269 - Ralph Branca: Baseball's Everyman w/ Bob Mitchell

269 - Ralph Branca: Baseball's Everyman w/ Bob Mitchell

Author: A podcast about baseball, music and culture. November 6, 2025 Duration: 48:53
Bob Mitchell is a retired professor, award winning advertising creative and tennis teaching pro. He has published 13 books and countless essays and articles, including his most recent book, "Ralph Branca and the Meaning of Life" (McFarland Press 2025). Join us this episode as we take our time machine back to Coogan's Bluff, October 3, 1951, and the pitch that changed everything. (Branca was the Dodger pitcher that thew Giant outfielder Bobby Thomson the fateful pitch that Thomson hit into the...

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
273 - Podcast News, Baseball Moves, Guns & Roses [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:30
Big news about the podcast, a look at some early baseball moves and Guns & Roses is going on tour. Errata: The Houston Astros missed the playoffs twice since 2015 - in 2016 and in 2025 - not once. Nacagdoches is a town i…
272 - The Spirit of Radio w/ Dave South [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:15
Dave South was the radio voice of Texas A&M Athletics from 1985 to his retirement in 2018. He is the author of "You Saw Me on the Radio: Recollections and Favorite Calls as the Voice of Aggie Athletics" (Texas A&M Univ.…
271 - Hard Caps, Soft Caps, Salary Floors and Baseball Cards [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:08
This week on the podcast - a bizarre ending to a high school football game, the soon to be expired Collective Bargaining Agreement has baseball fans scrambling to learn about salary caps, and we open another set of baseb…