30 With Murti

Tyler Kepner, the national baseball writer for The New York Times, has written a different kind of baseball history book. It’s called “K:  A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches,” from Doubleday.

In this new episode of "30 With Murti," we are joined by Kepner to talk about the stories behind the book, which traces baseball from Walter Johnson’s fastball to Sandy Koufax’s curveball to Mariano Rivera’s cutter. Stories about how pitches are passed down from one generation to another, to the mastery of such pitches that end up taking these men to highest reaches in the game.

Take a listen here and purchase the book anywhere books are sold.

“Inside The Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees” is a new book from co-authors Bob Klapisch and Paul Solotaroff. This week on a new 30 With Murti, Sweeny talks with Klapisch—now in his fourth decade covering baseball in New York—about the year-long project that chronicled the Yankees in 2018.     Sweeny and Klap go in depth on the book’s Core Four—Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, and Aaron Judge.  It’s an interesting conversation about how this Yankees team is run and what to expect as they move forward in 2019.

In recent days and weeks, there has been talk of the plight of minor league players, who work for a meager salary and in living conditions that don’t seem to fit what many believe to be the lifestyle of a professional baseball player.

But there is a difference in the lifestyle of a professional player and a major league player, and there is now at least some momentum toward making that situation better. This week the Toronto Blue Jays announced significant pay increases across the board for their minor league players, and other teams are soon to follow.

Slade Heathcott, a former first-round pick of the New York Yankees who had the proverbial cup of coffee in the major leagues in 2015, has been outspoken about this cause as well as others of a more humanitarian nature that have grabbed his attention. Now he is giving these causes his time and effort as part of life after baseball.

In this edition of the "30 With Murti" podcast, we talk with Heathcott about his new path and how he is hoping to change the lives of minor league players -- and people -- all over the world.

Less than two weeks until the Yankees open the 2019 season and a lot of interesting things to talk about in Yankees camp, from prospects to veteran players.   This week on a new 30 With Murti we discuss some of the key players in camp as Sweeny chats with Yankees Vice President of Baseball Operations Tim Naehring.  

The Yankees are counting on three former Colorado Rockies to be a major part of their success in 2019.  

Former Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd is now an analyst on MLB Network.  In this new episode of "30 With Murti," WFAN's Sweeny Murti talks with O'Dowd about Troy Tulowitzki, D.J. LeMahieu and Adam Ottavino.

All three players were acquired by O'Dowd during his tenure as GM in Colorado.  Now he helps us understand a little more about them as players and why they could be big contributors to the Yankees this season.

The Yankees added two starting pitchers in the offseason, acquiring James Paxton in a trade with Seattle and then re-signing J.A. Happ after his mid-season trade to New York last summer.   This week in a new episode of 30 With Murti, Sweeny chats with the two newest members of the Yankees rotation.  You'll hear Happ talk about about his evolution as a pitcher and what key concept helped him turn in his best year yet at age 35.  And you'll hear Paxton talk about his drive for perfection and how he's learned to focus and channel that drive to become a better pitcher.

Yankees pitchers and catchers reported to camp Wednesday.  With some of the highlights here is a Spring Training edition of 30 With Murti.   In this episode Sweeny chats with Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild about two men who are projected to be top of the rotation starters for this team--Luis Severino and James Paxton.   You'll also hear Severino detail his offseason program that was aimed at defeating the fatigue that set in last season.  And you'll hear some highlights of Aaron Boone's first press conference of the spring.  

The 2019 Hall of Fame class will feature two closers (Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith) and two men who were primarily designated hitters (Edgar Martinez and Harold Baines).   Baseball's long history is relatively short in relation to the closer and the DH. It is noteworthy that both of these specialty roles will be recognized alongside the other greats of the game in Cooperstown.   On this new episode of "30 With Murti," we discuss the recognition of these positions.     First, Sweeny Murti talks about Rivera, Smith and the closer's role with former Mets closer John Franco, who is fifth on the all-time saves list. Then Sweeny talks to former Yankee Ron Blomberg, the first person ever to come to bat as a designated hitter in 1973.     Hear Franco make his case for more closers to be enshrined in the coming years. Then listen to Blomberg discuss the evolution of the DH and recall the moment he became the answer to a trivia question.

Later this month, Mariano Rivera will be elected to the Hall of Fame. The only drama from his side will be whether or not he is a unanimous choice.

So begins the yearlong celebration of the Greatest Closer of All-Time. To help kick things off, we chatted with two of his longtime bullpen-mates, Jeff Nelson and Mike Stanton, on a new edition of the "30 With Murti" podcast.

Nelson recalls watching Mariano develop into Joe Torre's super bullpen weapon in 1996 before moving into the closer's role the following year. Stanton came to the Yankees in 1997 and recalls some of Rivera's early struggles as a closer before he settled in and started down the road to Cooperstown.

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are the biggest stars of this free agent class, yet this edition of the Winter Meetings is nothing more than the undercard to the main event.  It could take weeks before either one of them signs with their new team.   To better understand who Harper and Machado really are and where they are headed, here is a roundtable discussion with Chelsea Janes who covers the Nationals for the Washington Post and Roch Kubatko who covers the Orioles for MASN.