December 10, 2025 • 12 mins
Tim and Lance react to his invention of the MLB Ballpark Passport, and the product's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, let's go seven oh eight, seven hundred WLW
Welcome in RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet
Avliance Cavlister. How you doing, Thanks for making your way here.
We've got two hours to get it done tonight. I
can tell you upfront. Coming up at about fifteen minutes,
we're going to start some pretty in depth Kyle Schwerber
conversation and reaction on your part to what is transpired
(00:46):
over the last twenty four hours or so. And then
we'll have a fun topic we'll toss in in the
eight o'clock hour as well. But let's start first right here.
My first guest is from Middletown. No, he's not Kyle Schwarber.
He created something really cool though, years ago, the MLB
(01:07):
Ballpark Passport. Think of a book to officially stamp your
visit to a ballpark. Well, this idea, this product has
grown so big and has had such an impact on
baseball fans across the country that the Baseball Hall of
Fame has voted to induct the original first print of
(01:29):
the Major League Baseball Ballpark Passport to be put on
display in the museum, and I said, how cool is that?
Because I had this next guest on way back when
let's find out all about it. Welcome in, Tim Barks.
How are you, hey, Lan?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I am fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Let's backtrack a little bit for those who may not
know of the idea, just kind of describe the passport,
what it looks like and how it works.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Well back in twenty ten, I had the idea, you
know of in the recording your memories and your visits
to the ballparks. And when I got back, you know,
I had the prototype made and and everything, and I
called up Phil Cassolini of the Reds and said, hey, Phil,
I got this pretty neat idea. I want to show
(02:23):
you and see what you think. And he said, sure, Tim,
come on down to the ballpark. And so he loved it,
and he took it to Major League Baseball at the
winter meetings.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
That was fifteen years ago. Wow.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And and he came back and called me and said, Tim, come.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
On down to the ballpark.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
We have a conference call with MLB. They love your idea.
And the rest is history. And that year it was
the Red season Passport which if you recall, I was
on your show prior to opening day discussing the first book,
and I know Casey had one and he got one
to use. And you know, we were all such short
(03:06):
notice that we didn't have a chance to design and
make the MLB Ballpark Passport Book, which was for visiting
all thirty ballparks. And so that's what we did, you know,
the whole summer and in winter was creating and developing
that book for release in twenty twelve. And I just
(03:27):
want to say real quick that without Phil Casalwini, none
of this ever would have happened, because he took that
to MLB on his on the cord, had an offline
meeting with MLB and Phil just you know, it never
the day of light they've had it been for him.
I just want to tell him thanks, if he's listening.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And Tim, if I remember correctly, this all kind of
popped into your head because you you had kind of
a quest to visit you wanted to visit all thirty
Major League parks to begin with.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Correct, Yes, I was already doing it.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
I was already doing it, and uh I drove to
uh the Arctic Circle back in twenty ten, and we'd
already been to a number of ballparks and and of course,
you know, watching the Reds.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Play as much as we could on the road, and uh,
you know.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
When you drive to Alaska, you know, yeah, a lot
of time to think. And I started thinking about growing
up with the big Red machine when I was, you know,
thirteen years old in the seventy five, and I said,
you know, I've got no memories at all.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No ticket stubs, nothing, no anything to.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Remember all the visits that I had, you know, to
the ballpark with my with my dad and brothers and
sisters and in church groups and youth groups and things,
and I had nothing. And I said, I want to
throw something out there. And I would get back to
the hotel and I'd do some search, you know, on
my phone online and couldn't find anything. And so it's
just amazing that you know, a guy from Middletown had
(04:56):
an idea. Yeah, and you know that I went with
and you know, I was the first one to come
up with this idea for baseball and pathboards.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
And so tim, if if someone has a passport, say
that they order the passport from you kind of walks
like when you walk into a stadium. What happens or
how is it used? Explain it for someone who might
not understand it.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah, so you have the book, and so inside the
book it lists all what we call them validation stations
at all the Major League ballparks. And so what happens
when fantomes in they look inside their book they see
where the valuation stations are located inside the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
There's multiple locations.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
At all thirty stadiums, and so like the red for example,
the Reds have I think seven or eight different stamping
locations listed and Dodger Stadium has like ten. So it
was grown from one, you know, from one stamping location
for ballpark to you know, seven, eight, nine, tens stamping locations.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It's kind of crazy. And so fans will present their book.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
And they'll ask for the stamp and they'll turn to
their you know, to to the team page in the book,
and uh, the staff will roll the date to the
date that you're there, and they'll hand you the stamp
and you'll ink it up, test it, then stamp your
book and it has the name of the ballpark, city, stton,
zip code to the ballpark, and then the date you
(06:25):
were there, and so once you stamp that it's ink
the paper, it's there forever.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Tell me the Hall of Fame news. Tell me how
you got the news, and tell me how exciting this is.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yes, it was so unreal.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I've been thinking for a while because you know, next
year is the fifteenth year of the MLB ball Park
Passport Book. We released it at the All Star Game
in Kansas City in twenty twelve, and we only took
you know, we brought like something like, you know, one
hundred and fifty one hundred and seventy five books, and
we got the joking on the way in that hey,
(07:01):
well what if we don't sell any books.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And never been done before? You know, no one had
ever done before.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So there was no blueprint for it, and I knew
on the second day there at Fantast we sold out
of our inventory and we took orders for another I.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Think it was three hundred and some.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Orders for the next print, and we told them up
front that hey, it might be three four five months
before we have another rundowe, and they said, we don't care,
we want the book. And it was at that time
that I knew that we had, you know, something special,
and so I have to thinking about the fifteenth year
and coinciding with that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
And I said, you know, I said, I said, I
wonder if the Hall of Fame would be, you know,
interested in this book.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And since it was the first you know, I kept
the first book off this off the press and got
the first stamp at Great American Ballpark in it on
April fifth of twenty twelve, and so, you know, I thought,
you know, this is this is a part of baseball history,
and you know, I'll contact the Hall of Fame and
see what they think. And so I called and got
(08:13):
ahold of a very nice lady, Cassidy Lynt, who is
the library director at the Hall of Fame. And I
told her I had the original first print, first book,
first stamp MLB Ballpark passport book, and if the Hall
of Fame would be interested in it. And then so
then she pertea to tell me she's like Tim bat
(08:37):
the Hall of Fame Committee Board on Historical Artifacts. It's
scheduled to have a meet on the I think it
was the first Wednesday in November. And she said, I'll
take this information about your books. She she knew about
the book the Hall of Fame has sold it from
the very beginning. They've been a part of it. And
(08:59):
she said, I'll see what they think, and she's all
get back to you. And so it was, you know,
several weeks that passed and and then I'm you know,
in the back of my mind, I had November fifth
on the calendar, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
So so on November seventh, I got the call and
uh yeah, and so you know, and I was nervous.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
You know, my my heart kind dropped my stomach because
I I didn't I didn't think he would go anywhere,
you know, And so uh, she said, Jim, she said,
the board voted to have have your book put into
the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Unbelievable, so cool.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yeah, so I mean it's like a baseball player gave
him the call. But that's how you really felt like it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, you know, yeah it was. Yeah, it was so cool. Tim.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
For for those wondering who I want to learn more
about it does and kind of explain the inventory here
would would if somebody wants to hit like minor league
ballparks or spring training ballparks. Is there a version of
that for the ballpark passport?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yes, you you talked a little about before, you know,
the program has grown where we now have stamped in
two hundred and twenty four stadiums and and museums and
in ballparks all over the country. So we have the
MLB ball Park Passport Book, which is of course pro
visiting all thirty ballparks. It's a binder, so and the
(10:23):
most often question I get asked is about what there's
a new stadium built. It's a binder, so you can
add new stadium as the build. The book never becomes outdated.
We have a Game day Book which took the place
of the Red Season Passport book. That is for season
ticket holders and people who frequent, you know, multiple games,
(10:44):
so you can stamp every game you go to. And
we have the Spring training Passport, we have the minor
league Passport, and then then we have this the new
Baseball Attractions Passport that was created here about a year
and a half, which has fifty non MLB venues in it.
(11:05):
So the Jackie Robinson Museum, yeah, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
The list goes on and on all right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
This would be great, This would be great for the holidays,
A great stocking stuffer for a kid who's starting out
as a baseball fan or an older adult who's a
baseball fan. Tell listeners how they can find out more.
What's the website to get more information on the MLB
Ballpark passport.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yes, it's an MLB Ballpark Passport dot com and it's
on there. We have an awesome Facebook group also that
for they want some real, live, you know, working information.
It's the Facebook group is Ballpark Stampeders, and it's a
wonderful group. They poster stamps from all over the country
(11:53):
every night, and I think now we have people coming
in from all over the world to ballgames with the book.
Oh it's just uh yeah. And we're small business. We
don't advertise at all, and so we we've been award
of mouth. And I appreciate you so much for you
having me on your program.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
You got it when it started.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Absolutely, man, those were great days. And I'm just so
happy and excited for you. And shout out to all
the stam Peters listening. Shout out to our guy Bill
Bray who's listening, and congrats on all this and and
keep it rolling and keep me posted on stuff unfolding,
all right, I sure will, brother, Thank you, Thanks Tim,
Take care
The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, let's go seven oh eight, seven hundred WLW
Welcome in RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet
Avliance Cavlister. How you doing, Thanks for making your way here.
We've got two hours to get it done tonight. I
can tell you upfront. Coming up at about fifteen minutes,
we're going to start some pretty in depth Kyle Schwerber
conversation and reaction on your part to what is transpired
(00:46):
over the last twenty four hours or so. And then
we'll have a fun topic we'll toss in in the
eight o'clock hour as well. But let's start first right here.
My first guest is from Middletown. No, he's not Kyle Schwarber.
He created something really cool though, years ago, the MLB
(01:07):
Ballpark Passport. Think of a book to officially stamp your
visit to a ballpark. Well, this idea, this product has
grown so big and has had such an impact on
baseball fans across the country that the Baseball Hall of
Fame has voted to induct the original first print of
(01:29):
the Major League Baseball Ballpark Passport to be put on
display in the museum, and I said, how cool is that?
Because I had this next guest on way back when
let's find out all about it. Welcome in, Tim Barks.
How are you, hey, Lan?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
I am fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Let's backtrack a little bit for those who may not
know of the idea, just kind of describe the passport,
what it looks like and how it works.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Well back in twenty ten, I had the idea, you
know of in the recording your memories and your visits
to the ballparks. And when I got back, you know,
I had the prototype made and and everything, and I
called up Phil Cassolini of the Reds and said, hey, Phil,
I got this pretty neat idea. I want to show
(02:23):
you and see what you think. And he said, sure, Tim,
come on down to the ballpark. And so he loved it,
and he took it to Major League Baseball at the
winter meetings.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
That was fifteen years ago. Wow.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
And and he came back and called me and said, Tim, come.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
On down to the ballpark.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
We have a conference call with MLB. They love your idea.
And the rest is history. And that year it was
the Red season Passport which if you recall, I was
on your show prior to opening day discussing the first book,
and I know Casey had one and he got one
to use. And you know, we were all such short
(03:06):
notice that we didn't have a chance to design and
make the MLB Ballpark Passport Book, which was for visiting
all thirty ballparks. And so that's what we did, you know,
the whole summer and in winter was creating and developing
that book for release in twenty twelve. And I just
(03:27):
want to say real quick that without Phil Casalwini, none
of this ever would have happened, because he took that
to MLB on his on the cord, had an offline
meeting with MLB and Phil just you know, it never
the day of light they've had it been for him.
I just want to tell him thanks, if he's listening.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And Tim, if I remember correctly, this all kind of
popped into your head because you you had kind of
a quest to visit you wanted to visit all thirty
Major League parks to begin with.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Correct, Yes, I was already doing it.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
I was already doing it, and uh I drove to
uh the Arctic Circle back in twenty ten, and we'd
already been to a number of ballparks and and of course,
you know, watching the Reds.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Play as much as we could on the road, and uh,
you know.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
When you drive to Alaska, you know, yeah, a lot
of time to think. And I started thinking about growing
up with the big Red machine when I was, you know,
thirteen years old in the seventy five, and I said,
you know, I've got no memories at all.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No ticket stubs, nothing, no anything to.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Remember all the visits that I had, you know, to
the ballpark with my with my dad and brothers and
sisters and in church groups and youth groups and things,
and I had nothing. And I said, I want to
throw something out there. And I would get back to
the hotel and I'd do some search, you know, on
my phone online and couldn't find anything. And so it's
just amazing that you know, a guy from Middletown had
(04:56):
an idea. Yeah, and you know that I went with
and you know, I was the first one to come
up with this idea for baseball and pathboards.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
And so tim, if if someone has a passport, say
that they order the passport from you kind of walks
like when you walk into a stadium. What happens or
how is it used? Explain it for someone who might
not understand it.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah, so you have the book, and so inside the
book it lists all what we call them validation stations
at all the Major League ballparks. And so what happens
when fantomes in they look inside their book they see
where the valuation stations are located inside the ballpark.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
There's multiple locations.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
At all thirty stadiums, and so like the red for example,
the Reds have I think seven or eight different stamping
locations listed and Dodger Stadium has like ten. So it
was grown from one, you know, from one stamping location
for ballpark to you know, seven, eight, nine, tens stamping locations.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
It's kind of crazy. And so fans will present their book.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
And they'll ask for the stamp and they'll turn to
their you know, to to the team page in the book,
and uh, the staff will roll the date to the
date that you're there, and they'll hand you the stamp
and you'll ink it up, test it, then stamp your
book and it has the name of the ballpark, city, stton,
zip code to the ballpark, and then the date you
(06:25):
were there, and so once you stamp that it's ink
the paper, it's there forever.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Tell me the Hall of Fame news. Tell me how
you got the news, and tell me how exciting this is.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yes, it was so unreal.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I've been thinking for a while because you know, next
year is the fifteenth year of the MLB ball Park
Passport Book. We released it at the All Star Game
in Kansas City in twenty twelve, and we only took
you know, we brought like something like, you know, one
hundred and fifty one hundred and seventy five books, and
we got the joking on the way in that hey,
(07:01):
well what if we don't sell any books.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
And never been done before? You know, no one had
ever done before.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
So there was no blueprint for it, and I knew
on the second day there at Fantast we sold out
of our inventory and we took orders for another I.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Think it was three hundred and some.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Orders for the next print, and we told them up
front that hey, it might be three four five months
before we have another rundowe, and they said, we don't care,
we want the book. And it was at that time
that I knew that we had, you know, something special,
and so I have to thinking about the fifteenth year
and coinciding with that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
And I said, you know, I said, I said, I
wonder if the Hall of Fame would be, you know,
interested in this book.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
And since it was the first you know, I kept
the first book off this off the press and got
the first stamp at Great American Ballpark in it on
April fifth of twenty twelve, and so, you know, I thought,
you know, this is this is a part of baseball history,
and you know, I'll contact the Hall of Fame and
see what they think. And so I called and got
(08:13):
ahold of a very nice lady, Cassidy Lynt, who is
the library director at the Hall of Fame. And I
told her I had the original first print, first book,
first stamp MLB Ballpark passport book, and if the Hall
of Fame would be interested in it. And then so
then she pertea to tell me she's like Tim bat
(08:37):
the Hall of Fame Committee Board on Historical Artifacts. It's
scheduled to have a meet on the I think it
was the first Wednesday in November. And she said, I'll
take this information about your books. She she knew about
the book the Hall of Fame has sold it from
the very beginning. They've been a part of it. And
(08:59):
she said, I'll see what they think, and she's all
get back to you. And so it was, you know,
several weeks that passed and and then I'm you know,
in the back of my mind, I had November fifth
on the calendar, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
So so on November seventh, I got the call and
uh yeah, and so you know, and I was nervous.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
You know, my my heart kind dropped my stomach because
I I didn't I didn't think he would go anywhere,
you know, And so uh, she said, Jim, she said,
the board voted to have have your book put into
the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Unbelievable, so cool.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yeah, so I mean it's like a baseball player gave
him the call. But that's how you really felt like it.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, you know, yeah it was. Yeah, it was so cool. Tim.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
For for those wondering who I want to learn more
about it does and kind of explain the inventory here
would would if somebody wants to hit like minor league
ballparks or spring training ballparks. Is there a version of
that for the ballpark passport?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yes, you you talked a little about before, you know,
the program has grown where we now have stamped in
two hundred and twenty four stadiums and and museums and
in ballparks all over the country. So we have the
MLB ball Park Passport Book, which is of course pro
visiting all thirty ballparks. It's a binder, so and the
(10:23):
most often question I get asked is about what there's
a new stadium built. It's a binder, so you can
add new stadium as the build. The book never becomes outdated.
We have a Game day Book which took the place
of the Red Season Passport book. That is for season
ticket holders and people who frequent, you know, multiple games,
(10:44):
so you can stamp every game you go to. And
we have the Spring training Passport, we have the minor
league Passport, and then then we have this the new
Baseball Attractions Passport that was created here about a year
and a half, which has fifty non MLB venues in it.
(11:05):
So the Jackie Robinson Museum, yeah, Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
The list goes on and on all right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
This would be great, This would be great for the holidays,
A great stocking stuffer for a kid who's starting out
as a baseball fan or an older adult who's a
baseball fan. Tell listeners how they can find out more.
What's the website to get more information on the MLB
Ballpark passport.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yes, it's an MLB Ballpark Passport dot com and it's
on there. We have an awesome Facebook group also that
for they want some real, live, you know, working information.
It's the Facebook group is Ballpark Stampeders, and it's a
wonderful group. They poster stamps from all over the country
(11:53):
every night, and I think now we have people coming
in from all over the world to ballgames with the book.
Oh it's just uh yeah. And we're small business. We
don't advertise at all, and so we we've been award
of mouth. And I appreciate you so much for you
having me on your program.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
You got it when it started.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Absolutely, man, those were great days. And I'm just so
happy and excited for you. And shout out to all
the stam Peters listening. Shout out to our guy Bill
Bray who's listening, and congrats on all this and and
keep it rolling and keep me posted on stuff unfolding,
all right, I sure will, brother, Thank you, Thanks Tim,
Take care
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.