245 - Disco Was Fun! Baseball, Music & Culture in 1978 w/ David Krell

245 - Disco Was Fun! Baseball, Music & Culture in 1978 w/ David Krell

Author: A podcast about baseball, music and culture. April 11, 2025 Duration: 54:18
David Krell is author of "1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era," (University of Nebraska Press, 2025). His book explores the wild 1978 major league season with features on the American League East race that went to a 163rd game, iconic players from the era like Pete Rose and Dave Kingman and cultural flashpoints from film, TV and music. In this interview, Krell gives us a glimpse into this tumultuous, pivotal year in American history and culture. SPOILER ALERT: This episode contains a ...

You might find yourself wondering how a perfect double play and a classic guitar riff are connected, or what a stadium anthem says about the year it topped the charts. That’s the kind of territory explored on Hooks & Runs. This isn't just a series of interviews, though you’ll hear conversations with fascinating figures from the sports and music industries. It’s also a place for thoughtful commentary, where the co-hosts draw lines between the crack of a bat and a cultural moment, between a legendary concert and a legendary season. They dig into both current headlines and forgotten history, finding the stories where pop culture and the national pastime intersect. Each episode feels like a relaxed, insightful conversation that could start with a baseball statistic and end with a music theory debate. New installments of this podcast arrive roughly every Thursday, offering a consistent dose of their unique blend. If you’ve ever felt that the narratives of baseball and the rhythms of music speak a similar language, this podcast provides the commentary to translate.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Hooks & Runs
Podcast Episodes
231 - The 2024 Hooks & Runs Year End Music Review [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:58
Craig & Rex review their favorite albums of 2024 while Craig mourns Kyle Tucker being traded by Houston to the Cubs. Errata: The MJ Lenderman lyric on "Wristwatch" is " a wristwatch that tells me I'm on my own," not "I'm…
230 - Lou Gehrig Goes to Hollywood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:35
This week Craig and Rex look at Lou Gehrig's lone Hollywood film, "Rawhide" (1938), filmed in January 1938. The film stars Gehrig (playing himself) and Texas native Smith Ballew (Palestine), Hollywood's first singing cow…
228 - Close But No Cigar III: Sam Rice, 2,987 career hits. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:47
Outfielder Sam Rice played 20 seasons in the Major Leagues - all but one with the Washington Nationals (later, the Senators). Rice retired from the game with 2,987 hits, 13 shy of the coveted mark of 3,000, making him th…
227 - Gavy Cravath: The Deadball Era's Home Run King w/ Rick Reiff [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:49
Rick Reiff is our guest this week to discuss his essay in the Fall 2024 Baseball Research Journal, "Gavy Cravath's Hall-Worthy 200 Home Runs." Cravath, a late arrival, played 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and led the N…
226 - Baseball's Most Unusual Feats [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:30
This episode was recorded on November 5. Craig and Rex analyze some of baseball's rarest achievements, ranging from Johnny Vander Meer's back to back no-hitters, Fernando Tatis belting two grand slams in the same inning…
224 - The Professor's Mysterious Concoction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:27
Craig and Rex contemplate the end of the 2024 baseball season as the Dodgers took the first three World Series games from the Yankees. They then turn their attention to the 1949 film "It Happens Every Spring," starring R…