265 - "They All Though I Was Crazy Anyway" w/ Scipio Spinks

265 - "They All Though I Was Crazy Anyway" w/ Scipio Spinks

Author: A podcast about baseball, music and culture. October 5, 2025 Duration: 52:37
Scipio Spinks rose from junior college ball in Chicago to the Major Leagues with Houston and St. Louis. He pitched 5 seasons before injuries derailed his promising career. Spinks talks about his pitching in the late 60s and early 70s, the wind at Candlestick, the heat at Busch and hitting his one and only home run as a big leaguer. Today, Spinks resides in Houston where he is head coach for the University of Houston-Downtown Gator collegiate club baseball team. Spinks has coached the Ga...

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…