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•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 01, 2023•3 hr 38 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Apr 24, 2023•2 hr 54 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast 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)....
Apr 16, 2023•4 hr 44 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast 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 r...
Apr 10, 2023•3 hr 35 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Canad...
Apr 03, 2023•2 hr 17 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ca...
Mar 27, 2023•2 hr 22 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Mar 20, 2023•3 hr 47 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast 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 take...
Mar 13, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast 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•3 hr 33 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast 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•2 hr 50 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast You expect to see the big names in any All-Star Game. But in 1971, the two rosters between them featured 21 players who would eventually reach the Hall Of Fame. Of the 16 position players, 10 would reach Cooperstown. Willie Mays opens up the batting; Roberto Clemente makes his last All-Star appearance; Hank Aaron reaches the fence for the first time in the Summer Classic; heck, even Pete Rose pops up. If you want to watch out for something special, count off how many home runs are hit, and how m...
Jan 30, 2023•3 hr 37 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Who can steal bases? Luis Aparicio can steal bases. With nine consecutive years as the American League leader in stolen bases between 1956 and 1964, and over 500 in his career, Aparicio is one of the legendary base runners. And that's before you look at his record number career hits as a shortstop… only beaten by the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter in 2009. Is it any wonder the Chicago White Sox retired his #11? In today's classic, we join the 1960 White Sox as they welcome, of course, the Yankees...
Jan 23, 2023•3 hr•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast After 61 years, the Pittsburgh Pirates said goodbye to Forbes Field in the middle of the season before moving to Three Rivers Park. Built in 1909 it was the home not only of the Pirates, but also the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, and the University of Pittsburgh's Pitt Panthers. We join Bob Prince, Nellie King, and Gene Osborn on KDKA for the second game in the double-header. The Pirates took the first game 3-2, can they close out their time at Forbes Field with a final victory? You can find the bo...
Jan 16, 2023•3 hr 38 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast As the regular season of 1962 comes to a close, the New York Mets have already claimed a daunting record… the most losses in a season. Having passed the Athletics 1916 record of 117 losses on September 23rd, the Mets headed to Wrigley Field for the final game of the season with a record of 40-119 (plus one tied game). Could the players find a bit of honor to close out the debut season with a win, or would they reach the talismanic mark of 120 losses? Bob Murphy, supported by Ralph Kiner and Lind...
Jan 09, 2023•2 hr 17 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Satchell Paige spent over forty years playing baseball at various levels, but his mark in history is a simple one… he was the first African-American to pitch in the American League, and the seventh player to integrate into the majors. He did that when he was 42, and he remains the oldest debutant in either league. He was also the first African-American to pitch in a World Series, and it's that game we join today. It's Game 5 of the World Series, and Paige's Cleveland Indians are up against the B...
Jan 02, 2023•3 hr•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast The Baltimore Orioles won the 1970 World Series, but the 1971 campaign would match a pitching record that stands to this day. The four starting pitchers Pat Dobson (20-8), Dave McNally (21–5), Mike Cuellar (20–9), and Jim Palmer (20–10) all posted 20 or more wins. The only other team in the history of the majors to have four pitchers on 20-plus wins in a season are the 1920 White Sox. We join the Orioles for the second game in a double-header with the California Angels. The teams would meet thro...
Dec 26, 2022•2 hr 14 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast 1968 is known as ‘The Year Of The Pitcher’, and there was no finer pitcher than Bob Gibson of the St Louis Cardinals. Since then, no pitcher has come close to matching his ERA of 1.12. The Cardinals were not just one pitcher though, and the whole team worked together to top the American League and take on the Detroit Tigers in the World Series (1968 was the last year before the playoff system was introduced). The Cardinals had home-field advantage for Game 1, and they put Bob Gibson on the mound...
Dec 19, 2022•2 hr 20 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast 1965 would be the last year that the Braves would play in Milwaukee. The plan had been to say goodbye to the city and move to Atlanta at the end of the 1964 season, but their stadium lease saw them play out one more year. The Braves maintained an impressive win record throughout their time in Milwaukee with two pennants and one World Series, and never once posting a losing record. We join the second game of a double-header against the New York Mets at Milwaukee County Stadium, the stadium that k...
Dec 12, 2022•2 hr 29 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair saw what was planned to be a one-off "All Stars" exhibition game, with two rosters selected by the fans of each league. Following its success, including a significant charitable donation from ticket sales, the Midsummer Classic returned in 1934. Stepping up to the plate for the American League are five bona fide legends, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. Facing them on the mound for the National League was Cal Hubbell and his classic scr...
Dec 05, 2022•3 hr 14 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast It’s Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. Pitching for the Yankees is Don Larsen. Following four walks and four unearned runs given up in Game 2 before the end of the second inning, there was little indication that Larsen was about to throw the only perfect game in World Series history. Bob Wolff and Bob Neal call the game for MBS Radio, and as is tradition, never mention the no-hitter is on, let alone a perfect game… although Wolff might drop a few hints. See if you can spot them. The box sco...
Nov 28, 2022•2 hr•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast The 1965 season saw the opening of the Houston Astrodome, and the first Major League Baseball games to be played indoors. For Opening Day, the Yankees were invited to the Astros for an exhibition game to open the Dome. With recordings available for both team broadcasts we can contrast two different legends behind the microphone. In this episode, our second visit to this game, we can hear the Astros Radio broadcast of the exhibition, with Harry Kalas, Loel Passe, and Gene Elston. This game was pl...
Nov 21, 2022•2 hr 20 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast The 1965 season saw the opening of the Houston Astrodome, and the first Major League Baseball games to be played indoors. For Opening Day, the Yankees were invited to the Astros for an exhibition game to open the Dome. With recordings available for both team broadcasts we can contrast two different legends behind the microphone. In this episode, the Yankee’s broadcasting team of Red Barber, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman and Joe Garagiola, for WCBS. This game was played on April 9th, 1965....
Nov 14, 2022•3 hr 58 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast 1971 was the last year of the Washington Senators, with the team moving to Arlington to become the Texas Rangers. It’s the Senators' third game as they welcome the New York Yankees to RGK Stadium for a four-game series. The box score can be found here . This game was played on April 9th, 1971.
Nov 07, 2022•2 hr 25 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Following a four-game series with a single day of rest, the Red Sox once more took to the field at Comiskey Park and faced the White Sox in a double-header. With both teams chasing the New York Yankees for the pennant, this series was vital in setting up the Bronx Bombers’ challenger in the back half of the 1936 season. The box score can be found here . This is the second game of the double header played on August 2 1936....
Oct 31, 2022•3 hr 34 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Following a four-game series with a single day of rest, the Red Sox once more took to the field at Comiskey Park and faced the White Sox in a double-header. With both teams chasing the New York Yankees for the pennant, this series was vital in setting up the Bronx Bombers’ challenger in the back half of the 1936 season. The box score can be found here . This is the first game of the double header played on August 2 1936....
Oct 24, 2022•2 hr 8 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast For the opening half of the 1969 season - the first season with the AL and NL having two divisions in each league - the Cubs were on .700, but would eventually fall to .568 and lose to the Mets’ .617 following a collapse in the back half. We join the Mets on the road to the Cubs as the season starts to turn its way The box score can be found here ( link ). This game was played on July 14 1969....
Oct 17, 2022•2 hr 28 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 
