Back When There Was Baseball

Two members of the PennSports.live family had fathers who played in the Minor Leagues and this episode will honor those fathers. My co-host, Steve Schaaf's father, Charles Dean Schaaf, played from 1955-1957 in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Tim Clark, host of Musings of a Sports Fanatic and Wall 2 Wall Football, had a father who played in the St. Louis Cardinals organization from 1949-1952. Steve and Tim share insights about their father's careers in baseball as we honor them this Father's Day.    

Our guest this week is Tom Carroll who played most of his career in the Cincinnati Reds system.  Tom was a 6th round draft choice in 1970 out of North Allegheny High School in Wexford, PA.  He worked his way up the ladder as a pitcher and finally got his call up to the majors in 1974 at the age of 21.  When Don Gullett fractured his thumb in 1975, Tom was called up and was a major part in the Reds 1975 World Series winning team.  Unfortunately for Tom, injuries curtailed his career.  Join us Back When There Was Baseball as Tom talks about those great years playing for the Reds.

Art Kusnyer joins us this week. Art was a catcher and bounced around the Minor/Major Leagues from 1966-1979 with the Chicago White Sox, California Angels, Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals. He was a valuable part of a ball club as he knew how to handle pitchers. In 1980, he was offered the bullpen coaching position with the White Sox, which started his coaching career. He coached with the White Sox and A's from 1980-2009. Enjoy this interview with Art Kusnyer as we go Back When There Was Baseball.

We are celebrating the Oakland A's dynasty (1972-1974) this week with our guest Nancy Finley. The A's won the World Series 3 consecutive years (1972-1974) and Nancy was a part of these seasons. Nancy is the daughter of GM Carl Finley and the niece of owner Charlie Finley. She shares stories about those years along with the rebuilding of the A's in the early 1980s. Nancy also wrote a book entitled Finley Ball which focuses on the years starting with Kansas City, the move to Oakland and culminating with the 3 world championships.

Wayne Causey joins us this week. Wayne was one of the "Bonus Babies" in the 1953-1957 rule, which meant that he had to be up with the parent club (Baltimore Orioles) for his first 2 years. After working his way up through the Minors after his first MLB stint, he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics before the 1961 season. His best years as an infielder were with the Kansas City A's in 1963-1964. He played in the Majors/Minors from 1955-1968 with the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City A's, Chicago White Sox, California Angels and the Atlanta Braves. Join us as we go Back When There Was Baseball with our guest Wayne Causey.

We have a rare treat for you this week. Our guest played with Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Ted Williams, Pete Rose, Frank Robinson, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew to name a few. His name is Al Worthington and he pitched in the Majors from 1953-1969. He was in the dugout when Willie Mays made that great catch in the 1954 World Series and with the Giants when they moved from New York to San Francisco. Al also played in another World Series with the Minnesota Twins in 1965. When his career ended, he got into coaching and guided Liberty University for 13 seasons with a career record of 343-189-1. Enjoy this look Back When There Was Baseball with our esteemed guest, Al Worthington

Leron Lee joins us this week as we take a look Back When There Was Baseball.  Leron played in the Majors from 1969-1976 with the Cardinals, Padres, Indians and Dodgers.  He then travelled to Japan and had a stellar career from 1977-1987.  Leron was the leading hitter in Japanese history until it was broken in early 2018 (he held that record for 31 years with a .320 batting average).  His best year in the Majors was in 1972 when he hit .300 with the San Diego Padres (a team that lost 95 games).  Leron takes us Back When There Was Baseball and talks about his MLB career along with his years in Japan.

American League Umpire, Bill Haller, passed away on August 20, 2022. We are re-airing this podcast conducted in 2020 as a tribute to Bill. Bill umpired in the American League for 21 years (1961, 1963-1982) and is considered one of the best umpires in MLB history. You can still see the iconic Earl Weaver "incident" on YouTube where Bill was mic'd for an upcoming documentary. We were very blessed to share an interview with Bill as he discussed the game of baseball as it was when he umpired, compared to the game today. He shared many stories during his career that are priceless. Bill was a one-of-a-kind, downright genuine person and was very candid in this interview. Sit back and enjoy Back When There Was Baseball!