the BIG Vision Foundation.  We partnered with...

In this episode of "The Journey of My Mother's Son" podcast, I sit down to talk with Ebony McNeil, founder of The Forge. The Forge is an organization that was formed at the beginning of 2021 to help men become the version of themselves that our culture needs. It stresses focus on positive imagery, service and fellowship!

In this episode of The Journey of my Mother's Son podcast, I sit down and talk with another one of my grand-daughter's, Lillian Lingle. One of the locations that we stay at when we come back to visit in Pennsylvania is at Lillian's parents' house in Duncannon. At 14 years old, Lillian is wise beyond her years.  She is an athlete who currently plays field hockey and softball, and like her grandfath...

In this episode of The Journey of my Mother's Son podcast, I'm honored to sit down and talk with my good friend, Justin Schenck. I've known Justin for several years now and we've really become close over the past three years.  We originally had a few "chance encounters" before being connected by a mutual friend who had recommended that he would be a great asset to the board of the BIG Vision Found...

In this episode of The Journey of my Mother's Son podcast, I sit down and talk with my good friend, Jeff Potter. This is the second podcast that I've done with Jeff.  We've known each other for over 12 years now and our common love for baseball, teaching kids life lessons through the game and giving back is what makes us such great friends. One of the most iconic lines in movie history goes like t...

In this episode of The Journey of my Mother's Son podcast, I sit down and talk with my aunt, Sally King. When Sandy and I first decided to live in an RV full-time, my Aunt Sally reached out to us and told me that she had full hook-ups for us and we were welcome to stay with her whenever we wanted to.  That eventually turned into us using her address as our official domicile address in the state of...