The New Yorks Mets have just won the World Series, in no small part to star pitcher Tom Seaver. The expansion franchise starts the new season with every intention of continuing that winning form, as does Seaver. How dominant? Only twenty pitchers have struck out 18 or more batters in a regular 9-innings game. As the Mets welcome the San Diego Padres, Seaver is about to become part of that exclusive club in an utterly commanding performance. 9 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 19 strike...
Oct 16, 2023•2 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 54
The Designated Hitter rule was adopted by the American League in 1973. Nearly fifty years later, and with much debate that has started to quieten down, the National League followed. In that time leagues at every level around the world introduced the pitcher's replacement bat. Somebody had to be first though. And the first was the New York Yankees' Ron "Boomer" Blomberg. It was April 6th, 1973, the wind blowing out to right field, and Blomberg faces Luis Tiant… five pitches later, Boomer walks to...
Oct 09, 2023•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Ted Simmons was one of the MLB's greatest catchers. Two games with the St Louis Cardinals in 1968 started his career in the game, but after a year in AAA his natural debut came in 1970. When he retired after 21 years in the majors, he held the catcher records for 2,472 career hits (with 483 doubles), ranked second for RBIs with 1389 runs, and 10th for home runs with 248 out of the park. Throw in seven years batting over .300, and catching two no-hitters with the Cardinals, and you get an idea of...
Sep 25, 2023•2 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 52
With MLB's changes to the 2023 season has seen a resurgence in aggressive base running and stolen bases. It's not yet back to the levels seen in the seventies and eighties, but a new dimension has returned to the diamond. Which leads us to the Athletics' Bert Campaneris. In the eight years between 1965 and 1972, Campaneris led the American League in Stolen Bases for six of those years. When he retired, he was seventh in career steals with 649 and is currently sitting 14th in the all-time table. ...
Sep 18, 2023•2 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Going in to the 1961 season, the single-season record for home runs was 60, held by Babe Ruth. Leaving the 1961 season, that record was earned by Roger Maris and his 61 Bronx Bombs. Except some argued that 1961's longer season meant it shouldn't be seen as a record. Baseball Commisioner Ford Frick announced that the record was for 154 games, not 162, so it should be shown seperately with a distinctive mark, such as an asterisk. Let's be clear, that's a load of baloney. This record stood in the A...
Sep 11, 2023•2 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Duke Snider was, arguably, the first poster-boy for the Dodgers following their move to Los Angeles, but his legendary status (and seven consecutive All-Star appearances) was earned while the team was based in Brooklyn. During his career, this Center Fielder was named to the National League All-Star team eight times, appeared in six World Series, won the Fall Classic in both 1955 and 1959, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980. What put him there? How about a high-water mark of 1031 runs b...
Sep 04, 2023•3 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 49
The Knuckleball… a pitch that is turbulent, unpredictable, and rarely mastered. One player who did was Phil Niekro. With 318 career victories he currently sits 16th on the All-time Winners list, the highest of any knuckleball pitcher. Of course the knuckelball is a fickle mistress. Niekro may have had three 20-win seasons, but he also had two 20-loss seasons as well; and to top it all off he is the sole MLB pitcher to pick up 20 wins and 20 losses in a single season, throwing 21-20 for the Atlan...
Aug 28, 2023•2 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 48
For many, Bob Feller is the fastest pitcher the baseball world has ever seen, with a reported 107 mph pitch once leaving his hand. And if Ted Williams says that's true, who is going to argue with that> In an interrupted career, Feller posted a lifetime ERA of 3.25 on 266 wins from 570 games, including 44 shutouts, 12 one-hitters, and three no-hitters. On retirement, he was the number three all-time strikeout pitcher (with just Cy Young and Walter Johnson ahead of him). Those records could wel...
Aug 21, 2023•2 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 47
For 1.944 games, Eddie Mathews played Third Base for the Braves; first the Boston Braves, then the Milwaukee Braves, and then the Atlanta Braves. Travelling for the team as it moved cities in the fifties and sixties. And he posted an impressive record; 12 All-Star appearances, two World Series victories, and nine consecutive season with thirty or more home runs. He retired with 512 homers, putting him sixth on the all-time home run record table… today he still sits in an impressive 23rd place. M...
Aug 14, 2023•2 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Bill Singer picked up the first ever save for the Dodgers in their game against the Reds on April 7th 1969. Four more pitchers joined Singer on April 8th; the Red Sox's Juan Pizarro, the Expos' Carroll Sembera, the Pirates' Chuck Hartenstein, and the Pilots' Jack Aker. It's to the Seattle Pilots' game we head to this week. Not only is it one of the first games to have a saving pitchers, it's also the very first game for the Pilots in their one and only season. To keep the league numbers balanced...
Aug 07, 2023•2 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Games can be important because of the players, of firsts, of society, or more. Today's classic baseball radio broadcast features an important first for umpiring that reflects society. In 1966 Emmett Ashford became the first African American umpire in the major league. Having umpired since the late 1930s (by virtue of being the volunteer when another umpire failed to turn up to a game), he made a name for himself with his flamboyant style as he worked up through the league. He made his debut on A...
Jul 31, 2023•2 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Jim Palmer won a World Series ring in the sixties. Jim Palmer won a World Series ring in the seventies. Jim Palmer won a World Series ring in the eighties… and Jim Palmer is the only pitcher win rings in three different decades. It's also worth flagging up his six All-Star appearances, three Cy Young awards, a no-hitter in 1969, his career ERA of 2.856, plus the simple to say but hard to comprehend fact that nobody ever hit a Grand Slam from a Palmer pitch in the majors. And all that while being...
Jul 17, 2023•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 43
When someone picks up awards for Rookie fo the Year, Most Valuable Player, and the Cy Young Award during their career, you know they are something special. And yes, pitcher Don Newcombe was something special. For today's classic game, let's go back to one of the many firsts that Newcombe had in his career, namely becoming the first black pitcher to start a game in the World Series. It's October 5th, and Newcombe is going to throw one of the memorable pitcher duels in the Fall Classic, as he face...
Jul 10, 2023•2 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 42
A key pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late fifties and early sixties, Bob Friend still holds the Pirates' career records for innings pitched (3480), strikeouts (1682), and batters faced (14,644). The four-time All Star played with Pittsburgh for fifteen years, but the last year of his MLB career saw him play in New York… adding delightful footnote. He played the first half of the season with the New York Yankees, and the second half of the season with the New York Mets. Truly a friend ...
Jun 26, 2023•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Warren Spahn has finished out the 1958 season with 22 wins. That's an important stat, as it marks him out as the first left-handed pitcher to have nine 'twenty win seasons' in the Majors. He will eventually record 363 wins in his career. It should come as no surprise that the best left-handed pitcher each year wins The Warren Spahn Award. His 22 wins in the 1958 season have brought the Milwaukee Braves to the World Series. Facing the New York Yankees, both teams have a 92-62 record from the seas...
Jun 19, 2023•2 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Founded by the American Actor Gene Autry, the Los Angeles Angles was one of the the first expansion clubs (the other being Washington). The first year they played at the Los Angeles Wrigley Field - home of the previous LA Angels who had played in the PCL league. Four years as tennants of the Dogers followed, before Angel Stadium was opened. The team may not be as storied or as rewarded as the original teams (for example, the Angles are one for one in World Series apperances, the sole apperance a...
Jun 12, 2023•2 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Milt Pappas made the All-Star Game three times, had a 10-year streak over .500 wins, an eleven year streak of double digit wins, pitched for 209 wins in his career… and never managed more than 17 wins in a season. That might feel about right for a pitcher in 2023, but back in 1972 Pappas was the epitomy of a long, slow burn into the history books. June 17th 1972 saw the Los Angeles Dodgers are visting Wrigley Field, and Pappas is on the mound for the Cubs. We join the game during the top of the ...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 38
As the MLB works to bring the stolen base back into the game, let's remember one of the great power hitters who combined the hits with the speed. Bobby Bonds was the first player have two season with 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, setting the record of five thirty-thirty seasons… a record that has never been beaten, although he now shares the five season ticket with his son Barry Bonds. By the end of his career - a career that saw him play for eight different teams before returning to the Gia...
May 01, 2023•2 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 37
With the news that the Athletic are set to leave Oakland for the shiny bright lights of Las Vegas, it's worth remembering just how often the club has moved around. Way back in 1901, a new Philadelphia team was founded, and it joined the nascent American League, winning the Pennant six times and the World Series three times in the first twelve years. Their next period of dominace was during the Great Depression, with three Pennans and two more World Series. But that was the last glory for the Ath...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 36
If you wanted someone who could hit for power in the expansion era, you wanted Orlando Cepeda. The so-called 'Baby Bull' would be in contention for the leading batting, home run, RBI, slugging, and total bases awards every year for his first five years. He would alos be the first Puerto Rican All-Star, taking to the field in 1959. His first nine years saw him play first base for the San Francisco Giants (at the same time as Willie McCovey was also staking his claim to the same position). At the ...
Apr 16, 2023•3 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Elston Howard was the first African American player on the New York Yankees roster, he was the first black player to win the American League MVP award, and he held the fielding percentage record as a catcher (a career .993) for seven years. He also invented the batter's donut. The now ubiquitous warm-up aid debuted in 1955 - with the St Louis Cardians the first to invest in it. Unfortunatly a lack of funds meant Howard and his partners struggled to combat copycat manufacturers. The Yankees retir...
Apr 10, 2023•2 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Ron Hunt can rightly be described as loving the ball more than any batter in the 1971 season, when he became the first batter to be hit by fifty pitches in a single year. It wasn't an aberration either; in the last seven years of his twelve year career he led the Hit By Pitch counter in the National League. His all-time count of 243 HBPs was the record in the live-ball era, and would not be overtaken for sixteen years. We join Ron Hunt as he leads off for the Expos as the Dodgers visit Canada fo...
Apr 03, 2023•2 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 33
It's Father's Day, and Jim Bunning steps up on the mound to start the first game of a double-header for the Phillies and the Mets in Shea Stadium. He's going to throw 89 pitches that will burn his name into the history books. He'll be number seven in an incredibly exclusive club that has only 23 members. He'll be the first National League pitcher to join the club since 1880. This is Jim Bunning's Perfect Game. Matt Murphy, Lindsay Nelson, and Ralph Cainer on Mets Radio call the game. You can fin...
Mar 27, 2023•2 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Ted Williams sits alongside the likes of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron in the pantheon of baseball hitters. He spent his entire time in the Majors with the Boston Red Sox. Over 19 years he averaged .344/.482/.634. He was the last player to average over .400 in a single season, and to this day that .482 on base percentage is highest of all time. It's 1960, and Ted Williams is in his last season. Naturally the Boston Red Soxs have put him in the three-hole as the team faces Ralph Terry of the...
Mar 20, 2023•2 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 31
The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game together on 8th September, 1957. 22,376 crowded into the Polo Grounds to say goodbye to the rival teams. Of course the Giants and the Dodgers weren't leaving baseball, they were both heading out to California to establish Major League Baseball on the West Coast where they play to this day. But this would be it for the classic New York rivalry. We head into the final game of a three game series. The Dodgers have already taken th...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Thanks to the expansion teams, 1969 saw the AL and NL both split into two divisions. That resulted in the first divisional championship games ahead of the World Series. In the National League the Atlanta Braves picked up the first NL West pennant, and faced an unexpected opponent in the NLCS. For the first seven years of the Mets, this expansion team never climbed higher than ninth place, and in five of the seven years lost more than 100 games each season. 1969 was the eighth year of the Mets, a...
Mar 06, 2023•2 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 29
The world had other things on its mind during 1944, but baseball was there when America needed to take a break from the horrors of war. It wasn't pretty baseball; the fittest men were on the front lines, others were pulling double and trip shifts in factories, and that left a depleted pool of players. But it was baseball nonetheless, and it added another line to the history of the game, with the only World Series appearance of the St Louis Browns; in part due to an older roster who were ineligib...
Feb 27, 2023•2 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Legendary catcher and broadcaster Tim McCarver died this weekend, aged 81. Here at Classic Baseball Radio, we'd like to take a moment to remember his career with one of his earliest appearances as Catcher for the St Louis Cardinals. As a player, he won two World Series, appeared in two All-Star games, and is a member of the Cardinals' Hall of Fame. He is one of just 31 players to have played in four different decades of baseball in a career spanning 41 years. In total had a batting average of .2...
Feb 20, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 27
1968 is known as 'The Year Of The Pitcher', and no other pitcher stood out more than the Detroit Tigers' Denny McLain. With a winning record for the last three years, his achievement in the '68 season would become one of the greatest pitching performances in history. Because the wins just kept coming. It's September 14th, and the Tigers welcome the Oakland Athletic to Detroit. McLain is first up at the mound, sitting on a 29-5 record. The last pitcher to hit 30 wins was Dizzy Dean of the 1934 St...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 26
It's the 1952 World Series with the Yankees and Dodgers taking it to Game 7. On the Yankees line-up is a certain Mickey Mantle, and his 1952 season is one for the record books. This was the year of the Topps Mickey Mantle Baseball Card… the most expensive baseball card in the world Although Topps' cards debuted in 1951, that year saw a pack more akin to playing cards. 1952 saw the cards we know and love; the picture, the text, and the candy. 407 players, in three sets, but it was Mantle's card w...
Feb 06, 2023•3 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 25
