Backwards K Pod

Backwards K Pod

An educational and biographical look, at the moments and personalities, that have been woven into the fabric of baseball. Backwards K Where We Collect Ballplayers And Their Stories

Episodes

November 11, 2025 81 mins
During his prime years, the baseball universe was Manny's world, and other players were just mere mortals lucky to inhabit the same space. His dominant play and quirky personality would lead opponents and proponents alike to shrug and say, " That's just Manny being Manny." He was a hard-hitting baseball savant, with a bat in his hands and runners in scoring position. And in conjunction with his long flowing dreadlocks, his baggy un...
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This week we do a deep archaeological dig into the baseball path laid down by the legendary Don Drysdale. At 6'5" tall and 190 pounds, he was an intimidating pitcher, who used brushback pitches to keep opposing batters off-balanced. Together with southpaw Sandy Koufax, the tandem would become one of the fiercest lefty/righty duos in the history of baseball. By the time Drysdale's career is in the books, he's a three-time World Cham...
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October 27, 2025 121 mins
When most people think of Miami's impact on the History of baseball, they may believe that the current Marlins team is the beginning of their baseball identity and story. But in reality, the city of Miami and the South Florida region possesses a rich history of organized baseball that crosses generations, leagues and color lines. This week I dig into the fascinating history between the city and the National Pastime. I unpack the st...
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September 30, 2025 83 mins
Frank Thomas looked more like an NFL Tight=End, looking to create space in the end zone to receive a touchdown, than he did a baseball player. But in many ways, the 6'5" 275 pound icon was ostensibly a contact hitter trapped inside of a slugger's body, with a judicious knowledge of the strike zone and quick hand-eye coordination. He was a dog on the hunt, looking to inflict pain on opposing teams, thus earning the well deserved mon...
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September 22, 2025 94 mins
The Negro Leagues produced some of the finest third-basemens in the history of the sport of baseball. Guys like Jud Wilson, Oliver "The Ghost" Marcelle and Ray Dandridge held down the Hot Corner. inspiring and challenging future generations to meet their standards. But many of the league historians consider Judy Johnson the finest of them all. He was Baryshnikov in cleats with his flawless footwork and stellar glove at third. At 5'...
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September 2, 2025 120 mins
At the height of his powers, Reggie Jackson was a box-office spectacle, who's on-field exploits were matched by his larger than life personality, and his fearless ability to speak his truth to power. Whether you watched him strikeout, a record setting 2,597 times, or watched him hit one of his 563 home runs, fans and haters alike, couldn't take their eyes off of him, as he was surely one player worth the price of admission. His com...
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August 15, 2025 85 mins
By the time Steve Carlton's 24 year Major League Baseball career was in the books, he had more pickoffs than any pitcher who ever played the game at the highest level, the second most strikeouts ever behind only Nolan Ryan, and the ninth most wins in the long history of the National Pastime. Armed with a devastating, mind-bending slider, the man known as "Lefty" seemingly toyed with the best hitters on the planet. This week's arche...
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July 29, 2025 92 mins
This week we profile the baseball life of the immortal Joe Morgan, who at 5'7", and 150 pounds, dominated the game and the second-base position like very few before him or since. Morgan develops a love for the game, cutting his teeth on the talented Oakland sandlots, and influenced by his farher's encouragement. Despite his diminutive stature, which made him overlooked throughout his youth, he displayed impressive talents, and conf...
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July 2, 2025 128 mins
This week i detail the baseball journey of pitching great Warren Spahn. By the time, his long and prolific career was in the books, he had amassed the most victories (363) in the game's history for a left-handed pitcher, the sixth most wins of all time and the most wins ever by a pitcher who pitched exclusively in the live-ball, modern era. All of his brilliance is magnified by the fact that he doesn't record his first win until he...
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June 16, 2025 131 mins
This week, i do an archaelogical dig into 160 years of baseball history in Minnesota. In many ways, Minnesota was an early leader in team sports being played before large crowds, when the Dakota and Ojibwe tribes would play native lacrosse games, as far back as the 1600's, long before European settlers arrived. As for baseball, their timeline stretches back to 1857, when citizens from the town of Nininger, establish the first baseb...
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June 1, 2025 101 mins
Carlton Fisk will probably always be most notably be remembered for his game-winning home-run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, but it would be his durability over the long haul, that would cement his Hall Of Fame resume. The 11 time All Star would become known for his in-your-face intensity. his ability to handle pitchers, and his incredible work ethic. He would go onto have a long and colorful 24 year Major League career. This ...
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May 19, 2025 74 mins
Andre Dawson, also known as "The Hawk", was one of the most dynamic and all-around polished players of hia generation. He was a legitimate five-tool player, even when his knees were screaming at him to hang em up. Over a career that spanned 21 major league seasons, he made an indellible mark, combining his raw power, speed and defensive prowess to become one of the game's most respected players. His journey from the sandlots of Mia...
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May 12, 2025 81 mins
In an era dominated by sluggers putting up prodigious video game power-numbers, Vladimir Guerrero becomes one of the game's most electrifying players, in defiance of the baseball Gods with his five-tool arsenal of hitting for average, power, baserunning insticts, defense and the intercontinetal ballistic missile, he had for a right arm. His unlikely rise to baseball immortality begins in abject poverty in the Dominican Republic, as...
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May 3, 2025 105 mins
This week's biopic is on the greatest player in Brewers history, Robin Yount. Robin played on the competitive edge, and left everything on the field during his 20 year playing career. In fact, Yount left it all over the field, winning the American League MVP, at two different positions, 6 years apart. Drafted by the Brewers with the third overall pick in the 1973 Amateur MLB Draft, Yount makes his big-league debut at the age of 18,...
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April 22, 2025 86 mins
This week we take an introspective look at the life and baseball journey of one Peter Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, who would become one of baseball's greatest characters and catchers. The World War II veteran and unprecedented 13 time World Champion as a player. was best described by his manager Casey Stengal, " As a very strange fellow with remarkable baseball abilities." He served as the anchor and bridge between the Joe DiMaggio and t...
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April 11, 2025 85 mins
When a plumber's blowtorch accidentally causes Washington D.C's Boundary Field to burn to the ground in 1911. engineers from the Cleveland based Osborne Company quickly construct Griffith Stadium inside the skeletal remains of Boundary Field. and it would serve as the Senators home park from 1911 to 1961. The stadium would become a centerpiece for baseball in the district housing the Senators and the Homestead Grays Negro League te...
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April 3, 2025 78 mins
Whenever Willie McCovey had a bat in his hands, he meant business. Whether it's a tight pennant race game in September against the Dodgers or a batting practice in May, his focus was to cut the ball in half and smoke line drives. His path to Major League immortality was oddly uneven, mostly due to circumstance. But despite all of the obstacles, mishaps and injuries he endured, he still managed to squeeze out a 22 year playing caree...
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March 26, 2025 87 mins
This week we profile the baseball life and journey of the legendary skipper Bobby Cox, who was became one of the most successful managers in the game's history, chartering the course for the Braves' dominanace during the 1990's and early 2000's. His teams would hold the unique distinction of winning 14 consecutive division pennants, and he would go onto become the fourth winningest manager in baseball history. The seeds of National...
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This week we take an introspective look at the fascinating History Of Baseball In Queens, New York. A story that begins in 1886, when Queens was the only municipalty in New York City that disregarded the Sunday Blue Laws, which prohibited commerce and personel ammusement on Sundays. The borough's landscape was dotted with three ballparks at this time, Ridgewood Parks One and Two in Woodhaven, and Dexter Park located in Jamaica, Que...
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March 9, 2025 75 mins
As a player, Billy Martin was a fundamentally sound second basemen with a .257 batting average over an 11 year playing career, most notably for the Yankees fom 1950 to 1957. On the World Series stage, he was a clutch beast with a .333/.371/.369 slash-line, 5 Home Runs and 19 runs driven in, with flawless defensive play. As a manager, he developed the reputation of a strategical genius, who could ostensibly turn almost any team into...
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