Hooks & Runs

Pennsylvania native Thomas Kern has been a Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) member for over 40 years and has several biographical essays about Negro League stars during that time. Thomas joins us this episode to resume our series, "Texans in the Hall" to talk about three great Texas-born pitchers - Joe Williams, Andy Cooper and Hilton Smith. Kern introduces us to all three Texans, from their beginnings in rur...

Dr. Stephen V. Rice joins us in the first chapter to talk about his recent article in the Baseball Research Journal, "The 1915 Army Baseball Team at West Point: Five Future Generals and an 18–3 Record." In the second chapter, a look at two-time American League batting champion Ferris Fain and his tragic post-career fall. We close the episode with a short concert review. Links:

• The Society for American Baseball Research...

Craig and Rex marvel over things that have happened only once in MLB history, plus comments about the recent Grammy Awards and a baseball card pull.

Errata - Pat Kelly never managed in the Major Leagues. There was only one José Vizcaíno in the Majors.

Notes -Khaby Lame sold his likeness for $975 Million https://tappedinculture.substack.com/p/khaby-lame-sold-his-likeness-for

Consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, inc...

Justin Klugh is author of the new book, "Summer of the Cheap Wieners: What the 1941 Phillies Were Up To While Joe DiMaggio Was Making History," (Brookline Books, 2026). 

There are not too many books about teams that lose 111 out of 154 games, but here's one and it's a good one. Justin joins us this episode to discuss how the second division looks.

Justin Klugh at Baseball Prospectus

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 In this episode, we talk with Rob Miller, co-founder of Bloodshot Records and author of The Hours Were Long, but the Pay Was Low (3 Fields Books, 2025). Rob shares stories from the early days of building an influential indie label, the realities of DIY music culture, and what it really took to survive on passion, community, and very little money. It’s an honest, funny look at the long hours behind independent music—and why it was ...

What's going on with Michigan football? Craig and Rex look at random baseball news. Also, the Hooks & Runs year-end music review, featuring our favorite albums of 2025.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those featured in this episode (if any were), through our store at Bookshop.org. Here's the link. https://bookshop.org/shop/hooksandruns 

Hooks & Runs - https://hooksandruns.b...

Joseph Natalicchio is the author of "Baseball's Most Outrageous Promotions: From Wedlock and Headlock Day to Disco Demolition Night" (McFarland 2025), released earlier in December. This is a wonderful book - we discuss everything from Disco Demolition Night to the night fans tore apart a ballpark while game played on to why baseball promotions have gotten so boring! 

Joseph was a gracious guest and we hope you enjoy t...

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 in East Texas, home of Stephen F. Austin University. Guns & Roses' record label was Geffen, not Sony.

Please consider supporting Hooks & Runs by purchasing books, including those featured in this epis...

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. Press 2019), which was released in paperback in August. 

• "You Saw Me on the Radio" at Texas A&M Univ. Press
• 50s and 60s Rock & Roll with Dave South at KAMU
• More about Wounded War...

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 baseball cards.

Errata: Greg Maddux finished his career with 355 wins. The pitchers named plus Warren Spahn and Kid Nichols had more. Tom Prince's "short career" lasted 17 manor league seasons, but Prince o...

Trenidad Hubbard played 10 Major League seasons in a 19-year professional baseball career. A Chicago native, Hubbard played college ball at Southern University, was drafted by Houston in the 12th round in 1986, and climbed through the ranks to make his Major League debut in 1993 with Colorado. We had a lot of laughs looking back on his career and were inspired by Trenidad's positive attitude and grateful spirit. 

Trenidad'...

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 the...

Bill Nowlin was a co-founder of Rounder Records in the early 1960s and is a co-founder of Down the Road Records. He most recently co-edited "Native American Major Leaguers," (Society for American Baseball Research, 2025), with  Rob Daugherty. Also this episode, MTV is closing it's music stations, Craig went to see Turnstile and our favorite records from the third quarter, 2025.

Bill Nowlin:
Down the Road Records

Samuel Barrett is author of "Orange Crush: The Neglected 1971 Houston Astros" (Huntsville Independent Press 2025). Barrett examines the series of questionable player deals Houston GM Spec Richardson orchestrated during his tenure and attempts to undue the damage to show that with merely competent management, Houston's 1971 team may well have been something special indeed. 

In this episode we mentioned our interview wi...

Ohio native Benny Kauff made his Major League debut in 1912. He jumped to the Federal League in 1914 where he emerged to stand among that circuit's best hitters.  After the Federal League folded, Kauff signed with John McGraw's New York Giants and claimed the team's center field position. 

Kauff held that spot until a New York grand jury indicted him for grand larceny (car theft) after the 1919 season. Kauff, also bur...

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 ...

Joe Morgan, a native of Bonham, Texas, a small town near the Oklahoma border, is generally regarded as baseball's greatest second basemen in the post-World War II era. Originally Colt-.45 then Astro, Houston traded him to Cincinnati after the 1971 season is perhaps Houston's most ill-fated (and bone-headed) trades. Morgan went on to win two Most Valuable Player Awards with the Big Red Machine.

Also this episode - three coa...

The fallout from the 1919 World Series gambling scandal rocked the baseball world when the affair broke into the public's view late in the 1920 season. Just when baseball emerged from that threat, two of baseball's biggest stars, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, found themselves immersed in betting scandal arising from a seemingly meaningless game late in the 1919 season. The scandal led to acrimony, finger-pointing and three ma...

Andrew "Rube" and William "Bill" Foster were half-brothers born in Calvert, Texas, 25 years apart. Rube (b. 1879) left home in the late 90s to pitch for barnstorming teams deep into the late teens. He established his name as a top pitcher in the circuit as well as a savvy businessman. In 1920, he organized the Negro National League, the first and leading organized Black baseball league. 

Bill (b. 1904) ...