Some weeks, we pick out a game that is a pivotal moment in a team's history. Other weeks, we have a classic matchup. Maybe it's a game of a storied player early in their career? Not today. Today, it's just a game of baseball. Admittedly, it's one from nearly ninety years ago, but our game is still our game. Sit back as the Senators (31-45) take on the White Sox (50-33). You can find the boxscore here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA193707210.shtml This game was p...
Feb 24, 2025•2 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 98
The 1969 season is underway, and the Minnesota Twins' Rod Carew is already raking up the hits. After seven games, he's posting .388. That form will continue through the rest of the year, his eventual .322 winning him the AL Batting Trophy for the first of seven times—enough for the title to carry his name from 2016. If you want another 1969 stat, Carew steals home seven times (just one short of Ty Cobb's record of eight). Carew's career record notably contains 15 consecutive seas...
Feb 18, 2025•3 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 97
The New York Mets put up a strike-less game in the 2024 National League Championship game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's a rare feat, but even rare are both sides forgetting to get any strikes. That was the case in the pivotal Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Naturally, everything is on the line. We know that starting pitchers Bob Turley and Vern Law will impress, but the journey makes it wonderful. So here's the journey, with Bob Prince and Mel Allen taking you through to the fairytale f...
Oct 21, 2024•3 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 96
MLB’s first three years of post-season action saw the Baltimore Orioles appear each year. In 1971, the Oakland Athletic appeared for the first time and would have their own consecutive run of five years, reaching the fall knockout. The Orioles had come out on top in 1969 and 1970, winning the league pennant and making it to the World Series both years. Standing in front of them are the Athletes, looking to reach the World Series for the first time since the Philadelphia Athletics in 1931. Your n...
Oct 07, 2024•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 95
As the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves meet for Game 161 and Game 162 to decide who goes into the 2024 Postseason, it's a chance to look back at some of the tiebreakers in the regular season, and specifically the last significant tiebreaker before the postseason expanded from just the World Series into the knockout format we recognise today. It's back to 1962 and as the season ends, the Giants and the Dodgers are tied at the top of the National League on 101 wins. With just a single spot in...
Sep 30, 2024•3 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 94
He started in the major with the Pirates, and 21 years later, he retired from the majors, having never left Pittsburgh. But Willie Stargell was more than a one-club baseball player; he was the club. That's why the Pirates called him Pops. They could also have called him Power. Stargell was one of the big hitters of the sixties and seventies, with a career .282 from 2,232 hits and 475 home runs. That career included two World Series rings and 7 All-Star appearances. For today's game, we t...
Sep 02, 2024•3 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 93
In a decade packed with legends that echo through history, there will be players who rarely grab the historical spotlight. Brooks Robinson might not be the household name of the former, but he's very much a legend. Starting his major league career in 1955, he played all of his 23 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. In that time, he made third base his own and is arguably one of the greatest third baseman the game has ever seen, with 18 call-ups to the All-Stars, 16 consecutive Gold Gloves, a...
Aug 05, 2024•3 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Brought up into the majors by the Detroit Tigers in 152, Al Kaline spent 22 years playing for the Tigers before becoming the Tiger's color commentator until 2003, before heading into the front office until he died in 2020. His playing record is impressive, passing the 3000-hit mark just before he retired in 1974. Today, nearly fifty years later, Kaline sits at number 32 in the all-time hits table, with 3007 hits to his name. That record includes eighteen all-star games, ten Gold Gloves, and ...
Jul 22, 2024•3 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 91
When you win eleven Gold Gloves in eleven years, you know you're one of the best. Keith Hernandez knew he was one of the best. A contact hitter with a career .296, he won two World Series rings, five All-Star appearances, and picked up the NL batting championship award in 1979. Five years into his career, he cracked the .300 ceiling and never looked back. Yet for this week's game, we will go back to the very first month of his MLB career. It's September 14th, and Hernandez has been i...
Jul 15, 2024•3 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 90
When you look for the winning pitcher across the 1960s, it's impossible to ignore Juan Marichal. The 'Dominican Dandy' gave the Giants their first no-hitter in San Francisco, the first no-hitter seen in Candlestick Park, the first Latin-american no-hitter in MLB history, and the first Dominican player to enter the Hall of Fame. He also received one of the highest accolades any player can achieve… in 1975, the Giants immortalized his beloved #27, a testament in part to Marichal’s maje...
Jul 01, 2024•3 hr 55 min•Season 1Ep. 89
What is there to say about Willie Mays, who passed away peacefully last night? Legend. There's only one game we could choose. There's only one moment we could highlight. It's Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Mays is in centre field, and in the top of the 8th, Vic Wertz is going to send an impossible-to-catch ball deep to the outfield of the Polo Grounds. You can find the boxscore here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1195409290.shtml This game was played on September 2...
Jun 19, 2024•4 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 88
As the four-time NL batting champion, Bill Madlock has an impressive reputation as a hitter. It's even more impressive when you realise he is one of only three right-handed hitters to lift multiple NL batting titles since 1960. The other two are Roberto Clemente and Tommy Davis. He finished his playing career over the .300 and 2000 mark, with a .305 batting average and 2,008 hits in total, 3 All-Star appearances, and one World Series Ring from 1979. For today's classic game, we're go...
Jun 17, 2024•2 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Frank Robinson could hit the ball hard. He ran the base paths even harder. A formidable player who has been named MVP for both the AL and NL, the triple crown in 1966, 14 All-Star appearances, and 2 World Series rings. To this day, he holds the record for walk-off hits, with 26 winning moments to his credit. In the final years of his playing career, he became the player-manager for Cleveland in 1975 and continued managing until he retired in 2006. Today's broadcast celebrates the life and ac...
Jun 10, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 86
It's the opening day of the 1955 season, and leading off for the Cardinals is Wally Moon, who won "Rookie Of The Year" in 1954, memorably hitting a home run during his first At Bat in the Majors. Second in the line-up is Bill Virdon, who would go on to win "Rookie Of The Year" for 1955, giving the Cardinals back-to-back Rookies. Both would go on to pick up Gold Gloves and World Series Rings, although Moon would eclipse Virdon with three All-Star appearances and three ring...
Jun 03, 2024•3 hr 56 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Dave McNally is a legend, first as a starting pitcher and finally as an arbitration reliever. He won more than 20 games in four consecutive seasons, was a three-time All-Star, won two World Series rings, and was the AL wins leader in 1970. He was part of the 1971 Orioles rotation that saw himself, Dobson, Palmer, and Cuellar all post 20 or more wins. He left Baltimore as the then greatest Orioles pitcher to date, with an 181-113 record and a 7-4 postseason record. But it was his short stint with...
May 27, 2024•3 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 84
As Baseball evolved during the expansion era, so did the role of the pitcher. Where the norm was once for starters to go for the full nine innings, the use of relief pitchers and the emergence of the closing pitcher took over. And there is no better example of this new role than Rollie Fingers… and his flamboyant moustache. He set the franchise record for saves at his three major league clubs (the Athletics, the Padres, and the Brewers), was the first pitcher to reach 300 saves (retiring with 34...
May 20, 2024•2 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Bill James called him “the slowest man who played baseball,” yet his ten years with a batting average over .300 would make him attractive to any team. In his seventeen years, he was the first catcher to earn two NL Batting Awards. He finished with a career .306, but it was one lapse of concentration in Game 4 of the 1939 World Series he would be remembered for. Taking a hard-hit ball without a protective cup in the tenth inning left him dazed while the World Series winning run stole home. Rather...
May 06, 2024•2 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 82
There are pitchers who have storied careers, workhorses who can support a team’s offence for many years, and pitchers who shine brightly and burn out in a single season. Fritz Peterson was a workhorse. He had a winning record in seven of his eleven years in the Majors and posted a career 133-131 record. His time and productivity with the New York Yankees puts him currently in ninth-place in the all-time games started, and tent on innings pitched. However, it was the year 1970 that truly illumina...
Apr 29, 2024•2 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Legendary manager and player Whitey Herzog died this week at the age of 92. Here at Classic Baseball Radio, we'd like to take a moment to remember a career that caught fire after the playing ended, with one of his last appearances on the diamond. Herzog made it to the majors, playing for the Washington Senators in 1956. He spent time with the Athletics, Orioles, and Tigers before retiring from on-field duty in 1963. Only then, with his playing career no longer a hindrance, would Herzog and h...
Apr 22, 2024•2 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Imagine your playing career saw you selected seven times to play in the All-Star game, led the league in stolen bases, posted four seasons of .300 plus baseball, had a hitting streak of 34 games, and averaged over 100 runs per season throughout your career. Yet his name is one that never stood out, partly because he's on a Red Sox team with the greatest hitter who ever lived… and his older brother was Joe DiMaggio. This is the life of Dom DiMaggio, who spent eleven years of his eleven-year c...
Apr 15, 2024•3 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 79
Can you go through an entire season on First Base without having an error charged to you? Unless your name is Steve Garvey, the answer is no. As you might have surmised, Garvey did just that, posting his yet-to-be-equalled feat in 1984 with the San Diego Padres. With a career .294 on 2599 hits and 272 home runs, Garvey's no slouch. A standout number, though, has to be his 1270 consecutive games played. Let's rewind the clock to 1973. It's September 28th, and the Dodgers have sewn up ...
Apr 08, 2024•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 78
899 games pitched, all in relief, with a lifetime 99-76 record; the delightfully named Sparky Lyle was an era-defining relief pitcher. Take his 1977 Cy Young award, the first AL reliever to do so, twice picking up the AL saves record, and three all-star appearances. Then you have his back-to-back World Series in 77 and 78, plus writing the book on the 78 season ('The Bronx Zoo'). Lyle has the numbers, the prestige, and the passion to lay claim to being one of the most important relievers...
Apr 01, 2024•2 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Apart from the occasional “one and done” years, the only team to have a winning record over .500 in every year they played is the Milwaukee Braves. There were losing years under the Boston Braves and Atlanta Braves banners, but the thirteen years in Milwaukee stand apart not just in this franchise but in every franchise. From the pennant-winning streak between 53 and 59, through record-breaking appearances, to a World Series win in 1957, this is a storied part of the team's history. Let'...
Mar 25, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Johnny Bench was the acknowledged leader of the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds’ era-defining team that won six divisional titles, four pennants, and two World Series. A master of both offence and defence, Bench held the record for home runs by a catcher for over thirty years, along with two years leading the National League for home runs and three years leading with RBIs. Alongside those awards sit ten Golden Gloves, 100 games or more behind the plate for 13 straight years Bench is arguabl...
Mar 18, 2024•3 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 75
He's probably the greatest first basemen of all time, with a career .273, 2,583 hits, 1,305 runs, and 1,636 RBI; he was called up to the All-Star game fourteen times, and was the ninth player to reach 500 home runs. Yet Ernie Banks never won a World Series ring. Why? The simple answer is that he started his Major League career with the Chicago Cubs, played with them for eighteen years, and retired as a Cub. His one-club career earned him the nickname “Mr. Cub,” which he wore with pride and a...
Mar 11, 2024•3 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Who’s the best pitcher baseball ever seen? There are a lot of names to cosndier. Who's the best left-handed pitcher baseball ever seen? That list is a lot shorter, and near the top - perhaps at the very top - is Lefty Grove. There’s no louder-than-life personality to help us remember him by; there’s no stunning images on early TV coverage, nor are there mythical stories to pass on. As the image of baseball moved on in the fifties, the exploits of Grove and many of his compatriots faded from ...
Mar 04, 2024•2 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 73
If you're looking for the greatest baseball dynasty, you have to consider the Alou brothers. Three exceptional ball players—Felipe, Matty and Jesús—hold a joint first as the first 'three brothers on one team' when they all played for the Giants against the Mets on September 10, 1963. Between them, they gather World Series rings, All-Star appearances, and batting championships before moving into the back offices of various clubs and influencing countless up-and-coming players, includi...
Feb 19, 2024•3 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Eleven years after becoming the first expansion team in the American League, the Washington Senators left the capital, headed to Texas, and became the Rangers. It wasn't an easy start, with 100 losses picked up in both 72 and 73. The Rangers would bounce back with 74 and 75's records above .500. Titles would take a little longer, with the franchise not picking up a league title until 1996, a first pennant in 2010, and a first World Series victory in 2023. For this week's broadcast, w...
Feb 12, 2024•3 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 71
For the 1961 season, the Washington Senators moved out of the capital to play ball in Minnesota as the Twins. Marque names such as Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, and Jim Perry helped the team make its mark in its new home. Four years later, the Twins would win the AL pennant and bring it to Minnesota for the first time. As for Washington, the city would not be left without a baseball team. Immediately replacing the Washington Senators in 1961 were… the Washington Senators. The team with an old n...
Feb 05, 2024•3 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 70
A gentleman in demeanour but a superman when slugging. That was Harmon Killebrew, Idaho's greatest home-run hitter and a legend at the plate. He was a 13-times All-Star, a 6-time AL home-run leader, a 3x AL RBI leader, and the 1969 MVP. When he retired, he was fifth in the all-time Home Run record, and his 573 bombs are still enough to hold twelfth place today. He could easily reach the edge of the yard, notably being the first of only four players to ever bat over the left field roof of Tig...
Jan 28, 2024•2 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 69
