255 - Major League Baseball Needs to Think Globally

255 - Major League Baseball Needs to Think Globally

Author: A podcast about baseball, music and culture. July 26, 2025 Duration: 46:27
Topics this week: Tampa Bay Rays sale; A Shoeless Joe's Hall of Fame promotion; The All-Star Game; The USA vs. The World; Late Night TV is in trouble; BananaBall may entertain some, but it isn't baseball; Manfred wants a salary cap; MLB's tickets are overpriced for a reason; an Ozzy Osbourne post-mortum; making money while making music. Errata: A Houston business consortium was bidding to buy the St. Louis Cardinals in the early 1950's, not the St. Louis Browns. The National League, not...

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
204 - Sid Needed Floppy Shoes: The Road to Almost w/ Darryl Rhoades [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:48
Darryl Rhoades has been entertaining audiences with his music and comedy for over half-a-century. As founder and leader of Hahavishnu Orchestra and later as a solo artist, Rhoades recorded several albums and toured acros…
203 - Magical Matagorda Bay w/ Kimberly Ridley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:14
Kimberly Ridley has written "Matagorda Magic: The Hidden Life of a Texas Bay" (Texas A&M University Press 2024) about our very own Matagorda Bay estuary right here in our home county on the Texas Gulf Coast. Kimberly joi…
202 - They've Got a Show About Everything! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:45
This week Rex and Craig take on Ángel Hernández's retirement, interference & the infield fly rule, Jose Abreu's return, Austin Maddux's arrest and arraignment, Ranger Suarez's hot start, The Chicago White Sox' not-so-hot…
201 - One Year Wonders - Closers Edition [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:04
This week, Craig and Rex talk about closers who had one great year then -- nothing after that, along with anticipating Francis Ford Coppola's new film. -->Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/tT8d3pVUsN -->You can suppor…
199 - The Good, the Not Really That Bad and the Ultimately Ugly [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:13
This week Craig and Rex review three newish releases -- Beyonce's brilliant "Carter Country," Pearl Jam's not so bad "Dark Matter" and Motley Crue's ugly new single "Dogs of War." Also this episode, some trivia answers,…
198 - Johnny Mize: Born to Hit w/ Jerry Grillo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:04
Jerry Grillo, author of "Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize," (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2024) joins us this week for a wide-ranging, fast-paced interview about this legendary Cardinal, Giant and Yank…
197 - Bill Veeck, The Second Act w/ Dan Helpingstine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:56
Author Dan Helpingstine has written several books about baseball in Chicago, including, "South Side Hitmen: The Story of the 1977 Chicago White Sox," and "The Cubs and the White Sox: A Baseball Rivalry, 1900 to the Prese…