Driving ‘em In with Jim Campanis Jr & Eric Lenaburg

Big thanks to our special guest, Jim “The Rookie” Morris, for joining us for an interesting episode on a very unusual career. In case you missed it, Jim wrote an autobiography about his baseball career that was turned in to a Feature Film by Disney starring Dennis Quaid. Lenny and Campy discussed his “first” career, his teaching and coaching career, and then his “second career” coming back after nearly 10 years off to make it to th...

Kirk Shrider, High School Head Coach, College Coach, High-Level Collegiate Summer Ball Manager, MLB Scout and a WEALTH of baseball knowledge discusses the importance of Summer ball at this WEIRD time.  Plus the conversation gets into speculation on where the 2020 season will go at levels of the game.  What about the HS Seniors? What about the College Juniors who had a shot get drafted?  What about the draft itself? S...

Desi Relaford was a former teammate with Campy when they both played AA in Jacksonville, FL which is Desi's home town.  They've remained friends ever since.  Desi has more years in the game as anyone else we could think of so what a perfect guest to discuss the baseball topic of this episode--Spring Training!  Desi has 16 of them under his belt with many teams and in many venues.  He talks about the good, bad an...

What a blast Campy and Lenny had interviewing the talented and very funny Seth Swirsky, who is a top-selling baseball author, and also a Grammy-nominated songwriter.  Plus, he is a WORLD CLASS baseball collector who has owned some very interesting items like the ball that squeaked through Boston Red Sox Bill Buckner's legs.  Listen to his fantastic stories from the music business like getting schmoozed by a Beatle, writin...

 Angel's Legend, Bobby Grich, is one of Campy and Lenny's favorites.  He was a tough player that played the game with grit and determination throughout his 17 year MLB career but also liked to have a good time.  Listen to his AWESOME story about pouring a beer over the head of former President, Richard Nixon!  Plus, he details his role as the President of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of Ameri...

Jon Huizinga, AKA Coach Zinger, believes in a holistic approach to baseball training. That means nutrition, mechanics/technique, approach, preparation, physical conditioning, mental conditioning, are all equally important for the athlete. Nutrition is where it all starts. Without the proper fuel, it would be silly to think you will have peak performance.  Listen as Jon talks about details of his training and how his approach i...

Perry Barber, Woman Umpire, who umpired at every level of baseball, PLUS, shared the stage with Rock Music legends shares her awesome stories.  Listen to her passionately describe how she calls balls and strikes and keeps the game moving.  Then she describes her time as a singer/songwriter sharing the stage with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar and more!  Very interesting interview from a...

Author, Ian Kahanowitz, talks about his new book, "Baseball Gods in Scandal" .  

On September 25, 1919, a seemingly meaningless game was played between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, a game that should have faded to a tiny line item on MLB’s historical ledger.

But Herbert "Dutch" Leonard had other ideas, and nearly seven years later the at-times brilliant and always irratic left-hand pitcher presented letters writte...

Lenny and Campy had a blast discussing how Author, Eric Gray, got the idea for his new book, "Bases to Bleachers", featuring stories written by baseball fans he met all over the world.  Listen as he tells us the process and then reads a number of these short stories ranging from their favorite games to watching baseball in another country to his own family's experiences going to SF Giants games over the years.  Awesome st...

FORMER PHILLIES GROUNDSKEEPER, MARK CARFAGNO, HAS BEEN ON A MISSION TO INFORM BASEBALL FANS ON WHY 60'S AND 70'S ALL STAR, DICK ALLEN, DESERVES TO BE IN THE HALL OF FAME.  IN 2014, DICK ALLEN MISSED BEING INDUCTED BY ONE VOTE!  HE IS BACK ON THE BALLOT FOR 2020 AND MARK GIVES US SOME FANTASTIC STATISTICAL PROOF AS TO WHY DICK SHOULD BE ELECTED.  AFTER HEARING THIS SHOW, YOU TOO WILL AGREE THAT THE GREAT DICK ALLEN SH...

This episode is like a history lesson in early baseball.  To hear how fragile the beginning of organized baseball was from a great granddaughter of Doc Adams, the inventor of modern baseball is amazing!  Consider this--without Doc's tireless efforts to unite various regions with the same rules, field dimensions and even baseballs and bats, America's Pastime could have never materialized into anything more than a kid's gam...

Jon Leonoudakis, a friend of both Campy and Lenny, talks about his really cool baseball themed projects like "The Sweet Spot" that featured an episode with Campy and his dad, Jimmy Sr.  This was like a conversation hanging out at a Sports Bar.  Lots of fun discussion on interesting topics Jon has presented in his movies.  Plus, a list of his favorite baseball movies of all time and he rattled off several we'd never h...

Rick Burleson, 13 year MLB veteran and 4X All-Star Shortstop talked to Campy & Lenny about the thrill of being selected by the fans for the Mid-Summer Classic.  It was so cool as he described each game and how he was a part of it--even the game on crutches.  You'll love his baseball stories from the 70's and 80's especially the memories from the roster of his former teammates with the Red Sox and Angels.  Great s...

When you have the opportunity to speak with a baseball lifer like Coach Tom Gamboa, you realize how drastically things in the game have changed.  Tom talked about scouting future first round picks armed with a back notebook and stop watch.  He talks about managing in the low minors with NO OTHER COACHES!  Just himself throwing 3 full rounds of batting practice everyday, working with pitchers and catchers and also run...

Sometimes you hear a story that is so remarkable, it should be in a book--well this one was.  Campy memorialized the amazing story of his former USC teammate, Jim Henderson, in his book #1 Best Selling book, "Born Into Baseball", detailing his perseverance and grit when faced with a traumatic injury from a car accident right when he had just signed his pro baseball contract with the Montreal Expos.  This story is deeper t...

This is a must listen show for coaches and hitters.  Listen to former MLB player and hitting coach, Derrick May, discuss hitting with Campy and Lenny.  This conversation from three pretty good hitters will enlighten and entertain you with interesting takes on things like the mental approach, maple bats versus ash bats, Derrick and Campy growing up in their dad's MLB clubhouse learning from current players like Dusty Baker...

Campy's former Coach at USC and later at UCI, Mike Gillespie, discusses how recruiting has changed from his years in Junior College, USC and up to his last year at UCI in 2018. If you have or know a high school baseball player who wants to play at the next level, this is a great listen from a master recruiter as well as mentor to many of the thousands of players he coached.  If you are a Coach, this is a must listen.  Gre...

Campy's former Mariners Minor League teammate, Mark Merchant, joins Campy and Lenny to discuss the baseball draft and as a former #2 pick in 1987 behind HOFer, Ken Griffey Jr, he knows what these recent draft picks will deal with as they enter the highly competitive world of pro baseball.  "Merch" has great insight on the expectations, the pressure, the will to succeed and also the reality of injuries cutting careers short. &n...

Listen to this fascinating episode of "Driving 'em In" with special guest, Ila Borders, the first woman to get a college baseball scholarship and eventually play men's professional baseball.  As a left handed pitcher, Campy and Lenny know a lot about facing that type of pitching as hitters.  Ila's knowledge of her craft was so enlightening as she discussed her strategy to get both Lenny and Campy out based on how they hit...