Our summer roadtrip rolls on this week with a deep dive into one of the Queen City's most overlooked sports stories with baseball author Al Lautenslager - whose new book " Cincinnati Soul " explores the remarkable but brief legacy of the Cincinnati Tigers , the city's first official Negro Leagues baseball team. Discover how DeHart Hubbard , America's first Black Olympic gold medalist, founded the Tigers as a dual-circuit minor league ( Indiana-Ohio League & Negro Southern League ) outfit in ...
Jul 14, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 403
It's a Wisconsin road trip this week for a sit down with Jordan Treske , author of " Building the Milwaukee Bucks: Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Rapid Rise of an NBA Franchise ," to explore one of the most astonishing turnarounds in modern American pro sports history. Treske walks us through how Milwaukee rebounded from the loss of the MLB Braves to become an NBA basketball powerhouse in just three seasons — thanks to savvy ownership, an historic draft coin flip, and the ultimate ...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 402
In this special episode, we sit down with King David Haynes , son of American Football League legend and civil rights trailblazer Abner Haynes , to discuss his newly released biography " Abner Haynes: An American Hero ." Abner Haynes was far more than just a football star — he was a barrier-breaking athlete, community leader, and a courageous voice for racial justice. From integrating Texas college football in the 1950s to becoming the league's first MVP in 1960 to standing at the forefront of a...
Jun 30, 2025•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 401
It's our 400th, so we’re going big with a guest who’s called it all, seen it all, and somehow lived to laugh about it. Steve Albert (" A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Broadcast Booth ") -- Hall of Fame broadcaster and proud member of the legendary Albert sportscasting family (including nephew/ Episode 320 gues t Kenny ) -- joins us for a deep dive into his one-of-a-kind, 45-year ride through the wilds of professional sports. From vanished leagues to unforgettable fights, from Brooklyn b...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 400
What do you get when you mix Gen X slacker spirit, a startup sports league on wheels, and a 25-year-old Deadhead-turned-front office exec? Welcome to the wild world of Roller Hockey International (RHI) — and the improbable story of the San Jose Rhinos . Brad Porteus , former GM of the Rhinos and author of the rollicking new memoir " Roll With It: A Trip Back to the '90s - Gen X Style ," joins us to unpack one of the most absurd, glorious, and ultimately short-lived chapters in modern American pr...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 399
Before the Kraken. Before the Canucks. Before the NHL crossed the 49th parallel, there was the Seattle Metropolitans -- the first American team ever to win the Stanley Cup, in 1917. This week, we uncover the forgotten saga of the Metropolitans, a team built on innovation, grit, and West Coast ambition. They played fast, they played smart -- and led by brilliant young coach Pete Muldoon, they made hockey history in a city barely known for winter sports. But as author/guest Kevin Ticen chronicles ...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 398
We use up our remaining MTA MetroCard credit this week for a sit-down with baseball author/historian Chris Donnelly — whose new book " Get Your Tokens Ready : The Late 1990s Road to the Subway Series " represents the final installment of his intriguing trilogy charting the divergent, yet intertwined sagas of the Mets and Yankees from the mid-1980s through 2000's historic “ Subway Series .” Donnelly’s previous works — " Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl : How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought ...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 16 min
We welcome to our microphones award-winning author, cultural critic and Washington University in St. Louis professor Gerald Early , whose new book " Play Harder: The Triumph of Black Baseball in America " is a sweeping chronicle of Black Americans’ extraordinary influence on the game of baseball — from the sport’s formative days in the wake of the Civil War, through the heyday of the Negro Leagues, to the modern era. A leading voice in the conversation about race, sports, and American identity, ...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 396
Lacrosse is more than just a sport; it’s a mirror — one that reflects the history, tensions, and contradictions of America itself. So posits acclaimed sports journalist/renowned Sports Illustrated Senior Writer S.L. Price on this week's episode, as we explore his impressive new book " The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse " — a sweeping chronicle of the Indigenous origins, elite entrenchment, and modern upheaval of America's truest "oldest sport.” From its sacred beginni...
May 19, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 395
Though it seems like only yesterday, this season marks the 40th anniversary of one of baseball's most misunderstood and overshadowed Fall Classics - the surprisingly competitive seven-game 1985 World Series . While most remember the all-Missouri "Show-Me Series" for umpire Don Denkinger 's blown call at first base in Game 6, baseball historian Marshall Garvey joins us to discuss why that single moment, while a significant turning point, shouldn't define what was otherwise a colorfully spirited b...
May 11, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 394
In a surprise move that instantly reshapes the league’s historical narrative, the National Football League last month announced it will now officially incorporate statistics from the upstart All-America Football Conference (AAFC), the short-lived but impactful rival professional football league that operated from 1946 to 1949. The decision brings long-overdue recognition to the achievements of several prominent players from the mid-20th century and results in the revision of several long-standin...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 393
This week, we're thrilled to welcome a true legend of grit and perseverance — former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini ( " Taking Flak: Life In The Fast Lane" ). Born and raised in the Bay Area, Pastorini made his mark early at Bellarmine College Prep before starring at nearby Santa Clara University, where he etched his name into the school’s record books and shined as the Most Outstanding Player of the 1971 East-West Shrine Game. Drafted third overall by the Houston Oilers during the famed "Year of...
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 392
Live and direct from Pottsdam, it's the one-and-only Karl-Heinz Granitza — the prolific German striker who became the face of the North American Soccer League 's iconic Chicago Sting -- and a transformative figure in American soccer during his seven outdoor seasons across the late 1970s & early 1980s. A 2003 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee and one of the NASL's all-time leading scorers, Granitza opens up about his remarkable journey from West Berlin to the Windy City -- where his power...
Apr 21, 2025•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 391
It's a bucket-list conversation this week with legendary sports broadcaster Jim Lampley as he shares insights and anecdotes from his new memoir, " It Happened!: A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television ." With a career spanning five decades, Lampley takes us behind the scenes of some of the most indelible moments in modern-day sports broadcasting, offering a first-person, blow-by-blow account of history-making assignments, iconic calls, and never-before-told stories - including: Becoming the f...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 59 min•Ep. 390
It's our long-overdue dive into one of the most controversial stories in National Football League history — the tale of the Pottsville Maroons and its stolen 1925 championship — with ESPN journalist and author David Fleming , whose acclaimed 2007 book " Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship " is newly apropos on the 100th anniversary of what many consider to be pro football's most egregious historical blunder. Fleming guides us through the dramatic rise and fall ...
Apr 07, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 389
We boot up our trusty Flux Capacitor this week for a trip back to 1978 -- a year when baseball provided a much-needed escape for a nation in flux. We sit down with David Krell , author of " 1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era ," to relive one of Major League Baseball ’s most unforgettable seasons — one filled with historic milestones, dramatic showdowns, and larger-than-life personalities. From Bucky Dent ’s legendary home run that crushed Red Sox fans’ hearts to Reggie Jackson ’s World ...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 388
Sports historian Josh Elias stops by for a deep unraveling of the often misunderstood story behind the 1949 merger that created the National Basketball Association (NBA) as we know it today. Drawing from his historically essential 2024 book The Birth of the Modern NBA: Pro Basketball in the Year of the Merger, 1949-1950 , Elias takes us back to the pivotal moment when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) merged, uniting disparate big-city teams wit...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 387
We go North of the border this week for the curious story of the dramatic and chaotic origins of the National Hockey League with hockey historian and long-time Windsor Star sports columnist Bob Duff (" The First Season: 1917-18 and the Birth of the NHL ") . While today’s NHL is a global powerhouse celebrating over a century of hockey history, its very first season (1917-18) was a near disaster. Born out of a backroom maneuver to oust controversial Toronto owner Eddie Livingstone , the league’s i...
Mar 17, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 386
America’s pastime has long been more than just a game - it’s a reflection of the country itself. But what happens when the heart and soul of small-town baseball is threatened by the forces of modern sports economics? We sit down with New York Times -bestselling author ( " The Prisoner in His Palace " ) and former Army Ranger Will Bardenwerper to discuss his new book " Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America " - a poignant memoir that explores the fate of minor league...
Mar 10, 2025•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 385
Strap in and try to keep up, as we attempt to follow the peripatetic 58-year journey of one of the NBA's most wandering franchises - with New York-area sports beat reporter Rick Laughland (" A History of the Nets: From Teaneck to Brooklyn "). Today's Brooklyn Nets club began its life in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans - a charter member of the American Basketball Association , playing at the Teaneck Armory. A year later, they moved to Long Island (LI Arena, then Island Garden, then Nassau Veter...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 384
We're positively kvelling over the brand new anthology from this week's guest Eric Gouldsberry - " Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes " - which vividly (and lovingly) portrays the thrilling early days of the original San Jose Earthquakes franchise (1974-84) of the old North American Soccer League, and the transformative impact it brought to the Bay Area's fast-growing Santa Clara Valley. Through his personal journey as a devoted fan and with never-before-seen images captured by his father -...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 383
After a decidedly meh NBA All-Star Weekend, we rewind back to one of the league's most influential historical tributaries - the American Basketball Association (1967-76) - and the criminally little-known story of how its demise left a generation of pioneering pro players out in the cold. Michael Husain is the writer, director, and co-producer of the groundbreaking documentary The Waiting Game - which spotlights the relentless efforts of the determined non-profit Dropping Dimes , as it fights to ...
Feb 17, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 382
We hearken back to baseball's humble beginnings this week, as author/historian Jeff Orens (" Selling Baseball: How Superstars George Wright and Albert Spalding Impacted Sports in America ") takes us on a journey through the late 19th century, when the game was rapidly evolving from a casual pastime to America's national sport - with two larger-than-life figures at the center of its transformation. In Orens' telling, players-turned-sports-businessmen George Wright (Cincinnati Red Stockings, Bosto...
Feb 10, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 381
Ain't no stoppin' us now this week as we lay down the indoor soccer turf and roll out the red carpet for one of the Major Indoor Soccer League 's steeliest defenders and long-time St. Louis Steamers fan favorite Carl Rose . Known best for his seven stellar seasons (1979-86) with the MISL's most commercially successful franchise, Rose actually began his pro indoor career along with the debut of the league itself (1978-79) as a member of the inaugural title-winning New York Arrows . A two-time ind...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 380
We throw another Duraflame into the hot stove this week for a look back at the sterling, but oddly overlooked career of one of baseball’s greatest "golden age" hitters. Biographer Jerry Grillo (" Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize ") helps us sort out the intriguing story of batting titan Johnny Mize - whose 15-year major league journey playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York version of the Giants and five World Series-winning seasons (1949-53) with the New York Ya...
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 379
[While Tim gets off the mat after a bout with a vaccine-resistant strain of the flu this week, we go back to April 2018 for this classic ARCHIVE RE-RELEASE with the pied piper of classic football history!] Upton Bell grew up at the knee of the National Football League’s second-ever commissioner – his father, the legendary Bert Bell – who not only saved professional football from financial ruin in the aftermath of World War II, but also became one of its greatest innovators. Originator of the ico...
Jan 20, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Spurred on by a hugely intriguing article in The Athletic penned last November by Episode 274 guest Pablo Maurer (as well as another by Guardian soccer writer Jack Williams back in 2016 ), we delve into the fascinating story of the visionary, yet controversial 1990s American pro soccer league that never was - League 1 America - with its mastermind Jim Paglia . Born in the wake of the 1989 awarding of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to the United States, League 1 America was an ambitious attempt to reima...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 378
Renowned Presidential speechwriter-turned-sports-historian Curt Smith joins the podcast this week for an erudite look at the not-so-obvious concentricity between the story of baseball in America with both the growth of broadcasting and the evolution of electoral politics. Drawing from some of his most seminal works on baseball history - most notably 1987's iconic Voices of the Game , the anthological Memories from the Microphone , and the newly updated-in-paperback The Presidents and the Pastime...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 377
It's our year-end Holiday Roundtable Spectacular - featuring a look back at the year's newest additions to "what used-to-be" in professional sports (RIP MLB's "Oakland" Athletics & the NHL's Arizona Coyotes ), and a predictive glimpse into what might be in store for 2025 - with two of our favorite fellow defunct sports enthusiasts: Steve Holroyd ( Crossecheck , Philly Classics & Episodes 92 , 109 , 149 , 188 & 248 ); and Paul Reeths ( OurSportsCentral.com , StatsCrew.com & Episod...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 376
It's a holiday gift-wrapped conversation with American soccer pioneer and US National Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore - whose professional career as a player and coach across the original versions of both the North American Soccer League ( San Jose Earthquakes , Oakland Stompers ), and Major Indoor Soccer League ( Detroit Lightning , San Francisco Fog , Phoenix Inferno & a one-game/one-goal stint with the Kansas City Comets ), and as General Manager of the original Major League Soccer inca...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 375
